I do use AOL Active Shield but only as on demand for the odd scan.
Have I ever been infected?
Heaps of times as I deliberately do so but after emptying the sandbox and rebooting out of Returnil mode there just ain't a thing for Active Shield to find.
The frustration felt by many in the network and desktop security operations world is palpable. There have never before been so many users of malware analysis tools like multi-antivirus scanners like VirusTotal and Jotti, sandboxes like Norman, Sunbelt and now Anubis, and so many outsiders testing antivirus software. The pressure on the antivirus firms is visibly increasing, and they're going to have to do something about it.
The failure of antivirus companies to adapt to the dramatic malware appearance rates in 2007 tells us there's time for a change and there's room for a new class of tools. "AV is dead" is the battle cry of a new industry analyst report.
Antivirus companies may not be going the way of the dodo, but to many customers, the concept of antivirus as the last line of defense has been thrown out the window. It's time for a better approach, one that can keep up and really defend networks.