Computer antivirus software question

[The BLUES Brothers]

We ditched the old home Windows 10 desktop as it was time and just transferred the files before it went to a better place where the monitors never sleep. 

We upgraded to an HP all in one for our home computer. The HP with Windows 11 has a nicer monitor and much faster.

 

It came with McAfee antivirus, but we used to use Norton, and have some time left on its subscription.

 

Doing research is confusing since so many are sponsored, or the unsponsored reads say one is the winner, then another says the opposite...

 

Any advice for which is the way to go between these 2 or is there another? Also aware there are free AV versions, but want to purchase one so it isn't a cost thing - more for ensuring security.

 

Thank you in advance for any help and Go Bills! 

[Draconator]

Back in like 2002, a tech guy on KGO Radio in San Francisco said the only antivirus software he trusts is Kaspersky. It checked out that independent studies had it near the top. So I bought a license and it has worked out flawlessly ever since. It's not cheap, but it's reliable. 

Edited Friday at 03:31 AM by Draconator

[davefan66]

Norton seems to be doing just fine for me.  Have it on a Mac though.

 

Previously it was a resource hog, know runs seamlessly. Interface is easy to use and haven’t had any problems since installing.  
 

McAfee back in the day was considered one of the best. Have not used it since the early 2000’s so can’t offer any thoughts.  Also used Avast for a period and liked it. Didn’t seem to grow with the times, so moved on to Norton.

 

Regardless of which you choose, install Malwarebytes. Helps with spyware, Trojans, bots.  Added security.

[BillsFan4]

Windows defender (the built in antivirus windows has) is actually a great antivirus program. That’s what I use.

 

I also like to use a free site called “VirusTotal”. You can use it to scan any file you want to download, or even an URL before you click on it (if you’re suspicious of it).

 

VirusTotal runs files and URLs through 90+ different antivirus programs for free. 

[That's No Moon]

14 hours ago, Draconator said:

Back in like 2002, a tech guy on KGO Radio in San Francisco said the only antivirus software he trusts is Kaspersky. It checked out that independent studies had it near the top. So I bought a license and it has worked out flawlessly ever since. It's not cheap, but it's reliable. 

Pretty sure Kaspersky is banned. 

 

Edit: in the US.

Edited Friday at 05:32 PM by That's No Moon

[boyst]

14 hours ago, Draconator said:

Back in like 2002, a tech guy on KGO Radio in San Francisco said the only antivirus software he trusts is Kaspersky. It checked out that independent studies had it near the top. So I bought a license and it has worked out flawlessly ever since. It's not cheap, but it's reliable. 

My company, a German company, ditched this in a big move because it was Russian at the start of the conflict. It was jaw dropping because they hadn't got an effective backup plan to replace it immediately. 

[RichStadiumGuy]

Being a retired IT Guy I've built a LOT of computers for friends & family over the past 30 years and every single one of them left my bench with a "Trend Micro Internet Security" program on it. It's not widely advertised as the bulk of their sales relies on corporate systems but their Home & Small Office Suites are just as tight as their corporate suites.

 

You'd have to guess that all of those friends & family that I built systems for always called me first when ANY little hiccup occurred and not one of them ever got a virus. I had several calls over the years telling me that they saw a message that an infection was attempted but caught and stopped but not a single one of them were ever infected.

 

Just a note if anybody's interested in checking into it... Trend Micro is the name of the company and they have several different "flavors" of internet security programs at different prices. I'd highly suggest "Trend Micro Maximum Security" myself... that's what I'm running now and have been since my first computer back in 1993.

[Draconator]

2 hours ago, That's No Moon said:

Pretty sure Kaspersky is banned. 

 

Edit: in the US.

For some reason, I'm able to renew, but yeah. New purchases are banned in US. 

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Always wear protection.

[QCity]

On 1/16/2025 at 7:27 AM, The BLUES Brothers said:

It came with McAfee antivirus, but we used to use Norton, and have some time left on its subscription.

 

Many people in tech consider today's versions of McAfee and Norton to be Malware.

 

12 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

Windows defender (the built in antivirus windows has) is actually a great antivirus program. That’s what I use.

 

Windows Defender has come a long way in the last 20 years. It ranks right up there with the top security suites and the best part is it's free. Probably good enough for 98% of users.

[The BLUES Brothers]

Thank you, TBD Fam! So very Grateful for all the wise input here! Will share this with family and friends, too!

