Like I said, no malware here either so what's your point? Why do you keep insisting just because you have never had malware on your PC and don't use antivirus software it is not needed? That's one use case dude. Have you ever heard the term "past performance is not an indicator of future results"?
I once had friend who tried to tell me the withdrawal method works because in five years his wife never got pregnant (once). She was pregnant three months later. #facepalm
The principle of "you never know" is how security experts control all risks. Rarely does any organization or any individual just do the bare minimum security wise and achieve good results.
Yes, technical knowledge is very helpful and unfortunately you demonstrated your lack of it by making a couple of statements that are flat out wrong...
Sorry, my antivirus program doesn't interfere with my day to day computer usage at all. Actually, it never prompts me for anything (unneeded alerts can be turned off). Modern antivirus software is not resource intensive at all unless you have like a six year old Dell or something? You must because you notice when Windows is updating in the background?
"All a typo in a URL will do is lead you to a random placeholder site with random links that you can just back out of very easily."
What? You go to the wrong site it can run code automatically that will infect your computer so unless you are telling me you run the No Script add-on and don't have Flash installed. In that case, you are probably safe browsing with no antivirus software.
Hey, I don't care if don't run antivirus software but don't say in a forum one doesn't need it if they have "common sense".
How you structure your response is interesting as you do not show clearly which of my "couple of statements are flat out wrong".
I'm not a company and not a targeted individual.
Your criticism of my insistence is hypocritical since you are insisting the opposite.
If you keep Windows up to date you're in good shape to avoid most known exploits and hacks.
I have a laptop with a 4th gen core i7 and a GTX 970m and 16GB of RAM.
I live in a rural area with poor internet so I'm frequently monitoring network usage and in turn CPU and memory usage.
You're still not showing what this technical knowledge is that you're talking about. The fact that I have an attitude towards antivirus that isn't the same as yours doesn't make me wrong.
Please provide an example of a site that runs some code that infects your computer of which the URL is similar to a popular website. If not you might be buying a bit too much into these articles that talk about a new hack that "could affect millions of Android phones/PCs!!!11! Pls click me".
A lot of websites have stopped using Flash and rely mostly on HTML5 for content of this kind which is a hell of a lot more secure. Even Adobe are making an effort to rid the web of software they themselves created.
The fact that your antivirus has never alerted you in 20 years (something you stated in your previous response) is further evidence that you don't even need it. Either that or you're so good at dodging viruses with your amazing technical knowledge that you talk about but show little of.
That's not to say that antivirus software doesn't have its place. Kids, older parents. People who have next to no experience with what's out there on the web. Even then, after helping my mother with her computer use for many years (she has a Mac now) she now never clicks on something if she doesn't know what it is despite having next to no knowledge about how the internet or her computer works.
My father has worked in the field of IT for decades and agrees with my stance that if you're careful you're not at risk.
Also, all modern operating systems use encryption of some sort to ensure additional security of your information in case it ever were to get stolen. Recent versions of Android and iOS encrypt your device when you use rely on a pin or passcode. iOS even goes as far as encrypting on a hardware-level. Mac OS encrypts your drive by default and Windows 10 also uses encryption. So even if you had physical access to someone else's computer or phone it's not like you could easily compromise it.
Billions of dollars going into improving cyber security since governments, NGOs and businesses rely on it for handling sensitive data such as addresses, credit card information, etc. Gone are the days of "You're our 1,000,000th visitor! Congratulations, you've won!".
So no, most people who are careful and use common sense won't need antivirus software.