Is it possible to live without AV in Windows XP nowdays?

I´ve been using Vista for a long time now, and so far so good, almost 2 years and no viruses at all, but I recall that XP had several issues with viruses and stuff, like that virus that turned the machine off without you ever needing to download anything to catch it.

How is it going today? Can I live without AV? I´m really carefull about what I do, access and download online, also my online activities are resumed in, Gmail, Google Reader, Youtube and downloading some movies.

Is XP still so unsafe as it was 2~3 years ago?

 

XP's never been terribly unsafe if you knew what you were doing and kept it updated.

I've not run AV on any of my personal computers in the well over 2 decades that I've been computing and have never had a virus. I wouldn't suggest that for everyone, as my stuff is set up so that were I to get a virus it wouldn't be a catastrophe, but unguarded Windows does not automatically equal a guaranteed infection.

 

Can you explain in details how do you configure your Windows accounts? My AA1 came with Windows XP Home, which by default enables simple file sharing, guest account, and no Administrator password.

What do you recommend to change in Windows configurations?

Thanks.

 

Backup your data, preferably on external media, NAS, or on a different partition. Failing to do so doesn't mean you won't be able to recover data after a "catastrophe", but it makes the recovering process a pain in the ass.

Here's some tips for you to lessen the chance of getting a virus
-use a router
-don't click on ads
-don't go to free porn sites (at least don't go there without protection)
-don't search for keygen or serial number online
-don't do stupid things online
-use your common sense

If you want to prevent virus 100% of the time, you'll have to lock your computer. Meaning, all writes to the hdd goes in a cache and to be deleted after roboot. You can use software such as windows steadystate (free) or deepfreeze to achieve this. Schools, library, internet cafe all use this to prevent viruses. It's a lot more effective and efficient than antivirus but comes at a cost of not being able to easily save your files to the system partition.

 

Just ran accross this thread. I've got steadystate running on my Aspire One and it is running very well. Anyway here is a link to my other post on Steadystate

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