Prevention is Better than Cure

When it comes to antivirus, its my opinion that it should be better used for prevention of an infection rather than to cure an infected system.

Ideally, you should install the antivirus software as soon as you install the operating system and before most other programs. More importantly, you should install the antivirus before you connect your system to other systems via a LAN or the Internet - before Viruses, worms and Trojans get a chance to infect your system.

Someone who administers 200 computers told me that AVG Antivirus is useless and they were being let down. On discussion with him, I found out that they tried to install antivirus software after a computer was suspected to be infected. Most systems were not updated with security and critical updates and had vulnerabilities dating back to 2002! And none had firewalls turned on. Every single system was used routinely with administrative accounts.

No wonder he feels that antivirus solutions inadequate. I advised him to follow a minimum security procedure: Windows Updates, Early Antivirus installation, giving non-admin accounts for day to day usage, firewall configuration etc. Security is a habit, it seems. Lets see if things improve.