Best Anti-Virus?

[Ron Topa]

I'm thinking of replacing Windows Defender.
What is the best anti-virus to replace it with?
Thank you

 

[starvinmarvin]

At home we use AVAST Free anti-virus. It offers very good protection, and it comes with their own Avast Secure internet browser. The browser is a customized version of Google's Chrome browser, and it's designed to protect you from dangerous / fake / malware websites. If it blocks a file, or an app, or a bad website it gives you a "Ding! - we stopped this dangerous thing from harming your computer" message. Additional features are, as usual, available if you're willing to pay for them. We've had the free version for about 8 years and our several computers have never been infected or hacked. Overall, the free version of AVAST is well woth considering.

What we don't like: AVAST gives you pop-up messages almost every day saying you have many vulnerabilities and you should "Resolve all" by buying their premium protection. The pop-up message is in the bottom right corner of your screen so it doesn't prevent you from continuing to work. Some of these pop-ups disappear after about 15 seconds, but some stay until you click to close them. Anyway, a few years ago they offered the premium version at an attractive price for a 1-year subscription. We bought it in the hope that the nagging pop-ups would cease. We were wrong. New pop-ups advertising even more features (super-premium version?) began to appear after a couple of days. After 1 year we reverted to the free version, no problem. They sent a survey to ask why we didn't renew, Lol.

Windows Defender is included in Wiondows 10 (and 11 I assume). I've been using it for a couple of years on my personal laptop which I use all day long. I've had zero problems. It seems to be good, unobtrusive protection. Are you sure you want to move away from Defender?

 

[Ron Topa]

At home we use AVAST Free anti-virus. It offers very good protection, and it comes with their own Avast Secure internet browser. The browser is a customized version of Google's Chrome browser, and it's designed to protect you from dangerous / fake / malware websites. If it blocks a file, or an app, or a bad website it gives you a "Ding! - we stopped this dangerous thing from harming your computer" message. Additional features are, as usual, available if you're willing to pay for them. We've had the free version for about 8 years and our several computers have never been infected or hacked. Overall, the free version of AVAST is well woth considering.

What we don't like: AVAST gives you pop-up messages almost every day saying you have many vulnerabilities and you should "Resolve all" by buying their premium protection. The pop-up message is in the bottom right corner of your screen so it doesn't prevent you from continuing to work. Some of these pop-ups disappear after about 15 seconds, but some stay until you click to close them. Anyway, a few years ago they offered the premium version at an attractive price for a 1-year subscription. We bought it in the hope that the nagging pop-ups would cease. We were wrong. New pop-ups advertising even more features (super-premium version?) began to appear after a couple of days. After 1 year we reverted to the free version, no problem. They sent a survey to ask why we didn't renew, Lol.

Windows Defender is included in Wiondows 10 (and 11 I assume). I've been using it for a couple of years on my personal laptop which I use all day long. I've had zero problems. It seems to be good, unobtrusive protection. Are you sure you want to move away from Defender?

I'm thinking of dropping Windows Defender because for the past 5 days there have have been no updates either automatic or when I request an update manually.
Do you know why my computer always displays "Your PC is Up To Date"?

 

[starvinmarvin]

Good question. I'm not an expert on this. What I do know is that the main Windows Update on my laptop is set to "Pause updates" (in 7-day increments) for about four weeks at a time. During that time there's a popup message every few days to tell me that Defender needs to update itself (definitions, i think). Then later on / next day there's a message saying Defender didn't find any malware on its latest scan.

Just now (Oct. 25) in Settings / Windows Security / Virus and threat protection updates it says: "Security intelligence is up to date. Last update: Friday, October 22, 2021 7:29 PM." That was 3 days ago. When i clicked on Check Now it says "Security intelligence version, etc. Version created on Friday, October 22, 2021 7:42 AM.

So, clicked on Check for updates. After checking, it now says: "Security intelligence version, etc. Version created on Monday, October 25, 2021 3:46 AM. It was just after Noon when i clicked on Check for updates.

Is the Defender "Version" the same as "Definitions"? I don't know. AVAST updates "Virus and Malware Definitions" frequently, and it updates the "Engine Version" less frequently.

If in doubt, you can always try to Refresh your Windows operating system, keeping (most of) your installed programs, apps, and data. Or, you could run the Windows "Chkdsk" utility program to scan for errors. Here's a link to a short tutorial video:

 

[SCANNERMAN]

I'm thinking of replacing Windows Defender.
What is the best anti-virus to replace it with?
Thank you

Virus scanners are largely a matter of personal preference. I find Avast tends to use a lot of system resources uneccessarily but again, that is my opinion. I highly recommend Kaspersky but there are others out there that are said to be just as good and less expensive. I've been using Kaspersky on my personal builds now for nearly a decade and although I would say it isn't the most user friendly anti-virus software on the market I find it to be very thorough and I like the tools that come with the Total Security version. I hope this helps.

 

[SCANNERMAN]

I'm thinking of dropping Windows Defender because for the past 5 days there have have been no updates either automatic or when I request an update manually.
Do you know why my computer always displays "Your PC is Up To Date"?

This should probably be on another thread. If your PC hasn't had an update in months something is definitely wrong unless it is updating automatically. Windows does provide stand alone fixes for this problem but I would recommend them as a last resort. Often the problem is simple and easy to fix with a trouble shooter.

 

[TechnoMage]

I guess I'm just the opposite. If I get an MS Update, I start looking for a reason WHY. Because, since day one, I've had that nuisance shut OFF.
It's just one less headache to worry about.

 

[SCANNERMAN]

Sooner or later that avoidance can snag you in the hinder parts when you least expect it. Pffft... Windoze. It's a trade off, just like Linux.