Paid Vs Free Anti-Virus Software

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Robin

Robin

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I have been given a copy of F-Secure Safe Internet Security which is around £30 and because of all the recent hacking going on in the world I was going to install it.

However I'm not sure if it's going to be any better than just using Windows Defender / MSE which has become very respectable in recent years and plays nicely with Windows probably better than any other offering.

Has anyone had any experience with F-Secure? I read it's very much middle of the road in terms of security software but if it's no better I don't want stuff clogging up my system.

Is it always the case that paid antivirus is going to be better, even slightly, than something free?

Any input would be great, thanks.
 
For what it's worth, we have Security Essentials/Defender on all the machines on campus.

The only other AV software I've used in the past is AVG which seemed to work well.
 
Free and paid anti virus software can really depend. If you got F-Secure for free, might as well try it out. I always recommend Avast for free home use.
IMO, if you have a well known and trusted antivirus program, free or paid, browse safe and smart not going to any sketchy sites or opening unknown e-mails, you should be safe for the the most part. Another key would be to keep your computer updated.
 
If it's worth adding to the topic, I've been using VIPRE Internet Security (one-time fee per computer) for a few years now, it's done a great job at blocking drive-by downloads, pop-ups, all sorts of things.
Also, I'm sure many other anti-virus programs do this, but VIPRE continually updates threat definitions every day.

Then again, I was also relatively fine with Windows defender before.
 
I use the built in one for Windows, it works fine. For malware though I do pay for Malware-Bytes since I think it works really well.
 
Windows Defender is ****.

But I dont use any anti virus software and I have disabled the WinDender service.
 
Though it's only a short time run compared to what it use to be, malwarebytes never fails. Works even better when you do pay for it after the free trial run.
 
Techy
Ah, so you like living on the edge?
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Nope, just dont see a need for one.
Keep software updated, pay attention to what you click on, dont download from torrent sites unless they are legal, check SHA-256, MD5 hash codes when they are provided, dont plug unknown devices into your PC, dont plug devices into unknown PCs and then into yours ect.
Have a good ad blocker and most of your issues will stop as that is how most malware infections start.
Those "You've won a free ipod" ads as well as those other flash based ads.
I have set flash and java to run on activation.

Imari
Well that's certainly advice worth taking. :rolleyes:
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As above, plus an anti malware is not going stop malware.
I use to remove malware from PCs and over 80% had norton or trend as their anti malware, they still got infected.

Have not run an anti malware for at least 2 years.
Never had an unknown process run on this PC.
 
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I guess I should give it a go, surely if it costs money it's got to be better than Windows Defender...

I haven't had a virus in like 10 years, the best protection is just being prudent on what you click and open.
 
Grayfox
Anything is better than Windows Defender
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I read that in a last few years (since around Windows 8) it has improved massively to the point where it is now considered up there with paid antivirus. Most reviews seem to think it's pretty decent, not exactly Kaspersky but still good.
 
Robin
I read that in a last few years (since around Windows 8) it has improved massively to the point where it is now considered up there with paid antivirus. Most reviews seem to think it's pretty decent, not exactly Kaspersky but still good.
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Since windows 8 or 10 it started to include virus definitions as well as the standard malware, but it still sucks.
It couldnt even detect wannacry where others could due to the nature of the program being ransom ware and the heuristic scan.

 
I had free edition AVG from 2012, haven't updated since 2014, now it's not even running. Never had any problem. AVG free edition seems to be good ( it's free after all )
 
My laptop came with mcafee security free for sometime and then it run out didn't have the money to buy it the one thing I liked about it had a thing that could delete any file. I stoped using IE web browser and that solved a lot of problems and I got Opera with Ad blocker and surfeasy.
 
The Chosen One
So what about things like drive-by downloads that the computer doesn't necessarily tell you about?
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They still need a way to exploit a vulnerability or for you to go on a site that is questionable.
Plus I never encountered it, doubt i will.

Latvija27
My laptop came with mcafee security free for sometime and then it run out didn't have the money to buy it.
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That is the most cancerous thing I have read in some time.

Buying McAfee.

I rather use IE6 than McAfee
 
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Grayfox
They still need a way to exploit a vulnerability or for you to go on a site that is questionable.
Plus I never encountered it, doubt i will.



That is the most cancerous thing I have read in some time.

Buying McAfee.

I rather use IE6 than McAfee
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The worst thing about McAfee is it affects the way steam games work and some wouldn't even turn on after McAfee was gone I never had any problems loading steam games.
 
