Anti Virus Software

RumRat

JJ_Egan said:

(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 .

We can't live in the past...

giraffe69

Agree it was poor before Windows 10 and I used something else but it isn't now so what happened 5+ years ago is not all that relevant to a decision today!

Carrot007

JJ_Egan said:

(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 .

Worked good enough for me.

Before that used avast (do not do it these days, it's not worth it).

Sure I started some time in 7. Not sure what I used on vista (so far the only ms os I ever bought! anything to get away from xp!).

[Deleted User]

Interesting debate, one thing I do agree with is a multi-faceted approach to security but you can still do it all for free:

1. Number one is always the user - thinking before you click anything in email / browser, checking reputation before installing software / add-in etc is better than relying on any kind of 'anti-virus' package.

2. Put a good line of defence in at your gateway to the internet to protect all your devices - ie your router / firewall, don't rely on a cheapo ISP router. You can get good quality routers that protect from malware - for example the AiProtection from Trend Micro with Asus routers provides real-time protection by blocking malicious sites, deep packet inspection on the firewall and infected device blocking - my router blocks about 1,000 URL's a month before they even get anywhere near the device.

3. Patching  - make sure all your devices have acquired the latest security updates, don't forget firmware as well as OS. Also make sure you have latest firmware updates for your router.

3. Use an anti malware DNS service at router level, eg Cloudfare 1.1.1.2

4. Use a reputable adblocker in your browser that also blocks known malicious sites - uBlock Origin for example.

5. Good backup regime and rehearsed clean install and restore. In the event of acquiring ransomware or malware that you cannot deal with, you can immediately wipe your device without hesitation and revert to a clean install knowing you can restore you precious data from a backup copy.

6. If you do download low reputation things such as torrents, unknown software or browse dodgy websites then do it in a virtual machine or a Linux device separate from your main PC. Keep an original clean copy of the virtual machine so you can reset it to clean whenever you want.

7. And then finally is the anti virus on the device itself, so when it comes to weighing up Windows Security vs paid alternatives, it doesn't really matter that much because all of the above will sort out most of your malware risks.

IvanOpinion

Deleted_User said:

Interesting debate, one thing I do agree with is a multi-faceted approach to security but you can still do it all for free:

While I think much of that is probably sound advice for even a home user the most important point (in the context of this thread) is that all of it is achievable for 'free'...  none of this nonsense that paying for something automatically means it is better (as those with lesser knowledge would have you believe).

IvanOpinion

Back to the context of this thread.  In the latest edition of Computer Active (issue 606) there is an excellent article (Stop using software) that shows how Windows own in built functions can be used instead of downloading free or paid/for software/bloatware.(worth the £2.40 cover price).

In the context of this thread, paying for a virus detector does not guarantee any better protection against viral attack than Windows 10's own inbuilt defender.  Ensuring your virus detector is up to date with the latest signatures is far more important.

booneruk

I think we should move to agree on something at least - the best defence against malware/nasties/viruses is user vigilance !
I've not had a virus since my days of pirating games on Amiga 3.5inch floppy disks as a teen. Don't believe your email, don't click links, type URLs into browsers, patch your OS regularly and run sound web browsers downloaded from canonical sources etc etc. If I want to do anything remotely dodgy like running pirated software sourced from bittorrent, I'll spool up a virtual machine and run it there 

Now, back to A/V. The majority of my PC days I've used AVG then Avast and now Windows Defender, all free but it's only been WD that hasn't noticeably impacted the performance of my PC. The consensus these days, reviewers, magazine columns, tech sites, geek forums etc appears to be that WD is highly effective - I'm sold.

IvanOpinion

For those that have been confused by some of the misinformation placed on this thread, here is an independent review of Windows 10 Defender which shows it is currently very effective.
https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-10/february-2021/microsoft-defender-4.18-211115/

spenderdave

I realised recently that Avast had not given me a single alert for many years so decided to remove it and use Defender instead. If you are like booneruk someone who practices 'good hex' you don't really need anything more.

movilogo

Unless you visit naughty sites, Windows Defender or any free anti virus is good enough.  If you do visit naughty sites, then use Linux.