Student200
New member
Has anyone got any anti virus recommations?
Anti virus
- Thread starter Student200
- Start date
Martinr36
MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Agreed
SpyderTracks
We love you Ukraine
Thirdeded
ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
Ninety-ninethed
I have been hovering around this thread wanting to comment and not done so as more illustrious people have been all for windows defender 
My 2p's worth is that Windows Defender(WD) is a pretty good package, it used to be flippin awful which is probably why I am not a fan and don't use it, but from memory one of the biggest current concerns is that Microsoft don't issue out enough regular updates. This means if a new malware/ransomware/virus comes out, they may not update WD quickly enough to cover you, though they will eventually do it.
BU(yes I know you shouldn't start a sentence with but) you get what you pay for, which is £0 and it is, when it has the updates active, a great system. You will find that all free virus systems have this issue, as if you don't give them cash, they aren't as eager to work their behinds off to push new updates.
I also think windows defender, or at least last time I used it, was not overly friendly to the new comer to virus protection, there are better free scanners out there, I think some of my friends use Avira and rave about it, and how easy it is to use.
Personally, with your PC probably holding at least some personal data, I view it that if your concerned about security, it maybe better to pay for a solution. I have used McAfee and Norton over previous years, but am thinking of using Bitdefender this time round as it has good benchmarks and is much cheaper than either Norton or McAfee, and I have a friend who works for a cybersecurity company who absolutely detests Norton, and says he trusts Kaspersky as far as he can spit Putin out, but that could just be his political views
Essentially it comes down to you. Windows defender will keep you perfectly safe IF you are a good internet user and avoid dodgy sites, and don't click on random emails. Then again if you are that good, why bother with antivirus at all
Just my £8.72's worth of thoughts.
My 2p's worth is that Windows Defender(WD) is a pretty good package, it used to be flippin awful which is probably why I am not a fan and don't use it, but from memory one of the biggest current concerns is that Microsoft don't issue out enough regular updates. This means if a new malware/ransomware/virus comes out, they may not update WD quickly enough to cover you, though they will eventually do it.
BU(yes I know you shouldn't start a sentence with but) you get what you pay for, which is £0 and it is, when it has the updates active, a great system. You will find that all free virus systems have this issue, as if you don't give them cash, they aren't as eager to work their behinds off to push new updates.
I also think windows defender, or at least last time I used it, was not overly friendly to the new comer to virus protection, there are better free scanners out there, I think some of my friends use Avira and rave about it, and how easy it is to use.
Personally, with your PC probably holding at least some personal data, I view it that if your concerned about security, it maybe better to pay for a solution. I have used McAfee and Norton over previous years, but am thinking of using Bitdefender this time round as it has good benchmarks and is much cheaper than either Norton or McAfee, and I have a friend who works for a cybersecurity company who absolutely detests Norton, and says he trusts Kaspersky as far as he can spit Putin out, but that could just be his political views
Essentially it comes down to you. Windows defender will keep you perfectly safe IF you are a good internet user and avoid dodgy sites, and don't click on random emails. Then again if you are that good, why bother with antivirus at all
Just my £8.72's worth of thoughts.
SpyderTracks
We love you Ukraine
Windows defender gets daily signature updates like any AV package.I have been hovering around this thread wanting to comment and not done so as more illustrious people have been all for windows defender
My 2p's worth is that Windows Defender(WD) is a pretty good package, it used to be flippin awful which is probably why I am not a fan and don't use it, but from memory one of the biggest current concerns is that Microsoft don't issue out enough regular updates. This means if a new malware/ransomware/virus comes out, they may not update WD quickly enough to cover you, though they will eventually do it.
BU(yes I know you shouldn't start a sentence with but) you get what you pay for, which is £0 and it is, when it has the updates active, a great system. You will find that all free virus systems have this issue, as if you don't give them cash, they aren't as eager to work their behinds off to push new updates.
I also think windows defender, or at least last time I used it, was not overly friendly to the new comer to virus protection, there are better free scanners out there, I think some of my friends use Avira and rave about it, and how easy it is to use.
Personally, with your PC probably holding at least some personal data, I view it that if your concerned about security, it maybe better to pay for a solution. I have used McAfee and Norton over previous years, but am thinking of using Bitdefender this time round as it has good benchmarks and is much cheaper than either Norton or McAfee, and I have a friend who works for a cybersecurity company who absolutely detests Norton, and says he trusts Kaspersky as far as he can spit Putin out, but that could just be his political views
Essentially it comes down to you. Windows defender will keep you perfectly safe IF you are a good internet user and avoid dodgy sites, and don't click on random emails. Then again if you are that good, why bother with antivirus at all
Just my £8.72's worth of thoughts.
