Anti Virus Software

pennypincher101

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.

HereToday

Just use the anti virus solution provided with Windows 10; in conjunction with Blocking technology provided by Browsers such as Brave.

Though if you really feel the need to renew: https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/3035976010

If they have your card details, disable Auto-Renew: https://service.mcafee.com/webcenter/portal/oracle/webcenter/page/scopedMD/s55728c97_466d_4ddb_952d_05484ea932c6/Page29.jspx?wc.contextURL=/spaces/cp&articleId=TS102797&_afrLoop=767419871056803&leftWidth=0%&showFooter=false&showHeader=false&rightWidth=0%&centerWidth=100%#!@@?showFooter=false&_afrLoop=767419871056803&articleId=TS102797&leftWidth=0%25&showHeader=false&wc.contextURL=%2Fspaces%2Fcp&rightWidth=0%25&centerWidth=100%25&_adf.ctrl-state=14cs6fwpd7_67

IvanOpinion

The virus detector built into windows 10 is perfectly adequate for most peoples needs.  No need to spend any money.

ballyblack

Yes get rid of McAfee crap and use the free Windows defender already installed

RumRat

Another vote for Windows Defender.

londonice

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.!

Curlyben

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.

IvanOpinion

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).

booneruk

Curlyben said:

IvanOpinion 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

(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

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.....