&gt;&gt;  I&#x27;m not sure the AVs have helped much, but they give some sort of psychological benefit, at least.<p>I find this a very dangerous way of thinking. You use the placebo (well, not even a placebo, just useless) and then you stop worrying <i>that much</i> about opening downloaded files, checking their hash if you trust the source, visiting dodgy websites...<p>An analogy taken to the extreme, would be to smoke and binge drinking without worries because you&#x27;re taking homeopathic &quot;solutions&quot; (sic).