Must you pay for good virus protection?

wasapi

Penultimate Amazing
wasapi
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
17,286
I am trying to find a good anti-virus program. The Norton that came with the computer has expired.

Awhile ago, on a different laptop, I downloaded a free AVG program, and as I recall, it worked well. But I want to make sure I'm well protected and I was hoping someone here could advise me. If you really do get better protection from a paid service, then I will.

Sorry, I'm just really bad things like this! Thanks.
 
You don't, realistically. AVG works fine and so does Avast.

I use neither because AVG annoyed the bleep out of me with notices to upgrade/etc etc, while Avast was a resource hog.

Using Window's Defender now, something I thought I'd never say. I don't go to suspect web sites or download suspect files. Knock on wood all seems well.
 
What operating system? If it's Windows, which version?

You don't need to pay, but the paid versions do have some features you may find worthwhile. See below.

Generally you should definitely have some kind of virus protection on Windows. Windows Defender is free and comes with the current windows (and I think some form of it has come with every version since Vista or Win 7, maybe even XP). It's not too bad, but I usually recommend to back it up with something like Malwarebytes, AVG, or SuperAntiSpyware. I believe they all still have free versions, but the paid versions usually offer more options, the chief one being active monitoring. Active monitoring can help stop a virus or malware before it infects your system, as opposed to finding and removing it during a periodic scan after you've been infected. Generally, I've found that Windows Defender plus one of the others gives you pretty good protection. On my wife and kids machines I use Windows defender plus Malwarebytes.

On a Mac it's less likely that you would get some kind of malware, but still possible. I know a lot of Mac users don't run virus protection, but I've also had to give some of them a copy of Malwarebytes on a USB stick when they did get caught. So it's up to you. Again, I'd start with Malwarebytes.

On Unix/Linix or anything else you probably don't need virus protection at all.
 
Unhelpful answer: Run Linux--it's free!

Hopefully more helpful answer:As far as I know, Windows Defender, which is on my default in Windows 10, is pretty good.

I'd also recommend using a ad blocker on your browser, since a common infection source these days is compromised ad servers. The people running the servers usually aren't malicious, but sometimes malicious actors can take over a legitmate account on one of these ad serving networks and use them to serve up malware.

When reading emails, do not click on links on emails from people you don't know. And even if the email is from someone you do know, treat the link with care. Usually hovering over the link with your mouse will show where the link goes. For example if the link says it's your bank but the link itself says http://someserver.aefghas.ru/.... it's probably not your bank. Corollary: be familiar with URLs of sites you usually visit. For example, this site is www.internationalskeptics.com. It's not www.internationalsceptics.com nor www.internationalskeptics.org. (That's not foolproof: try http://www.rnicrosoft.com. Now look again. That URL is actually w w w . r n i c r o s o f t . c o m.)

Final tip: Never enter username and password information into a site for which you did not type in the URL yourself. That is, never follow an email link that asks you to log in to a site. Always use whatever means you normally use for connecting with a site, which could be a bookmark in your web browser or simply typing the site's name into the location bar and letting your web browser find it.

These tips will greatly reduce your chance of your computer being infected.
 
Last edited:
Argumemnon said:
No. Just avoid illegal and disreputable websites and you won't even have to worry about it.
Click to expand...

Ads on legitimate sites, hacked sites, and legitimate-looking Google results can all take you to sites where just a visit could infect your system due to a browser vulnerability. OS bugs may allow a worm in directly, though that hasn't happened for a while.

That being said, I don't use virus protection other than free scan-on-demand ones once a month or so, don't update my system regularly (I usually update when there's news of a widespread virus and an update will protect against it), and have never had a virus other than the Blaster worm 14 years ago. Meanwhile, my parents' systems get infected weekly.
 
Modified said:
Ads on legitimate sites, hacked sites, and legitimate-looking Google results can all take you to sites where just a visit could infect your system due to a browser vulnerability.
Click to expand...

So do like me: don't click on them. (ETA: any link you're not 100% sure of)
 
Last edited:
Thank you, everyone. (And yes, it is windows 10)

I will check out the Windows Defender. I also think I'll go back to AVG, because I recall being pleased with it. One thing I liked about it was the ability to watch it scan and then if a site had an issue, it would freeze on each highlighted problem URL, which helped me know which sites to avoid.

Less then 6 months ago, I bought a new Dell laptop. So far, along with other problems, I have gotten at least 5 virus's that crashed the computer. Many frustrated hours have been spent talking to Dell's tech support.

