Is Antivirus Necessary

 
Do you need virus protection in Windows 10/8/7 from antivirus software? As to this question, you can get the answer in the following content.
 
Have you heard of such a sensational piece of news: in the last few days, US government banned agencies from using Kaspersky antivirus software? Citing fears about Russian intelligence, US government had removed Kaspersky from its approved vendors and procurement list. The United States thought that there was a hidden threat from Kaspersky to confidential information leak.
 
Not to mention whether this statement is true or not. However, from a technical perspective, usually, antivirus software has higher authority than general software. Thus, it is most likely that there is an intentional leak of secret information. No matter for a government or common user, it is uncontrollable to hand over the data security to one antivirus program since nobody knows what will happen. To sum up, antivirus software is responsible for security, but it can also become a threat.
 
Besides, as to whether its user experience is good enough, the opinions/answers vary. Some free antivirus keeps on pushing additional pop-ups and bundled software for profit, which makes users feel annoyed. Besides, can the antivirus really play a proper role? This is a question. For example, as to WannaCry ransomware in 2017, users who have antivirus software still suffered from the threat but those who had installed Windows patches are in security.
 

Inevitability – Run PC without Antivirus

 
In recent years, Microsoft Cooperation attaches greater importance to the safety of the operating system and the security coefficient in the whole industry environment is continuously improving. Then, it seems that antivirus has become an encumbrance since it can slow down the performance of the computer and have an influence on user experience. Is antivirus necessary for Windows 10/8/7? Or do you need antivirus software? Many users have given the negative answer and resolutely choose to run the PC without any antivirus.
 
Nevertheless, it is not an easy thing to use the computer without antivirus. If you don’t keep your eyes open for the security problem, the PC still meets the virus threat. What should you pay attention to? Or how to prevent malware attacks? Here we will share some skills to run Windows without antivirus.
 

How to Protect Computer from Virus without Antivirus

① Back up Your Computer

 
If there is no antivirus on your PC, some viruses can easily attack the PC, causing data loss. Hence, the best computer protection is to make a backup for Windows system or the entire disk. It is worth mentioning that the dedicated backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker provides convenience for you in backing up the system, partition, and disk in Windows 10/8/7. Most importantly, a scheduled backup, incremental backup and differential backup can be created by this free backup & restore software.

 
 Want to have a try? Just get MiniTool ShadowMaker Free Edition from the following button to make prevention of computer virus attack. As long as one backup is created, we can confirmedly answer you “no” for “is antivirus necessary” question.

 
How to protect your computer from virus via backup?
 
Step 1: Just run MiniTool ShadowMaker. Subsequently, one small window will come up, leading you to select one computer to manage. Click Connect button in Local section, please.
 

 
Step 2: Go to Backup tab, here it is time to choose the backup source and backup destination.
 

• • In Backup, you see the current system partitions are chosen by default by MiniTool ShadowMaker. What if you want to create a disk backup? Just click Source module, select a source disk and check all partitions.
    

    

 
• As to the storage path, in general, an external hard drive is selected.

 
 Perhaps you need: The Best Practice: 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Home Computers
 

 
Step 3: After completing the selections, click Back up Now button to start the backup so as to avoid malware and viruses infection causing data loss. Then, this free software will navigate to Managepage to perform this backup operation.
 

 
 Hot articles:

• How Can You Make System Image Recovery in Windows 10?

 

• How to Clone a Hard Drive to SSD for Backup in Windows 10/8/7?

 
When making a backup, there are some computer virus prevention tips.
 
1. It is worth mentioning that an automatic backup should be created by Schedule feature.
2. Besides, incremental backup or differential backup should be made for only newly added or changed data with Scheme feature. When one backup type is created, the disk space will be managed.
 

 
Note that MiniTool ShadowMaker Free Edition can only set Incremental backup scheme. As for Full and Differential backup scheme, the Beta Edition is helpful.
 

 
To sum up, you have learned how to prevent computer threats with the reliable backup software. If you don’t install antivirus software on your Windows 7/8/10 computer, get MiniTool ShadowMaker Free Edition in an instant to protect your computer from virus, spyware or malware. Share this backup solution with your friends.
 

 
In addition to computer backup, there are many other ways to prevent malware. Keep on reading the post.
 

② Disable High-Risk Account

 
Actually, many security problems are caused by high-risk accounts. Hackers and Trojan viruses can access high permission of Windows system through high-risk accounts so as to make a series of changes to the system. For example, once logging in Administrator account, system key files, such as host file etc. can be modified arbitrarily. But the system is allowed to access without password via the guest account. Besides, little tricks can be done to the system by some skills and bugs. As a result, many hackers and malware prefer to attack the guest account. Therefore, it is necessary to disable these high-risk accounts if you want to run the computer without antivirus.
 
How to do this job to prevent virus infection? If you are using Windows 7, please navigate to Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts > Manage Accounts and then turn off the guest account.
 

 
Or press Win+R keys, input compmgmt.msc to open Computer Management. Go to Local Users and Groups > Users to find Guest. Right-click it to enter Properties and check Account is disabled.
 

