Anti-virus security software that’s right for you.

[New World Explorer]

Hi folks,

 

I am planning to change my pc security software currently running Kaspersky.

Why I want to ditch Kaspersky?

Well it's got a lot of intrusive pop-outs while I am banking, bit annoying. I want to try something different.

Do you have any recommendations (paid versions)  on solid performer? (I really don't want any Trojans etc on my computer etc)

[Tortuga]

I've used Trend Mico on my PC for years. It use to be a leader, I don't know how it compares with other software now.

[Qapla]

I use Windows Defender along with the paid version of Malwarebytes - has worked just fine for several years now.

[New World Explorer]

2 minutes ago, Qapla said:

I use Windows Defender along with the paid version of Malwarebytes - has worked just fine for several years now.

I am actually looking into paid version of Malwarebytes ..thanks John

[Vinnie]

I used to like Kaspersky until it turned into a resource hog like Mcaffee and Norton.  I found a highly rated antivirus called Avira and I've been using the free version for the last 3 years. The paid version adds other features. I like that its not a resource hog. The free version only has a popup in the bottom right but I know I can ignore it. 

[Dages]

Windows defender is good enough. Malwarebytes free or Spybot to clean once a month and it's ok

[New World Explorer]

2 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

I used to like Kaspersky until it turned into a resource hog like Mcaffee and Norton.  I found a highly rated antivirus called Avira and I've been using the free version for the last 3 years. The paid version adds other features. I like that its not a resource hog. The free version only has a popup in the bottom right but I know I can ignore it. 

I think Norton is "very light" with the latest version

[Musky]

I've used and recommended "Eset Nod32" for years. It has a small footprint and doesn't use a lot of resources.

[Qapla]

In the past I have used Norton and a couple others because the entire "paid" suite was provided at no charge from our Cable provider.

 

However, while using these "good programs" - I still had to deal with several "cleanings" to get rid of infections they did not prevent. That is how I found the MajorGeeks website. These guys really know their stuff! And, they offer their help for free

 

There was a time they did not recommend the virus protection that came from MicroSoft with Windows. That said, for the past several years, they highly recommend Windows Defender, while now NOT recommending some of their former favorites.

 

Since switching to Windows Defender, I have not experienced any infections.

[Brother_Bliss]

1 hour ago, Qapla said:

Since switching to Windows Defender, I have not experienced any infections.

 

Same here. I have been using nothing but Windows Defender for about 4 or 5 years, and everything is fine.

 

Generally speaking, if you are careful not to open .exe files that strangers send to your email, or venture onto websites where Christians ought not, then you're probably not likely to encounter a virus, imo.

[GeordieGirl]

I, too, have been using Windows Defender forever and I also use Spybot Search and Destroy free version which is set up to do a sweep of my computer everynight after I go to bed (yes, lappie is on 24/7) to pick up anything that Defender might have missed.  I have never paid for security and have never, in 21 years on the internet, had any issues.

[vern]

kaspersky is right up there and trades spots with norton for second place.

I use norton and think its pretty good(might of been merged but you want the one with internet protection)

malwarebytes is always good

majorgeeks can be a good site;  i use it.

Adware Cleaner from bleepingcomputers website is good; along with that website.

second line of defense i use in Winpatrol:  it doesn't let anything change your computer without a popup telling you so.

microsoft for a free virus protection has gotten pretty good.

trendmicro is a decent product.

Vipre is a good low resource virus protection product.

 

 

all don't get 100% protection.
you want realtime scanning and protection

especially anything dealing with the internet.

don't forget your rootkit scans:  Norton has one; malwarebytes; pretty sure kaspersky does.

 

I'm not sure if you can tell microsoft to keep windows auto updated off other then keeping defender current.... if at all possible keeping windows not automaticlly installing stuff is nice;  but its kinda tough now adays....make sure your restore points are active.

[vern]

owe.. by the way.

adware blockers can be useful aswell.
Ghostery helps black add feeds while you're on sites.

adblock some say is good.... i didn't use it.  thought ghostery seemed good. but some say both together catch most things.  atleast speeds up webpages cause the pesky adfeeds don't run free and wild.

[Stavro]

1 hour ago, vern said:

I'm not sure if you can tell microsoft to keep windows auto updated off other then keeping defender current.... if at all possible keeping windows not automaticlly installing stuff is nice;  but its kinda tough now adays....make sure your restore points are active.

 

Windows updates are generally released to eliminate newly discovered security holes. Turning these off invariably makes your computer more vulnerable, not more secure.

[GeordieGirl]

3 hours ago, vern said:

Ghostery helps black add feeds while you're on sites.

 

I use Ghostery .. it's great. It does a great job of blocking ads and you have lots of options of what settings you want.  I don't know if it works with anything but Chrome, which I finally succumbed and switched to after Mozilla Firefox got way above itself, which was a shame because once upon a time, in the earlier days, it was a good browser. 

Edited October 7, 2017 by GeordieGirl

[vern]

2 hours ago, Stavro said:

discovered security holes.

sure...

but the drivers have been causing a lot of havoc for a lot of people who switched windows 7 hardware computers over to windows 10.....  if you wait a little bit they work on the bugs.  plus you might want to tell it to download when you want it to download instead of secretly starting it and installing it.  If you get impatient on a windows patch install you can actually damage your OS so badly that you will need to do a new install.

 

and sometimes you might want to not have the latest graphics drivers cause the old one works just fine.  or microsoft pushes a bad one for your rig and you should actually wait for your motherboard site to tweak it a little for your rig...

anywayz.... microsoft would never push a bad driver upgrade.....
 

