Windows 10: Best free antivirus/antispyware 2018

I use ESET NOD 32, it's fast and won't slow down your PC.

 

I have to agree with @xrobwx. I switched from many years (No Problems) of using Avira to the new and most robust antivirus you can use.
In my opinion the "New Windows Defender" is the best bang for your money. Best of all it's "Free" I just luv the new "Protected Folders" feature.

 

Contemplating Switching from Using Avast (over 10 years) to Defender on all househould systems, actually starting to like it now that using it more on Insider Preview PC, just gotta get mind secure in doing it, then make the switch on all systems which is a chore in itself lol

 

Been using Bitdefender Free for months now on 3 Computers and love it *Smile

 

I could try enabling Port Scan and DoS Protection, but i have a feeling its going to conflict with some of my games im playing on the internet. Will test it and come back with the results.

 

I have just stopped using BitDefender Free because although it's pretty fast I had noticed several slowdowns when playing games. WD is ok.

 

I have tried enabling Port Scan and DoS Protection and so far its working good.

I'm also tempted to simply just go with WD instead.

 

In my openion all AV's are useless but using Firewall is necessary to protect incoming connection/data. I only use Comodo Firewall and never get any issue.

 

I use WD along with Comodo firewall and like both alot.......I seen in another thread jk22 that you were having the same problem with that pop up in Comodo I was having and I also found it after poking around in Comodo......Glad you found it!

 

Except for SuperAntispyware I use the same setup.

 

I routinely use one Win10 machine to do lots of "unsafe" surfing, lots of torrent downloads, etc. In the past I had various problems with all the freeware programs I tried, and even WD missed some embedded nasties. A few years ago I had used BitDefender, and liked it, but after the Kaspersky fiasco, I decided to avoid all the Russian providers (and BTW, removing BitDefender is like trying to get rid of a persistent virus). I'm now using Norton' top end system, and am very pleased. This is a fairly fast machine (quad i7), and I notice NO slowdown. Norton scans ALL internet traffic, and whenever it finds something seriously questionable, it blocks it from ever getting to the HD. Norton even looks inside of compressed files (zip, arj, etc) and deletes or quarantines them depending on how it's set. The only files I've seen Norton having trouble looking inside of during the download are ISO files, but anything inside those isn't active until after you either mount or burn them.
Yes, you have to pay for Norton, but I've become of the opinion that you get what you pay for.

 

Hi foloks

I've even used such places as that still flying "The Jolly Rodger" and never got even a smidgen of a Virus --I only use WD, Windows standard firewall and firewall on router. I'm only though downloading music / video / audio books from that type of site and NEVER download in .zip, .rar.exe or other "compressed" formats. MP3, FLAC, CUE, MP4, MKV etc files won't infect your machine since the music player / multi-media app will just treat any embedded nasty in say an MP3 file as noise and won't play it.

There's often a mega amount of paranoia on this section of the Forum -- provided you keep your wits about you there's no reason in this universe why your PC should ever get infected - provided you apply all the Ms updates and keep WD on plus windows firewall and use your routers firewall to block inbound open ports etc.

Most of the A/V software was written when Windows was really insecure --latest editions of W10 are getting much more secure -- not quite to Linux standards but pretty good now. The main danger is from poor surfing techniques, dishing out too much info on social media and opening every bit of email from wherever it comes.

As always my remarks here are for HOME USERS-- professional security stuff is certainly still very necessary to protect corporate LAN's etc.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Something else that need to kept updated. (PBKC)

Something else I try to remember.
Just because one uses the same security programs for years and years means little in todays computing.
One still has to be watchful. Security programs change so often with Upgrades and Updates, at times you don't know what is going on.
I really don't care for security program that include a bunch of things that have nothing to do with security.
I will do my own computer cleaning, tuning ect.

It's been many years sense I have tested lots of brands of Security programs. But I'm still watchful.
I keep things manually updated several times a day.
When I shut down my computer for a couple of hours, when I start them again, the first thing I do is update my security programs.
The bad guys create infection so quick, it doesn't take long to get behind on updates. I also check for Windows updates.
It only takes a few minutes to check them all.
What I use is in (My System Specs) and so far they work and I trust them, but I still pay attention to what I'm doing.
I scan all downloads with three programs.

So the person "Me" between the keyboard and the chair is a security program and I must be up to date.

Jack

 

You should qualify those statements with fact, so that others can get an holistic idea what's good 'n bad.

A muti-tiered solution is what most security experts advise - firewall being just one.

 

After doing some testing I decided to just go with WD, windows firewall and a firewall on my router, it seems to work just fine, so I don't need any more than that. I might get superantispyware to help me get rid of tracking cookies and as an extra layer of protection against spyware, but that's about it.