Anti virus softare? Sick of Nortons....

[Michael Drew]

I've had it with Norton's constant push to get me to buy some new thing from them. I am getting spammed by a virus protection program.... How agrivating. My annual renewal is coming due in couple weeks. Any other solid programs I should consider? What about this "PC Matic" that's suposedly a US product?

[Grant Wilkinson]

If you are running windows, go with the built-in application. It's free and the reviews show that it does a good job.

[Chuck Wintle]

I've had it with Norton's constant push to get me to buy some new thing from them. I am getting spammed by a virus protection program.... How agrivating. My annual renewal is coming due in couple weeks. Any other solid programs I should consider? What about this "PC Matic" that's suposedly a US product?

in my humlble experience most software companies bombard their customers with ads to buy the next version or an upgrade. Switch to linux for real virus protection.

[Bruce Page]

I use Bitdefender. They are all annoying to some degree but BD allows you to op out of most of their spam.
I dumped Norton several years ago. It slowed my PC to a crawl.

[Paul F Franklin]

+1 for Bitdefender. It seems they automatically install their VPN client and then nag you to use it, but you can uninstall the VPN client easy enough and that ends the nagging.

[Myk Rian]

The problen with Norton is it buries itself so deeply into your system and boot sector, the only way to get rid of it is a new hard drive.
I'm running Kaspersky. You'll get Buy me pop-ups no matter what you run.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I am using McAfee.

[Doug Colombo]

I agree with Grant. Windows built in works good - I have had no issues at all (I had on and off issues in the past with both Norton and McAfee). Family member in IT also uses it. I do run Malwarebytes, which I think is a good idea no matter who’s AV you run.

[Jeff Roltgen]

Webroot is decent. Only upon expiration do you get reminders/popups. No upgrade ads throughout the year. Occasional email charting a health report.

[Jim Becker]

If you are running windows, go with the built-in application. It's free and the reviews show that it does a good job.
^^ This. I see zero reason to pay for third party software for AV when running Windows.

[Dan Friedrichs]

You do not need "anti-virus software".

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/best-antivirus/ - the key line being, "And after all that, we learned that most people should neither pay for a traditional antivirus suite, such as McAfee, Norton, or Kaspersky, nor use free programs like Avira, Avast, or AVG. The “best antivirus” for most people to buy, it turns out, is nothing. Windows Defender, Microsoft’s built-in tool, is good enough for most people."

[Michael Drew]

I do run windows. I'm on 10 now. I'm surprised to hear windows recommended. I was under the impression it sucked and only Mac was good.

[Frank Pratt]

I abandoned Norton forever at least 15 years ago. It actually took a format/reinstall to get rid of all of it. The windows built in stuff has consistently been very well reviewed for many years. That's all I use.

[Bob Turkovich]

I'm curious if anyone has ever had problems running only Windows Defender (with Windows 10). I've been running that combination on three personal PC's for the last couple of years - based on the recommendation of a computer repair shop I do business with - and have not seen or heard of any issues. The repair shop recommended that I occasionally run the trial Malwarebytes program but that hasn't caught any issues either.

I don't miss the McAfee reminders at all. (Note: Malwarebytes did catch/repair some issues when I was using McAfee.)

[Jim Becker]

I do run windows. I'm on 10 now. I'm surprised to hear windows recommended. I was under the impression it sucked and only Mac was good.
Every time this particular question has come up here for a long time, to my memory, the embedded tools that come with Windows have gotten generally a good recommendation, at least for recent Windows versions...Win7, Win8.x, Win10 and Win11. They work well, update automatically and don't have much of a computing hit.

BTW, I run MacOS as my primary environment, only using Windows for CAD/CAM. I was generally not using AV for awhile but currently do use Malwarebytes. While MacOS is targeted less, it's still vulnerable. Of course, always using care is the best first defense regardless of OS!

[Curt Harms]

in my humlble experience most software companies bombard their customers with ads to buy the next version or an upgrade. Switch to linux for real virus protection.

Not 100% true, there certainly is malware for Linux. It's nowhere near as common as Windows malware but it exists. One big difference between Linux and Windows is that as I understand it, Linux is much quicker about fixing the vulnerability that allows the malware to do its dirty work. Windows has to be careful that their fixes don't break too many of the thousands of Windows programs. There aren't nearly as many different Linux programs to break, at least on the desktop.

[Ole Anderson]

The problen with Norton is it buries itself so deeply into your system and boot sector, the only way to get rid of it is a new hard drive.
I'm running Kaspersky. You'll get Buy me pop-ups no matter what you run. Yep. Good luck removing it from your system. It is like it's own virus. I am running the free version of AVG. Do not react to their request for a scan of your hard drive, they just want you to buy the program.

[Tom M King]

A long time ago, I downloaded Spyhunter in Safe Mode to clean a virus that took over our computer. It worked so well that I have stuck with it. I run that on top of the standard Windows stuff, and it's caught things that Windows didn't. No complaints, and no emails unless they have an upgrade available.

