best free Antivirus best paid Antivirus

[Scott]

I would take what Which says on Antivirus with a pinch of salt.

Cons... it's popular? Really?

Malwarebytes isn't the first line of defence, it's just great for removing anything that's gotten in. I've never used the premium/live scanner options, I trust Defender for that. Malwarebytes is more for the less dangerous, bloatware removal that Defender doesn't always flag.

 

[ubuysa]

Hang on, let's look at how they tested these products....

Spam assaults: We send more than 100 spam emails to our test computer to see how many the virus protection will flag. The best ones will recognise fake correspondence that could hurt your system.

Spam emails are unwanted of course, but spam isn't necessarily malware. Most decent email clients (like Thunderbird) will filter out spam for you in any case.

Online banking: Our members want to know that they are safe when using their computers for internet banking and online shopping. High scoring antivirus suites give that peace of mind.

This is just flannel. How did they test that MITM attacks were prevented? Did they try to intercept a banking transaction? I doubt it.

Ease of use: There's no point in installing security software that's impossible to use, so we also evaluate the ease-of-use of every product. Best Buys score highly for how simple they are to install, schedule and operate.

More flannel. What scheduling tests did they do? How did they compare the different scheduling tools? What 'operational' tests did they do and how did they compare the various operational tools?

Phishing scams: We round up 25 of the freshest phishing scam URLs we can find and attempt to access them. An ineffective security suite will let you access the scam site without so much as a warning.

Phishing protection relies on a URL blacklist - yet new scams/URLs arrive all the time. Nobody should ever rely on a security product to protect them against phishing emails.

Parental controls: Does the package come with the ability to stop younger users accessing websites they shouldn't? And if so, are they too easy to turn off?

Can all be done in Windows if you take the time to setup separate logins for your kids and setup the 'family options' in Windows.

Computer performance: Watertight security is all very well, but if the software slows down your computer to snail-like speeds during a scan, then we're unlikely to recommend it.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Any security system is going to consume resources and equating low overhead with better security is nuts.

Reporting: We like crystal clear explanations of any peculiarities found, with obvious actions to take in a friendly language that won't reduce a user to a bag of nerves.

Really? Like what for example; 'we found something bad and stopped it'?

Ease of use: It's essential that antivirus software is straightforward to install and operate. Our Best Buys will be a doddle to set up and schedule regular scans.

You said that already and this is still meaningless fluff.

And as for this, words fail me....

Pros: We found that Microsoft Windows 8 and 10 have strong built-in security and antivirus features.

Cons: Because of the sheer amount of Windows users, Microsoft’s operating system is frequently made the target of hackers and virus creators. If Windows Defender is your only line of defence, we’d still recommend upgrading to a standalone security program. And PC users with versions of Windows prior to Windows 8 should certainly install separate security software – nowadays, Microsoft Security Essentials just isn't watertight enough.

Windows versions prior to Windows 8.1 are now unsupported by Microsoft (including Windows 8) so even mentioning them in a discussion about security is ridiculous, as is using Microsoft Security Essentials in the same paragraph as Windows Defender - the two are worlds apart. But the most ridiculous thing here is to grudgingly state that Defender is good and then tell people not to use it because Windows is popular is just absurd. 'Don't buy a Ford because criminals like to steal them'.....!

 

[Martinr36]

I've got windows Defender set up and running fine on my 91 year old mothers laptop, which i know i should really upgrade to W10, but i think it would confuse her too much

 

[barlew]

Windows Defender. End of conversation.

 

[nigpd]

I know I'm sticking with Defender and Malwarebytes on my new PCS desktop, after seeing advice on here when I was waiting for my build

 

[Stephen M]

I've got windows Defender set up and running fine on my 91 year old mothers laptop, which i know i should really upgrade to W10, but i think it would confuse her too much

Mum, who is 84, has one of my old laptops, she loves Linux and the only thing which confused her was getting used to a German, QWERTZ, keyboard.

Rarely use W10 but Defender and common sense is far better than any paid for AV. My W10 machine is dual-boot so can do all scans with Clamtk.

 

[barlew]

Mum, who is 84, has one of my old laptops, she loves Linux and the only thing which confused her was getting used to a German, QWERTZ, keyboard.

Rarely use W10 but Defender and common sense is far better than any paid for AV. My W10 machine is dual-boot so can do all scans with Clamtk.

I love the fact your 84 YO mum is a Linux geek.

 

[Stephen M]

I love the fact your 84 YO mum is a Linux geek.

Have posted this before but love the story and worth repeating. She spotted the local PC World had a sale on and knew I wanted some more storage and had a look round.

Some young sales guy tried to flog her a new machine, saying she would have no problem with W10. He just stood there open mouthed when she said: "I use Linux and like that so don't need a Windows laptop. "

 

[ubuysa]

I use Defender for anti-malware protection but I do use Comodo Firewall instead of Windows firewall for two reasons:

1. The Comodo firewall is much easier to configure than the Windows one is.

2. The Comodo Firewall product also contains Comodo Containment, a sandbox in which all unknown processes are run.

Containment is the future of malware defense. Detection is never going to protect against zero-day exploits whilst containment does.

 

[Stephen M]

For very old computers a good woodworm repellant is useful. My old abacus is a computer