Free vs paid Antivirus?

[Berryracer]

I am running avast! free antivirus FTW and im quit happy with it.

What are the reasons I should pay for an AV?

I dont care about technical support if that's the difference but what else?

how good is the avast engine compared to the big sharks like kaspersky, Bitdefender, Trend Micro, and Eset?

And for a paid AV, which one would you go for? I had Kaspersky before and it was too heavy on my system even though my system is pretty darn fast. BitDefender caused me a myriad of random errors and crashed even on the v2013, and ESET just gets very bad scores in online tests now they have dropped the ball ever since their reign in the past years when they used to be the lightest / most secure?

What would j00 r3comm3end for m3|-| ???

 

[BlueWeasel]

MS Security Essentials :biggrin:

 

[Nothinman]

They all suck. If you feel you don't trust yourself to run without one just pick the one that makes your system perform the least bad after it's installed.

 

[smitbret]

I am running avast! free antivirus FTW and im quit happy with it.

What are the reasons I should pay for an AV?

I dont care about technical support if that's the difference but what else?

how good is the avast engine compared to the big sharks like kaspersky, Bitdefender, Trend Micro, and Eset?

And for a paid AV, which one would you go for? I had Kaspersky before and it was too heavy on my system even though my system is pretty darn fast. BitDefender caused me a myriad of random errors and crashed even on the v2013, and ESET just gets very bad scores in online tests now they have dropped the ball ever since their reign in the past years when they used to be the lightest / most secure?

What would j00 r3comm3end for m3|-| ???

If Avast has worked fine, why would you consider paying for something else? Obviously it suits your computer habits just fine.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Batmeat]

They all suck. If you feel you don't trust yourself to run without one just pick the one that makes your system perform the least bad after it's installed.

It's more than just that. People are stupid when it comes to their computers. Aside from enthusiasts, they leave their comps outdated by not installing service packs, patches, etc... There are exploits that simply swim out in cyberspace looking for computers that are vulnerable. So for most people it's not a issue of trusting themselves. I guarantee you if you install a fresh copy of windows 95,98,2k,xp,vista,7,server2003,2008.....and don't do updates, you will be infected with malware and viruses even if you only vist this website and nothing more.

That being said, I use Avast. I like the fingerprint it leaves on my computer and doesn't appear to be much of a resource hog. For paid AV solutions I would go with McAfee. Avoid Norton at all costs...

 

[Deaks2]

MS Security Essentials :biggrin:

+1

Free, uses little ressources, and, ummm, free...

 

[Nothinman]

It's more than just that. People are stupid when it comes to their computers. Aside from enthusiasts, they leave their comps outdated by not installing service packs, patches, etc... There are exploits that simply swim out in cyberspace looking for computers that are vulnerable. So for most people it's not a issue of trusting themselves. I guarantee you if you install a fresh copy of windows 95,98,2k,xp,vista,7,server2003,2008.....and don't do updates, you will be infected with malware and viruses even if you only vist this website and nothing more.

That being said, I use Avast. I like the fingerprint it leaves on my computer and doesn't appear to be much of a resource hog. For paid AV solutions I would go with McAfee. Avoid Norton at all costs...

I've been using a Win7 VM for work since it's release without any A/V and haven't had a single issue. I patch it periodically, but not as frequently as I should since I leave virtually everything running all of the time and don't want to restart what I'm working on.

I know there have been instances where ad networks have been broken into and had malware placed on their CDN, but I still managed to avoid it somehow.

 

[mvbighead]

I've been using a Win7 VM for work since it's release without any A/V and haven't had a single issue. I patch it periodically, but not as frequently as I should since I leave virtually everything running all of the time and don't want to restart what I'm working on.

I know there have been instances where ad networks have been broken into and had malware placed on their CDN, but I still managed to avoid it somehow.

I dunno that I buy that as a reason not use it though, not that you said that.

I've long used free. Reason being that paying someone doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting a better product. Generally speaking, you're going to get infected regardless of whether you have an AV product or not. The benefit to having AV is knowing that you're infected, which allows you to work on getting rid of the infection. Many viruses aren't a huge deal, but the ones that work to expose personal data or destroy data on your computers shouldn't be given free reign.

I'd recommend MS Security Essentials myself as it doesn't require you to register on a yearly basis. My experience is that an AV system that has a periodic re-register period usually doesn't get re-registered which means it isn't getting updated and therefor isn't finding newer infections on your machine. I like Avast, but having once used it on my mom's computer, and checking to see that she let that period lapse, I've basically looked for a quality product that doesn't require you to re-register. MSSE is that.

 

[Nothinman]

I dunno that I buy that as a reason not use it though, not that you said that.

I've long used free. Reason being that paying someone doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting a better product. Generally speaking, you're going to get infected regardless of whether you have an AV product or not. The benefit to having AV is knowing that you're infected, which allows you to work on getting rid of the infection. Many viruses aren't a huge deal, but the ones that work to expose personal data or destroy data on your computers shouldn't be given free reign.

