On - Off Virus protection for my laptop NLE?

[firehawk]

I have a laptop that I use when I need a mobile workstation. I don't want virus software slowing it down...except when I go meet a client in the field and need to copy footage from them off a drive, phone, etc. Then I would like to guard myself from getting a potential virus from them.
Is there virus software that I could leave turned off while I am working but then turn it back on when I need protection?

[firehawk]

I found something called Stinger by McAfee that allow you to run it once or as many times as you want, without having to install a normal service. I ran it on my cheap laptop over 60 hours and it scanned over 3 million files. So I thought I'd share this in case anyone else is looking for a one time or intermittent virus scanner that isn't the usual program you have to install and have resident. It also didn't cost me.
There are probably many others but this is the one I found so far. Hope that helps

[Greg_E]

Must keep stinger updated which means downloading a new version very often. Microsoft has a similar tool, and built in Defender is not horrible.

On Windows make certain that UAC is set to a reasonably high level, also make certain that autoplay is turned off for all drives!

Use of a Chromebook to copy media files from one drive to another is also a good way to help stay safe. Resolve on a Linux laptop would make a good safe production device.

[firehawk]

Thank you for the good ideas