PC Security for Novice user

oliveoil54

Anyone recommend a free security system which will work in the background with the minimum of user input?

My Ma-in-Law's free Mc Afee 90 day trial has expired, & she needs a similar replacement which just works. Her knowledge is basic & thats understating it, getting on the internet at all is a major achievement for her, so anything that keeps popping up & asking her questions she doesnt understand, will only confuse her. She wont ever do any banking etc its just to watch films & online tv or look at the newspapers or her favorite sites.

Really appreciate a quick reply as she has no protection at the moment.

closed

http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/

http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507

Jakeandme

Microsoft security essentials (free) should be fine with windows Firewall enabled, or Avast (free) with Windows Firewall IMHO.

Download from File Hippo.

TakeThis

When installing Avast, you might wish to remove the options to install Google Chrome and make it your/her default Browser and also to send anonymous information to it's servers.

So, download Avast, remove McAfee, re-boot, install Avast.

marrittm

Jakeandme wrote: »

Microsoft security essentials (free) should be fine with windows Firewall enabled, or Avast (free) with Windows Firewall IMHO.

Download from File Hippo.

i agree i have been using microsoft security essentials since its release and i have no issues with it at all, long as you keep it updated and scan once in a while its very easy to maintain and manage.

closed

uses a lot of ram amongst other things

oliveoil54

Which one uses a lot of ram? One of her problems is that she doesnt realise that her pc may be suddenly going slow because the security is scanning or downloading in the background, so she starts clicking on loads of things & the system quite often crashes.

Also want one that I can set up to update & scan auto every day for her so she doesnt need to do anything at all. Is Avast really simple enough to use?

You have no idea how bad she is at learning how to use a PC & the internet, all I want to do is just make her pc safe. Wish she'd never bought the damn thing, as its caused more work for me as i'm the only one in the family who is reasonably internet savvy.

Intend to install malwarebytes as well but I will scan that for her when I'm visiting her. I use avira but she'd never cope with that.

What I want avoid is panic tel calls from her when she gets occasional pop ups telling her she has a virus etc, which could be nothing ie - false positives.

Thanks for the reminder re McAffee being a pain to get rid of just using uninstall, you do have to use their tool.

Once again many thanks for your advice will prob choose the one with the least ram usage, but Microsoft security comes above avast in Martin's security rankings? Which is the easiest to use & uses the least ram?

closed

mse uses more than avast

there's a speedup sticky thread above if it's slow.

it's not necessary to scan every day or every week, they are resident scanners and will pick up any infection on access.

the mse guide to free antivirus isn't based on any independent AV tests I'm aware of, it's just a list of free software - more "you can get this for free", than this is the best free one, the best detection, the lightest on resources, the least intrusive

the free version of malwarebytes comes with a free 14 day trial of the full version - probably not a good idea to accept this option during installation

TakeThis

oliveoil54 wrote: »

Which one uses a lot of ram? One of her problems is that she doesnt realise that her pc may be suddenly going slow because the security is scanning or downloading in the background, so she starts clicking on loads of things & the system quite often crashes.

Also want one that I can set up to update & scan auto every day for her so she doesnt need to do anything at all. Is Avast really simple enough to use?

You have no idea how bad she is at learning how to use a PC & the internet, all I want to do is just make her pc safe. Wish she'd never bought the damn thing, as its caused more work for me as i'm the only one in the family who is reasonably internet savvy.

Intend to install malwarebytes as well but I will scan that for her when I'm visiting her. I use avira but she'd never cope with that.

What I want avoid is panic tel calls from her when she gets occasional pop ups telling her she has a virus etc, which could be nothing ie - false positives.

Thanks for the reminder re McAffee being a pain to get rid of just using uninstall, you do have to use their tool.

Once again many thanks for your advice will prob choose the one with the least ram usage, but Microsoft security comes above avast in Martin's security rankings? Which is the easiest to use & uses the least ram?

Next time you are there, install TeamViewer or similar on both PCs. Tell her just to double click on the icon and to report the passcode. Enter it on your TeamViewer interface and you are in.
Then you can solve the problems without having to move off your armchair.


How much RAM is currently installed?

TakeThis

closed wrote: »

mse uses more than avast

there's a speedup sticky thread above if it's slow.

it's not necessary to scan every day or every week, they are resident scanners and will pick up any infection on access.

the mse guide to free antivirus isn't based on any independent AV tests I'm aware of, it's just a list of free software - more "you can get this for free", than this is the best free one, the best detection, the lightest on resources.

the free version of malwarebytes comes with a free 14 day trial of the full version - probably not a good idea to accept this option during installation

Any reason why not?

closed

more bloat, more potential for popups and phone calls in a panic, and hardly worth it for 14 days realtime protection