What Antivirus / Protection Software?

Re:

I've been using 360 for a couple of years without any issues: https://www.360totalsecurity.com/en/

Microsoft Security Essentials is fine too: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/downloa ... px?id=5201

legrandefromage":35elzrxp said:

just go to the control panel and remove it from the programs section

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/unin ... windows-10

Click to expand...

Yup, I did all that while on holiday because I finally got fed up with the constant and intrusive pop ups, reminders etc.

I've not used it since I got home from hols, so I need to fire it up and take a look around at some of the suggested software.

Re:

I'm not a fan of any 3rd party antivirus. There have been a number of exploits that use flaws in antivirus software itself to get access to the PC that the antivirus was supposed to protect.
I'd say that Windows Defender would be your best option because Microsoft at least knows how to integrate the antivirus properly with the operating system itself.

Personally I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials on my Windows 7 PC. The laptop is on Linux so I don't bother with antivirus on that one. I'd move the PC to Linux too if I could, but I work from home most of the time and need windows-specific programs and hardware for work.

Re:

I was hesitant about firing up Defender. I am not a great fan of Microsoft software a lot of it is nearly as intrusive as the 3rd party stuff, but I'll have a look as I know it is installed.

All my work retaliated stuff is done on Windows 7 on a laptop provided by the company. It has 3rd party antivirus and firewall that never intrudes and does not seem to slow everything down, which is why I found McAfee so annoying.

Any program can be exploited once it has opened a port in the firewall. There are some very good stand alone firewalls. Just have to make sure it doesn't conflict with any others or virus programs you are running.

And Linux is not immune to attack.

You can have more than one operating system on a computer, just select which one at boot up. I used to use Linux for studying. I downloaded a Linux operating system onto a live cd, then in bios set to read/boot from cd first. It will then boot the Linux operating system, if inserted in drive, or boot Windows if no disc is in.

Linux can read Windows files so you still have access to all your music and pictures etc. It is also a very useful tool used by repair shops etc to access a Windows system if you have been locked out or like someone said earlier, lost your files due to an attack. Just boot Linux up and retrieve all your files you couldn't access through Windows.

All Linux operating systems used to be free also, not sure if they still are as I haven't checked in a while.