I hear you asking….
How can there be a solution to a problem, yet the problem keeps getting bigger?
How can I be infected while I am still using an Anti Virus product?
Why am I paying to be protected yet still getting infected?
Did I buy snakeoil when I purchased my Anti Virus product?
Well…..
Lets first look at what an Anti Virus product is! The very first Anti Virus product came about around 1987 to clean one of the early viruses.
Did you notice?
Notice what?
Notice the important keyword…”clean”. I didn’t say Protect…I said clean….
So what?
Well, Cleaning is a reactive thing. it happens afterwards. After you got infected. So Anti Virus products were invented as “cleaning” products!
Just like a washing up liquid won’t keep a plate clean when you put food on it, just like shampoo cannot keep your head clean, an Anti Virus product is mainly a reactive technology which cannot keep your PC clean from malware it doesn’t know. Just like laundry detergent that cannot remove stains, Anti Virus products cannot remove malware they don’t know about. So they can’t even guarantee that they can clean your computer, nevermind protect it in the first place!
WHAT??
You heard!
An Anti Virus product cannot guarantee that a clean computer can stay clean!
So why do we buy these products then or they get bundled with our computers when we buy them?
Good question 😉
Perhaps you can answer my question first: “Between 1987 and now (so far its still 2010), what has changed in an Anti Virus product to make us think that they can Keep a clean computer clean?” Can you please point me to a technological breakthru or innovation or anything of that nature to tell me that “hey, thanks to this advancement we can use an Anti Virus product to keep our computers clean”?
And the answer is?
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……………………………………………………………….. still waiting………
Nothing! Just like an anti virus of 1987 could not keep a clean computer clean, the anti virus of 2010 cannot keep a clean computer clean! That is why you still get tens of millions of people falling victim to malware and being part of botnets!
The only thing that has changed between 1987 and 2010 is the way these Anti Virus products are marketed! Now you are buying laundry detergent (which can only wash limited stuff) as a tool to stop your clothes from getting dirty…
Silly right?
If you were buying some teflon spray as a preventative tool, then I would understand how it could help you keep your clothes clean…but buying laundry detergent thinking that it would keep your clothes clean…….madness! Its a multi-billion $$ madness!
Time to innovate…time to really deliver that teflon spray for your computer so that a clean computer can stay clean! Time to clean up the Anti Virus industry! Maybe It is infected? Maybe it is infected with a malware called “Troj.False.marketing.32” ?
Melih