At the end of the day the best Anti virus is you. Also the biggest threat to your computer is youI have been hovering around this thread wanting to comment and not done so as more illustrious people have been all for windows defender
My 2p's worth is that Windows Defender(WD) is a pretty good package, it used to be flippin awful which is probably why I am not a fan and don't use it, but from memory one of the biggest current concerns is that Microsoft don't issue out enough regular updates. This means if a new malware/ransomware/virus comes out, they may not update WD quickly enough to cover you, though they will eventually do it.
BU(yes I know you shouldn't start a sentence with but) you get what you pay for, which is £0 and it is, when it has the updates active, a great system. You will find that all free virus systems have this issue, as if you don't give them cash, they aren't as eager to work their behinds off to push new updates.
I also think windows defender, or at least last time I used it, was not overly friendly to the new comer to virus protection, there are better free scanners out there, I think some of my friends use Avira and rave about it, and how easy it is to use.
Personally, with your PC probably holding at least some personal data, I view it that if your concerned about security, it maybe better to pay for a solution. I have used McAfee and Norton over previous years, but am thinking of using Bitdefender this time round as it has good benchmarks and is much cheaper than either Norton or McAfee, and I have a friend who works for a cybersecurity company who absolutely detests Norton, and says he trusts Kaspersky as far as he can spit Putin out, but that could just be his political views
Essentially it comes down to you. Windows defender will keep you perfectly safe IF you are a good internet user and avoid dodgy sites, and don't click on random emails. Then again if you are that good, why bother with antivirus at all
Just my £8.72's worth of thoughts.
No anti virus on planet earth can protect your computer from you so it's better to learn how to avoid the threats yourself than relay on Anti Viruses to do so
WD being free is more a why not than anything
TonyCarter
VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
But Windows Defender is not 'free', it's part of Windows 10 that you (presumably) paid for!I have been hovering around this thread wanting to comment and not done so as more illustrious people have been all for windows defender
My 2p's worth is that Windows Defender(WD) is a pretty good package, it used to be flippin awful which is probably why I am not a fan and don't use it, but from memory one of the biggest current concerns is that Microsoft don't issue out enough regular updates. This means if a new malware/ransomware/virus comes out, they may not update WD quickly enough to cover you, though they will eventually do it.
BU(yes I know you shouldn't start a sentence with but) you get what you pay for, which is £0 and it is, when it has the updates active, a great system. You will find that all free virus systems have this issue, as if you don't give them cash, they aren't as eager to work their behinds off to push new updates.
I also think windows defender, or at least last time I used it, was not overly friendly to the new comer to virus protection, there are better free scanners out there, I think some of my friends use Avira and rave about it, and how easy it is to use.
Personally, with your PC probably holding at least some personal data, I view it that if your concerned about security, it maybe better to pay for a solution. I have used McAfee and Norton over previous years, but am thinking of using Bitdefender this time round as it has good benchmarks and is much cheaper than either Norton or McAfee, and I have a friend who works for a cybersecurity company who absolutely detests Norton, and says he trusts Kaspersky as far as he can spit Putin out, but that could just be his political views
Essentially it comes down to you. Windows defender will keep you perfectly safe IF you are a good internet user and avoid dodgy sites, and don't click on random emails. Then again if you are that good, why bother with antivirus at all
Just my £8.72's worth of thoughts.
The problem with a lot of the 'premium' products is their never-ending quest to the the #1 choice (to make the most money) by adding almost useless features that protect very few users and add greater overhead/system choking to the products.
You also have to really trust the provider too, as they'll have access to the lowest level of your system, and may tie the install in so tightly that if/when you decide to uninstall it 'conveniently' forgets to remove everything and you end up with no internet!
No piece of software is going to stop the most vulnerable/gullible user from sending their life savings to a Elbonian scammer, as they'll simply ignore all the warnings and click 'accept' everywhere...or they'll be so desperate to receive their lottery win that they'll follow the instructions to switch off their AV/security product.
I didn't buy the OS for the anti virus. it coming along with it and being usable is a bonus I guess. That's why I say free
You just saved everyone from another wall of txt from me on if Windows Defender was free or not
I would just like to say one thing. Windows Defender, if you are a safe user is MORE than enough package for you, it has everything you need, BUT I will also say that we are all human and can make mistakes, and with more and more personal data finding it's way onto PC's, I personally feel I want something that does a little bit more for those moments when my mind isn't in gear and I click on that link to claim my 20million Nigerian dollars from the prince spaceman.
