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Ask Slashdot: Best Anti-Virus Software In 2015? Free Or Paid?
CryoKeen writes: I got a new laptop recently after trading in my old laptop for store credit. While I was waiting to check out, the sales guy just handed me some random antivirus software (Trend Micro) that was included with the purchase. I don't think he or I realized at the time that the CD/DVD he gave me would not work because my new laptop does not have a CD/DVD player.
Anyway, it got me wondering whether I should use it or not. Would I be better off downloading something like Avast or Malwarebytes? Is there one piece of antivirus software that's significantly better than the others? Are any of the paid options worthwhile, or should I just stick to the free versions? What security software would you recommend in addition to anti-virus?
Anyway, it got me wondering whether I should use it or not. Would I be better off downloading something like Avast or Malwarebytes? Is there one piece of antivirus software that's significantly better than the others? Are any of the paid options worthwhile, or should I just stick to the free versions? What security software would you recommend in addition to anti-virus?
Because I'm assuming that will be an answer.
You can fill in any particular OS as an alternative.
AVG is a Freemium minefield. May as well be WeatherBug. Serves a purpose, but ultimately adware
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Windows? Use Security Essentials and practice safe surfing. No need for anything else.
I've found only one free antivirus where the nag screens can be turned off and stay off. Panda has treated me right so far and if things keep going this way I'm going to buy the premium version just to support the company. It's efficient, effective, and -- most importantly -- silent.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
The Best AV for Windows is Microsoft Security essentials which is available for Free from Microsoft for private use. Make sure your OS and apps are not left without security updates. Use Secunia PSI or alternatively Qualys browser check both free for private use. One last thing, don't use an account with admin privileges but one that has limited rights, so if your box gets pwned the attackerhas to escalate privileges before he or she can run as admin/root.
If you are on Windows 8.1, Windows Defender. If on Windows 7, MS Security Essentials. And supplement both with Malwarebytes. All free, and very non-intrusive.
I thought the included (pre-installed) Microsoft Windows Defender (or Windows Security Essentials) was already good enough.
That, plus not installing every stupid piece of malware-studded "freeware" I come across and being a bit conservative in my browsing, has always been enough since Windows 7.
Windows after 7 also has a built-in software firewall, so wouldn't seem like you'd need one of those either.
I just can't picture needing anything beyond that.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Nowadays i use Microsoft's free AV, a decent browser and discretion. Unless you're particularly haphazard (like downloading random files with full Admin privileges and visiting dodgy sites with unpatched IE) that should be enough. You don't really need a full arsenal of anti-malware software anymore. Ms has tightened things up a fair bit over the last years.
A while back i tried NOD32 and was very impressed. I don't know if it's still good.
I have tried a few paid options and a number of free antivirus. Nothing as yet has convinced me to use a paid option.
For Windows 8 there is no need as Microsoft Security Essentials, renamed Windows Defender, is good enough. Otherwise I use Avast, which seems to work well and comes with a few handy options like a software updater and the option to run a scan at boot time. Though it can be annoying recently as it reminds you of other paid features like VPN tunnels.
Steer clear of Norton for God's sake, it seems as bad as the disease itself. I dislike Symentec and had problems in the past with AVG. A few years back an update prevented browsers from accessing the internet.
If you think you may be infected try running a scan of the free version of Malwarebytes, it gives a good second opinion and is great at cleaning up some infections.
The most dangerous drug
I used to use AVG until it became bloatware, then I tried Avira and it seemed to suffer stability problems, switched to Avast which was OK and didn't seem to slow things down, and then removed that when I realised how much FUD the antivirus industry uses to sell its products, and how piss-poor their products are at doing their job.
I've seen malware infections - from trivial all the way up to cryptolocker - manage to get past the "big 3" (norton/symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro), and AVG. The only products who seem to be stable and maintain a small-ish footprint are Eset and Kaspersky.
I leave Windows defender switched on, scan once every few months with free malwarebytes, keep Cryptoprevent updated, and anything else I can remove with Combofix - not that I've had anything in over 2 years, but Combofix is what I use to repair customers' machines, then I leave them with a copy of free malwarebytes, and Cryptoprevent.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
I'm on Windows 7. Here are my tips:
1) I have run avast real-time for years. I'm a pretty wary, sophisticated user. But it has occasionally blocked malicious elements on webpages. And it once blocked a zip attachment that I got sucked in on with a phishing email before any harm was done. I have also had it give me a few false positives over the years, which are a bit disconcerting to see and annoying until you can get things sorted out.
2) Second, I run malwarebytes scans from time to time.
3) Other prevention: adblock plus and noscript plugins.
4) For seemingly dangerous websites that I still want to be able to access, I use a Sandboxie sandbox for the browser.
I've used Avira (free-av.com) for years (since Windows XP at least), both on my computers and my friends' and family's, and I've never gotten a virus despite visiting Bit Torrent and other questionable sites.
