Free virus protection etc. for Windows 10 computer?

[Lokie]

1 hour ago, transam said:

I like 10Bit stuff, Advanced System Care Ultimate paid for  is amazing, also have loads of 10Bit free stuff on my PC...Also Ccleaner, SuperAntiSpyware free..

 

Now and again l do an online Malwarebytes scan, which just finds PUP's which l sift through.

Yep, ASC Ultimate paid for last five years (used free versions several years before - never had any issues) real time protection, also as Transam; belt & braces run CCleaner/SuperAntiSpyware free and Iobit Malware fighter every so often, keep all my drivers up to date etc. 

 

Basically follow MajorGeeks.com advice - check out their freeware lists for good advice and programs on all computer issues, can't go far wrong (and get shut of any pre-installed stuff you don't want/need...  

[wgdanson]

7 hours ago, Crossy said:

Yes, free version, I'm not even sure Housecall itself has a paid version 

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/index.html

 

 

Just installed this, thanks, but I get a bit wary when on the Trend Micro window it says copyright @ 2005-2013. It found no threats, as did Defender, Glary and CC.

[Lokie]

19 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

expiry date is 18/6/2018, that is about the date I started it.

Ping em again, I have never had any probs with ASC customer services, always replied and gave resolution within 48hrs (I pay direct to them via ppal) So easy to use and no messing about plus covers three pc's. I also had an issue similar to you about two years ago but they resolved it, that was to do with the differance between the Pro and Ultimate programs at renewal

 

I advise ASC suite to all my friends and family as do Major Geeks, one of the best security suites (all in ones) out there and has been for quite  a while after few years of using the free version I signed up and have no regrets 

[NoshowJones]

12 minutes ago, Lokie said:

Ping em again, I have never had any probs with ASC customer services, always replied and gave resolution within 48hrs (I pay direct to them via ppal) So easy to use and no messing about plus covers three pc's. I also had an issue similar to you about two years ago but they resolved it, that was to do with the differance between the Pro and Ultimate programs at renewal

 

I advise ASC suite to all my friends and family as do Major Geeks, one of the best security suites (all in ones) out there and has been for quite  a while after few years of using the free version I signed up and have no regrets 

All they have to do is email and tell me the situation, but so far they haven't, and I have an "expired" notice only 4 months after paying them.

[transam]

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

expiry date is 18/6/2018, that is about the date I started it.

Then there is a payment problem which you can prove if you are sure they have the cash...

[Skeptic7]

Plenty of excellent free products and ZERO need to pay. I use Avast Free along with SuperAntiSpyware Free and Malwarebytes Free. The only downside is the free versions will bombard you with popups trying to get you to upgrade to the paid "Pro" version. This is understandable and a small price to pay and some are much more aggressive and constant than others. 

[upu2]

1 minute ago, Skeptic7 said:

Plenty of excellent free products and ZERO need to pay. I use Avast Free along with SuperAntiSpyware Free and Malwarebytes Free. The only downside is the free versions will bombard you with popups trying to get you to upgrade to the paid "Pro" version. This is understandable and a small price to pay and some are much more aggressive and constant than others. 

The free ones are never as effective as the ones you pay for. Before you same "I use them and have never had a virus" how do you know you have never had a virus? Not all attacks lock your computer. Remember you have things like Trojans, Key Loggers eyc that you probably would not know if they were on your computer.

What you dont know does not always mean there is no problem

[lvr181]

9 hours ago, 1sickpuppy said:

people who just use windows garbage

Please explain. 

[Skeptic7]

39 minutes ago, upu2 said:

The free ones are never as effective as the ones you pay for. Before you same "I use them and have never had a virus" how do you know you have never had a virus? Not all attacks lock your computer. Remember you have things like Trojans, Key Loggers eyc that you probably would not know if they were on your computer.

What you dont know does not always mean there is no problem

Granted "paid" is usually better than free and while your points are valid, the same is still true with the paid versions as well...you never truly know they are finding/preventing/blocking/removing all the bad stuff, but tech support is the biggest PLUS of the paid for versions. 

 

I'll retract my "ZERO need" and say paying isn't a necessity for an individual user (not a business) and don't need all the extra features. If one chooses free over paid, then at least go with a highly rated free version (Avast, AVG, Kaspersky) over Windows Defender, which has been shown to be inferior to the top free Third Party apps. 

Edited September 3, 2018 by Skeptic7

[transam]

I have tried zillions of free stuff and trials of pro products, but 10bit ASC does way more. It sorts the PC's running gear out also. I was amazed at the list of things it goes through on it's scan, it finds and fixes a lot of stuff nothing to do with virus. My PC now whizzes since the installation.

 

Well worth a try..I do the full scan every morning..

[Daffy D]

There is nothing inferior with free versions of anti virus programs, you just get less whistles and bells, like automatic updates and background scanning.

 

They would not offer an inferior free version that didn't catch all the (known) viruses. How would that look and who would trust them enough to fork out for an (possibly inferior) paid version.

