If you are new to computing, you may wonder if having anti-virus software is really necessary if you keep your system updated. Are updates alone enough to keep a system secure? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post discusses the situation to help a new computer user make the right decision.
Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites.
The Question
SuperUser reader John Sonderson wants to know if keeping Windows 7 updated is enough to stay secure or if he should also have anti-virus software installed:
Is keeping his Windows 7 system updated via Windows Update enough to keep his system secure, or should he install anti-virus software as well?
So, if my Windows 7 system is up to date via Windows Update, and I do not use an administrator account (but a restricted account instead), do I still need anti-virus software?
The Answer
SuperUser contributors Scott Chamberlain and Frank Thomas have the answer for us. First up, Scott Chamberlain:
Followed by the answer from Frank Thomas:
You also state, “…if I keep myself logged in as a regular user without administrative privileges” but get a UAC prompt from a program and type in the administrator credentials, it does not matter that you are a regular user.
Windows Update does not protect you from bugs in other software like your web browser (unless you are using Internet Explorer), so a virus could get in that way (which anti-virus software would have blocked).
Lastly, even if the program never gets administrative privileges and does not use any exploits in Windows, there are still plenty of bad things it can do within the bounds of a restricted user account. A non-elevated program can read almost all the files on your hard-drive and send that information anywhere it wants. If you have any valuable information on your hard-drive, the malware author now has a copy of that information as well.
Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.
