It Is Time to Uninstall Your Antivirus Software

In the olden days, the single most common piece of advice was to have an antivirus on your PC to keep you safe from malware. Nowadays, however, antivirus software has started behaving like malware and you should just get rid of it.

Antivirus = Malware?

Antivirus software has long become obsolete and acts like malware on your PC when you try to uninstall it. Certain installs require you to boot into Safe Mode, restart the PC multiple times, or use a special uninstaller tool that will allow for the files to be deleted, etc.

It is no wonder antivirus software has lost all credibility when the software is made to specifically make it impossible to uninstall for a normal user. Malware and viruses have also gotten pretty advanced so either the antivirus tool will not see it, or it will be a user-approved install that just bypasses the antivirus making it completely useless.

In fact, most infections happen through phishing or other forms of getting the user to install or execute a file instantly compromising the security of the machine. This metric alone renders any antivirus you have installed on your PC irrelevant. 

Slowing Down the PC

Besides being clunky and easily bypassed by user error, antivirus software is also known to drain your PC resources since it needs to live scan your files and drives. Having software run in the background 24/7 as you go about your day doing work or gaming will inevitably reduce your performance and introduce big CPU/storage drive overhead. 

Paid Model

In most cases, the freeware model of the antivirus you install is useless, having a limited trial or some sort of paid transaction involved. This means that not only are you getting a slow machine with no security improvement but are also forced to pay for any useful options in said software.

Use Your Brains

With all that in mind, the safest machine is one that is operated by someone who understands security threats and does not click or download random PDF files from the internet. You can have the most expensive antivirus installed on your machine, but that will not save you from data breaches if you, the operator, are manually allowing malware to be executed on your machine. 

Windows Defender Exists

The cherry on the cake in this matter is that you already have decent antivirus software running by default in the form of Windows Defender. It completes the same tasks and has the same or better detection rates than all other free antivirus software you could download online.

You could pay money and get some higher detection antivirus software, but that needs to be a conscious investment that is made by someone who absolutely needs those features.

Malware Sweeps

Live monitoring done by antivirus software is computationally expensive and makes no sense if you want to run your machine as effectively as possible. Since you already have Defender running an extra antivirus means x2 the load for no reason.

What has been found to work very well, are malware sweeps that use standalone .exe’s which run a scan and detect if your PC has been compromised or not. You can try my routine or compose your list of software that can be executed once and not leave traces or live-scanning on your PC.  

You can also use preventive measures like an online scanner which are not the best, but offer good hitrates on malware since the databases are continuously updated.  

TL;DR

Live monitoring antivirus software is useless and is in many ways behaving like malware. Use the Windows Defender that comes with any Windows installation, do malware sweeps with standalone utilities, and be careful online since the user is the highest risk factor when it comes to online security!