 

 

[Skeptic7]

14 minutes ago, transam said:

I have tried zillions of free stuff and trials of pro products, but 10bit ASC does way more. It sorts the PC's running gear out also. I was amazed at the list of things it goes through on it's scan, it finds and fixes a lot of stuff nothing to do with virus. My PC now whizzes since the installation.

 

Well worth a try..I do the full scan every morning..

Thanks. Looks like a good optimization tool and gonna give it a try...but it's not an all-in-one suite with anti-virus. Still need an anti-virus app too. 

[VBF]

Well it's not free, but I use Norton Security Deluxe - costs me UKP25 annually for which I can protect 5 devices, Windows and/or Android or any combination.

I have switched the Automatic Renewal off  and deleted my Billing information from their website - both easy options

 

When it expires Norton will notify me and I can make a decision at the time.

 

I WAS using Norton Security Deluxe (nearly UKP50) until the 2018 renewal. In conversation with Norton, they told me that the active code is the same for both versions, the large difference in price is for  Family Safety features, which I don't need, and Backup and Cloud storage which I have covered for free elsewhere.

 

Norton has almost zero overhead on my system (even when Live Update is running),

 

 

It's set by default to do scans etc when one is not using the PC and does the job. For me it's well worth the 7 pennies per day to cover my PCs, tablet and phone. As ever....YMMV ?

 

Oh, and I also use free Malwarebytes and if I'm particularly concerned at any time throw free Housecall into the mix.

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by VBF

[laislica]

Interesting that windows defender is rated so highly on TVF.

Can it prevent an application from using the web?

Ive used  the free Comodo Internet Security for a number of years, it has a Geek service which you need to pay for to use, but you can disable it and sort out any detected problems yourself.

The firewall is easy to use.

It will sandbox any app it thinks is dodgy, but you can tick a box to say: don’t sandbox this app again.

Just scan a single file if you worry that what you just downloaded may be untrusted. Etc etc.

so having used it for many years, I don’t fancy trying anything else coz of the necessary learning curve.

[Morch]

7 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Thanks for all the feedback.

 

Interesting comparison of Avast vs. Windows Defender favoring Avast for detection rate.

The downside of Avast seems to be system slowdown and popups.

 

https://antivirusinsider.com/windows-defender-vs-avast/

 

I have both Defender and Avast (paid version) on different machines. Both work well, though neither is perfect, so as others commented, better to occasionally (or routinely if you pay attention or set up a schedule) supplement scans with some anti-malware tool (most recommendations given are solid). So long as you don't stray too far from the yellow brick road, doubt there will be much by way of exotic problems. Another good advice was to avoid logging as admin.

 

About Avast pop-ups, was never an issue even on free-version. In fact, one of the reasons I like Avast is that it always had a "silent" gaming mode - meaning no interruptions when full screen is on (and can be further customized). The other thing is that their other services aren't half bad either, so easier to bundle stuff together.

 

IMO, give the Defender a go (with some extra free version of an anti-malware tool). If no issues, then you're set without spending extra or installing anything. Could be stating the obvious, but in case you do try installing another anti virus, do make sure the defender is off. Running two simultaneously isn't the best choice.

[VBF]

15 minutes ago, Morch said:

IMO, give the Defender a go (with some extra free version of an anti-malware tool). If no issues, then you're set without spending extra or installing anything. Could be stating the obvious, but in case you do try installing another anti virus, do make sure the defender is off. Running two simultaneously isn't the best choice.

"In case you do try installing another anti virus, do make sure the defender is off. Running two simultaneously isn't the best choice."

If you choose a decent A/V it will switch Defender off automatically. (Same applies to the firewall, by the way)

The periodic scanning option is an "up to you" ?

 

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by VBF

[Morch]

4 minutes ago, VBF said:

"In case you do try installing another anti virus, do make sure the defender is off. Running two simultaneously isn't the best choice."

If you choose a decent A/V it will switch Defender off automatically. (Same applies to the firewall, by the way)

 

 

 

Fair enough, and was the case with paid software I purchased. But at least once, a while back, a free version didn't - which resulted to quite a hassle. After that, I'm in trust-but-verify mode when doing these things.

[VBF]

2 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Fair enough, and was the case with paid software I purchased. But at least once, a while back, a free version didn't - which resulted to quite a hassle. After that, I'm in trust-but-verify mode when doing these things.

Always!!!!! ?

[VBF]

As an "FYI" to those of us (yes, us!) using Housecall as recommended by @Crossy above, I've just noticed that it's stuck on Ver 7.1 for a very long time - since 2014 in fact!

 

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/index.html states:

 

HouseCall 7.1 improves on the recently released HouseCall 7.0 by providing a full system scan option and an option to scan only specific folders. It adds support for 64-bit versions of Windows Vista™ and Windows™ 7.

 

No mention of Windows 8 or 10.

 

Even their website states "Copyright (c) 1989-2017 Trend Micro Incorporated. All rights reserved"

 

I just downloaded the latest launcher from the site above and its copyright is stated as 2015 (Date Modified is just the date & time I downloaded it, in case you're wondering!)

 

 

Now I'm NOT disparaging Housecall, but I AM wondering if it's truly up to date enough to be reliable. 

