MS office 365 - with or without bundled AV?

[TPMB12]

15 months ago I got a family subscription of
MS office 365 with Norton 360. I got it because it was actually cheaper than 12 months just the office 365 on amazon. Now the cheapest family version is also 15 months with either norton or mcafee. Well I think there is a version of the family subscription without any AV software 12 or 15 months that works out at most 3 or 4 pounds cheaper.

Since I need MS office and I do not have any AV software other than MS defender, I also need family since I share it with my family. Do you think norton or mcafee are worth the extra few quid over the 15 months? I have read that Norton is more effective than McAfee and scans faster so I think it is possibly best of the AV bundled options if it is at all worth getting.

BTW I know google docs, libre office, etc are available but I have reason to want the full functionality of MS apps rather than compatibility. So I will be getting the MS Office 365 family subscription, I am just curious as to what people thjnk of Norton / McAfee  for effectively £3-4?

[Mr Larrington]

You'd have to pay me a sight more than that before I'd let either Norton or McAfee anywhere near one of my Babbage-Engines

[FifeingEejit]

Windows defender is generally believed to be more than enough.
Norton and mcafee's strongest features are slowing your pc down.

however I've never been offered them when renewing office 365 on the Microsoft site.
also if your employer is a member of the home/office program you get a significant discount.

think I'm 45 quid for 1tb one drive plus office on 5 computers plus the phone apps, normally 65
which quite frankly shits all over the opposition at full price.

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[Polar Bear]

All three of our currently operational PC's now rely solely upon Windows Defender.

It used to be utter shite so other software was necessary but Microsoft upped their game with Windows 10 and carried it into Windows 11.

My experiences with both Norton and Mcafee are that they take a fair bit of ongoing resource, often clash dragging the system to it's knees and are ot easy to eradicate from your machine. Kaspersky seems similar and I spent way too much of my life rescuing the FiL's pc from it's clutches last year.

[TPMB12]

Windows defender is generally believed to be more than enough.
Norton and mcafee's strongest features are slowing your pc down.

however I've never been offered them when renewing office 365 on the Microsoft site.
also if your employer is a member of the home/office program you get a significant discount.

think I'm 45 quid for 1tb one drive plus office on 5 computers plus the phone apps, normally 65
which quite frankly shits all over the opposition at full price.

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Looking on MS website it is £79.99 for family, no discount. I have found it cheapest for £59.99 on Amazon for family 365 with Norton 360 deluxe or McAffee but costs more for just the 365 family on its own!! Last year I got it for £53. Personal was £53 for  15 months no AV or £59.99 with. Both those last two were autorenewing whereas the others were one off.

Just rechecked and it is now £74 for family with AV 15 months now or £67 12 months which works out costing more per month. I should have got it when it was cheaper!!

So basically would you get the cheaper download with AV then remove the AV or pay more to avoid the AV completely?? Which is easier to get rid off McAffee or Norton? I am guessing McAffee is harder as I have still not got rid on my older laptop after about 5 years when it came with it preloaded for a year from new!!!!!!

[Kim]

You'd have to pay me a sight more than that before I'd let either Norton or McAfee anywhere near one of my Babbage-Engines

This.

I mean, I try to avoid using Windows for anything important, and Windows installations are considered disposable, getting the fdisk treatment if they start to misbehave.  But it's occasionally necessary, and when it is you just want to get on with using Excel or Basecamp or CrossMgr or whatever and have as little to do with the OS as possible.  Security products that are designed to reassure the user that they're doing something are inherently obtrusive and therefore a work of Stan.

Also, Barakta's Law Of Antivirus states that all security products eventually turn into Norton.


MS Defender is my weapon of choice, although that's also on my shitlist because its determined to quarantine my own software.  It badly needs a "Yes, I know it looks suspicious, but srsly, just let it run you muppet" button.

[FifeingEejit]

Forget resellers, go straight to Redmond.

Looking at the Amazon offering, it's a one time purchase for the 15 month licence with the AV software or you can pay the normal Ms rate for it.
That's
a) a faff when it comes to renewal,
b) makes me question what the deal with the reduction is, are the AV companies paying for office to require their shit to exist for it to work?

