Anti Virus
Ross1874
Posts: 1,469
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What is the best anti virus to use these days?, i used the free version of avast on my old machine but looking at reviews for it now it looks like alot of people are having issues with it using to much memory, my pc is running windows 8 and has 6GB of ram, i have malware bytes installed and use windows firewall so im guessing something like avast internet security suite wouldn't be necessary
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Its free. Install it & forget it. It updates in the back ground so no need to update
Windows firewall is not AV, but if you are using Windows 8, it comes with Defender/|MSE anti virus pre-installed.
There really is no need to install a 3rd party AV prog in W8.
I also run Malwarebytes and superantispyware, they all work well together and cover most bases, as we have discussed may times on these forums.
To check all is on and ok, go to
Control Panel > System and Security > Action Centre > Security and check that Virus protection and Spyware are on.
On what basis do you say stay away from Norton. I have used it many years, and it has never let me down. It doesn't get to be the top brand by being rubbish!
I know it is not the cheapest, but a 3 user license is only c. £50per annum. Norton 360 is a fully integrated package that works together well.
Remember TANSTAAFL!
And there are plenty of people who have nightmares of Norton from the bad old days so for us its like recommending Jimmy Saville for child minder duties (no..no..and thrice NO)
When I first got my laptop I used the 60 day version of Norton Internet Security that was already installed on my machine. The amount of problems I had with it and after blocking my internet and not allowing me to do anything, enough was enough for me and uninstalled it. Now if I have to do reinstall of my computer Norton is the first thing that get removed off my computer and I use Avira AV free and Windows Firewall, also backup by Malwarebytes.
If you want a firewall and AV complete their is a free version of Comodo Internet Security which is very good.
They are a software company. Independent security guys are the ones with more to gain by finding, publicising and fixing the same holes criminals find.
I get Kaspersky 3 pc subscription free with Baaaaaclays and it does a perfectly fine job.
As other say, McAfee and Norton, I always remove even if there's a free trial.
Releasing a modern OS without holes....every developer might as well just switch off their systems and go home theres no way any company can produce absolutely perfect code thats 100% hack proof, even the fruity one has trouble with security at times
I used Norton in 2003 and it was hell. It kept letting viruses in and despite keeping it updated all the time the computer was still hit by the Blaster worm and several other viruses. I've fixed several computers that came with Norton installed (PC World specials I guess) and the users were not the best in the technology department I swore off Norton after that experience.
Many holes are caused by software engineers doing fast to deliver bolt ons to prior code by yet another software engineer.
The bigger the team, the more code drivel we seem to get.
Avoid anything that doesn't stop things entering your machine in real time. That rules out many but not all free systems. There's nothing more useless than a free AV telling you that there's 10 different things now running on your machine, and its about to delete 3, leave 2, and quarantine 5 essential programmes. Nothing is perfect - but something that says this site is known to be dangerous, and this site is trying to download a hackkit and I have blocked it before it got in and downloaded 10 mates, is pretty essential given the sort of nasty stuff thats turning up in adverts on all sorts of sites. And then have something like superantispyware and malwarebytes on the machine too to increase your chances of dealing with any issues. They come with cheap paid active modes too - which is another line of defence if you find a AV that works happily with them.
If you look here you'll see that everything under the sun has security vulnerabilities. If you think you can write an operating system such as Windows, Mac or Linux that contains zero vulnerabilities and never requires patching get back to me when you're done.
Windows and OS/X are a good distance away.
Obviously RT, IOS, Android and ChromeOS are closer to Linux too.
As with most things, you only tend to read about problems rather than appraisal. Last time I checked Avast was still rated high in terms of the AV comparison sites, so to remove it because other people might have problems seems crazy.
FWIW, one of the highest rated of the paid-for AV solutions is Kaspersky. I'd probably agree with that, but if I told you about all the various faults I get with it in work you would probably wouldn't want to touch it with a 10ft barge pole despite it being great 90% of the time.
Save £14 and get Linux - better value
Macs aren't that overpriced! They're expensive but they're worth it as the hardware is good. They're better than an el cheapo £300 laptop from PC World which is likely to fall apart or snuff it after a year. I've seen some of my friends' Windows laptops held up with Sellotape. It always makes me feel a bit smug
The hardware inside is generally the same as any Windows PC and that's the main part.
Yes but it's of better quality. I have not seen a PC laptop as well built as a Macbook. I've seen people with really cheap PCs and they're held up with Sellotape, have broken keyboards or are ready to snuff it. Maybe more expensive laptops last longer, but it depends on the brand. My dad paid £600 for an Acer laptop in 2010 and the thing snuffed it two years later.
Selotape and broken keyboards is just user abuse though so will follow regardless of what computer they have. Believe me there is plenty of Apple gore out there (as a rule of thumb the backstory usually involves spoilt rich kids that dont look after their macbook pro when they take it to uni because their parents will just buy them another one).