 
In fact, these high-risk accounts are disabled by default in Windows 10. It is not necessary to make an additional setting if you get Windows 10 by a legal way. If you still use Windows XP, just give up it since it is not safe now.
 

③ Enable UAC

 
In Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced UAC (User Account Control). UAC can be regarded as the simple HIPS (High Integrity Protective Systems), which will send reports to users once the key part of the system is being modified. In this way, users still have the chance to prevent these high-risk operations. However, UAC brings pop-ups which makes users annoyed. But, in order to prevent malware attacks, you must enable UAC.
 
In Windows 7 and Windows 10, UAC can be set by navigating to Control Panel > System and Security > Change User Account Control settings. Generally speaking, you can set it to “default” level or a lower level. Anyhow, to protect your computer from virus without antivirus, don’t disable UAC. Actually, in the operating systems after Windows Vista, Microsoft has optimized the frequency of the pop-ups of UAC.
 

④ Enable Windows Defender/MSE

 
Who knows the security status of Windows system best? It is certainly not the third-party security vendors, but it’s Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft has its own antivirus software called MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials). In Windows 10, MSE is integrated into the system and exists in the form of Windows Defender. So long as you enable Windows Defender, you get the antivirus technology from Microsoft. If you are wondering about the question “is antivirus necessary for Windows 10” or “does Windows 10 need antivirus”, now you know the answer.
 
However, currently, only Windows Defender in Windows 10 belongs to MSE’s transformation, but the ability of Windows 7 defender is limited. So, you still need to manually install MSE to enhance antivirus ability – but this is not a trick for computer running without antivirus. Hence, it is worth recommending you to install Windows 10 since it has its own antivirus tool.
 

⑤ Use UWP Application

 
The security improvements in Windows 10 are not only restricted to antivirus but also to applications. The programs that are installed via Windows Installer are easy to get out of user control, for example, you never know where the rogue software is installed and it is easy to be bundled with the malicious codes. In Windows 10, you can gain more safety guarantee by installing applications in the App Store.
 
The UWP (Universal Windows Platform) applications installed via App Store are approved and the permissions are restricted strictly by Microsoft. The legitimate UWP application runs in the sandbox, with higher safety than the traditional Win32 programs.
 

⑥ Turn on Windows Update

 
The rampant WannaCry virus attacked the computer by utilizing the SMB bug of Windows system. However, the outburst of WannaCry appeared in May, actually, Microsoft had released security patches for vulnerabilities via Windows Update in March. If you turn on Windows Update to keep the system up to date, the virus won’t pose a threat to you at all. By contrast, if you don’t enable Windows Update, but to use antivirus software to prevent virus infection, there is still a huge possibility that PC is infected. And you can see that Windows Update can play more important role in safety than antivirus software in many cases.
 
Unfortunately, many of you don’t enable Windows update due to many factors including old system, occupied space and more. Although some security software offers Microsoft patches, it is difficult to guarantee the sources of these patches, for instance, a certain piece of well-known security software once pushed the impostor patch. As a matter of fact, Windows update is also responsible for updating virus reservoir, flash version, office software patches and etc. of Windows Defender, which is quite useful for malware prevention. If you want to run your computer without antivirus, Windows Update must be enabled so as to prevent viruses on your computer.
 

 
We strongly recommend you to not use Windows XP since Microsoft has stopped the security update support for Windows XP and Windows Update in XP is useless. If you want to protect your computer from virus without antivirus well, Windows 7 and 10 are far better than XP.
 

⑦ Employ a New-type Browser

 
Most of viruses can spread via the internet, and malicious codes always attack browsers. If you use an old IE browser and browse some dirty websites, it is most likely that viruses attack your PC. On the contrary, some new browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Edge have much higher safety coefficient. For example, Chrome employs sandbox to isolate page codes and flash, which is very reliable to guarantee the security.
 

What If Data Loss Caused by Virus Attack Appears?

Up to now, we show you 7 ways to prevent malware on your computer. Just do as the above part shows you to protect your computer from virus without antivirus.
 
However, if you don’t take action to prevent computer virus attack, what should you do when data loss happens? Don’t worry. The MiniTool Team also has developed a piece of professional data recovery software called MiniTool Power Data Recovery, enabling you to recover lost or deleted data with its reliable features. Just get it from the following button and choose the proper recovery module to begin data recovery.
 

Verdict

 
Firstly, we start this post with one question “is antivirus necessary for Windows 10/8/7” and tell you the negative answer by some specific examples. Then, you know the inevitability of running PC without antivirus.
 
Next, we tell you 7 skills about how to protect your computer from virus without antivirus: back up your computer with MiniTool ShadowMaker, disable the high-risk account, enable UAC, open Windows Defender/MSE, use UWP applications, turn on Windows Update and employ a new-type browser. By these ways, you can perform malware prevention well.
 
At last, you know if data loss caused by virus attack happens, MiniTool Power Data Recovery gives you a chance to do data recovery. Just download MiniTool programs to have a try for your computer security protection and data recovery.

Suppose you have any question when using our software, please tell us. Or if you have any other suggestions to prevent malware attacks, we are also appreciated. Just leave one comment in the comment area or send your opinions to support@minitool.com.