A lot of freeware applications come with portable versions - pick those and you don't have to worry about anything extra getting installed.

I wrote it mostly because lately it really is less risky to download a warez than download a freeware application from the official website of its creators.

I use cdBurnerXP to burn data to disc, btw.

After using Avast! for over five years and not a single virus was found (but instead nagging me more and more with update messages, slowing down my system), I tried a new strategy. No anti-virus at all. Yes I know you guys scream out, and Windows did the same, but I am (not) using this for a year now and there is nothing suspicious happening, no data loss, no mysterious errors. Everything fine and better than before because nothing needs to nurse me and check my data and such.

I have to say it is no strategy for all people because you really have to know what you are doing and don’t click on every download link in the internet. But apart from that I feel more free than ever. :)

Yeah, that's just like my uncle's computer which was a botnet zombie and didn't display any suspicious behaviour on his end. Cue the uncle being completely floored when he got a letter from his provider notifying him of the malicious traffic originating from his IP.

Very interesting. This could happen indeed, but since I never had anything like this in the last years I very much doubt it would happen in the next years. This is not only about (bad) luck but about user’s behaviour. I have also seen systems being totally wrecked and infested after only half a year, and I ask myself, how come, because I never have these problems. A big part in this comes to “know what you are doing”.

And yet, some infections cannot be seen by yourself. But also some infections cannot even be seen by a virus scanner guard. I do a full RAM and drives check once in a while, but I am not having those guards anymore active because they always slow up my system (Microsoft’s Security Essentials were the worst).

Whoa... Nasty. Thx for the info!

This is why I'm fine with just having Essentials. I scan my computers with Malwarebytes once every... 6 months? Or so? And haven't had any significant issues. Essentials is not very intrusive at all, even when updating, which is why I use it over other free software.

sudo mount -o loop file.iso /media/disk

:D :D :D :D :D

I used to be like you - always using Winrar over 7z. Then one day I discovered that RAR files created after the 40 days install were being saved without passwords!
i.e. I would password protect a new RAR I was creating and then try to open it afterwards and it would open straight up without any password.

That did it for me. I uninstalled WinRAR that day and converted to 7Zip.

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As long as you have a good firewall (and are careful with USB devices - turn off Auto Run or hold down Shift while inserting) you can get away without having AntiVirus turned on 24/7.

I don't have the courage to have no AntiVirus at all though - I keep mine turned off and just run a scan every now and then just to be on the safe side.

About ISO mounting software: I used Virtual Clonedrive (with the sheep icon), but three years ago I needed a RAMdisk and found (after several bad drivers) "ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver". This is the only free and functional RAM disk driver for Windows. There are others but they sometimes crash or throw a bluescreen. ImDisk not only supports RAM disks but also mounting ISOs, so I tossed Clonedrive (though Clonedrive is fine and supports some more rare formats).

About archiving: I use 7zip for many years. It (un-)archives everything, is fast and good. But for creating archives I am using FreeArc because this gives better compression in less time. It also supports recovery information against bit errors. But the interface (GUI) is quite shit, I only use it on command line. This tool and the WinRAR GUI would be perfect.

ImgBurn is also fine, SumatraPDF is the best and fastest PDF viewer.

Are you sure it was not a mistake on your part? I have used Winrar (trial edition) since like... forever and when I try to open the archives that I made more than 40 days ago, they are all still password protected.

CD emulator:
http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm

Anti-Malware:
[url=http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html ]http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html [/url]
[url=http://www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html ]http://www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html [/url]

Just tested. That happens if you don't select "Encrypt file names". If you do, it works as it should.