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I have been reading here (in superuser) some questions about the necessity of antivirus software in Windows and some doubts arise.
As far as i know (and imagine) virus software can only be harmful if I download any type of infected executable file and then I RUN IT. I mean that if i have the infected executable in my desktop but i leave it there for years without clicking it, I won't be in danger...
My question is: How can i be in danger browsing the so called "malware pages or sites"??.
If i am just browsing an "infected site" how could I be affected by a virus. In any moment the browser is asking me for the permission to download "something", so how could it be?? Although i don't give permission to the browser to download 'something' is data being downloaded to my computer?? Its some kind of cookie?
I will ask in another way... What is the level of riskiness if i get infected in a malware site compared with the level of an executable virus??
In combination with Wil's excellent answer, use IE 8 if you wanna use IE since it has sandboxing which separates whats executed inside the browser from the operating system (This does not apply to actually downloading a .exe/bat/vbs/msi etc and executing it.) You could also used Chrome or Firefox of the latest brand. Moral of the story, always use the latest from the greatest. I wanna take the chance to recommend NoScript for Firefox(and chrome) which blocks all script so you have to accept them beforehand. This helps in the murky waters of the internets. – artifex – 2010-03-08T19:42:16.443
1Antivirus software can also check the http (or other network) stream for viruses before your computer ever tries to execute it. – emgee – 2009-09-19T02:06:56.203