Anti virus Question

stevetiler

stevetiler

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Steve
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Hi all,
So my AVG trial ends today so I need to get some virus protection. Is windows defender any good?
I've always used Norton in the past but if Windows Defender is ok I'll use that.
What are peoples opinions please?

Steve
 
Windows defender is fine.

Most of the time, I just book a Linux live USB and do a virus scan that way.

Isnt AVG free, well free?
 
Windows Defender is fine if you practice safe browsing (i.e. don't visit dodgy sites, and do install an adblocker).

I chucked third-party AV/antimalware about five years ago (when AVG went from a lightweight AV program to being a massive intrusive "security suite") and haven't looked back, with the one caveat that I do a manual scan of my systems about once a month, with MalwareBytes.
 
Get AVAST free antivirus,used it for years and it automatically pops up a warning if you click a dodgy link.Download it from their website
 
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+1 for Avast. As an insurance, I scan any downloaded file with Malwarebytes too before opening/running it. I also do a quick scan with Malwarebytes about once a month. So far, everything is clean and green.

Anthony.
 
Avast is about the best out of the free options that offer realtime protection, statistically.
http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php

I was shocked to see how AVG practically takes over machines, hijacking search results etc. I wouldn't let it near spitting distance of my PCs.

I tend to just run regular scans with the free version of MalwareBytes and practice safe browsing habits - JS turned off/plugins disabled on sites by default. Although it did flag a .cmd file I'd written that copied a file from a UNC share as malware!
 
I've recently gone through this, there is a thread somewhere. In my experience avast detection of especially email was not adequate enough. ESET was the best of the bunch and caught stuff the others all missed.

Saying that as windows 10 is out next week I'll wait and see what the compatibility will be and what is best then.
 
Already posted :)
 
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I've used panda antivirus for a few years, having used AVG before that. You barely know that it's there as it doesn't seem to take up much resources and according to the link that @afasoas put above it looks like it does a good job. You can get the free version here: link
 
FWIW and for anyone else who read this Windows Defender does the job nice and quietly in the background with no fanfare and no self promotion. It is free, created by Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows operating system (guess who know a thing or two about microsoft operating systems?) and if it didn't work you can bet your life Microsoft's competitors would have a field day with pointing out the problems.

The reason Microsoft don't promote it more heavily is that there were already a number of established third party AV vendors and they don't want to put them out of business. The reason MS brought it out at all was because of criticism of Windows security.
 
sirch said:
FWIW and for anyone else who read this Windows Defender does the job nice and quietly in the background with no fanfare and no self promotion. It is free, created by Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows operating system (guess who know a thing or two about microsoft operating systems?) and if it didn't work you can bet your life Microsoft's competitors would have a field day with pointing out the problems.

The reason Microsoft don't promote it more heavily is that there were already a number of established third party AV vendors and they don't want to put them out of business. The reason MS brought it out at all was because of criticism of Windows security.
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Yes and no, there are differences between the products and consistently in tests the Microsoft product does not have the best detection rate. Just a practical test highlighted that the detection rates are very different between any of the vendors. Defender for example doesn't do email unless you write the attachment to disk AND access it.
 
dejongj said:
Yes and no, there are differences between the products and consistently in tests the Microsoft product does not have the best detection rate. Just a practical test highlighted that the detection rates are very different between any of the vendors. Defender for example doesn't do email unless you write the attachment to disk AND access it.
Click to expand...

And how is an attachment going to do any damage unless you access it?
 
sirch said:
And how is an attachment going to do any damage unless you access it?
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You can forward it to others without realising ;) And I don't like storing infections to be woken up at some point, security is like a layer of onions, the more layers you remove the more vulnerability is left.
 
I'm using AVAST now and it works fine. Before that I used AVG for years. The only problems I have ever had in many years of internet use have been self inflicted; I clicked Yes instead of No. Both these free antiiviruses worked well with no (as far as I could see) impact on performance.

Just had a quick look and I could be wrong but it appears the free AVG is only available as a trial.

