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Alright, I bought a new laptop, and I'm looking for some new antivirus software. Unfortunately, googling just "best antivirus software" gets lots of lists that its clear that companies paid to be on. Its insane how many supposedly "tech-savy" websites list Norton as the greatest antivirus software of all time. As for other products, looking at their Amazon review makes me scared and confused. McAfee has amazing reviews... except for the string of 1-stars from people complaining about false "automated" charges that McAfee makes to their credit cards. Bitdefender seems good, but as you go down, there's a disturbing amount of people complaining that it made their computers crash, complete with the infamous late 90's blue screen of death. Webroot SecureAnywhere seems to have the best reviews and good spots on most of the lists, but no one I know has ever used it or even heard of it.
So, tech-savy people of dakkadakka, what antivirus software do YOU use?
I use avast. Paid $10 a year for increased protection. Not noticing much of a difference...I'll go back to free next year. Still, $0.80 a month for Anti-virus ain't much.
Reality is a nice place to visit, but I'd hate to live there.
Manchu wrote:I'm a Catholic. We eat our God.
Due to work, I can usually only ship any sales or trades out on Saturday morning. Please trade/purchase with this in mind.
As a general rule, paying for anti-virus isn't worth it. The difference between the paid for services and the free ones is rather blarg. It's not worth the cost.
Probably a read only (and security minded) distribution of Linux with personal files kept on a flash drive and backed up regularly, with independent checksums done of each of the person files before updating via an air gap (flash drive). Make sure that flash, javascript, and cookies are disabled in your browser too. Also might want to disable the automatic downloading of pictures, as they can be a vector for malware. The 'wget' command is reasonably safe.
The most reasonable choice?
If you're running Windows, MSSE is simple enough.
Just don't install McAfee. McAfee doesn't want you to install McAfee. (might not be safe for work)
Manchu - "But so what? The Bible also says the flood destroyed the world. You only need an allegorical boat to tackle an allegorical flood."
Shespits "Anything i see with YOLO has half naked eleventeen year olds Girls. And of course booze and drugs and more half naked elventeen yearolds Girls. O how i wish to YOLO again!"
Rubiksnoob "Next you'll say driving a stick with a Scandinavian supermodel on your lap while ripping a bong impairs your driving. And you know what, I'M NOT GOING TO STOP, YOU FILTHY COMMUNIST"
Manchu - "But so what? The Bible also says the flood destroyed the world. You only need an allegorical boat to tackle an allegorical flood."
Shespits "Anything i see with YOLO has half naked eleventeen year olds Girls. And of course booze and drugs and more half naked elventeen yearolds Girls. O how i wish to YOLO again!"
Rubiksnoob "Next you'll say driving a stick with a Scandinavian supermodel on your lap while ripping a bong impairs your driving. And you know what, I'M NOT GOING TO STOP, YOU FILTHY COMMUNIST"
I have about 3 security programs I run every so often, but at the moment I am running ESET NOD32 as my primary active protection.
Two main reasons: first is because back when I researched it several years ago that program had the best heuristics out of all the programs tested. It didn't catch the most malware (it was good, don't get me wrong, but not the best), but it blew most other things out of the water on catching malware that wasn't on its pre-defined "blacklist". Figured a self-sufficient program would be nice to have.
Second reason was because everybody sad it had the most incomprehensible UI known to man, and it made me feel good to understand how it worked and tweak settings (they've re done it since then to make it look much nicer).
That was back before security essentials was a thing. I'm currently using the windows firewall because I've heard it works well enough and it hasn't blocked anything it shouldn't yet. Good compromise between the free program I used to use that grabbed resources and lagged out my laptop, and the full ESET security suite that cost twice as much for a firewall and a bunch of other stuff I'll never use since I don't use a computer side email client.
(I got viruses from being stupid with P2P stuff and web surfing a few too many times when I was younger. If you can't tell I take my computer cleaning at least semi-seriously).
Like watching other people play video games (badly) while blathering about nothing in particular? Check out my Youtube channel: joemamaUSA!
BrianDavion wrote: Between the two of us... I think GW is assuming we the players are not complete idiots.
Rapidly on path to becoming the world's youngest bitter old man.
Manchu - "But so what? The Bible also says the flood destroyed the world. You only need an allegorical boat to tackle an allegorical flood."
Shespits "Anything i see with YOLO has half naked eleventeen year olds Girls. And of course booze and drugs and more half naked elventeen yearolds Girls. O how i wish to YOLO again!"
Rubiksnoob "Next you'll say driving a stick with a Scandinavian supermodel on your lap while ripping a bong impairs your driving. And you know what, I'M NOT GOING TO STOP, YOU FILTHY COMMUNIST"
I had a 1yr trial for McAfee pre-installed on my laptop when I bought it ~4 years ago. I still get emails despite it having been uninstalled as soon as the trial ran out!
Since getting a new PC and wondering whether or not to stay with Kaspersky after it runs out, I did some checking into how good MSE actually is and I'd love for some of the people here extolling its virtues to provide some non-anecdotal evidence for MSE being good.
I ask this because no matter where I look, it's still far outstripped by AVIRA and Avast!, and nobody is actually recommending that you get it over the more established third-party programs.
I'm not trying to be rude in asking, but I am curious about how, in this thread, it's being recommended above programs like Avast! for reasons that are backed up by simply saying "it's good".
Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.
Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.
"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation
Avatar 720 wrote: Since getting a new PC and wondering whether or not to stay with Kaspersky after it runs out, I did some checking into how good MSE actually is and I'd love for some of the people here extolling its virtues to provide some non-anecdotal evidence for MSE being good.
I ask this because no matter where I look, it's still far outstripped by AVIRA and Avast!, and nobody is actually recommending that you get it over the more established third-party programs.
I'm not trying to be rude in asking, but I am curious about how, in this thread, it's being recommended above programs like Avast! for reasons that are backed up by simply saying "it's good".
A) I browse / download from places where I should know better.
B) I like to, um... research for research purposes. Ifyougetmydrift.
C) I've used MSE for the last 3-4 years
D) Not once, have I had an issue. Plus, it's free.
E) If it's working... why replace it?
W-L-D: 0-0-0. UNDEFEATED 
