UKC

My MacAfee subscription has run out, and I don't want to fork out for a new one.

Any thoughts on whether Microsoft's built-in stuff is up to the job?

Any advice welcome for a 50-something technophobe

In reply to JohnnyW:

Yes - you'll be just fine with m$'s standard anti virus / anti malware. As a general rule the others are just awfull bloatware and some of the free versions are becoming more like malware by the day.

In reply to JohnnyW:

In general having good internet sense is more important than a paid-for anti-virus.
- Don't ever run or download executable files (.exe, .jar, .bat, .ps1, loads more. Be especially vigilant if your operating system hides extensions)
- Don't open emails/attachments or click on links you aren't expecting.
- Take multiple backups of important documents regularly (store some off-site, and encrypted if it's sensitive data).
- Hover over all links to see if they're reputable/expected (google a link to see what others have said about it).

In reply to mp3ferret:

Yeah, that's my point really.

Cheers

In reply to SenzuBean:

That's what I was wondering. I do try to be savvy when browsing, and never download anything suspicious. Ta

In reply to JohnnyW:

Have a look at Avast. It's free, and has served me well for many years

In reply to JohnnyW:

What ever you do - don't use Avast - unless you like your AV software to pop up with endless adverts for itself. It was a good av about 10 years ago - now its just a joke.

In reply to JohnnyW:

Yes, have done or past 8 years, it works just fine.

In reply to JohnnyW:

jan 2016 Which recommends avast free as the best free option for windows

In reply to JohnnyW:
As long as you are running win 8 or higher the built in AV on Windows is fine. I used to use avast but was finding it too slow. I've been using the Microsoft one at work for 9 months now no problems.

In reply to JohnnyW:

Read some reviews about microsoft AV and some about Avast before making a decision.

In reply to The Lemming:

Yeah I did that and they all rave about how great bit defender is. You then go to the download sites and read what the actual users say and bit defender its not well loved.

Anyway so far I'm liking the stock windows 10 AV. I work in an office of IT professionals and we are all using it with no problems.

In reply to JohnnyW:

I just use the Windows Defender that came with Windows 8.1 which largely seems to work but I did manage to download a Trojan Horse which played havoc with my computer for a few days which Defender could detect but couldn't get rid of.
I downloaded Malwarebytes free version which doesn't give real time protection (at least not the free version) but did get rid of the b*****d eventually, after running multiple scans in safe mode.
I now run a Malwarebytes scan manually every now and again just as a back up, it doesn't seem to interfere with Windows Defender which is running all the time.

In reply to JohnnyW:

I can't comment on recent versions of Windows, as I still have vista and windows 7 on my comps.. But, if you need a recommendation, I can't praise Nod32 (by Eset) enough! I've been using it for about 6 years and nothing has ever got past it. It doesn't slow the system down and doesn't bother you with constant pop ups. It isn't free, but totally worth the cost for the peace of mind.