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Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

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Mike
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Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Mike » Thu Feb 02, 2017 7:19 pm

Hi all, I use Malwarebytes (about £18 a year) and also Norton.

I've just had an email from Norton to say that my subscription is going up to £79.99 a year as from the renewal date in February. That's silly money - anyone got any suggestions, do I just ditch Norton and rely on Malwarebytes or what?

What do you guys use? I've been stung before by ransomware and it wasn't good - I'd rather be over-protected than under-protected.

mcafee?

Suggestions please. :)

Ta !
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Nighthawke
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Nighthawke » Thu Feb 02, 2017 8:56 pm

I haven't used a paid-for ant-virus for many years. Been using Avast (free version) for quite a while with no problems.

beefsteak
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by beefsteak » Thu Feb 02, 2017 9:14 pm

Another vote for Avast here too.
And you should never run two different anti virus software at the same time as very often they'll slow your PCs performance right down.

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Tally-ho
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Tally-ho » Thu Feb 02, 2017 9:31 pm

Got the same notification from Norton for £79.99 - no way!

John Lewis sells it for £19.00 - see here -

http://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electri ... e/_/N-5nm7

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Mike
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Mike » Fri Feb 03, 2017 8:56 am

Thanks for the replies, chaps. :thumb:

I was put off free versions of AV as I used to run the free version of AVG and was hit with the "Greater Manchester Police" ransomware scam after having AVG for a few months. Luckily I managed to fix it myself without spending any money, it took hours to do and I don't want to go there again,

I've never had any issues with running 2 at once, my laptop's pretty quick so I think that I'll ditch Norton and get Avast free but keep Malwarebytes.

The thing with Norton is that it can be bought fairly cheaply but then they keep bumping the price up every year in the hope that most people won't really bother about, but £79.99 - my ar*e ! :lol:
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by andygolfer » Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:24 am

I used to use Avast (even paid for the 'top up' services) and they were very good until I got an update last summer which caused me problems by totally blocking out the wifi on my laptop. I had to get a more computer savvy person than me to remove it AND all the well hidden bits (the ones i couldn't find) before it worked again.

I'm now just using windows defender, so far - so good.

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Mike
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Mike » Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:49 am

andygolfer wrote:I used to use Avast (even paid for the 'top up' services) and they were very good until I got an update last summer which caused me problems by totally blocking out the wifi on my laptop. I had to get a more computer savvy person than me to remove it AND all the well hidden bits (the ones i couldn't find) before it worked again.

I'm now just using windows defender, so far - so good.

andy
Hmmm.......interesting !

I've just cancelled the automatic renewal for Norton and they had the cheek to offer me a £15 Amazon voucher if I didn't go ahead with it ! :roll:

Avast, Defender................any other ideas, chaps?
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Tally-ho
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Tally-ho » Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:33 am

Seeing as 'Windows Defender' comes as ready-installed computer protection software, why are we then bothering with Norton, Avast, McAfee and all the rest? Or am I missing something?

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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by andygolfer » Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:35 am

Tally-ho wrote:Seeing as 'Windows Defender' comes as ready-installed computer protection software, why are we then bothering with Norton, Avast, McAfee and all the rest? Or am I missing something?
I wondered that. I'd always wanted a non microsoft product as anti virus because microsoft are the or were the most popular target. My computer 'geek' who re-built my machine says that's all he uses so I took that as a fairly good recommendation.
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Mike
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Mike » Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:45 am

Tally-ho wrote:Seeing as 'Windows Defender' comes as ready-installed computer protection software, why are we then bothering with Norton, Avast, McAfee and all the rest? Or am I missing something?
That's a very good point, my Defender is automatically turned off because I have other AV programs installed - is it as good as it says though, ever had any problems with it?
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by andygolfer » Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:08 am

no - but I hate to say so because sod's law will immediately kick in :o
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by beefsteak » Fri Feb 03, 2017 12:40 pm

I use 4 different things in total, but there is only ever one running at any given time, my techie guy advised me on that.