Still under warranty I am going to try and replace it, but in the meantime, I just want the virus's to stop! And yes, I am careful about what I click on, but it still happens!

Thanks again
 
Modified said:
Ads on legitimate sites, hacked sites, and legitimate-looking Google results can all take you to sites where just a visit could infect your system due to a browser vulnerability.
Click to expand...
Ironically, despite what may people might think, adult sex sites are often quite safe, whereas sites you may think are 'safe' (a church or charity website for example) often have much more problems with getting hacked and hosting mal-ware. The reason? Adult web sites often have more money to spend on staff and software to properly secure their system, whereas many charities rely on some non-expert trying to maintain the site in their spare time.

The lesson in this: Stick to surfing pr0n and you'll be safe.
 
I've had Avira on my machines for years, and aside from the daily nag screen, it's terrific.
 
wasapi said:
Thank you, everyone. (And yes, it is windows 10)

I will check out the Windows Defender. I also think I'll go back to AVG, because I recall being pleased with it. One thing I liked about it was the ability to watch it scan and then if a site had an issue, it would freeze on each highlighted problem URL, which helped me know which sites to avoid.

Less then 6 months ago, I bought a new Dell laptop. So far, along with other problems, I have gotten at least 5 virus's that crashed the computer. Many frustrated hours have been spent talking to Dell's tech support.

Still under warranty I am going to try and replace it, but in the meantime, I just want the virus's to stop! And yes, I am careful about what I click on, but it still happens!

Thanks again
Click to expand...

Check out Trend Micro's Housecall. It's free, but it only runs online'. If you want to have it run in the background, they'll sell you a versiopn that does that. I've been using it for 20 years or more. Malwarebytes is another one of my favorites, and they also have a free version.
 
Avast for me. Resource hog? Not that I've noticed. And another vote for Malwarebytes.
 
I strongly recommend against getting AVG. In the early days it was great, but it's become so bloated and intrusive now I just couldn't tolerate it anymore. Also had some serious un-installation problems, which IIRC didn't get solved until I had bought an entirely new drive and re-installed windows from scratch.

Now use Avira.
 
I use both Superantispyware and the Windows Defender. SAS is lightweight, you can put it in "game mode" while gaming, and virus database updates are consistent.

I found AVG to interfere with a number of games; they usually fixed it but it took a while.
 
Argumemnon said:
So do I.
Click to expand...

Then you can't avoid links you are not "100% sure of". Most often I run into fake message boards through Google searches, which have multiple keyword-heavy pages for common programming and OS questions. Those are generally clickbait for ads rather than malware delivery, at least as far as I can tell, but in any case I'm going somewhere I don't want to go.

Also, I'm not 100% sure of this site (and iirc it has had at least one malware issue in the past).
 
wasapi said:
Thank you, everyone. (And yes, it is windows 10)

I will check out the Windows Defender. I also think I'll go back to AVG,
Click to expand...
Pick one. As I understand it (or it used to be) you should NOT use both (ie more than one such program). That can end up being as bad as none as they can interfere with each other.
 
bigred said:
Pick one. As I understand it (or it used to be) you should NOT use both (ie more than one such program). That can end up being as bad as none as they can interfere with each other.
Click to expand...

In Windows 10+ it should automatically disable Windows Defender if you install another AV product. And automatically re-enable it if you uninstall it. I've found it works well as long as you're using product compatible with Windows 10 (doesn't work so well when someone installs an outdated version on a system).
 
Warning: Another stupid question.

As I recall, awhile back I was told that you should not have more then one virus protector on your pc. Truth?
 
wasapi said:
Warning: Another stupid question.

As I recall, awhile back I was told that you should not have more then one virus protector on your pc. Truth?
Click to expand...

Avoid having 2 anti virus progs running at the same time.
Another vote for Malwarebytes. Great for free but we'll worth buying or torrenting.
 
Hellbound said:
In Windows 10+ it should automatically disable Windows Defender if you install another AV product. And automatically re-enable it if you uninstall it.
Click to expand...
What a shock, there's another thing Win 10 doesn't do that it's supposed to. Total POFS.
 
For protection against ad-driven malware I use a hosts file . This works by redirecting calls to (say) nasty.ad.server.com to your own PC (127.0.0.1 aka the loopback address). This also blocks links via google ads which I think a good thing.
 
Wudang said:
For protection against ad-driven malware I use a hosts file . This works by redirecting calls to (say) nasty.ad.server.com to your own PC (127.0.0.1 aka the loopback address). This also blocks links via google ads which I think a good thing.
Click to expand...

