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Anti Virus Software

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I am looking for an anti virus software for my laptop. I currently use McAfee LiveSafe Premium Plus. To renew for a year they want £87.99, is this what I should expect?
I am unsure of what the best value-for-money deals are out there? I am a student, are there any deals for students?
I have also seen some free software, are they any any good?
I would really appreciate if anyone could advise me or provide suggestions on this.
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Comments

  • IvanOpinion
    IvanOpinion Posts: 22,136 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    The virus detector built into windows 10 is perfectly adequate for most peoples needs.  No need to spend any money.
    I don't care about your first world problems; I have enough of my own!
  • ballyblack
    ballyblack Posts: 5,135 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Yes get rid of McAfee crap and use the free Windows defender already installed
  • RumRat
    RumRat Posts: 5,004 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Another vote for Windows Defender.
    Drinking Rum before 10am makes you
    A PIRATE
    Not an Alcoholic...!
  • londonice
    londonice Posts: 62 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    Windows defender if you're a casual user, or pay for bitdefender or Kaspersky if you know you might get yourself in trouble through downloading torrents, pirating software, music, dark web etc.!
    Managing well since 2012
    Debt-free
  • Curlyben
    Curlyben Posts: 127 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The FISRT line of defence that malware and virus writers are going to attack is the inbuilt Win 10 one, so unless you don't surf or receive emails you are opening yourself up to untold damage.
    That being said there are a number of free AV that do a far superior job, such as Comodo from the firm that also issue trust certificates that power the internet.
    Signature Space for Rent

    Don't be confused by the low post count on this account, I've been around many years.....
  • IvanOpinion
    IvanOpinion Posts: 22,136 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Curlyben said:
    The FISRT line of defence that malware and virus writers are going to attack is the inbuilt Win 10 one, so unless you don't surf or receive emails you are opening yourself up to untold damage.
    That being said there are a number of free AV that do a far superior job, such as Comodo from the firm that also issue trust certificates that power the internet.
    Sorry curlyben that is just plain wrong and shows a misunderstanding of how antivirus programs work. 

    In a recent test of antivirus detectors Defender actually scored 100% beating several free and paid for items.  As I have pointed out in the past, those at the top of the list can suddenly move to the bottom of the list, and vice versa, depending on the time of day (esp. when they were last updated).
    I don't care about your first world problems; I have enough of my own!
  • booneruk
    booneruk Posts: 735 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    Curlyben said:
    Curlyben said:
    The FISRT line of defence that malware and virus writers are going to attack is the inbuilt Win 10 one, so unless you don't surf or receive emails you are opening yourself up to untold damage.
    That being said there are a number of free AV that do a far superior job, such as Comodo from the firm that also issue trust certificates that power the internet.
    Sorry curlyben that is just plain wrong and shows a misunderstanding of how antivirus programs work. 
    Really, oh thanks for that enlightenment, oh wait, you didn't actually qualify your statement.
    M$ have the largest deployed user base and represent the most diverse target environment out there.
    So what product is more likely to be circumvented and pivoted in an attack scenario ?
    I wont bother waiting.
    So with that scale of user base and sheer size of the company you're going to get a lot of effort focused on keeping it secure and updated from Microsoft (Defender gets updates almost constantly). I'm a long term user of Defender + Brave browser. I torrent, receive plenty of spam/malicious emails etc etc. Never had an issue and I don't have to suffer the ridiculous bloat or slowdowns many of the paid for solutions bring.
  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    (So with that scale of user base and sheer size of the company you're going to get a lot of effort focused on keeping it secure and updated from Microsoft (Defender gets updates almost constantly)

    Why did they not do that in the past then ??
    Pre win 10 defender was rubbish .
  • RumRat
    RumRat Posts: 5,004 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Everyone I know uses WD and no one I know has ever gotten a Virus! So 90's. 
    Used with Malwarebytes (free) it's all the average user needs. Generally most malware is the result of madness..... ;)
    Drinking Rum before 10am makes you
    A PIRATE
    Not an Alcoholic...!
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