 

Go Bills!

[Virgil]

Windows 11 has a “S” mode.  If you leave it in that, you won’t need antivirus and use the default windows defender 

[Sweats]

My brother-in-law designs computers and robotics for various companies and organizations around the globe, so any computer questions i have, i go straight to him.

 

We have actually had numerous conversations about Anti-virus software and his belief is that it is one of the biggest scams going. Your computer already comes with this software and is more than comparable to ones you can get on the market for extra cost.

 

And actually, he doesn't go for any of these, nor have any of these on his own computers, so if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

We actually did a test on our computers and found that with this extra anti-virus software protection, it actually invited more virus issues onto our computers.

 

We just use the default software program already in our systems and i've never had one issue since.

[RichStadiumGuy]

1 hour ago, Sweats said:

My brother-in-law designs computers and robotics for various companies and organizations around the globe, so any computer questions i have, i go straight to him.

 

We have actually had numerous conversations about Anti-virus software and his belief is that it is one of the biggest scams going. Your computer already comes with this software and is more than comparable to ones you can get on the market for extra cost.

 

And actually, he doesn't go for any of these, nor have any of these on his own computers, so if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

We actually did a test on our computers and found that with this extra anti-virus software protection, it actually invited more virus issues onto our computers.

 

We just use the default software program already in our systems and i've never had one issue since.

I'd be very interested to know how you did this testing and which product(s) "invited more virus issues."

 

I'm not quite sure what a "virus issue" would consist of actually so you've got my interest piqued here.

[Sweats]

6 minutes ago, RichStadiumGuy said:

I'd be very interested to know how you did this testing and which product(s) "invited more virus issues."

 

I'm not quite sure what a "virus issue" would consist of actually so you've got my interest piqued here.

 

 

 

Basically, i had an older computer that i was getting rid of anyways, so all my brother-in-law did was bypass the Windows anti-virus protection and just install other anti-virus programs to see what would happen......

 

* Macfee allowed "trojan horses, worms and logic bombs" to get onto the computer.

* Norton allowed "trojans horses, spyware and boot sector viruses"

* Malwarebytes allowed "trojan horses and spyware"

 

It's like as soon as he set up an anti-virus program, seriously within about 5 minutes of being online, the computer was getting notification after notification that the computer was getting bombarded with viruses........almost like it was just one big homing beacon, inviting everything in and then saying it could only delete about 90% of them, but the remaining 10% were "back dooring" everything (the trojan horses and spyware were the worst culprits)

 

And i kid you not, within a day, we couldn't access files anymore, files were corrupted, the memory diminished, etc........wild stuff, man.

 

I've had a lot of computers since then and have not put one anti-virus software on any of them and have never had one single issue.

As i said before, if my brother-in-law doesn't do it or says not to do it, i don't do it........he knows what he's talking about and he's a lot smarter than me and he deals with this stuff every day.

 

It's up to you though........don't let me sway anyone's decision.

 

 

 

[RichStadiumGuy]

3 hours ago, Sweats said:

 

 

 

Basically, i had an older computer that i was getting rid of anyways, so all my brother-in-law did was bypass the Windows anti-virus protection and just install other anti-virus programs to see what would happen......

 

* Macfee allowed "trojan horses, worms and logic bombs" to get onto the computer.

* Norton allowed "trojans horses, spyware and boot sector viruses"

* Malwarebytes allowed "trojan horses and spyware"

 

It's like as soon as he set up an anti-virus program, seriously within about 5 minutes of being online, the computer was getting notification after notification that the computer was getting bombarded with viruses........almost like it was just one big homing beacon, inviting everything in and then saying it could only delete about 90% of them, but the remaining 10% were "back dooring" everything (the trojan horses and spyware were the worst culprits)

 

And i kid you not, within a day, we couldn't access files anymore, files were corrupted, the memory diminished, etc........wild stuff, man.

 

I've had a lot of computers since then and have not put one anti-virus software on any of them and have never had one single issue.

As i said before, if my brother-in-law doesn't do it or says not to do it, i don't do it........he knows what he's talking about and he's a lot smarter than me and he deals with this stuff every day.

 

It's up to you though........don't let me sway anyone's decision.

 

 

 

Trust me... you're not swaying my opinion in the least. I spent 23 years in corporate IT specializing in security for 6 years before retiring and your story sounds pretty... well I'll just say... hard for me to swallow.