I'm running Avast AV and it has been somewhat OK -- although I've never really liked it. They keep telling you about issues -- that they will fix with an upgraded service. And they want to hook into everything. Also their User Interface always seems odd.

I've read several places that Windows Defender is actually pretty decent -- and it doesn't try to 'fix' everything .It just goes about being an AV. One site recommended adding Malwarebytes with Defender to get the best deal. (They did say that the pay for version will automatically set itself as the defaultand block defender -- but you can fix that).

What do you guys think?

Thanks,

hj

 

On a pedal steel guitar site they have an IT tech who has his own consulting business and he highly, highly recommends Malwarebytes over and over. I've also heard Win Defender is a good utility but even so it would be great having it run along side Malwarebytes as none of them are perfect.

 

I've run most of them at one time or another. And I generally run them on a minimally intrusive level. I don't recommend that for most people, but I'm in the business and have different priorities.

Norton was the only one that ever gave me any trouble. In their relatively early days, they were giving away their virus protection program. I decided to try it. The installation failed, leaving me with a mess. It wouldn't "uninstall" because it wasn't installed nor would it run or reinstall. Enough pieces were installed that in wouldn't install, either. Norton support was no help because I had a free version. It took me a couple of days to undo the mess they had made.

Mostly I run Windows Defender, now. I've always like the McAfee product, and have it installed, but my desktop is set up for Hyper-V (virtual computers) and a server class license is pricier than I want.

I also keep Malware Bytes on the computer, but it's not set up to run automatically. If Defender tells me there's a problem I'll run Malware Bytes to correct it.

I also do almost all of my web browsing exclusively on Brave these days, too. I can't stand IE or Edge.

 

most folks I know kicked Norton when they partnered with that Scam Company Lifelock .... in case you wonder ===>> https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/20...ting-ftc-order


Malwarebytes is free and is good for cleaning most Malware... BUT you need to use their forums with it because it will not always Clean bugs that it detects... the forums are very helpful and they generally have procedures for cleaning bugs that MBAM doesn't properly clean.... I use it and have for many years now.

Winderz Defender can be a PIA as it detects a lot of False positives and will prevent you from getting some Downloads that you might be after... you can get around that pretty easy too and it's also Free. it was an automatic update since winderz 7.