[And_Ray]

I use Windows Defender along with the paid version of Malwarebytes - has worked just fine for several years now.

+1 for this combination.
I also use adblock plus extension for Google Chrome.

If you are not aware of the risks on the Internet, no antivirus will save you.
On the other hand, windows defender is just fine if you don't visit fishy websites, don't visit unknown links (which malwarebytes block anyway), and be careful what you install.

Sent from my WAS-LX1 using Tapatalk

[New World Explorer]

1 hour ago, GeordieGirl said:

I use Ghostery .. it's great. It does a great job of blocking ads and you have lots of options of what settings you want.  I don't know if it works with anything but Chrome, which I finally succumbed and switched to after Mozilla Firefox got way above itself, which was a shame because once upon a time, in the earlier days, it was a good browser. 

I wish I knew the difference between Chrome and Firefox? 

[On the huh]

Windows Defender received so much bad reviews for many years.  We use it for the KH laptop.  But I had to convince the non-techy that it is actually good enough.

At home I use one by F-Secure, because I get it free with my internet provider.

[GeordieGirl]

13 minutes ago, Gregexplore said:

I wish I knew the difference between Chrome and Firefox? 

They are different browsers. A browser is how you 'browse'  the Internet on you computer. Microsoft's web browser is Internet Explorer; Firefox and Chrome are just alternative browsers, Chrome being owned by Google and Firefox is owned by Mozilla. 

BTW, Ghostery is an add-on,  not a program you download. 

Edited October 7, 2017 by GeordieGirl

[New World Explorer]

5 minutes ago, GeordieGirl said:

They are different browsers. A browser is how you 'browse'  the Internet on you computer. Microsoft's web browser is Internet Explorer; Firefox and Chrome are just alternative browsers, Chrome being owned by Google and Firefox is owned by Mozilla. 

BTW, Ghostery is an add-on,  not a program you download. 

LOLLIPOPS..... I know that LOL .... but can’t differentiate under the hood differences 

[And_Ray]

1 hour ago, Gregexplore said:

LOLLIPOPS..... I know that LOL .... but can’t differentiate under the hood differences 

Many complain on google chrome using way too much RAM. While this is true, if you have many GB's of RAM in the computer, 4GB at least, 8GB would be best, you will have the smoothest browsing with google chrome.

Under the hood, the main difference is that Mozilla is an open source system, developed by the community, and chrome is not open source, developed exclusively by google.

For the more techy, Chrome uses what is called V8 javascript engine, which is the best javascript engine to date. The engine compiles the code directly into machine code and is optimized and re-optimized at runtime based on the execution structure of the code.

On the other hand, Mozilla uses the Spidermonkey javascript engine, developed by Mozilla. The main difference is that this engine first compiles the code into intermediate language that is then interpreted.

Under normal circumstances, the difference in execution of the code is negligible. And, Google Chrome is waaaay more useful and friendly for web developers. 

P.S. Javascript is the development language that makes the web as we know it possible. Without javacript, web pages would be static lists of text and images with minimal styling and no interaction whatsoever. (if you wanna see an example, search for a look of a webpage in the 90's)

Edited October 7, 2017 by And_Ray

[New World Explorer]

12 minutes ago, And_Ray said:

Many complain on google chrome using way too much RAM. While this is true, if you have many GB's of RAM in the computer, 4GB at least, 8GB would be best, you will have the smoothest browsing with google chrome.

Under the hood, the main difference is that Mozilla is an open source system, developed by the community, and chrome is not open source, developed exclusively by google.

For the more techy, Chrome uses what is called V8 javascript engine, which is the best javascript engine to date. The engine compiles the code directly into machine code and is optimized and re-optimized at runtime based on the execution structure of the code.

On the other hand, Mozilla uses the Spidermonkey javascript engine, developed by Mozilla. The main difference is that this engine first compiles the code into intermediate language that is then interpreted.

Under normal circumstances, the difference in execution of the code is negligible. And, Google Chrome is waaaay more useful and friendly for web developers. 

P.S. Javascript is the development language that makes the web as we know it possible. Without javacript, web pages would be static lists of text and images with minimal styling and no interaction whatsoever. (if you wanna see an example, search for a look of a webpage in the 90's)

Andrej thank you for enlighment 

Would Spidermonkey JavaScript made browser more open for virus attacks?

[And_Ray]

1 hour ago, Gregexplore said:

Andrej thank you for enlighment 

Would Spidermonkey JavaScript made browser more open for virus attacks?

Well no, not really. They are just different engines that power the different browsers and the difference is in the execution of the code and it's speed and optimization, rather than the functionality. They all have to follow a very detailed specs of how the language should work. That specification is made from a third-party organization called Ecma-international and the spec is ECMA-262. Anyone can develop his own javascript engine following the specs.

[Stavro]

18 hours ago, vern said:

but the drivers have been causing a lot of havoc for a lot of people who switched windows 7 hardware computers over to windows 10.....

 

That was true during the public beta and first few months of release, but that hasn't been a problem for nearly two years.

 

19 hours ago, vern said:

If you get impatient on a windows patch install you can actually damage your OS so badly that you will need to do a new install.

 

Reboot your computer into safe mode (spam F8 before the Windows logo appears), roll back to the most recent restore point, and reboot back into normal mode. But even this problem is almost unheard of if you let the updates run automatically.

 

In a corporate environment is is typically best practice to keep auto-updates off, but this is countered by a very aggressive firewall and antivirus strategy. For any home user, any theoretical benefits of an errant driver upgrade is vastly outweighed by the protection against exploits that viruses and hackers are already using.