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Reading some of these articles, I get the impression they are being written by anti-virus software sales people. There is a "by the book" approach which goes something like, "Buy all your software from the manufacturer, leave all auto-updater's on and purchase and run one of the leading anti-virus software programs." If you are an average user with some extra cash then this may be a good approach. Don't give it any thought, just take the red pill.

However, if you intend to get the most out of your computer in terms of performance, then running an anti-virus program, particularly the main stream programs, drains your system resources. Try hitting "ctrl-alt-del" to view the "Task Manager" and taking a look at the list of "Processes". Somewhere on there you will find your anti-virus program and the amount of memory it us using up. This does not take into account the amount of extra time it consumes when your system boots up nor the fact that having an anti-virus program installed (particularly Norton, in my experience) frequently causes problems installing new programs. Also, you may notice that you are frequently informed by your anti-virus software that your system is un-protected and in great peril unless you renew your expired license, usually about $90 a year.
It may very well be the case that the anti-virus software industry is very corrupt. Consider these two scenarios and decide for yourself which is the most plausible.

Scenario 1. There are advanced programmers, who could be earning large sums of money for their time and energy (writing code is very hard work), but instead, out of some sociopathic desire, they decide to spend enormous amounts of time coming up with a new and improved computer virus, simply for the satisfaction of knowing that they caused some innocent people harm. While the noble and decent anti-virus software programmers toil selflessly to try and protect us from this ever present menace.

Scenario 2. The multi-billion dollar anti-virus software business pays programmers to write viruses, particularly viruses which activate on a predetermined date. The anti-virus companies run publicity campaigns scaring the public with the impending activation date of the new threat, while claiming to be hard at work to come up with a cure. The cure is invariably developed, seemingly in the nick of time for the distribution of the latest anti-virus software package.

If Scenario 2 proves to be the case, then how can one avoid supporting this mafia like

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