Every now and then we hear about some corporate espionage or attacks from state military groups etc. I know you have not done forensics on all existent computers. Since they are not destructive to normal computer activity, they go undetected. Some of the best virus programs in the world are still out in the wild, running as they were intended to run, collecting and passing information as they are supposed to. The real trouble with anti-virus vendors is that they tend to convince people that once their product is installed, the end user's pc is safe. It's more or less a case of putting up a wall and telling the world, there, you can't get past this wall now. The harder anti-virus vendors bleat on about how good their product is, the more bragging rights a virus writer will get for walking around the security. The fact that they exist is tantamount to admitting that no OS can be fully secured. They certainly use virus news to justify their existence and the cost of their products.
