I don't use client e-mail programs now and mainly use webmail. Why should I bog my machine down with unwanted prevention software? So I use Google Mail, Outlook.com and my ISP mail. 
 
Antivirus software needs to be reinvented if you ask me where malware and online checkers would be better in the face of the usual software tools.

Sir Les
...hacking a company's web site , and infecting millions, to sell a product sure is a capitalistic mindset to do...just to make money, to sell, they break things or put in a detrimental...(bug)...

No, it is not a capitalistic mindset. It is a malicious, antisocial mindset. There is nothing inherent in Capitalism that causes people to be dishonest or unethical. This is criminal behavior, not honest business.

Whatever the reason for threats, security is a good idea.
 
How you achieve it is up to you. I use MS Essentials only.
 
If you don't know about Pidgin, you might check it out. If you couple it with OTR, it makes privacy convenient and simple.
 
Unencrypted online messaging gives away tons of personal information if you aren't careful, making Facebook, Google and Yahoo the most serious invaders of privacy. Monsters compared to any virus creator.

All I'll say is this.

There are viruses and worms which can infect a PC without the user doing anything. They propogate on networks, including the internet, and look for vulnerable computers. You don't have to find them, they come looking for you. Blaster in 2003 was an early example. Once one infects a PC it will most likely download a rootkit. You no longer own that PC, someone else does and will use it for their own ends.

If you don't want to run AV software, that's your decision. If you want to be safe in that situation don't connect to even your home LAN if any computer on it ever connects to the internet, and never let any disks or USB drives that have been in contact with anyone else's PC near any of yours. It's a big, bad world out there.

I guess it's a good question how do you know if you don't have a virus scanner. I have 2 music PC's and 2 laptops, everything is connected to the net, although the 2 PC's don't surf or have email etc, the only thing they do is things similar to Cakes CC, you know, stuff that I trust that connects and updates at my say so, never automatically, unless there is no choice, but I don't think I have anything like that. The 2 laptops that do do all the net work both run avast and that's it, nothing else. Anything that I download that isn't done from within any app/plugin, whatever on the music PC's gets scanned on the Laptops, then I pass them on to the PC's.
 
Now I don't know much about this, but As far as I know, no outside connection can be made to anything on my side of the router, without me initiating contact first, you can check whether your computer is visible on the net through sites such as Shields Up etc, and it tells me that nothing on my end responds to any of it's probes from the outside, so to anything looking to get in somewhere it appears there is nothing to get into because it gets no response. That is my simple understanding, and again I don't know much about it, don't really want to know, I am happy with that.
 
How do I know the PC's don't have a Virus ? I guess I don't because they don't have any Antivirus stuff on them, and any Windows stuff is deactivated. But I can if I choose scan them from one of the laptops, either all files or individual files, but I don't bother. I guess everything runs like clockwork, money isn't disappearing out of my bank accounts, well not unknowingly anyway ? nothing is stealing the serials and install codes for all my software (it's all encrypted anyway) if there is any virus, it's certainly not making itself known, nor is it causing me any problems that I am aware of, and that has been the case for nearly 20 years, apart from the once back in '98, which was caused by transferring an infected file of a friends zip drive, I did learn from that.
 
So, like I said, don't know much about it, know what I need to know, don't really care to know anymore until I need to, but I do know that I feel safe and comfortable running the way I am, I feel confident I don't have any nasties, and if I do they aren't causing me any problems, and haven't been for 20 years.
 
If you feel comfortable having antivirus, malware stuff, firewalls whatever, that's great, go for your life, If you feel comfortable with just an antivirus prog, that's great, go for it, and if you feel comfortable with nothing, more power to you. 
 
Everyone's situation is different, each person should know there own situation and what they need, it's up to the individual to do what they see fit. We are all responsible for our own protection on the net, so it's no good blaming Joe Blow because he doesn't have an antivirus, you are responsible for yourself, besides, NO product picks up everything, not even close.

gswitz
One thing...
 
Almost all virus scanners allow you to exclude a directory. You should exclude the Cakewalk and Cakewalk Project related directories. What's the chance you'll get a virus from your interface? None right?

Of course if there are viruses in the hard drive then viruses might go in those excluded directories also. I don't know if there are such viruses that can find out the directories that are excluded but they could be nasty. At least there are viruses that can disable the AV shields which is nasty too.

There seems to be a myth that malware and cyber-attacks can be vanquished with simple modifications to existing software, and that these known remedies are being withheld from the public by the geniuses who work in Silicon Valley or Redmond at the behest of their evil masters who see cyber-crime as a profitable partner. There is no doubt that the computer security industry is largely dependent on the computer criminal industry for its success, just as the armored car industry depends on robbers to justify the cost of their services. It does not follow that there is some kind of conspiracy between the two mutually beneficial actors. Do you think that the banks, that lose billions of dollars to cyber-crime annually, could not afford to buy security that works flawlessly if it were available?
 
For the legitimate software industry as a whole, the relationship between business and cyber-crime is much more adversarial. Microsoft makes no revenue by the endless string of security patches, and aside from scaring the bejesus out of the millions of users who find XP meets all of their real needs in an OS in order to stimulate a new round of upgrades, they have made little effort to profit from it. The infamous security flaws in JAVA have produced far more embarrassment than revenue.
 
For most application developers security is a pure waste. When was the last time you saw a Sonar update that was "required" to fix a security issue. As a matter of fact, given the reluctance of users of audio applications to use basic security measures, and the shortage of honest programmers with high level security skills available to the industry, the music software category is probably a sitting duck for malicious exploits. Luckily, it is probably perceived as a small market, so, like Linux and Mac OS, it presents a less tempting target to the really talented criminals.