Which free anti-virus?

[andyoxon]

Thinking about trying something different to Avast (which apparently bought was bought by AVG last year). 

What's Bitdefender like? It seems to go down well in reviews.  Though not so sure about running in 'autopilot' mode...   

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/best-free-antivirus-1321277

[Morat]

If you're on a modern version of Windows the built in AV is good enough.

[tiermat]

I agree with Morat, Windows Defender is more than capable.

BTW, it was the other way around, AVG bought Avast.

[andyoxon]

Thanks, yes, tempted to give MS Defender a whirl and give the 3rdP AVs a miss - would be for a Windows 10 machine.

Found this... http://www.techradar.com/news/could-windows-defender-be-the-last-antivirus-you-will-ever-need

[Wombat]

My minor contribution is "whatever else you consider, DON'T use Bitdefender!"

I escaped from Norton 'cos it was intrusive, went to Bitdefender, and it turned out to be 20 times as intrusive, slowed the PC down horribly, and didn't sort itself out, i.e. kept asking me if I wanted to update, or telling me there was an update, or even just not working 'cos it needed an update. Just get on with it, that's why I bought you!  Its behaviour was also totally different between the desktop and laptop PC's, so I dumped it, and went back to Norton, which is now far less intrusive.  May consider giving up and going for Windows defender in the next year or so, if only for the avoidance of paying money.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

I have ditched Avira because it failed to find a virus. The virus was detected as soon as I switched on the Windows 10 built in anti-virus, Defender, and let it do a thorough scan.  It was a very hostile virus too that effectively bought my system to a halt.

[Valiant]

If you look at all the impartial tests etc, there's no one anti virus that is just better than others. There's just more than a few ways to do what they do.

[Morat]

Yes, none of the AV products catch all the threats but Windows Defender is very "light" on the system and doesn't involve much faff. If you use webmail you should bypass one of the major attack vectors or at least keep it at arms length.

[Phil W]

If you are on Windows 10 that has Applocker built in, which uses white listing rather than  black listing which traditional anti virus uses. So instead of trying to monitor millions of virus signatures of what is not allowed to run with constant updates you just list what is allowed to run and you're done. On my PC I have about 100 rules and that's it. Been using Applocker since 2009 when it first appeared in the edition of Windows 7 I had.

[Bluebottle]

My minor contribution is "whatever else you consider, DON'T use Bitdefender!"

At the risk of me not being very constructive, this is not my experience...yet. Between here and work I have been running various machines of various operating systems and various states of decrepitude. I have not noticed Bitdefender slow things down terribly yet (only used it since Dec). Currently, I quite like it having migrated from ZoneAlarm (which was largely fine...updating virus definitions was simple, updating the damn programme...not so much. I liked the firewall though, which was a plus). The free version of MS Defender (or whatever it is called) was Ok, but with multiple users on a PC didn't give me enough confidence due to the lack of on-access scanning (which is why I now pay for AV, its the on-access scanning). Unfortunately I still have AVG on one machine. Should be renamed Bloaty McBloatface.

I echo Valiant. Have a look through the independent tests (which led me to BitDefender). Decide from there as it depends on your wants/uses.

[Mr Larrington]

Note that if you use Windows Task Scheduler to run a regular Windows Defender scan, set it so it runs under your admin account, not as SYSTEM.  Trying to run it as SYSTEM results in this: 0.

[DuncanM]

My work has bitdefender.
Every so often (usually when I'm trying to do something particularly complex and resource heavy), it jumps into action and pushes my CPU, Memory, or IO to the 99% mark (meaning I have to give up whatever I'm doing and wait for it to finish). IT have basically said it's not supposed to do that while in use, but there's nothing they can do about it.

I have avast at home, and it doesn't do this (though every so often it demands to be upgraded - at least you can choose when this happens).

[andyoxon]

The Dell has unfortunately arrived with a years subscription to Intel MacAfee.     So far I've resisted giving it any email addresses or opportunity to protect 'all my devices'.    Uninstalling may be more messy than it worth atm.  Dread to think what will happen in terms of renewal pop-ups as the subscription comes to an end.

Anyone with experience of getting rid of MacAfee cleanly?

[De Sisti]

360 Total Security.

[fuaran]

Anyone with experience of getting rid of MacAfee cleanly?

Maybe John McAfee can help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg

[andyoxon]

  

I'm dOOMED.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

The Dell has unfortunately arrived with a years subscription to Intel MacAfee.     So far I've resisted giving it any email addresses or opportunity to protect 'all my devices'.    Uninstalling may be more messy than it worth atm.  Dread to think what will happen in terms of renewal pop-ups as the subscription comes to an end.

Anyone with experience of getting rid of MacAfee cleanly?

I used Iobit uninstaller a while ago.