Landlines. Checkbooks. AM radio. Let’s add third-party antivirus software to the list of things you can stop using.
Antivirus is an abomination.
On the surface it claims to enhance your security, but set aside the name ‘antivirus’ for a moment and think. Is it a good security decision to install an application that:
- Has full administrative access to all your data and monitors your digital activities
- Uploads your data at its discretion to a remote server you can’t audit or control
- Processes untrusted inputs (files to scan for malware) on an ongoing basis with those high privs
It’s a security design nightmare. Antivirus is a symptom of a problem – flaws in the design of an OS, not a solution to malware. At best it’s a band-aid. At worst, it is itself a vector for violating your security and privacy.
The day I trust Microsoft with my system security is the day someone please check me into a mental asylum.
Does using Windows not implicitly trust Microsoft with at least the security design of your system?
There are some things that can’t be helped, depending on your use case and work requirements.
So I double up or replace every built in (security) feature to be as independent as possible. Tinywall on top of the Windows firewall, Bit Defender on top of the Antivirus, Firefox instead of Edge, offline account instead of MS logon, etc.
What a load of shit, ha!