I'd recommend MS Security Essentials myself as it doesn't require you to register on a yearly basis. My experience is that an AV system that has a periodic re-register period usually doesn't get re-registered which means it isn't getting updated and therefor isn't finding newer infections on your machine. I like Avast, but having once used it on my mom's computer, and checking to see that she let that period lapse, I've basically looked for a quality product that doesn't require you to re-register. MSSE is that.

No, that was more of me pushing the fact that smart usage can keep you from malware. Reasons not to use any of them are plentiful, mostly the huge dump in performance that any one of them causes with their real-time scanning and many services processing everything that goes in and out of your PC.

 

[mvbighead]

No, that was more of me pushing the fact that smart usage can keep you from malware. Reasons not to use any of them are plentiful, mostly the huge dump in performance that any one of them causes with their real-time scanning and many services processing everything that goes in and out of your PC.

That's true. 99% of not getting infected stems from not being an idiot.

I will say that Avast/MSSE both are relatively harmless in terms of resource usage though.

 

[gus6464]

MSSE is really good. Uses almost 0 resources and is not up in your face like Norton and the other ones.

 

[stevech]

MSSE is really good. Uses almost 0 resources and is not up in your face like Norton and the other ones.

Agree. Long time user.

Microsoft should have a highly vested impetus for a good antivirus for their WIndows OS target!! Indeed, MSSE should have come out free years ago.

I must use Symantec at work. Awful.
McAffe - worse yet.

 

[phobsi]

I use MSSE too but with the EMET add on. I have no idea what it does....

 

[Turbonium]

Wow, since when is Microsoft Security Essentials free? I thought you had to pay for it.

I've been using avast! for ages, but I hate the new GUI. It's bloated and ugly.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Wow, since when is Microsoft Security Essentials free? I thought you had to pay for it.

Not sure if serious.

 

[nemesismk2]

MSSE is really good. Uses almost 0 resources and is not up in your face like Norton and the other ones.

I agree 100% because i have used MSSE and also Norton which i didn't rate at all.

 

[Quantos]

I currently have MSSE, and had nothing at all for a time before that. I consider MSSE to be there "in case", but I truly believe it won't pick up much. I consider viruses to be similar to car crashes. Sometimes you'll get one because you're not lucky, but most of the time, it's your own damned fault.

 

[Ryland]

MS Security Essentials :biggrin:

Only if you dont mind infections.

 

[Fardringle]

Only if you dont mind infections.

If you use the Internet regularly, you will get infections no matter what software you use. Microsoft Security Essentials just happens to be one of the better free protection options that doesn't interfere with normal usage of the computer (doesn't take many resources, uses very little CPU, etc).

 

[lxskllr]

If you use the Internet regularly, you will get infections no matter what software you use.

I question this. My electronic entertainment is virtually 100% online. I run Debian now, but even when I was on Windows, I did it without getting infected, including going to sketchy sites. It's inconceivable to me how people get viruses over and over. I used AV as a just in case thing, but it never got activated.

 

[mvbighead]

I question this. My electronic entertainment is virtually 100% online. I run Debian now, but even when I was on Windows, I did it without getting infected, including going to sketchy sites. It's inconceivable to me how people get viruses over and over. I used AV as a just in case thing, but it never got activated.

The general gist is regardless of what product you use, if you are hitting sites that aim to infect your system, you will likely get infected, to some extent. Granted, some are better than others at detecting infections, but for the most part, the free ones are nearly as good as the pay for products.

You can still get an infection with Norton, McAfee, and MSSE, and pretty much any product. So long as you are using a reputable product that is updated regularly, you are doing your part.

 

[blurredvision]

I run MSSE and Malwarebytes Pro. With those and common internet browsing sense, I feel 100% fine. Hell, I didn't have any anti-virus at all for about 7 years and never once was infected, or at least I never had any accounts compromised or other weird computer behavior occur. A little common sense goes a long way.

 

[Ryland]

If you use the Internet regularly, you will get infections no matter what software you use. Microsoft Security Essentials just happens to be one of the better free protection options that doesn't interfere with normal usage of the computer (doesn't take many resources, uses very little CPU, etc).

I have used Avast, MSE, Antivir and AVG but have only ever been infected while using MSE. To me that makes MSE inferior.

 

[Zxian]

I have used Avast, MSE, Antivir and AVG but have only ever been infected while using MSE. To me that makes MSE inferior.

Unless you were running all three of them simultaneously, side-by-side, and viewing the exact same websites, it's a moot point. Software changes over time, as does the content you view on the web.

I've only had one infection while running MSE on any of my systems. Prior to that, I had run into far more infections on my system with any number of security software (Kaspersky, NOD32, Bitdefender, Avast, etc). Those were all in the days of Windows XP though. The number of vulnerabilities in Windows 7 is far less than there are/were for XP.

 

[GrumpyMan]

I use MSE and don't turn on my computer. I find that with these two actions I have never gotten infected with any viruses yet, therefore it must be the best av.