Anti -Virus Software

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I usually buy norton internet security from a third party(Argos,Pc World etc) rather than their own website as it is a lot more expensive but i keep reading if you do this you cannot proceed with the installation unless you leave your card details for auto-renewal.You can turn this off in settings but norton make this difficult for you.It seems all the other big players(Bit Defender,Kapersky,Mcafee)all do this as well.
I don't like this practise so i am looking at free AV like Microsoft Defender and others.From what i have read Microsoft Defender is only a basic AV free with windows but when you use it with premium malwarebytes which i have they make a strong partnership.
Awaiting your opinions on this.
Cheers
TCS
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
Defender is what I use along with Malwarebytes.
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
Another satisfied Defender and Malwarebytes user. Don't see any reason to use anything else.

AVG used to be good (haven't used it in a long time) as was Avast but in my experience, using Norton slowed computers to a crawl.
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
Defender, Malwarebytes and CCleaner. Just the basic free versions. Years ago, the Norton helpline actually had the dubious honour of completely lousing up my PC to the extent that I had to reinstall Windows from scratch. A valuable lesson...……...don't ever, ever let an "expert" take remote control of your computer.
 

annedonnelly

Girl from the North Country
As everyone above has said.

Though I think much of the protection is down to what you do/don't click on. Don't click links that you don't recognise, don't open e-mails from people you don't know, don't open attachments unless you're expecting them, don't go to weird websites...
 

coldash

Veteran
BTW. Kaspersky and Bitdefender only require an activation code - no card details are required. You can but these legitimate codes from the likes of eBay. Whether you want to use these products is another matter and btw I have used both and had no problems
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
My choice, as explained in a separate thread is:

I use McAfee Livesafe. Originally bought it just to cover my PC and iPad against viruses and malware but since it protects me on unlimited devices I added my iPod and my phone too. It lets me locate any device if lost, sound an alarm on the device, or remotely wipe it. Well worth £16 a year.
 

SpokeyDokey

67, & my GP says I will officially be old at 70!
Moderator
I have this ongoing argument with my best mate who doesn't trust MS Security (or its predecessors) and every year coughs up £60 (or whatever it is these days) for Norton.

We've run the free MS AV packages for years with zero infections on our various computers.

I read very recently that MS Security was rated very highly by a panel of experts - can't remember who they were but the article and what they said seemed to have some authority.
 

coldash

Veteran
£60 for a year is well OTT. I’ve just looked at eBay and a 5 machine licence for Kaspersky, as an example, is around £17 i.e. around £3.50 per machine per year. Single and 3 machine licences are also widely available
 
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