{"id":151905,"date":"2026-04-15T02:10:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/?p=151905"},"modified":"2026-04-15T02:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:10:30","slug":"has-security-software-won-the-battle-against-malware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/has-security-software-won-the-battle-against-malware\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Security Software Won The Battle Against Malware?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"daves-1922734570\" class=\"daves-single-post-before-content daves-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div><p>For years, malware purveyors and antivirus developers have played a game of whack-a-mole, and now it seems that <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/?s=antivirus\">antivirus software<\/a> has well and truly come out on top.<\/p>\n<p>I remember years ago when malware infections were so prevalent that there were specialist sites set up to help users identify the various types of malware and come up with solutions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hijack-This-Logo.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-151921\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hijack-This-Logo.jpg\" alt=\"hijackthis-logo\" width=\"250\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hijack-This-Logo.jpg 285w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hijack-This-Logo-150x123.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>For example, who remembers HijackThis? Users would scan the system with the HijackThis software, which generated a report for users to upload to a specialist site where experts would analyze the report and issue a potential solution.<\/p>\n<p>There is still plenty of nasty malware around, of course, but these days, pretty much the only way malware can infect the system is via hands-on access or by tricking users into infecting their own systems. Indeed, the combination of improvements in <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/?s=antivirus\">antivirus<\/a> solutions plus enhanced security measures built into operating systems has forced malware purveyors to change their plan of attack.<\/p><div id=\"daves-185210673\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content daves-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now, instead of trying to directly infect systems with Trojans, key-loggers, etc., the malware purveyors have turned to tricking users into clicking on malicious links, malicious attachments, and visiting malicious websites to deliver their payload.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, whether users&#8217; systems become infected with malware or not is very much in their own hands these days. I don&#8217;t necessarily always follow conventional wisdom, but in this case, conventional wisdom is what will <a title=\"One Simple Rule To Keep You Safe\" href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/one-simple-rule-to-keep-you-safe\/\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"256\">keep you safe..<\/a>. in a nutshell, think before you click.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BOTTOM LINE<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t remember the last time one of my systems was infected with malware. If I had to guess, I&#8217;d say around 20-odd years ago, in the early XP years. I don&#8217;t have any fancy security software; <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/?s=defender\">Defender<\/a> provides my sole line of defense, but I double-check and triple-check anything that even smells a tad fishy.<\/p><div id=\"daves-3470718211\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content-2 daves-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>What do you think? Have malware infections essentially become a thing of the past?<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<div id=\"daves-405312327\" class=\"daves-after-content daves-entity-placement\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"3225321574\" \ndata-ad-format=\"autorelaxed\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For years, malware purveyors and antivirus developers have played a game of whack-a-mole, and now it seems that antivirus software has well and truly come out on top. I remember years ago when malware infections were so prevalent that there were specialist sites set up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4353,304],"class_list":["post-151905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-antivirus","tag-malware"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151905"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151996,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151905\/revisions\/151996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}