Dave
 
ESET is a really good paid one and has a much better detection rate than Microsoft Defender/Security Essentials
 
Kaspersky gets consistently high results in independent tests :)
 
Tringa said:
I'm using AVAST now and it works fine. Before that I used AVG for years. The only problems I have ever had in many years of internet use have been self inflicted; I clicked Yes instead of No. Both these free antiiviruses worked well with no (as far as I could see) impact on performance.

Just had a quick look and I could be wrong but it appears the free AVG is only available as a trial.

Dave
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AVG is always free. There are pay versions but you can always revert to the free one once the trial time is up.
 
Norton I found was memory hungry as is Bit Defender. AVG was hard to remove from my computer so just use free Avast which seems to work ok for me.
 
gramps said:
From your link.
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AAH! this figure often means, on a giveaway site, that the "looker" don`t want that particular Programme and would prefer Programme A or B or C etc. and does not reflect the ability of this Software!!!
 
stryvya said:
AAH! this figure often means, on a giveaway site, that the "looker" don`t want that particular Programme and would prefer Programme A or B or C etc. and does not reflect the ability of this Software!!!
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But it is just an older version of bit defender re packed isn't it? Why not just go for the real thing?
 
I use Avast free but with only the file protection turned on since almost anything else slows down my surfing.

My router is my first defence and is completely stealthed so no external pings can find it.

There is virtually nothing on my desktop except for the minimum of programs.

Everything else is contained in a plug in SSD which is encrypted with TrueCrypt.

Until it is opened it looks like a brand new unformatted HDD so is unlikely to be attacked by any virus (if it got that far)

Once opened it contains the Virtual Machines which I run all my programs in for extra security.

That way even if a virus should get on one of the machines it can't get any further.

Also I don't click on dodgy e-mails and only visit sites I know are secure (such as this one).

That's what I do on my surfing PC (this one).

I have a faster i7 PC for editing photos and rendering DVDs which operates in much the same way but is seldom connected to the Internet.

Also all my pics videos etc are offline in external HDDs to protect them in case of a breach.
.
 
stevetiler said:
Hi all,
So my AVG trial ends today so I need to get some virus protection. Is windows defender any good?
I've always used Norton in the past but if Windows Defender is ok I'll use that.
What are peoples opinions please?

Steve
Click to expand...

No matter how good any anti-virus software is, even Norton, AVG, McFee, and all others, no matter how good they are, they will always still work as best as they can, and still fail a little bit. The more they work and the less they fail is better. (It would be very odd if an anti-virus software claim it is 100% good.)

Kaspersky is a very good one, it came out on top of the most computing magazine's tests. They reported that software works as best as it can, and although it did fail a very little, but comparing to the other brand names, which did fail to stop quite a bit of more viruses. It was awarded by magazines like three times in a row so far.

Windows Defender is Microsoft's own. Microsoft is busy working on improving next versions of Windows, by spending more time and money on research into making a better Windows. Any other anti-virus companies, like Norton, AVG, McFee, Kaspersky are more focused on spending more time and money on researching into anti-virus, so are more better than Windows Defender.
 
ESET for me - small footprint and high detection rate assuming you keep it up to date. It's a paid option, but agree with some of the other posts above - proper AV/security is worth paying for!
 
Interestingly, if you ask security experts, antivirus is not on the list of the top 5 things you should do to keep safe online.

Beutler_Google_Security-practices-v6.png


Source
 
I don't think they are mutually exclusive. If I do all on the right, which I do where possible, I still need anti-virus as well. The stream of nasties every single day is just amazing, and the reputation damage of passing it on is worse then the actual infection.
 
My email only reads text messages so cant get a virus... I dont open anyhting from anyone unless verified who sent it and what it is..... I havent had a virus in over 20 yrs..... if I have and I dont know about it.. then i dont really care :)
 
KIPAX said:
My email only reads text messages so cant get a virus... I dont open anyhting from anyone unless verified who sent it and what it is..... I havent had a virus in over 20 yrs..... if I have and I dont know about it.. then i dont really care :)
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Which is exactly how the large botnets operate. You wouldn't know ;)
 
dejongj said:
Which is exactly how the large botnets operate. You wouldn't know ;)
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what is? they need an open port.. I have checked for open ports and I do have a firewall so nagh nagh
 
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