We don't get popups, but I don't even know what controls them. I just don't have to think about them.

[Don Coffman]

I use Defender that comes with Windows & occasionally scan with a free version of MalwareBytes (just out of habit) it seems to catch a few missed by Defender.
Comparisons are regularly performed & published @ AV-TEST | Antivirus & Security Software & AntiMalware Reviews (https://www.av-test.org/en/) it shows how most perform against differing conditions.

[Ronald Blue]

I use Norton 360 and rarely get pop ups or emails. Maybe it's a setting?

[Michael Drew]

I use Norton 360 and rarely get pop ups or emails. Maybe it's a setting?

If it is a setting, then I have no idea where to find it. I too, have 360. Almost every single time I log onto my PC, I get some kind of message from the software asking me to enable some feature, and it's usually one that I elected to NOT buy. This happens on all three of my machines (one desktop, two laptops). It has become quite tiresome.

All this talk about having to replace the hard drive, or at minimum, re-format is mind numbing to me. Like I just mentioned, I have three machines this crap in loaded on. There must be a better solution, that is less costly, less intrusive - to rid myself of Nortons.

[Mike Null]

I decided 20 years ago never to use Norton or McAfee again. Instead, I've been using AVG Free and have encountered zero problems. Recently, AVG has become much more aggressive with their pop-ups to the point that they are annoying.

[Ronald Blue]

If it is a setting, then I have no idea where to find it. I too, have 360. Almost every single time I log onto my PC, I get some kind of message from the software asking me to enable some feature, and it's usually one that I elected to NOT buy. This happens on all three of my machines (one desktop, two laptops). It has become quite tiresome.

All this talk about having to replace the hard drive, or at minimum, re-format is mind numbing to me. Like I just mentioned, I have three machines this crap in loaded on. There must be a better solution, that is less costly, less intrusive - to rid myself of Nortons.

I get maybe one popup a week and I'm not sure it's that frequent. I don't bite on the times it pops up and says "see who's spying on you or whatever they ask". I use the vpn feature and the rest of the normal protection that is supplied. No paid extra's. I get from time to time the "monitor your identity spiel as well but it's infrequent". I'm going to pay attention now to see how often it happens. Maybe I just ignore it and move on.

[mike stenson]

Just double check your settings, and make sure you're not allowing them to use your processing to mine cryptocurrency.

No, I'm not kidding.

[Thomas L Carpenter]

I use Webroot from Best Buy. Never had any virus problems but lately I've been thinking it may be the cause of a weird wifi problem. My computer claims I lose my wifi connection but when I check the wifi is connected/secured yet I can't connect to anything. Lasts a few minutes then everything is back to normal.

[Dave Lehnert]

On my old computer AVG made it run very slow. Purchased a new computer, and after my research, decided to go with what Windows provided. Have not had any problems that I know of for years. My ISP provides an Anti virus for free but have not installed it.

[Frank Pratt]

My philosophy on this is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. What comes with windows just works. So unless there is some out of the ordinary need for it, why bother with installing something that takes more work, cost money, or affects performance?

[roger wiegand]

I think Norton counts as a virus on its own. I got rid of it a long time ago (or tried to, as others have noted it's insidious-- I think burning the machine is the only thing that really works). On windows machines I've relied (successfully) on the free, included Windows software for a long time now. We went all Mac about 5 years ago now, I don't run any purchased or non- macOS included virus software on those systems, again no issues.

[Curt Harms]

Just double check your settings, and make sure you're not allowing them to use your processing to mine cryptocurrency.

No, I'm not kidding.

So that's why it's free ..... First I've heard of it but don't doubt it.

[mike stenson]

So that's why it's free ..... First I've heard of it but don't doubt it.

Norton is one of the companies that's done this.

[Jim Tobias]

BitDefender......reasonable and no hassle. I've been using them for about 15 years.

Jim

[Scott Clausen]

Using McAfee mostly because I never know who is going to open a bad email attachment.

[Derek Meyer]

I use Vipre and have for many years. I bought a lifetime home subscription many years ago - up to 10 PCs, and lifetime updates. I think at that time it was $129, which was a bargain. It's been a good product for me - very little impact on system resources, no unwanted popups, and good protection.

We use Vipre Endpoint Protection at work. We have 130 licenses for all our PCs, laptops and servers. It works great in this environment, and the central management console is a godsend, allowing us to deploy and update machines remotely, and to create different policies based on need or system type. It was much more reasonably priced than other options as well.

[Michael Drew]

I think I just cancelled my auto-renewal subscription. Literally, three different "are you sure" pop-ups tried to get me to change my mind, including an additional 30 days of free coverage. I'm even more committed to getting rid of this bloatware virus now. My employer has me paranoid I guess..... We have an entire 'cyber-security' department that loves to make all employees lives so much simpler - sarcasm. They have convinced me that I MUST have virus protection program running in the background.