Latvija27
The worst thing about McAfee is it affects the way steam games work and some wouldn't even turn on after McAfee was gone I never had any problems loading steam games.
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This is really weird. I had Mcafee pre installed on my laptop with zero issues. My games all ran perfectly fine. Then after the free period I installed Kaspersky and well, it did some "things" including the removal of Mcafee - gotta get rid of those rivals I guess - and Steam immediately started to act up, games wouldn't start , if they did there where a lot of graphical glitches... De-installed Kaspersky activated Windows Defender and Steam suddenly worked fine again, it's a bit slower than before, but at least it works...

And my system has still traces of the Kaspersky program not sure how to get rid of those, but I'd actually prefer not to have anything with this name on my laptop.

Windows Defender works well as far I can tell, but I had the impression Mcafee used even less resources.
 
Grayfox
Nope, just dont see a need for one.
Keep software updated, pay attention to what you click on, dont download from torrent sites unless they are legal, check SHA-256, MD5 hash codes when they are provided, dont plug unknown devices into your PC, dont plug devices into unknown PCs and then into yours ect.
Have a good ad blocker and most of your issues will stop as that is how most malware infections start.
Those "You've won a free ipod" ads as well as those other flash based ads.
I have set flash and java to run on activation.
Click to expand...

Don't use your computer and you won't get infections. Check.

Also, do you know how funny it is that you're relying on keeping your software updated? You know that's exactly the same thing as relying on anti-virus, right? You're relying on software that doesn't have exploits or that blocks exploits. Except that you're palming the responsibility off to a whole bunch of software devs who don't specialise in security and who may not even care, as opposed to simply putting it in the hands of an AV firm who has a vested interest in protecting you as well as they can.

Seriously, a little logic, please.

Have not run an anti malware for at least 2 years.
Never had an unknown process run on this PC.
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How would you even know if you're not running malware scans? You know that just because you can't see something it doesn't mean it's not there, right?

835c05886b46182d60de71e437f9037b.jpg


Or are you really watching your process manager all the time and are sure that all of those are really what they tell you they are? Because no virus or worm was ever named the same as a legitimate process.

I agree in general that Windows Defender isn't great, but it's better than nothing. And for the effort and price, one might as well install one of the several reputable free anti-virus and anti-malware programs. Because even if you're the cleanest user in the world, if you have a PC connected to a network you're at risk.

Telling people that they should turn off Windows Defender and not bother to install AV is borderline trolling. It's an extreme version of telling people that Alt+F4 gets you cheat codes. I'm really not sure that advice that could actively damage the hardware of people is a fair go; this isn't your opinion, this is straight up misinformation.
 
Ridox2JZGTE
I had free edition AVG from 2012, haven't updated since 2014, now it's not even running. Never had any problem. AVG free edition seems to be good ( it's free after all )
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AVG Free was terrible back then, no protection from drive-by downloads and rootkits. Main reason I started looking for a better alternative. Tried a lot of top names but found Avast Free to be the best in real world use.

Barclays Bank offer online banking users free Kaspersky Internet Security but last time I tried that, it felt like I had installed a virus on my computer.

No issues since using Avast, also using Adblock Plus with Malware domains subscription helps a lot. Avast has bought AVG last year, no surprise AVG 2017 is a big improvement over previous versions but still Avast is better version for free. I find the software updater useful, much quicker than downloading and installing updates manually.
 
Imari
Don't use your computer and you won't get infections. Check.

Also, do you know how funny it is that you're relying on keeping your software updated? You know that's exactly the same thing as relying on anti-virus, right? You're relying on software that doesn't have exploits or that blocks exploits. Except that you're palming the responsibility off to a whole bunch of software devs who don't specialise in security and who may not even care, as opposed to simply putting it in the hands of an AV firm who has a vested interest in protecting you as well as they can.

Seriously, a little logic, please.



How would you even know if you're not running malware scans? You know that just because you can't see something it doesn't mean it's not there, right?

835c05886b46182d60de71e437f9037b.jpg


Or are you really watching your process manager all the time and are sure that all of those are really what they tell you they are? Because no virus or worm was ever named the same as a legitimate process.

I agree in general that Windows Defender isn't great, but it's better than nothing. And for the effort and price, one might as well install one of the several reputable free anti-virus and anti-malware programs. Because even if you're the cleanest user in the world, if you have a PC connected to a network you're at risk.

