for those thinking Win10 is a little too chatty back to MS, I have started using a free utility called ShutUp10, by O&O and avail here; https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
it doesn't do anything that you couldn't hunt down the sections and tweak yourself, it just puts them in one simple GUI.
I like it as it allows you to export your settings, then simply use those settings on other PC's with the import function.
Just something to check:
In my experience many of the big ISPs provide antivirus software to their customers for free. I know comcast gives out Norton, the one I use gives out something called Total Defense (which I've never even considered installing). If your looking for a "free" premium AV you may want to check what you can get from your ISP.
I tend to agree with the Mozilla guy. I remember the days when you could just get viruses from general internet use. Now I'm not so sure thats something you have to really be concerned with. I haven't had a real virus on my own machine in years and I don't really do anything except use chrome with an adblocker to make sure I don't click on any ads. I do let defender scan downloads and my system periodically but its all automated. I get those who use image back ups but I choose to rely on google drive to back up my important stuff (pictures, documents) and then I keep a external drive that I only plug in periodically to add stuff too. Off site back ups are important!
Win 10 is just too snoopy to suit me, but it is installed on my family's computers and they like it. If it keeps itself clean and updated, that's good enough for me.
All I do on it is a once a month maintenance for my mother's Win10 laptop but only when there's a new CCleaner version I use it to:
Update CCleaner, look for any newer version of AnyBurn, update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, update Firefox because she says she keeps mistakenly using Edge.
Then run a monthly full scan with Windows Defender (which is getting slower and slower every month), then run a monthly scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and turn it off, and go running back to XP heaven.
Thanks for information. Great thing about this forum, folks will share and are not too judgemental.
Best forum on the net - great members! I've certainly benefited from this forum over the years.
Let us know how it goes, I'd like to know your opinion on Norton.
I got bored last night, and so I tried it. And I didn't need a week to make up my mind!
I test on my actual system, I do not use any malware samples, and I don't use any Virtualization software for an antivirus test because in my views it gives a false representation of how an antivirus will work and live sitting alongside other software. I do however have disk images to restore from after the test.
They didn't have a trial for Norton Antivirus Basic, the smallest one they offer is Norton Security Deluxe (not what I wanted to test at all I could careless about their firewall that's included). It contains; antivirus, antispam, antispyware, disk defrag/optimizer, disk cleaner, firewall, identity protection, and a browser toolbar (didn't like that, the sneaky basta....).
The installation was easy and everything downloaded and installed at a very acceptable speed, and that there was the only good thing about it in my opinion.
It's a false positive machine, just like it's been for years! it flags a ton of UPX compressed files (actually according to VirusTotal results allot of av's currently are), and Nirsoft software (gotta feel for the Nirsoft author so many av's falsely detect his useful small tools). It doesn't help when it classifies things as the same type of infection and stating it was first made 1 week ago which wasn't true, and stating only 5 Norton users have the file - when in fact all of the files were several years old with one being nearly 15 years old - it evidently didn't like some of my very old portable legacy audio software.
How the system operated I'd compare it roughly to how AVG Free is - a bit bloated (but not the fattest thing around, but still chubby) with some slowdown, although it uses less memory when idle compared to AVG Free. One thing though when in Explorer and single-clicking a small setup file (not running it) it locked my whole system while it was scanning the file, and then it unlocked the system when finished, I didn't like that kind of behavior it seemed as if Windows froze.
The Full System Scan scanning speed out of the box was ok at 66 minutes, I was expecting something at the minimum of 90 minutes but I don't think it scans everything in order to achieve the speed - although how it displays the on-going scan makes it look like it would take forever.
The quarantine isn't intuitive at all to get falsely detected quarantined files out of it. One would've thought they'd just have something logical like a Delete button and a Restore button in clear sight, but no they had to go and make things complicated since you actually have to double-click upon a quarantined item to get at the Restore option - it becomes a chore too because it immediately scrolls back to the top of the long list which is frustrating with all the false positive quarantines it did.
The settings would probably have some inexperienced users going to the support pages to learn what allot of it was mostly due to their trademarked names they use for calling things entirely different when compared to almost all other antivirus. Mostly the default settings don't need to be messed with, especially since it wholly ignores when you set it to Ask Me, it just goes ahead and does whatever it wants anyways without asking you anything, so why have the option. I didn't like all of the settings they have, they literally need to have a toggle button/switch to have the settings be in a Basic form (not showing much since most of it doesn't need messed with), and Advanced (show everything the way it is now by default), or they just need to seriously cut down/dumb it down on having so many settings in my opinion.
For me I wouldn't personally buy it, and I'll likely never install their software again.
I got bored last night, and so I tried it. And I didn't need a week to make up my mind!
It's a false positive machine, just like it's been for years!
I bet you wish you had taken a sleeping pill, or two!
With all the false positives it's another program for flushing into oblivion
@razz,
All I can say about Norton's is I switched back to it from AVG IS about 3 years ago now when I found out I could get NIS for $AUD13.
I am yet to find any reason not to keep using it, it simply works - like any AV or software should.
The reason I went away from it all those years ago and started using AVG IS was Norton's did indeed get very bloated, to the point they lost users in droves.
I'm glad to say, those days are long gone, in my opinion it is not bloated (at least no more so than any other AV).
HOWEVER, I will say, again like any modern gen software, they DO work best when paired with modern gen hardware.
Running Norton's v22 (latest) on a XP machine, for example, will show up your PC's resource limits.
I've put Norton's on many PC's and have noticed no discernible performance issues.
It does report false positives for WizTree and ZHPCleaner for me, but heck, I'd rather false positives than true negatives!!!
@mta
I guess, like anything else, it's all about personal experiences and thereby personal preferences. I have been using Kaspersky Total Security for a little over 1 year now and have 2 years left on my license. I'm very happy with it and will likely renew when the time comes. But, who knows, at that time perhaps price will have to be considered and perhaps other anti-virus software will be something to consider. Who knows what the future will bring.
Total Defense (which I've never even considered installing).
Supposedly Total Defense is by the eTrust EZ Antivirus guys and gals, remember that? Well at least that's the info I saw in a YouTube review of it awhile ago.
I have been using Kaspersky Total Security
I've always like Kaspersky's antivirus products, and at least they aren't prone to as many false positives. The only antivirus I've used in recent years that doesn't produce a ton of false positives is Panda Free Antivirus.