I use that too. Between that and the default Windows Defender, Adblocker, and Malware Bytes, I've not seen a hint of an infection for some time. As others have noted, the free anti-virus all get a bit bloaty after a time.

Between good email practices and disabling ads, you eliminate most if not all of the vectors of computer viruses.
 
Another vote for Avast. Free, and it has never been a resource hog.

As for "not clicking on suspect sites", there are several attack vectors that can get you even avoiding those. I have a virus scanner on my system, and haven't had an alert in several years due to ad blockers and being very careful.

But when something eventually slips by (because it only take a moment of being absent minded) I'll be glad I had one and kept it updated.
 
bigred said:
It definitely didn't on mine. Maybe they installed a beta version on my PC. :)
Click to expand...

As I said, it depends on what you install. It should specifically be compatible with Windows 10. I've installed AV on over a hundred different Windows 10 systems, and the only times it's failed to do this are in cases where an outdated AV was installed (on that wasn't listed as Win 10 compatible).

Also note that this won't take effect until the system is restarted.

ETA: Not saying that was your case, just to make clear. I work primarily in a corporate environment, where there's less variation in the configuration of different systems. With the abundance available to home users, there could very well be something in your configuration, the software you used, or something else that caused it to fail. Impossible to say what the actual case was, but under most conditions Defender works as advertised.

As to running multiple AV, it sort of depends. For the layman, no, you should choose one AV program and leave it at that. Using multiples means there's a good chance of conflict, as one might detect various parts of the other as viruses, or they'll conflict in the way they intercept files and scan, and you're at least doubling the performance hit to your system. Not to mention that pretty much all the major vendors hit in the 90%+ detection range (and home users are MUCH more likely to fact easily detected "wide-net" threats as opposed to harder-to-detect targeted attacks).

But that being said, there are some anti-malware products that can be used together, because some of them work differently from others. In general, though, the product documentation (install guide and/or FAQs) should tell you this.
 
Last edited:
FWIW, I'm on WIN7 and using the standard Microsoft Security Essentials with Windows Defender turned off. I read that MSE isn't available with WIN10 so I'd probably be using Defender if I had WIN10. I also have Malwarebytes Free and a few other free malware scanners which I run from time-to-time. None of these free scanners have real-time protection as that would require pay and my MSE already has that covered.
 
William Parcher said:
FWIW, I'm on WIN7 and using the standard Microsoft Security Essentials with Windows Defender turned off. I read that MSE isn't available with WIN10 so I'd probably be using Defender if I had WIN10. I also have Malwarebytes Free and a few other free malware scanners which I run from time-to-time. None of these free scanners have real-time protection as that would require pay and my MSE already has that covered.
Click to expand...

Microsoft created a naming clash between Win7 & Win10. Security Essentials on Win7 is functionally identical to Defender on Win10 (not counting the UI).

The History

Originally Defender was not an anti-virus program, it was a spyware only program for Windows XP (it was based on GIANT AntiSpyware which MS bought). At that time MS also offered a paid AV program as part of Windows Live OneCare.

Some time after VISTA came out they started giving away the AV part of OneCare and renamed it Security Essentials.

Later they bundled the Features of Security Essentials and the old Defender into one package and left it named Security Essentials on Win7 and lower and named it Defender on Win8 and above.

Since then they have slightly modified the Defender name a few times, it is currently called Windows Defender Security Center in Windows Version 10.0.15063.
 
Wudang said:
For protection against ad-driven malware I use a hosts file . This works by redirecting calls to (say) nasty.ad.server.com to your own PC (127.0.0.1 aka the loopback address). This also blocks links via google ads which I think a good thing.
Click to expand...

Just returning the compliment :D

Wudang knows what he's talking about ;)









I just wish people would listen to us.
 
It's not so much that the malware was there but
a) it was injected somewhere in the build/package process
b) the malware was not detected during said build/package process
c) Avast certified it
An AV company that can't detect malware in its own processes has a credibility issue.

By coincidence last night I was helping my daughter with her homework and she kept complaining how slow her PC was. I initially assumed it was the usual wanting a newer faster one but saw it was bad. Tl;dr version somehow Avast had locked the update process so that no updates had been applied for months. The update service wuauserv refused to stop. Much googling later I see fingers pointed at Avast. Removed it and all flows like magic. Defender activated.
FYI I was following the "stuck update" guidelines here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...r/68750ce6-853f-426c-8932-da0870b544f9?auth=1
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom