We all need it, but how many really want it?

The good ole days of Windows 98, iIf a computer user wanted to transfer a file via MSN, Yahoo, AOL Buddy or ICQ to another user and it wouldn’t transfer, what was the the first thing that both users would do? If your answer was anything other than ‘turn off the anti-virus and firewall applications’, you are wrong. One way or another, the file was going to get through. You could warn people of the dangers of doing this until you were blue in the face, but it made no difference. Guess what? Nothing has changed.

Until fairly recently, I would install a variety of anti-malware stuff on every client computer which came my way. It was all free stuff because people like free, and it was all good stuff too. The problem with all of the free stuff other than Windows Defender is that it requires manual input from the user, and most do not feel disposed to paying for two or three solutions which do the job for them. Do the majority of users manually input anything other than text to their friends? Not until the computer no longer allows the user to go to a website of choice!!

I also used to install Hostsman and the MVPS hosts file, and set it to update automatically. Every user where I have done this has called me asking how to uninstall it because it is blocking some webpages or adverts on a webpage. The customer is always right, yes?

Conclusion: These people only want protection as long as it does not get in the way of anything else that they want.