Telling people that they should turn off Windows Defender and not bother to install AV is borderline trolling. It's an extreme version of telling people that Alt+F4 gets you cheat codes. I'm really not sure that advice that could actively damage the hardware of people is a fair go; this isn't your opinion, this is straight up misinformation.
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In the end it's a lot about preferences too. I know someone who tests and sells av software and he says Defender is ok, actually pretty good and Kaspersky is "the best". Now, after my experience with it Kaspersky is "the worst", but Defender really works well, so he was right about 1 thing, but not the other.


But no av at all is really super irresponsible, and those people are probably all part of a couple of botnets without even knowing it...
 
Saidur_Ali
AVG Free was terrible back then, no protection from drive-by downloads and rootkits. Main reason I started looking for a better alternative. Tried a lot of top names but found Avast Free to be the best in real world use.

Barclays Bank offer online banking users free Kaspersky Internet Security but last time I tried that, it felt like I had installed a virus on my computer.

No issues since using Avast, also using Adblock Plus with Malware domains subscription helps a lot. Avast has bought AVG last year, no surprise AVG 2017 is a big improvement over previous versions but still Avast is better version for free. I find the software updater useful, much quicker than downloading and installing updates manually.
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The AVG 2012 I had was quite resource hog, I had slow laptop CPU ( Celeron M ), and it was annoying when CPU usage kept being taken by AVG, so I often disabled some components of the AVG. In 2014, I disabled most of the AVG processes ( not running ) but still installed on my HDD. The AVG 2012 had anti rootkit component.

I periodically check the integrity of my OS ( XP SP3 ), mainly services, startup items ( I used selective startup exclusively )and I have firewall too. I always careful when browsing the net, using my torrent client, download managers etc.
 
H20HYBRID_GT
In the end it's a lot about preferences too. I know someone who tests and sells av software and he says Defender is ok, actually pretty good and Kaspersky is "the best". Now, after my experience with it Kaspersky is "the worst", but Defender really works well, so he was right about 1 thing, but not the other.
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I agree completely. Defender is fine for some, and what works for you is going to depend a lot on your computer and how you use it. IMO, basically any reputable AV that doesn't tank your performance is fine with me.

I'm actually lucky enough to have two computers at the moment, one of which I've designated as the "gaming" machine. That one doesn't have AV on it, just Defender, although I'm very aware that it's more vulnerable and therefore it doesn't get used for much of anything except gaming. The other computer has AV and does the wading through the muck of the internets.

But no av at all is really super irresponsible, and those people are probably all part of a couple of botnets without even knowing it...
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^^
 
Ridox2JZGTE
The AVG 2012 I had was quite resource hog, I had slow laptop CPU ( Celeron M ), and it was annoying when CPU usage kept being taken by AVG, so I often disabled some components of the AVG. In 2014, I disabled most of the AVG processes ( not running ) but still installed on my HDD. The AVG 2012 had anti rootkit component.

I periodically check the integrity of my OS ( XP SP3 ), mainly services, startup items ( I used selective startup exclusively )and I have firewall too. I always careful when browsing the net, using my torrent client, download managers etc.
Click to expand...
IIRC, although it can scan for rootkits and viruses, it does little to prevent viruses and rootkits being installed on the computer so makes it quite useless. Avast does a good job of preventing anything bad getting installed while not being as much of a resource hog as the old AVG was. You might notice an improvement in boot up speed if you upgrade to latest Avast version and remove AVG.
 
I've had both Norton and McAfee on machines in the past. Both of them were incredibly annoying with "informative" popups particularly when renewal time was coming up. Durr, one of the things I expect from AV is preventing popups. Even more annoying was McAfee's popup about other machines on the local network not "protected" by McAfee. What the HELL is McAfee doing scanning other machines on the network?!? Several times I contacted McAfee support and one of their technicians would remotely connect to the machine, diddle around for a few minutes, and assure me that behavior would stop. Each time, a month later, it would start up again. Needless to say McAfee got removed instead of renewed.
 
Tornado
Says the person going to great lengths to justify using nothing.
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Windows defender is ****, a company that just focuses on AV solutions is going to be better.

Have you worked as a PC tech?
I have

Like I said before I have removed malware from PCs with the latest AV solution.

Heck my PC did not even get infected with the wannacry.
Why?
I keep my PC upto date.

Something average joe does not.

If you have an anti virus program and you dont go to places like piratebay, you dont go to porn sites, you block pops, you dont use IE/Edge, you dont click on random links and you keep your PC upto date have a look to see how many infections were blocked or got detected in your anti virus logs.
 

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