Edited September 3, 2018 by VBF

[Lokie]

4 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Thanks. Looks like a good optimization tool and gonna give it a try...but it's not an all-in-one suite with anti-virus. Still need an anti-virus app too. 

ASC Ultimate 11 is a full all -in-one suite with real time anti-virus (it uses ASC pro optimisation features) rrp $29.99

ASC Pro is just optimization I use to use this with AVG free and had no probs but now I just use Ultimate and run a few freeware scanners every so often to ensure nothing may have been missed.

[dallen52]

On 9/2/2018 at 1:16 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

A while back Windows defender was like you describe. But now Defender is rated as one of the best anti-virus programs at all.

There is absolutely no need to look at anything else.

Agree with Windows 10 latest Defender.

It can be a bit aggressive on installing some stuff.

Tends to think it's a threat.

You have to add it to the whitelist.

Also AVG free is worthwhile as a second if you think Defender isn't doing it's job.

But Microsoft is trying to make itself more all in one now.

I still run the Windows development packages, sort of helps test new Windows stuff.

So I try to stay on Defender.

[transam]

13 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Thanks. Looks like a good optimization tool and gonna give it a try...but it's not an all-in-one suite with anti-virus. Still need an anti-virus app too. 

It has anti virus...

[upu2]

14 hours ago, lvr181 said:

Please explain. 

News flash it is also recommended for Apple users as well. Not so long ago 600,000 MAC's were infected with malware. Before you come out with these statements make sure you have the correct information.

I would agree before MAC's were safe but that because the number of users were limited. Now a lot of people use them in the belief they can be infected but this is a false belief. As more people use them the hackers and virus writers will target them. There is no credibility to be gained for a virus writer if he infects a handful of computers but he will get a lot of credit if he infects millions of computers.

Think about it because you know it makes sense

[transam]

https://www.iobit.com/en/advanced-systemcare-antivirus.php

[lvr181]

1 hour ago, upu2 said:

News flash it is also recommended for Apple users as well. Not so long ago 600,000 MAC's were infected with malware. Before you come out with these statements make sure you have the correct information.

I would agree before MAC's were safe but that because the number of users were limited. Now a lot of people use them in the belief they can be infected but this is a false belief. As more people use them the hackers and virus writers will target them. There is no credibility to be gained for a virus writer if he infects a handful of computers but he will get a lot of credit if he infects millions of computers.

Think about it because you know it makes sense

Thank you. Now you have explained that, I have no problem. But before that, I thought you were merely "having a go" at Windows users. ? 

 

"...can be infected..." I think you meant "can't"? 

 

I wonder if many or any Apple users are aware that back in the day (1997) Microsoft financially ($150M) bailed out Apple when they were on the brink of bankruptcy?  

[upu2]

5 hours ago, lvr181 said:

Thank you. Now you have explained that, I have no problem. But before that, I thought you were merely "having a go" at Windows users. ? 

 

"...can be infected..." I think you meant "can't"? 

 

I wonder if many or any Apple users are aware that back in the day (1997) Microsoft financially ($150M) bailed out Apple when they were on the brink of bankruptcy?  

Can not Can't and have been. Live in the a belief if you want but it will at some point bite you.

I was aware of the bailout yes which led to Apple reluctantly introducing more interaction between the two companies

Edited September 4, 2018 by upu2

[dallen52]

10 hours ago, transam said:

https://www.iobit.com/en/advanced-systemcare-antivirus.php

This is an excellent package.

I ran the version 10 Pro on my last laptop and it's really good. 

A full suite that keeps the machine optimised and virus/malware free.

 

I'm looking at putting it on my new one now..

Don't get me wrong. 

W10 Defender is doing well,  but always something more sophisticated to try.

This is good.

[lvr181]

9 hours ago, upu2 said:

Can not Can't and have been. Live in the a belief if you want but it will at some point bite you.

I was aware of the bailout yes which led to Apple reluctantly introducing more interaction between the two companies

Oh....now I am a little confused. But, forget the can and can't interpretation. I agree that Apple devices are subject to virus attacks. 

[bendejo]

Avira for AV, Windows Defender for firewall.  I tried a few other firewalls and combination since Win 10 came out, couldn't come up with anything to my liking.

 

I figure that if someone is going to put some effort into cracking security software, they'll go for one with a very large market share, which is this case is the one that comes free with the OS.  My attitude toward this stuff is you may not be able to stop them, but you don't have to make it easy for them either.  Having two different companies' products involved in security will complicate things.

 

Pop-ups in Avira?  Maybe once a day you'll get a little balloon in the lower-right corner of the screen telling how there is a special deal on the paid version today.  Just dismiss it.  None of those pop-ups that demand immediate attention, freeze up the interface etc.

 

 

[Slain]

I must be unlucky because all the free trial antiviruses I have tried always seem to let in viruses when the subscription is about to run out and you have to pay.

 

To be fair though, I am a bit paranoid because I think, why do they want to give me free anti virus.  What is their motivation to do so?

 

I can understand why micro-soft does. After all they want their product to work.

 

Come to think of it  a lot of the paid  for ones, also have up-grades to the new latest developed (more expensive) product.

 

Just my cynical outlook I suppose.