Windows defender but only when on my PC on Windows 10. (I'm on my laptop on windows 8.1 most of the time)
Spybot, which I upload every time as it automatically runs in the background. This removes H-keys etc, I only use it once in a blue moon.
Avast, which was his 'official' recommendation, no problems with it apart from the occasional 'pop up' trying to get me to upgrade but they are only about once a week.
C Cleaner, which wants to run in the background all the time but can be deactivated, this is just used to clean up your Recycle bin and other files that are hidden.
I did use AVG for a long while but it let in a 'nasty' that took a bit of shifting, I changed to Avast after that and (Touch wood) no problemo.
Hope that helps

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Mike
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Mike » Fri Feb 03, 2017 1:26 pm

Thanks for that, Ian. Much appreciated. :thumb:

Kempsford this year?
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by beefsteak » Fri Feb 03, 2017 6:36 pm

No mate, MS has put paid to camping for me for ever. Maybe if I get that Winnebago I've got my eye on.... LOL :clap:

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Mike
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Mike » Fri Feb 03, 2017 6:59 pm

beefsteak wrote:No mate, MS has put paid to camping for me for ever. Maybe if I get that Winnebago I've got my eye on.... LOL :clap:
Oh yes, I know what you mean. :)
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by PorkScratching » Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:14 pm

Mike wrote:I was put off free versions of AV as I used to run the free version of AVG and was hit with the "Greater Manchester Police" ransomware scam after having AVG for a few months. Luckily I managed to fix it myself without spending any money, it took hours to do and I don't want to go there again
AVG was at fault then, not free AV software. Some free AV software is better at stopping infections that paid-for AV software. AVG has never been particularly good as far as I can remember.
Mike wrote:I've never had any issues with running 2 at once, my laptop's pretty quick
It's not so much about the resources required to run them both simultaneously (although it will slow even a powerful machine down a little), it's more about what happens when the two AV applications interfere with one another, which can get quite nasty, e.g. https://blog.kaspersky.com/multiple-ant ... idea/2670/
Mike wrote:get Avast free
Great idea. It's the best free AV application, e.g. in reviews by PC Pro and others, and often out-performs paid-for AV software.
Mike wrote: but keep Malwarebytes.
Do you have the free Malwarebytes? If so, it's no problem to keep that and have Avast or something else running. That's because the free version doesn't run in the background checking stuff all the time - it just scans when you tell it to, and that shouldn't interfere with other AV software.

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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by PorkScratching » Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:19 pm

Tally-ho wrote:Seeing as 'Windows Defender' comes as ready-installed computer protection software, why are we then bothering with Norton, Avast, McAfee and all the rest? Or am I missing something?
In reviews it normally performs dismally in detecting malware compared to Avast, Kaspersky, Norton and most others. I wouldn't risk using it, especially as there are good free alternatives available such as Avast.

Skoshi
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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Skoshi » Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:58 pm

Run MSE and Malawarebytes both free never had any issues at all, regular updates and it tells you when it needs to scan (if you havent in a while). Cant fault it... :clap:

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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by Westworld » Tue Feb 07, 2017 9:32 pm

buy kaspersky if you want to spend money and have the best in idependent tests

or usa AVG free if you dont want to spend money

do not reply on windows defender thats like putting a fox in charge of a chicken coop ! microsoft is full of flaws hackers exploit

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Re: Anti-virus for home PCs & laptops.

Post by beefsteak » Tue Feb 07, 2017 9:42 pm

Serves me right for being smug............ I've been offline all afternoon whilst trying to fix this laptop!!
I got an extension warning from Avast saying Google was trying to add an extension, I opened it to look, it seemed harmless so I went ahead thinking it was a genuine update for 'Chrome' .................. BIG MISTAKE!
Everything started to slow down, before finally being told none of the four tabs I had open could contact their relative servers, I did a restore to yesterday, nothing, further back to the 4th (I think).. Nada.............. So then my tech had a go and decided a return to factory settings was in order, that was at 16.00 hrs !
Finally back on line at 21.00 hrs although a chunk of that time was exporting all my important stuff to my external hard drive. (I'm still putting it all back on now!) I still can't get WIFI to work and am running an ethernet cable across the house at the moment!

:oops: :mad: :oops: :mad:

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