UKC

For a laptop running Windows 10.

Thanks for any advice

In reply to Flinticus:

I've used Avast for a while now. Seems OK. Does try to sell you the paid version now and then but I suppose you'd expect that.

In reply to Flinticus:

The free Windows Defender that comes with Windows nowadays is perfectly fine, does pretty well in tests, doesn't seem to slow anything down and doesn't try to justify its presence like many of the others seem to do by bugging you to remind you what you're wasting money on.

Other than that, Malwarebytes and CCleaner are the standard other security freeware essentials.

In reply to Flinticus:

Most antivirus software is bloated and full of junk and trying sell you things. For a while now Windows has had built in antivirus (Windows defender). It used to get a bad rep but increasingly people are recommending to stick with Defender.

Defender pros:
Unobtrusive, relatively low performance cost (for AV software anyway), no junk, free.

Defender cons:
May not be quite as high performing some competitors (but is certainly better than the poor ones) but seems to be pretty close.

https://www.howtogeek.com/225385/what%E2%80%99s-the-best-antivirus-for-wind...

As with climbing the antivirus (gear) is there to protect you but its best not to do risky things in the first place. Don't download things if you don't know exactly what it is, don't visit dodgy websites, don't open email attachments unless you know exactly what it is. The key with most of this stuff is that it is unsolicited - if it is an unsolicited download/email then be very wary.

In reply to Angrypenguin:

My wife is ideal click bait browser. Too curious about rare diseases and cute puppies. It's the sites she visits that bring chaos.

In reply to Flinticus:


Teaching someone about phishing scams and how to safely use the internet doesn't take long and is a lot more effective than anti-virus software. I don't know anyone who uses AV anymore (other than the aforementioned defender).and it's certainly not recomended these days (apart from by those who sell it).

If you don't carry out basic checks before putting your passwords into your banking site for example then one day you'll get drained, AV software or not it's irrelevant for the majority of threats we face. AV was designed for an internet where virus's were slow to create and slow to spread. Times have changed.

In reply to Sharp:
I agree with your point about teaching people information security on-line but it is not a substitute for sensible anti-virus precautions - it is complementary and effective protection of a different type, preventing the user from doing something wrong and revealing information to the enemy while AV is a layer of protection against active technological invasion of your system.

In reply to Flinticus:
Don't forget to keep all the software on your laptop up to date, especially java and pdf readers.

In reply to john arran:

This is what I was recommended by folks in the IT world too (not that I have the 1st idea about these things). Their feeling seems to be that windows defender is as good as the rest for general home use. Many of the others just slow the machine up for little/no added benefit.