Windows 10: Is paying for antivirus a waste of money?

To answer the original Question: yes - of course.

How many "virus"es are in the wild today, that is actively spreading? virtually nil.
Who has access to what data on your device compliments of the turnover in 3rd party anti-whatever outfits? White Hat today, Black Hat tonight, White in the morning.

I just removed "NOD 32" from a system, and it did not want to be removed. Just like malware, it was interfering with core system functions, and the uninstaller provided did not do a complete job. Junkware at best, grayware more likely.

Lock down your browsers, and avoid MS "Edge" like the plague it is.
Use ADblock on IE11, raise the security level to High.
Use Windows 10 security system.
Use WinPatrol to challenge any/every/all new executable, if you are concerned about such.
Use a good full-image [bootable] backup with automated incrementals [Macrium et al]

those "antivirus" dudes are laughing. and moonlighting on malicious code

 

@ cognus I've used NOD32 for the past 10 years and agree that it can be a swine to uninstall. The reason being is that if it's easily uninstalled then it's easy for a virus to disable it. ESET supply a standalone uninstall tool for it which works well.
As i said in my previous post in this thread, it's horses for courses. Users have to have confidence in whichever AV they are using. I feel confident using NOD32 others will feel confident using Windows Defender. Threads like this can go on forever with everyone disagreeing with each other. At the end of it everyone is right and also no-one is right *Smile

 

Thanks Cliff, works great.
I'm guessin' it will only show something it finds but not when it doesn't find anything ?

 

Each to his own, but having been a victim of stolen identity, once bitten twice shy.

 

Thing is.. many here relate personal experiences/opinions... but none speak with AV-authority...so.

 

Not strictly true......I take note of respected AV testing site reports, as do M$ who do collaborate with them.
The last time I checked Avira Free received the same high rating as any of the other top paid versions.

 

And with each report the AV's that are the best are usually different. It's really hard to pick out the true best AV, IMO.

All AV's have the same issue.. when new viruses come out none of them are really ready for it.

 

Agreed BunnyJ and all the tests of AV's have variables thrown at them. I'd love to see a test carried out of every AV having a selection of the most destructive virii known thrown at them in a controlled environment and see which comes out best. Trouble is the results would still probably be skewed.

 

For me the bottom line is, no AV is perfect and it makes little sense to pay for any of them.

 

I believe paying for one is a waste of money. There are many free alternatives out there which are just as effective and lightweight so they don't use all your CPU resources in the background. Personally, I don't use any Anti Virus and just stick with Windows Firewall and Defender for security. I'm tech savvy enough to avoid malicious links/adware infested websites. And on the rare occasion I do get something I'll use a program like Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit and manually do a scan to take care of it.

 

I use AVG Anti-virus which is free and wonderful and I would recommend it.

 

At our computer club we got all 6 club computers heavily infected. They were protected with AVG.

 

*Ditto

 

Darn Wolfgang. . .you folks need to stay away from them Those Torrent sites. . .*Wink

 

@COMPUTIAC,
That's what I'm hoping*chuckle
MSE & Defender have protected me well enough the last few years.
I know this for 2 reasons:
1. At least once a month Full Scan with an Anti-Malware.
2. PC hasn't locked up, with a friendly message asking for bitcoin....