What does stand out though is that with the family version OneDrive is 6tb rather than 1tb (mine is nearly full... and making up 5 more pretend mes may be cheaper than paying for more space)


Just checked I'm £41.99 a year for personal, so it really is worth checking if your employer is part of the home/office programme if you're using the personal version.

[FifeingEejit]

MS Defender is my weapon of choice, although that's also on my shitlist because its determined to quarantine my own software.  It badly needs a "Yes, I know it looks suspicious, but srsly, just let it run you muppet" button.

2 of my PCs live in Test mode, and have done since Windows 10 Mini Disc drivers were made available because they were unsigned, unfortunately they no longer work and I've yet to try the replacement.
Test mode allows developers to do shit without the problem of needing the software signed.

[fruitcake]

Kaspersky seems similar and I spent way too much of my life rescuing the FiL's pc from it's clutches last year.

It's now banned from sale in the USA. It's Russian, innit.

[TPMB12]

Work is not part of any MS scheme to give collleagues their 365 cheaply or free. We are still on standalone office products!! M365 is coming in but a special version is being developed to meet my employer's specific needs. Something about MS Redmond developing our own version reading between the lines. Yes I work for an organisation that is big enough for MS to actually notice and want to play nicely with!! Right now they are busy working out a way to make Teams more secure for us, to allow us to use it.

BTW I am only using my laptop for personal use as work is strict on only using work supplied equipment. Which is why I haven't even bothered to ask about any MS scheme to offer M365. If I am lucky the company incentives scheme might have a discount deal on with MS products. So far MS products have not appeared on it. Samsung has but not MS.

Why is it prefereable to buy direct from MS at higher price than save money through Amazon? I have used Amazon deals for two or three years so far and this is the year that hasn't had a ridiculous deal. Mostly I got family for less than personal version price at MS. For me that is a no brainer!! Which is why I ask about why better to go direct? Isn't that just taking money out of your pocket and giving it to an exploitative company so it can make even higher profits???

[Kim]

We are still on standalone office products!!

By far a preferable solution IMHO, unless you're tied into the Teams/Sharepoint/Outlook ecosystem.  You can buy office 2021 or whatever it is for 20-something quid, and it doesn't refuse to run because you haven't got an internet connection.

[FifeingEejit]

For a piece of software to have a significant discount while also providing a £20 piece of software bundled, is suspect.

[TPMB12]

We are still on standalone office products!!

By far a preferable solution IMHO, unless you're tied into the Teams/Sharepoint/Outlook ecosystem.  You can buy office 2021 or whatever it is for 20-something quid, and it doesn't refuse to run because you haven't got an internet connection.

Work laptops have sharepoint, outlook and Skype ecosystem.  They're developing m365 / teams setup through this year but likely to be next year until we finally get it. Apparently MS are developing something special for us due to extra security requirements. It'll be a complete one off install / version from what I've heard. Support direct from US based team from what has been communicated.

It's not easy running such apps with security being good  enough I guess. Mind you not a consideration for my personal laptop which is what I'm asking for. I think I'll get the cheapest 15 month option then remove the av if it b gets annoying.

[TPMB12]

Day before my M365 ran out I bought a family subscription with Norton 360 deluxe for £49. I set it up and it is showing on my microsoft account. I did not set up norton and do not have it on my computers. It is working out OK except for the fact I am still getting emails from MS telling me my sunscription has run out. Nothing has stopped working and it is set up correctly via a dirt cheap reseller. It is just that MS are still trying to bully me into paying full, inflated price for it despite their own systems showing me as having a valid and working subscription.

So every so often I have to delete an email from MS. The cost of saving £30.99 I guess!!!

[barakta]

You could probably create an email rule to chuck Microsoft's emails into spam and ignore.

[TPMB12]

You could probably create an email rule to chuck Microsoft's emails into spam and ignore.

Did think of that but for the quick review and swipe on my phone I don't think it's worth the risk of not seeing an ms email I want to see like the one telling me what my son has been doing on his gaming computer each week.

With every spam email from MS I get one good email I want

[barakta]

The subject lines should let you differentiate and they may have different sender addresses.

[FifeingEejit]

good to hear it wasn't too good to be true.

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