Is antivirus necessary anymore?

[Memory]

i think on older computers they're necessary, but not as much on newer operating systems.

OSes like Windows 11, modern GNU/Linux, and MacOS generally don't need an antivirus, especially Linux since there aren't many viruses designed for Linux anyways.
Windows Defender in W11 is really good but it's not perfect, but i think you're mostly fine with that and being cautious.

though with older OSes (like older Linux kernels, Windows 8.1/8 and earlier, older MacOS, etc) are definitely in need of an antivirus of some sort. especially ones like Windows XP (which never had an in-built antivirus to begin with) but i'm just really wondering if it's even worth it since XP hasn't had any security patches since 11 years ago now.
can someone fill me in on that? :P

anyways also, my mum had Trend Micro (historically had Avast, and had i think McAfee or something last) and she got rid of all them. especially McAfee, she couldn't unsubscribe from it, so she had to get a whole new credit card. so i think some modern antiviruses are probably best not to get them.

idk it's just my opinion on it :P

[candycanearter07]

The best defense is thinking through your decisions, but I'd like to make a small point here:

A lot of the time, people argue against having the OS do potentially harmful actions because "there are some times you may legitimately want to do x harmful thing". In my opinion, though I'm all for freedom of computing and such, phones got permission systems RIGHT. You grant very /specific/ permissions to do /specific/ things, and nothing else, and the permissions are well explained on the harm it can do. Now obviously, the sandboxing of phones also helps enforce this, but for more general "dangerous" things that a malware could do, make it ask for explicit permission. People would probably not trust a random clock app with the "make this computer unbootable" permission, and it would also help against the tendency to click past the current (broken) system of UAC without thinking.

[Julikins]

In most ways, I have to agree with a lot of points brought up by CandyCaneArter. I felt like over the past few years of computing was advanced enough that most "viruses" tend to be more benign and just beg the user for money just to get their data back. Most of that is solved simply by just formatting and reinstalling the OS along with keep good backups minus the said program that allowed the ransomware in. I think having an antivirus installed is kind of second nature to me since I was taught earlier in life to always have one, but even the latest Windows comes with one already built-in. Not perfect, but at least they don't beg you to get a subscription for full protection from what I've observed.

I had jumped from ESET on mobile to Malwarebytes to BitDefender and then back to MBAM because the middle software/application got on my nerves in thinking I'd lose my protection by going free user license. Even MBAM kind of has adapted that and not a huge fan of it because that means I would manually scan, but I honestly needed to make that a habit instead of relying on convenient features to lure me into buying a subscription - I would think.

I think for the most part, it ends up being just common sense and being mindful of what websites you land at as well as closing out of sketchy websites that try to say your app that you don't have installed is out of date and needs a new update installed. It does help in having applications that you trust and aren't holding features hostage (like Microsoft Office and the subscription BS). I had started using OpenOffice and then LibreOffice, and never looked back. To me, the ribbons UI looked so darn bad (/neg) and not exactly what I would call "professional".

Previously, I had done the not so secure task of screencapturing my login credentials and saved them to Firefox/Waterfox. Although that slowly changed and then after the Artfight breach, dramatically began to move things over to paper and Bitwarden (free user, but still nice and not such a braggart about making me pay). 2FA while not exactly convenient by any stretch is something I'm slowly opening up to as I had added EnteAuth as the authenticating app for AF and it's honestly stupidly simple I would be open to utilizing it more often.

Long story short, modern OS's should be okay but retro OS's might benefit from that small layer of security. Android and iOS I still can't say for sure but I sometimes feel like having MBAM on my android is a bit of an overkill for it. Just not as much as the app for my current smartwatch that is from China/some overseas brand...

[killerscreen]

Previously, I had done the not so secure task of screencapturing my login credentials and saved them to Firefox/Waterfox.

Is this a serious issue? At one point, I was strongly worried about the security of this, so I removed all my credentials off Firefox and onto KeePassXC. I had the browser extension to allow stuff to be autofilled from KeePass but eventually I got so lazy that all of my passwords and stuff ended back up on Firefox anyway. I figured that Firefox had to be at least decently safe. I keep hearing mixed answers as to whether or not this is acceptable.

[Julikins]

Is this a serious issue? At one point, I was strongly worried about the security of this, so I removed all my credentials off Firefox and onto KeePassXC. I had the browser extension to allow stuff to be autofilled from KeePass but eventually I got so lazy that all of my passwords and stuff ended back up on Firefox anyway. I figured that Firefox had to be at least decently safe. I keep hearing mixed answers as to whether or not this is acceptable.

At one point, it wasn't but since the exploit that happened with Artfight with how BBCode there works - I stopped relying so heavily on the autofill stuff for the browser since that was how it managed to snag a few people's login credits. It's only through text of mouth I guess so I can't say for sure how reliable that information is, but I had stopped utilizing autofill and browser saving my login stuff overall.

I think a lot of folks recommend Librewolf over Firefox especially with how very Google loving FF is lately with the telemetry stuff. Had given Librewolf a fair go and aside from Sheezy (art social I post my stuff to sometimes) not taking it well, it is as secure as most have been saying. Otherwise, just make sure to secure your Firefox browsing with adblocker and a few extra security-based measurements to bring it up to standards. Although I have been considering just reinstalling LW and using that for my main driver/browser and just relying on Firefox as a fallback and for Sheezy... Although, I had been able to upload in more comfortable area via mobile with Waterfox so there's not much holding me back anyways.