It's 100% free and it doesn't install malware (though it might optionally install some crapware, I forget). The only downside is that they pop an alert maybe once a day or so with different messages (the point of which is clearly to prod you to purchase the paid version). I strongly recommend getting the paid version to make those alerts go away ... but I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't actually done as much myself (sorry Avira!).
These days the most effective measure you can take is to install an ad blocker. That will prevent the vast majority of drive by installs. Second, I'd say you need to be very sceptical of freeware software installers. Using a service like Chocolatey to find and install popular utilities will help here. Third, I'd recommend installing Process Explorer as a replacement for the windows Task Manager. Get a feel for what programs are running in the background, and investigate anything you don't yet recognise particularly after installing something new.
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
Non-intrusive... and ineffective. I just cleaned up my brother-in-law's machine and that was what he was using.
My preferred approach is to use Avira Free (installed with ninite.com), MalwareBytes, HiJackThis, and the no-ads hosts file from mvps.
Secondary, install Google Chrome with adblock and a good no-script type program (though I personally just use Ghostery with AdBlock)
If treating for malware, bleepingcomputer is the site to go to. Run RKill, followed by ComboFix, ADWCleaner, and TDSSKiller.
This takes care of 99% of the issues, assuming you don't HAVE to continually visit some obscure Russian porn sites.
ClamWin, the windows port of ClamAV which is relied on for mail scanning on just about every Linux/UNIX mail server you run across.
I think there may be a better front end that uses the ClamAV database as well, but I tend to just install ClamWin and call it a day.
Windows is a bonfire, Linux is the sun. Linux only looks smaller if you lack perspective.
Uh, no. The people who recommend MSSE recommend it because they are capable of safe-browsing. MSSE will be more than effective if you don't click every link you see.
I'm really surprised more people aren't recommending Bit Defender. I use the free version on my own machines and install it on customer PCs, and have had very good results from it. Never pops up asking to upgrade to a premium version, doesn't audibly announce it's updating/scanning/etc (in fact you'll only know it's there if something goes wrong). It also doesn't impact performance very much at all -- way better than Avast or AVG. According to http://www.av-comparatives.org..., they're always at the top of their game.
Don't be like the disgusting majority of windows users who log in everytime as admin. Login with regular user access and half the viruses become helpless.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Malware Bytes? Yes.... Great product that really is pretty effective (especially if you can boot into "safe mode" in Windows first) at cleaning up malware.
But Windows Defender? Absolutely not. It got ranked absolute worst at detecting malware in a head to head test last year vs. something like 40 other products on the market! And just from personal experience trying to keep PCs clean in an office setting with a lot of mobile workers? It didn't even trigger on some heavily infected machines.
Personally, we use eSet NOD32, and while I won't claim it's "best" - I just feel it seems to do a reasonably good job without dragging down system performance. It's not free but not that expensive either.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Yes. Because these tests are pure FUD generation. These "tests" are designed specifically to give high marks to AV kit that has its heuristics engine to produce as many false positives as possible and low marks to AV kit that has a reasonable heuristics engine that looks for realistic threats and doesn't spam user with "this is a potential threat, upgrade for 9.99 now to fix" advertisements.
Reminder - home users aren't threatened by latest custom tailored malware. They are threatened by well known mass-produced threats like bitlocker. And MSE catches those just fine.
Nevermind that most heuristics engines will at one point or another detect a standard (Microsoft-signed) required Windows file as a virus and promptly "quarantine" it for you. Which just means Windows will either bluescreen or render your system unusable.
And that's a problem - because now AV is interfering with your computer - and if it isn't a Windows binary that gets hosed, it's a file one of your programs you use.
No, MSE will not catch a 0 day. No antivirus can. So they use heuristics to bridge the time between it's in the wild and when they push an update that will detect it. But there's a tradeoff - too aggressive and there will be a TON of false positives. More conservative (Like MSE) and you'll be more likely to miss a threat, but less likely that you'll clobber a file you really need. And for most people, that's more than acceptable tradeoff.
Especially when you combine it with safe surfing that blocks questionable URLs - available on every browser now (either powered by Google or Microsoft) that prevent you from grabbing questionable files.
Need to run special software tied to the OS? No? ... Install Linux.
Really, it's that easy.
Ubuntu can be a drag, in more ways than one, but it's worth a try - and it does look really cool. Seriously.
Suse and Redhat are hassle-free to install aswell. All three are definitly more hassle-free than any Windows installation you can do thesse days.
I've got Ubuntu 14.04 on my ThinkPad. And while it can be anoying (which OS isn't?), it is way ahead of Windows in usability and you can get tons of books and free info on the web for it.
Other than that I'd recommend Mac OS X or Chrome OS - but since you already have your laptop I guess that's ruled out.
Welcome to the camp. Enjoy.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca