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Comment by doki_pen | Hacker News Reader

First off, I don't claim to be an IT person or know what normal users need to be safe. I can only speak to my personal experience as a programmer. I haven't had a virus in 14 years. I haven't ever run anti-virus software. I have a good feel for all the systems that I use. A little paranoia goes a long way. Not to say that I couldn't be targeted. I'm sure a skilled cracker could break my boxen. But I doubt any antivirus would stop them.

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"I haven't had a virus in 14 years. I haven't ever run anti-virus software."

Then I'd say you probably have a virus ;-)

Actually I was the same (while I was running a Windows box). I used to work for an anti-malware company too, and my experiences there pretty much agrees what everyone says about Norton / etc...

I don't open attachments from strangers, I don't have warez on my computer, and I call / confirm when I get a word doc. (It doesn't matter because I do the conversion on googledocs anyway).

I know not everyone is fortunate enough to do all of that, but it is entirely possible to avoid viruses if one really wants to.

Not anymore. If you receive a targeted attack or a 0-day attack vector through a firefox, pdf or even libpng vulnerability, the only real way you can be safe is to unplug your computer from the internet.

> I haven't had a virus in 14 years.

That you know of.

I can say the same thing, but I always put in that little caveat at the end. Same for being hacked. I've looked for evidence, and never found any reason to believe otherwise.

I've done too many cleanups for people, for whom I have the upmost respect, who said similar things for me lose my humility on that score.

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