Quote - @moriador:  Of course they make it sound like you are in danger.  They want you to upgrade.  AV companies do this too - "ARE YOU PROTECTED? Ermagerd!".  Security companies all do this.  Yes, the threats are real and can happen but how often is the question.  Can you make life safer by taking precautions?  Yes.  Part of that is computing habits.

If you hit questionable websites and download questionable things, sure you increase the risk you will have something piggyback onto your system.

If you install software without paying attention and it puts some adware crap on your computer that you forgot to de-select, sure there is a problem.

Yes. I went for several years without AV or Microsoft updates. My hubby went for even longer. But AV won't stop those silly adware and toolbar thingies. He ends up with lots of them, and occasionally I remove them all for him.

If I'm going to questionable sites, or downloading questionable files, I run sandboxie.

Now, one of my OScommerce sites DID get hacked. Or more specifically, someone created a shell on my installation of OSCommerce. But then it's notoriously insecure. And a web app on a remote server is far cry from your personal machine in your home. Luckily, this instance was just a test site for redesigning the UI, and I'd simply forgotten it existed.

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PoserPro 2014, PS CS5.5 Ext, Nikon D300. Win 8, i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz, AMD Radeon 8570, 12 GB RAM.