Kaneco disagreed with me 1st and Kuza jumped in to imply I (or anyone else) is stupid for not using antivirus. Who attacked who?

Contradiction? Um, what.... Antivirus protection is NOT the same as taking minor precautionary measures. If it was the same, you wouldn't be using antivirus, would you? When did I state I don't initiate anything at all to ensure my computer is patched? Assumptions based on bad correlation.

I'm sorry, maybe I live in a different computer world than you do. When does this happen? And if it is happening, don't you think I would have experienced it at least ONCE within a 4 year time span? You all are way overdoing this idea that viruses and trojans attack without any initiation from the user.

The protection you need is common sense.

I never stated that I do nothing. Again, you and other people assumed I did. Virus protection is an active process 24/7 as long as your computer stays on. This is nothing near an ad-blocker or disabling java.

What? Analogy failure. Car accidents are very often, out of your control. I've been in 3 accidents so far, all of which were NOT my fault. Protecting yourself from viruses is in your control, I'd say almost 100% of the time. Sure there might be some very rare time where this horror story that you and other people are presenting might come true, where a virus is so strong and sneaky that it cannot be stopped. But really? Stop the exaggeration...

Way too much to protect, hmmm. And if that is true, wouldn't you have multiple backups on multiple different resources that aren't connected in any way? And if you do, compromising your current PC wouldn't be that much of hit, would it? I actually keep all my "personal" stuff on a different computer and copies of it on multiple hard drives and a server. And that's not even necessarily about being scared of viruses; it's about redundancy and how important my stuff is to me, just in case of hardware failure.

Btw, Mr. Security and everyone else. I am fully aware of what these viruses/malware can do to a system. I help people, at least once a week, remove infections off their computer. I'm internal IT support for my company, and ironically enough, our antivirus solution that we use DOES NOT catch half the stuff that comes in. We are currently in the process of moving toward Sophos, but who knows if we will be successful in that migration. I've been working at this company a little over two years now, and every person's computer that I have cleaned (from viruses/malware) has been the result of user error.

a few times a year I do computer maintenance(Software+Hardware). As I do with my car and other things that require it. I install Malwarebytes, Sophos, and a few other programs to initiate a FULL system scan. And again, for the past 4+ years, it has found nothing. After I initiate the scan and it finds no threats (besides ones that are executables for my work, which aren't threats), I uninstall the programs.

But that's's just one of the things I do regarding software. I also do hardware related things, such as dust out my case and make sure everything is seated properly and test the components accordingly. I seldom run memory tests as well, but that isn't as much of an issue.

Again, why would I carry a gun (anti-virus) around in a community that has zero crimes reported (trusted sites) with cops (admins, developers, etc...) constantly patrolling the area?

If I were to ever suspect suspicious activity, I would most likely steer clear from it. I don't stupidly open attachments or click on ads. I don't install software unknown to me and anything I do install I take time to make sure it is something I (myself) initiated and downloaded. Surfing sites that aren't safe and clicking randomly is like walking the streets of Oakland at night yelling out racial slurs. You are going to need protection for that... You can also disable java-script/active-x in general, but allow for things you actually need. Such as banking sites.

There's so many things you can do without Antivirus/malware to prevent getting infected. The most important, being, don't open things that you don't recognize fully. Pay attention to what you click on (links, ads, programs, etc...). If you don't even want to bother with ads, get an Ad-blocker. Which I use in conjunction with a popup blocker. Read what you are installing (don't just click next 10 times speedily). Update windows/java/browsers frequently.

Is there anything else I should do Mr. Security, or do you still think I have a key logger?

For the average user that doesn't necessarily know what is or isn't safe, protection is very useful. I, along with many other people I know in IT (co-workers) and friends through STEAM, have not acquired a virus/malware in 4+years. And none of us use antimalware or antivirus software. I personally have never used antivirus or antimalware since Windows 7 came out.

Yes, I download torrents. I go to sites that are labeled 'high risk' more than the average user does, yet still do not get infected with Viruses. For many things I install, antivirus/malware will automatically quarantine[or delete] files I don't want it to. It also happens if I want to grab files off a friend's USB drive and it will start removing their files.

