What's the risk of connecting to the internet without protection?

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Agree absolutely with router protection. Best protection with the lowest performance hit.

After that - all bets are off. Caveat Emptor - click at your own risk! I agree to the point made to get updates only from the source (Flash from Adobe.com, Java from Java.com, etc.).

The greatest appeal of the internet to many is anonymous access - and it could be its downfall. Before clicking or accepting an offer, ask if you know the vendor or can get to the offer through the vendor's home page first.

Sure, once behind a router, one can use the internet without additional protection of anti-virus and anti-spyware software if one knows what one is using!

Happy surfing!

First of,I had my anti virus block viruses. If I did not have it I would have been infected and I did not needed to click " allow". Just entering site was enough. Secondly, just correction. The Norton from google is just scanner. It used to remove Spyware but last time I downloaded it it did not and send me to Norton to buy their product in order to remove spyware. As to Spyware Doctor, it is Spyware scanner and has only PARTIAL protection in it's free version. You NEED ANTI VIRUS program and there are some good free ones. As to conspiracy by anti virus companies I cannot disagree strongly enough.

Although I am not an IT specialist by profession, I have been involved in computer programming and hardware utilization for 35 years. I have my children and many friends who keep me busy with PC and software related problems.
Recently I tested one router in a friend's company and got through it and the additional protection software within minutes. I'm sure some other people could do the same. The company I work for has all the hardware and software based protection available and I still observed my computer would have been in trouble three times within 18 months because of malware getting through against all the company security measures (but not through my firewall, two antivirus, two anti-malware and composite & blackhole list utilities, etc.); all updated daily.
This means no matter what external resources are available for somebody, additional measures like a firewall, antivirus and other anti-malware programs are absolutely required as one can't always be on guard too, even if he/she is a specialist.
Also, not too many people are aware of the fact that a firewall is needed especially against info getting out of one’s own computer. Even an operating system or software might send some sensitive data unless a firewall is there to warn that something funny is going to happen if it isn’t blocked. Same is true when one visits a website in some other ways. Many spam messages might appear after one tries a piece of software, visits a website or just ticks a box. Among other things, I have seen time limited or trial software trying to send a list of websites visited, a list of software, multimedia content I have in my PC and even found out some code trying to access S/N’s in one case. A firewall is definitely needed and its rules have to be carefully defined. Don’t forget that even after a PC is compromised, a good firewall will still catch outgoing rewards for a spammer, hacker, etc, let you block it and also let you know where to take action in your system.

Hi everyone, I never would have expected so many people to comment on my comment, I am very glad it sparked some interesting conversation.

Leo, thanks for your response.

Here is why I believe so many viruses and malware come from the anti virus companies.

1. first and foremost: 8 times out of 10 there is an advertisement for the specific anti virus package you "need" built right into the virus! what if your windshield was broken and attached to it was a sticker that told you where to get it fixed, if it happened often enough you would have to assume that the fixer was the breaker.

2. there are virus writers who are sitting on yachts earning millions and millions of dollars just from writing viruses, some of this money goes for mafia and organized gangs, some goes for terrorist activities and weaponry and some (thank you Nigeria) goes to help small guerrilla factions - oh yeah, and some just goes into the pockets of of very wealthy black-hats.

here is an analogy: Say Leo owned "Leo's Tire Repair Service" every day he can throw rusted bent nails out his car window and some people might get flat tires, some of those people might come to his shop (especially if he had a billboard nearby) and so he is increasing his possible income without investing anything (except free, rusted bent nails) NOW lets take that same nefarious story and put it towards a much more lucrative venture. You write a virus, lets call it "Windows Ultimate Killer 2009" then you put the removal tool for it on the internet at $45 per download and advertise it all over the place so anyone who googles that virus will see YOUR sites. Then through the power of multiplication (infect 2 computers who each infect 2 who each infect 2, etc etc) you eventually infect 1 million computers. now if only 1% (more likely 50% or more) of those infected people decide to get an anti virus program, that's 100 thousand people, if only 1% of THOSE people (remember your adverts are the only ones all over the web guaranteeing removal) decide to buy YOUR anti virus removal tool, that's 10 thousand people who pay $45 for your anti virus little de-ransomware tool. you just made $450,000 dollars without having to invest anything but a little time. NOW, here is the kicker, instead of 1 virus, you make 300 (hell, just rename some of the existing ones or change the formula a bit, you already have the source code) and instead of infecting 1 million computers, infect 5 million or more, and hell, infect some of the same ones again with a different virus after they pay for your removal tool, thats a common thing. anyway, my point is, that virus creation and removal go hand in hand and it is an amazingly lucrative business that takes little to no $$ investment to start. just infect a server at a university in France from a computer in Germany being operated by a terminal in Japan which is using a hijacked connection and it will take years for them to track it to that coffee shop in Switzerland where you are never going to go back to anyway OR just pay the IT guy at some school or business to allow his servers to be compromised.

It is not a conspiracy theory, it is a fact. Viruses are just about the most lucrative business on the net and the ones you really have to worry about are the ones you do not know you have. when your system is infected with a clever virus, it will not slow you down or give you popups or give you any indication that you have a problem, but at 3am it's passing it's gunk around to every other system it can, getting on your CDs and thumb drives, getting into your email, etc, then on a certain date or some pre-determined action, >BAM

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