scorpius Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 I need to renew my antivirus software, for the last year I have had McAfee (LiveSafe) my knowledge of computer protection is very limited so any unbiased advice I will be very grateful for, I wish to purchase protection, the ones I have considered are; Norton 360 @ £59, Bitdefender and McAfee amongst others, I am looking for total protection, can you please help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerSim Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 in my opinion, there is no such thing as "total" protection from virus', trojans etc., and the free versions of the anti virus software are so very nearly as good as the paid for ones, that I fail to see any advantage in paying for them. Your Windows computer will never be totally 100% safe whilst connected to the internet, but you can make it safer by running AV, and a decent firewall, and being behind a NAT router ( which, IIRC, they all are now ). Safer still would involve a move to either Mac, or Linux; Mac are quite expensive, but have a very good reputation, and are very very safe. Linux is FREE, is as safe as Mac, and will almost certainly run on your "windoze" hardware. Linux's percieved downside is that it is not user friendly, and whilst I will agree that the learning curve can be steep at times - it is well worth the effort. Might be better to make sure you make proper backups of anything you want or need to keep, and just use a free AV/Firewall. ATB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welsh1 Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Norton is absolute rubbish, it slows your computer down don't get it.You are just as well to get a free anti virus, your windows computer has pretty good anti virus built in these days.I use the free version of avast,it is as good as most out there,i have used it for many years with no problems,just remember to do regular maintenance on your computer,use cc cleaner once a week to clear your cache,and Malwarebytes is excellent to run every week as well.Don't waste your money when you can get as good for free,spend the money on lots of jelly babies instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bala Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 +1 avast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon R Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 +2 for Avast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlaserF3 Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 I have used Microsoft Security Essentials for a few years now with no problems at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 i moved over to Avast after finding a bug in Kaspersky (which prevents me using my work software!), it's great and free. Norton and McAfee are to be avoided like the plague Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFC Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Avast free for me too. It enables a scan to be done in DOS so any Trojans masquerading as Windows files can be removed. Don't see any point in paying for AV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconFN Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Avast for me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 I use the upgraded avast , which is about £20 a year , much better than norton and mcaffe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evo Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 I have used Microsoft Security Essentials for a few years now with no problems at all. +1 excellent and also microsofts own,,simple and user friendly ,automatically updates and is the best I,ve used,,why pay when Microsoft offer this for free,,try it and see just how good it is, try before you buy,it is honestly the best free one out there better than Norton and mcfee(both ****) attb Evo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Eset is recognised as one of the best in the business...Does exactly what it says on the box....install it...and forget it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39TDS Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 (edited) I have read that Microsoft Security Essentials is no longer particularly supported by Microsoft themselves. They moved the SE staff onto other stuff. It means it isn't upgraded as it should be so is nothing like as good as it once was. I don't know if it's true or not, I also once read about someone shooting a hare at 704 yds. from wiki In June 2013, MSE achieved the lowest possible protection score, zero.[65] Edited October 29, 2014 by 39TDS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnfromUK Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Safer still would involve a move to either Mac, or Linux; Mac are quite expensive, but have a very good reputation, and are very very safe. Linux is FREE, is as safe as Mac, and will almost certainly run on your "windoze" hardware. Linux's percieved downside is that it is not user friendly, and whilst I will agree that the learning curve can be steep at times - it is well worth the effort. Might be better to make sure you make proper backups of anything you want or need to keep, and just use a free AV/Firewall. ATB In my view, Linux is very hard going to learn, and there are many variants that are not all fully compatible and have slightly different requirements/behaviours - and its hard to get normal 'software' for Linux. Its a great system for experts, but since you say you computer skills are very limited, I don't think its for you at all (I'm a low to moderate computer skills person) and I found it - particularly all the different versions very confusing. You go on line, read a well written article on how to do something - then find that the version/flavour you have is not done quite the same way and can't use the same source material etc.) Mac is good, slick and expensive. Software is pretty widely available (e.g MS Office for Mac), but there are a few 'gaps' where there is no reasonable equivalent of Windows ware (e.g. MS Visio equivalent). Most things people would buy (such as cameras, satnavs) come with Mac compatible software (or it can be downloaded), but beware, a few still don't. Contrary to what many claim, Macs are NOT immune from viruses, malware etc. They just have considerably less targeted at them, so the chances of problems are lower. Personally, I use a Mac - with Sophos (free) anti virus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpius Posted October 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Thanks for the good advise, most helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grrclark Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 In my view, Linux is very hard going to learn, and there are many variants that are not all fully compatible and have slightly different requirements/behaviours - and its hard to get normal 'software' for Linux. Its a great system for experts, but since you say you computer skills are very limited, I don't think its for you at all (I'm a low to moderate computer skills person) and I found it - particularly all the different versions very confusing. You go on line, read a well written article on how to do something - then find that the version/flavour you have is not done quite the same way and can't use the same source material etc.) Mac is good, slick and expensive. Software is pretty widely available (e.g MS Office for Mac), but there are a few 'gaps' where there is no reasonable equivalent of Windows ware (e.g. MS Visio equivalent). Most things people would buy (such as cameras, satnavs) come with Mac compatible software (or it can be downloaded), but beware, a few still don't. Contrary to what many claim, Macs are NOT immune from viruses, malware etc. They just have considerably less targeted at them, so the chances of problems are lower. Personally, I use a Mac - with Sophos (free) anti virus. Slightly off topic to the thread, have a look at OmniGraffle as Visio alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBeaky Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Eset is recognised as one of the best in the business...Does exactly what it says on the box....install it...and forget it+1Very low footprint, very efficient at picking up bugs and getting updates out - often one a day or more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 AVG Free, had it on both PCs here at home and not a blip in 5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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