Do you run AV on your personal computers?

No reason not to, unless somethings wrong with the AV its not going to slow down a decent system. As far as an AV flagging safe files just add exceptions. I have an AV and MBAM and really I know its not enough so I am still as careful as possible. I'm sure some people here have email passwords saved on the machine and/or ftp passwords saved either of those pieces of information can open doors to devastating damage.
 
Usually just use MSSE on my own systems.

But then I don't resell AV. Instead I let customers purchase their own AV and charge them for my time and advice, which is more than I would make selling them most AV products anyway.

I'm not big on up-selling anything though to be honest. I'm a techie not a salesperson and that's how I prefer to keep it. In my opinion, recommending a product that you are a reseller of is a conflict of interests. I think my customers appreciate the fact that my recommendations are always without bias.
 
Yes I absolutely do,

I patch my systems the way I would a client of mines.

On mine I use Avast and MBAM. Ublock on all browsers and everything is always patched up.

Only difference with clients is I will switch out the Avast for Kapersky or transition them to the MAV.
 
Moltuae said:
Usually just use MSSE on my own systems.

But then I don't resell AV. Instead I let customers purchase their own AV and charge them for my time and advice, which is more than I would make selling them most AV products anyway.

I'm not big on up-selling anything though to be honest. I'm a techie not a salesperson and that's how I prefer to keep it. In my opinion, recommending a product that you are a reseller of is a conflict of interests. I think my customers appreciate the fact that my recommendations are always without bias.
Click to expand...
I understand your reluctance to upsell, though you are probably leaving a decent percentage on the table.

But, most customers consider you an expert, surely knowing what is effective and not effective better than they do, and appreciate a recommendation. My customers also like not having to go through the process of ordering from companies they don't know. Even if you don't mark it up, it should be a service you provide for your customers, and you should be compensated for your time and expertise.
 
altrenda said:
I understand your reluctance to upsell, though you are probably leaving a decent percentage on the table.

But, most customers consider you an expert, surely knowing what is effective and not effective better than they do, and appreciate a recommendation. My customers also like not having to go through the process of ordering from companies they don't know. Even if you don't mark it up, it should be a service you provide for your customers, and you should be compensated for your time and expertise.
Click to expand...
I don't upsell my AV and always have it available for my customers. I do however charge to install if they are not having any other services performed, so you cant just walk in off the street and get my cost for AV.
 
On a few computers I don't use much, I just have firefox with noscript and ublock installed. I also use the free version of malwarebytes anti-exploit. On my main computer I do use Kaspersky as well though just to be a little safer.
 
altrenda said:
I understand your reluctance to upsell, though you are probably leaving a decent percentage on the table.

But, most customers consider you an expert, surely knowing what is effective and not effective better than they do, and appreciate a recommendation. My customers also like not having to go through the process of ordering from companies they don't know. Even if you don't mark it up, it should be a service you provide for your customers, and you should be compensated for your time and expertise.
Click to expand...

I do make recommendations (usually after some research of course) and I often assist them in making the purchase. And they happily pay me for all the time I spend doing that at my usual hourly rate (typically £50-£60/hr). I'm not really interested in making an extra fiver/tenner from some AV referral. I feel that if were a reseller of AV it would likely mar my judgement and affect my recommendation. Additionally, I would feel a greater obligation towards a product and its effectiveness if I sold it to a customer than I would if I merely provided them with advice and assistance in sourcing and deploying the best available solution.

But even more important and valuable for me is my customer's trust. You just can't put a value on that. My business customers are extremely loyal and trust my advice completely. I've never lost a customer and most of them have used my services for over 10 years (and a few for nearly 20 years). I wouldn't want to risk damaging that by giving the appearance that making the most money is my top priority.
 
CLC said:
Yes, Yes, and YES. Why wouldn't you?:eek: ...snipped...
Click to expand...

Fair question. I guess for me, it's an OCD-like obsession to have as little extraneous stuff as possible running in the background. Unless it's absolutely necessary or clearly beneficial (like Evernote, Dropbox, etc), I shut it down.

I also tend not to be moved (much) by FUD. So personally, I reverse the question "why wouldn't I?" to "why should I?". Do I personally need A/V protection? Not so far I haven't. That doesn't mean I'll never get infected, but it's a risk I'm obviously willing to assume. My files are either backed up or unimportant. I know how to recover from an infection - which when it someday occurs is much more likely to be inconvenient rather than disastrous.

Maybe I'm also somewhat jaded by the fact that virtually every commercial A/V program out there crosses my bench at some point with an infection that the software either missed or was pummelled into submission by.

So while I don't advocate this approach to my customers (Kaspersky all the way!), my own regimen is simply a decent adblocker installed in all my browsers, the occasional use of my D7 tools to practice/check my own computer just in case something has snuck in, avoidance of nearly all social media and other popular sites, not opening strange email, and basically being oblivious to advertising or phishing lures that might attract even an accidental "click" from someone with a different personality.
 
Mostly No. I use Acronis and restore the machine if it gets too trashed, but that seldom happens. My complaint with AV is performance. I am a 27 year software developer veteran who's career began as an assembly programmer - talking directly to the chips themselves in order to maximize performance. Performance has always been paramount to me.

That said, I do occasionally install Viper on machines that are more prone to infection due to whatever it is I am doing at the time. Viper is an outstanding product written by some excellent programmers. It works great and I notice no degradation in performance - not in the least.

Mcaffee, Norton, Kapersky, AVG...might as well be viruses themselves. They are worse than most things that jump on your machine, performance wise.

It only takes me 20 minutes using Acronis to have a clean, 100% pure machine again, so why bother with speed anchors.

Just my .02.

Cheers
 
drjones said:
Given that we all know what we're doing, do you bother running antivirus software on your personal & work computers that only you touch & have access to?

I've had AVG free on my main desktop for years, am considering removing it & saving myself the system resources.

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Good call.
 
We run our Complete Internet Security package that we offer to customers. This is a custom built package that we have assembled using well-known products.
 
drjones said:
I've had AVG free on my main desktop for years, am considering removing it & saving myself the system resources.
Click to expand...

Its like having a lock on your front door, you may never get any intruders, but it is nice to know the door is secure.

I use Panda as I got a free 6 month licence. Its ok and doesn't seem to slow me down although the popups every SINGLE day telling me to upgrade to a paid for plan get a bit annoying.
 
Resell for Bitdefender and they will give you NFR licences.. I just haven't bothered to do it yet.. currently running Avast Free! Ha ha! Like to fly by the seat of my pants :)
 
I'm using the full Bitdefender on my laptops and my wife's desktop; I'll admit to MSSE on the ThinkPad W500 that hasn't even been turned on for more than a month.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

HCHTech
Gear View Basic and Windows 11
Replies
2
Views
1K
HCHTech
HCHTech
britechguy
Having a drive (dedicated partition) on one Windows 11 machine on a private network available to all others
Replies
7
Views
1K
Markverhyden
Markverhyden
britechguy
Getting Exact Model Information for Your Computer
Replies
3
Views
629
YeOldeStonecat
YeOldeStonecat
phaZed
Another shop goes 100% Linux with CachyOS!
2 3
Replies
54
Views
2K
britechguy
britechguy
britechguy
Is my license OEM, Retail, Something Else? You tell me . . .
Replies
11
Views
7K
brandonkick
B
Back
Top