Again, in my experience, these things have been a pain in the ass and aren't worth the "protection" they provide. What's the point of using protection if you are only going to have sex with someone you know is clean[got tested] and is on birth control?

do you have 64-bit version of Windows? If not, you can't benefit from more than 4GB of RAM

although computers nowadays are powerful enough to handle many background processes, including anti-virus, I'd rather free up as much as possible to run THAT much more efficiently. And the risk is low if you aren't stupidly clicking on random links or going to websites that aren't safe.

I literally follow mason around every thread and place bets on how many minus frags he will get for each post... I've been quite profitable

You don't need antivirus if you are careful with what you do on your pc. Just like you don't need a condom if you are careful with what you do with your penis. Just make sure you browse clean websites and don't open filthy attachments. Just like you make sure to have sex with clean women and don't open their filthy attachments...

the analogy was regarding people donating to invite in any way, shape or form. that comment wasn't specific to harbleau... wait, why am I explaining this to you to begin with. troll

Maybe you should read again what you wrote. Unless you want to edit it again, as you have already once.

I think you're trolling at this point. Unless, again, you completely missed the point. I was correlating skill increase with an elevation in condescension

again, you're probably trolling. but if not, I was clearly mocking you.

you keep proving my point with every post. do you not see how oblivious you are?

I thought people played this game because they like it and they enjoy the competitiveness of it? I don't remember someone ever telling me, "I play this game because I want to be casted." - That's the people you are referring to and they don't exist here.

People who watch certain teams closely will request that a match be casted. It's about TF2 as a community, not just the higher ups. You probably don't think anyone besides Invite deserve power rankings either, do you? I mean, what is the point of power rankings? To possibly learn more about other teams and cast matches that are "supposed" to be good according to their records and ranks. But I guess if people read those, or follow certain teams close in general, they shouldn't request for those teams to be casted because the level of play is way too low, right?

The highschool to NFL analogy is more flawed than your morale. Does a High School football team donate to the NFL so they can get to the superbowl [LAN]? Do they get sponsored by someone like AG who will sponsor multiple levels of play? (High School[open], College[IM], Pros[main/invite])

As you can see, this is a community based game. We all support each other. We are supposed to help each other in every way we can, whether it's casts/donations/websites/sizzlingstats/etc...And you are not being cooperative by trying to segregate Invite.

Get off your high horse and realize that some of us paid for you to get on that horse to begin with...

I didn't edit, I paraphrased for you.

now you're bad at being humble.

haven't seen this at all. as other people were stating, it gets requested by players OUTSIDE of the team that could get casted. and it has nothing to do with entitlement. Unlike Invite players who are so used to being casted that it is pretty much meaningless to them, us lower division shitties get excited when we might get casted.

that sounds completely subjective now doesn't it...

is it also a requirement, that if I want to make invite, I have to act like a complete condescending asshole?

I understand the decision made by the admins was not the most lenient, but it's not completely their fault. As much as registration was pushed out, how does it take that long to get 6 players paid?

Aside from that, I believe our team will join CEVO next season as well.

lol... only if you aren't beating me in your dream :)

All these "people" that you have claimed to be upset are not upset to the extent you think they are. You think outside of the forum they are letting this affect their personal life? No. For the most part, people are exaggerated online, compared to in person. You ever hear that saying "Don't bring your work home with you"? The same thing applies here. When you lose, get trolled and/or are unhappy with how ESEA operates, you shouldn't bring that "emotional baggage" into your personal life. And I don't think anyone here does that. If they do, they are the smallest percentage that have an unhealthy attachment to this game. In those cases, the game is just a substitute for whatever else it may be that they focus ALL of their attention and emotion into.

You really think that outside of these forums (or TF2), we are complaining to our family/friends/co-workers about how bad our lives are because we got trolled in a match? Or that our mood is down for days at a time because my video game match couldn't get rescheduled? There's a difference between being putting time/effort into being competitive, vs, an unhealthy emotional attachment. And that applies to anything. I used to play poker for a living. I was (still am) very competitive, but when something did not go my way, I would not flip out. If I ever lost, I didn't bring it home with me. Losing is part of the game. I understood and accepted that.

Competitiveness/Dedication/Passion apply to anything, whether it's "real life" sports, "online-sports", poker, relationships, work, etc... Sure, some are more important than others within the grand scheme of "life", but hobbies/entertainment are also important. So, stop throwing everyone into this emotionally, unstable bucket you want us in and just accept that sometimes people get temporarily upset.