Not done it yet, but am getting on in years, and it genuinely worries me that I will fall foul to something as scammers are getting more and more complex in their methods. Right now I wonder about all these people who get caught by ransomware, and what they are doing to get caught(actually scratch that I don't want to think about it
), but I am concerned that they will get better, or I get worse, and fall foul to something.Maybe I should do what Martinr36 suggests and just unplug
TonyCarter
VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
No need. Just keep your dodgy browsing to a throwaway VM!Maybe I should do what Martinr36 suggests and just unplug
ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
There is a lot more to Defender than just anti-virus. It contains extensive exploit protections, so that any malware that gets in can't screw things up. It contains very good 'ransomware protection' which lets you control what apps can write to sensitive drives. Defender is a very good tool and light-years ahead of what it used to be.
I'll be honest here and admit that whilst Defender (and all the exploit and ransomware protection behind it) is my anti-virus tool, I use Comodo Firewall as my main security. One reason is that it's free, but the Comodo firewall is much more configurable and flexible than the Windows firewall.
The main reason I use it however, is because it's built on containment technology. Every unknown process runs in a sandbox (known as 'containment') from where it has access to no real resources. Any resource the process accesses whilst running in containment is virtualised so that the process doesn't know it's being restricted by a sandbox.
Malware detection and signature updates is old technology. No detection system can ever catch zero-day malware. Containment is the future. It can protect against zero-day (even zero-second) malware, not by trying to detect it but by making it impotent.
I'll be honest here and admit that whilst Defender (and all the exploit and ransomware protection behind it) is my anti-virus tool, I use Comodo Firewall as my main security. One reason is that it's free, but the Comodo firewall is much more configurable and flexible than the Windows firewall.
The main reason I use it however, is because it's built on containment technology. Every unknown process runs in a sandbox (known as 'containment') from where it has access to no real resources. Any resource the process accesses whilst running in containment is virtualised so that the process doesn't know it's being restricted by a sandbox.
Malware detection and signature updates is old technology. No detection system can ever catch zero-day malware. Containment is the future. It can protect against zero-day (even zero-second) malware, not by trying to detect it but by making it impotent.
DaelpixPhotos
Super Star
Bought my first PC in 2013 and always used Bullguard.
Some months ago it started to slow my PC down, so I got rid of it, so now running Windows Defender and I've noticed some difference.
@Student200 My advice is just to use the latter, you shouldn't have any problems with it as long as you don't go on any dodgy sites.
Some months ago it started to slow my PC down, so I got rid of it, so now running Windows Defender and I've noticed some difference.
@Student200 My advice is just to use the latter, you shouldn't have any problems with it as long as you don't go on any dodgy sites.
check a channel called the pc security channel on you tube, they run all the anti virus and male ware programs , test them all , interesting if you like that stuff like me . After my own research i went with bit defender total security , scored the best results in blocking things from what i have seen . Of course this is just my opinion . But from what i have seen i do not use the built in one anymore . Just my choice
ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
You have to take all such comparison sites with a very sceptical mind. Everyone has an agenda, so what's the agenda of the people making these comparison videos?
Are they being paid or sponsored in any way by any of the companies whose products they are 'testing'? If they are, and TBH most probably are, that's how they live, then the validity of their results is called into question.
Are the tests that they do fair and valid? What are they actually testing and is it a valid test? For example, many anti-virus products are compared based on the number of detections they make. This is a nonsense measure. It's incredibly easy to increase the number of items detected by detecting things that you probably don't want but which are actually harmless (like tracking cookies) and flagging them as 'malware'. Others test by injecting some malware and seeing how many products detect it. This is also a nonsense measure. No detection tool will ever detect zero-day malware simply because it doesn't recognise it - we already know that heuristics gives way too many false positives to be useful here. So what does it matter if product A doesn't detect malware X when product B does? Neither will detect zero-day malware Z when it arrives!
Just because someone with an impressive looking website or YouTube video says that product A is the best anti-malware tool on the planet doesn't make it true. Nor should you automatically trust it. If all websites and all YouTube videos recommend the same product then you can probably have more faith that it really is the best. But look around, every comparison site will recommend a different product - because everyone has an agenda.
Which is why, if your sensible, you will check multiple sources, and ensure tge sites you look at take data from multiple sources themselves.
Totaly agree with the view that sites skew data. Saw a site yesterday that raved about Norton, put it #1 in everything, but if you bothered to check, they had 4 different adds for Norton, on their site, with no other AV provided.
The long and the short is do what you feel comfortable with, non of them will prevent your system being infected if you are careless