[Greg Funk]

I consider all third party anti-virus programs to be as bad as a virus. I haven’t used anything beyond windows for at least 10 yrs and haven’t had any issues. All my data is backed up in various clouds so worst case I would reinstall windows but that hasn’t been necessary. If you’re reasonably careful about opening emails from unknown senders it shouldn’t be an issue.

I have anti-virus on my work laptop and it’s a hassle sometimes blocking legitimate software. Takes me a while to figure out why I’m having trouble installing a new piece of software that isn’t whitelisted.

[Frank Pratt]

I think I just cancelled my auto-renewal subscription. Literally, three different "are you sure" pop-ups tried to get me to change my mind, including an additional 30 days of free coverage. I'm even more committed to getting rid of this bloatware virus now. My employer has me paranoid I guess..... We have an entire 'cyber-security' department that loves to make all employees lives so much simpler - sarcasm. They have convinced me that I MUST have virus protection program running in the background.

Windows built in does run in the background and is always running.

[Jim Becker]

Windows built in does run in the background and is always running.

^^ This. As has been noted native AV in Windows is pretty decent, is free and is always running unless you do multiple things to turn it off on purpose.

[Luke Dupont]

Linux.

Windows is basically spyware anyway at this point.

[glenn bradley]

I'm always amused by the "Ford / Chevy", "Tastes Great / Less Filling" viewpoints on operating systems. I can tell many stories of folks contaminating whole departments full of machines because they believed that Mac or 'ux' systems were auto-magically resistant to attack.

I'm another who runs the built in stuff on my Windows machines and have since Windows 7 . . . maybe before, it's been so long since XP. Never had a problem. For my 'ux' flavored home machines I tend to run Avast. Thinking no one designs attacks for the OS that runs much of the internet is an interesting position.

Fire up the default Windows 10 security settings, dial in a few things specific to your use if required and move on. :)

[Roger Feeley]

My son-in-law is a cyber security expert at a fortune 100 company.he recommends the built in Microsoft stuff. I had kasperski and abandoned the license.

[Keith Pitman]

I found Norton really invasive and got rid of it. Norton makes it difficult to get it fully off your machine,but just persevere, it’s doable. I have been using Webroot for several years and like it.

[Curt Harms]

Linux.

Windows is basically spyware anyway at this point.

I guess it depends on who you want to spy on you, I guess.

[Kev Williams]

I'm now looking for a NON-MS AV- I've been very satisfied with Defender and Security Essentials. Until lately that is... I've been scrubbing and 'rebuilding' my old Win7 computers lately, because they're so ludicrously SLOOOOWWW. My Dell T5400 Precision desktop is running an SSD, 32gigs of Ram and 8 processors, and my old win98 runs faster. Or RAN faster, I just installed 7-Pro Ultimate64 and OMG what a difference, it's back to its old self.... I've owned it about 3 years and it was lightning fast when I got it. The day it showed up downloaded security updates, then disabled Updates, and it's never had another one. I mean, 8 to ~ seconds for context menus to show up after a click is a bit much. Now, absolute instant reaction to ANY mouseclick. I also put the same OS on a used Dell 790 I got recently, only 16gigs ram but it acts the same way, totally instantaneous reaction. And I want to KEEP them that way. A walk-in customer, who programs servers for a living, recently told me that even though I've disabled Windows Updates, and supposedly Win7 support has ended, MS still uploads updates to Win7 computers. And, that (according to him), while the updates are viable, MS admits that they use a crapload of computer power- on purpose. In essence, they're slowing down our computers on purpose. I've also read a similar story online awhile back. How are they installing the updates? How about when your Defender and Essentials download new virus definitions..? Conspiracy theory? Maybe, but I still have 3 nearly useless Win7 computers in this house that USED to work VERY well. SOMETHING is slowing them down, and it ain't me!

Sorry for the novella, but I'm reasonably convinced Defender and Essentials, as much as I like how they work, are the source of my computer slowdowns. My 'new' 7's have been offline and I need them online, so I'll now read backwards and see what y'all had to say! ;)

>edit< ok, so I'm online checking, on 'TomsGuide', and the words "heavy background system impact" as 'reasons to avoid' show up on reviews of BitDefender, Norton, McAfee ("VERY heavy") and Trend Micro. Toms favorite is Kapspersky... One thing I DON'T need is a VPN, doc shredders, or any other crap, I just want my AV to find and get rid of viruses & such, period. I'm not afraid to pay, either :)

>edit II< OK-- so I found, and downloaded an AV called "Immunet"-- It's free, open-source software, originally designed for Linux, has NO frills of any kind, there's no pay-version of it so no nag popups, it runs from an online app... If any computer on its 'network' gets infected, then every computer gets updated. Simple, free!, no frills, no popups, and (hopefully) it just works. We'll see :D

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