Which Antivirus and Internet Security?
Discussion
It's a question for my mum, who has a laptop running Windows 10. It's had AVG free antivirus installed for a few years and I always felt that was sufficient given that she never accessed internet banking or did any transactions online. However she's now wanting to buy stuff online and access internet banking so it's got me looking at what's best value at keeping all those bank details safe.
I've read a few posts on here about Windows Defender - is that preferable to AVG free? I know some people say Defender is all you need but doesn't that rely on also ensuring Windows is constantly patched/not run as an Administrator etc? Plus don't the paid-for services offer more than "just" antivirus? Total internet security etc?? I know you can beef up AVG to a paid for version with more features. I'm just looking for a simple solution for someone non technical and was just going to get a McAfee/Norton style product using a paid for product key at a shop, but it seems they've all got you by the short and curlies now and make you enter credit card details so as to set up automatic renewal (which I know you can cancel but still a faff on) instead of just entering a new product key each year.
Or if there are any good products that don't require automatic renewal still then let me know! Thanks all.
I've read a few posts on here about Windows Defender - is that preferable to AVG free? I know some people say Defender is all you need but doesn't that rely on also ensuring Windows is constantly patched/not run as an Administrator etc? Plus don't the paid-for services offer more than "just" antivirus? Total internet security etc?? I know you can beef up AVG to a paid for version with more features. I'm just looking for a simple solution for someone non technical and was just going to get a McAfee/Norton style product using a paid for product key at a shop, but it seems they've all got you by the short and curlies now and make you enter credit card details so as to set up automatic renewal (which I know you can cancel but still a faff on) instead of just entering a new product key each year.
Or if there are any good products that don't require automatic renewal still then let me know! Thanks all.
Historically I used to only use zonealarm firewall, which managed to keep my home pc better protected than my coroprate laptop, with all the fancy anti virus software. However, since Windows 10 I've just used the built in AV and firewall.I do online banking, internet shopping, torrents and have never had a problem.
The only other things I do, on mine, and my mum's pc is create a D drive and move my Documents folder to that, and back that up to an external disk (if small enough something like Dropbox or pCloud will do). I also regularly image the C drive. That way if ever anything goes wrong I can get back to square one in half an hour or so.
The only other things I do, on mine, and my mum's pc is create a D drive and move my Documents folder to that, and back that up to an external disk (if small enough something like Dropbox or pCloud will do). I also regularly image the C drive. That way if ever anything goes wrong I can get back to square one in half an hour or so.
Toyoda said:
I know some people say Defender is all you need but doesn't that rely on also ensuring Windows is constantly patched/not run as an Administrator etc?
From a risk reduction perspective, ensuring the OS/browser is patched is a higher priority than worrying about which AV software you're using.AV won't stop an out of date machine getting compromised.
Food for thought! Thanks to all for the replies. So are the add ons to AV that you get with paid for services just snake oil? Norton 360? McAfee total security etc?
And will i need to remove the free version of AVG for Windows Defender to work? Or is the free version of AVG just as good as Defender?
And will i need to remove the free version of AVG for Windows Defender to work? Or is the free version of AVG just as good as Defender?
Edited by Toyoda on Thursday 22 September 19:55
Toyoda said:
Food for thought! Thanks to all for the replies. So are the add ons to AV that you get with paid for services just snake oil? Norton 360? McAfee total security etc?
And will i need to remove the free version of AVG for Windows Defender to work? Or is the free version of AVG just as good as Defender?
Norton and McAfee have never been good, they have just been around the longest and often come included on prebuilt PCs. And will i need to remove the free version of AVG for Windows Defender to work? Or is the free version of AVG just as good as Defender?
Edited by Toyoda on Thursday 22 September 19:55
Other options aren't snake oil, per se, they are just not necessary anymore, and it's a bit of a minefield which will work best. As you said they want to tie you into an annual subscription.
Defender will disable itself if AVG is running. The security options in Windows tells you what software is protecting you. I would just remove AVG.
You'll probably find the laptop starts working a bit quicker just running Defender as well.
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