Sometimes, we take all the precautions to protect our system from viruses, trojans, and malware, yet one fine day our system is completely stalled due to an unknown infection. This is very annoying triggering distrust in our antivirus solution. The AV software installed on your system may be incapable of detecting such threats. Or it can be the other way round. Sometimes, the user himself doesn't use the antivirus solution properly and pays the price. Yes, it does happen sometimes, by the user. Following are some of the bad practices making even the most robust AV solution—lame.
If you're following some of these practices, immediately address them to ensure your computer is safe from malware. Remember, the software is only as good as its correct usage by the end-user.
Make note of these pitfalls and try to avert them in the future—at all costs. I too was making some of these mistakes, but gradually I learned them, and since then my PC has never been infected.
You Frequently Turn-Off Virus Signature Updates
This is an invitation to infections from unknown viruses. Unless you keep your AV software's virus signature database up-to-date, you cannot guarantee protection from new and latest threats emerging almost every day. There's no reason to pause virus signature updates as they're done at most twice or sometimes thrice a day.
You Install a Conflicting Firewall With It
Some enthusiasts love to experiment with different combinations of software. One such deadly combination is the installation of a dedicated firewall with an antivirus solution.
For an average user, resolving conflicts between the two is not a cakewalk. This conflict often creates loopholes that can be easily exploited by lurking worms and malware on the internet.
You Never Do a Full System Scan
Typical antivirus software never performs a full system scan, automatically. They do prompt you to do the same and rely on your permission for performing a thorough analysis of the system.
If you've never initiated deep scanning of all your hard drives, you're probably taming a silent time bomb deep down in some directory.
You Selectively Disable Shields Temporarily
I've observed many users temporarily disabling one of the available shields in their antivirus software. They do it to quickly access any restricted resource. This can prove fatal in two ways.
First, you cannot guarantee that the resource is going to be virus-free in your next attempt. And secondly, during this duration (disabled shield), there are very high chances of infection that may go undetected due to an inactive shield.
You Fail to Follow Instructions After the Alarm
And last but not least is axing the very same branch on which you're sitting. Sometimes users' acts dump as soon as a virus is detected and the AV software prompts with a warning.
Generally, this is accompanied by options that can be followed to neutralize the virus. Some of us quietly ignore the instructions or do not follow them properly. This results in instant infection which is later blamed on the antivirus software.