Windows 10: Need a new Anti-Virus.

brain needs coffee to run.

P.S. Went with Panda for now. Easy enough to figure out and I used to use Panda around 8-10 years ago. Oh, Panda's a trial, not free. My version says it will expire in 9000 days.*Shock *Shock *Shock

 

Assume 90days! at the longest for trial wares while most are only 30!.

 

Panda does have a free version, but i think it only gets downloaded from a 3rd party site.
I prefer downloading from MajorGeeks rather than the default site Panda uses.
Download Panda Free Antivirus - MajorGeeks

FREE and lightweight antivirus - Panda Security

I never used the trial version.
I have Panda free on a Win 8.1 OS right now.
The only thing i don't like is the scheduled scan(s) don't run a missed scan, the OS must be running when the scan is set to run.
The option to run the missed scan is disabled in the Scheduled Task Panda creates *Sad

 

I downloaded Panda Free Antivirus 16.1.0 from Filehippo. It says freeware. I was being sarcastic about the 9000 day "trialware". If its an error, they did it twice... " 9000 days, expires in 2040"

 

Not that any AV programs are really very useful, but of your choices, Panda is the better one. It may help a little. But don't think that you are really safe from malware.

 

Also using Malware AntiMalware Bytes and Super Anti Spyware. Should be good enough.

 

If you use those as scanners, they are a good supplement of the AV program. But they only give you a report after the fact.

 

That's the problem seen with most programs people point to and why I avoid those entirely! With VIPRE it alerts you to bugs before they can strike with an immediate intercept and quarantine of anything suspicious. I find that even with free utility apps that may see a toolbar for IE that gets flagged on the spot when simply opening up the folder the downloads go to.

If your av program doesn't detect things immediately when malicious code is present... You need a totally new program! Something isn't doing what it is supposed to. That is how to look for an av program that offers at least some degree of actual prevention rather then let you know: "hey you got a bug running around doing things!" OOPS! Too late! "Today's special: How to trash your system!"

 

I was using Avast but got tired of the annoying ads popping up from the system tray and Windows Task Manager considered avast to have a high startup impact. I now use 360 Total Security Essentials which task manager says startup impact is low. I haven't seen a single ad since its free with no trial and it uses virus definitions from both bitdefender an avira,

 

Hi there

why bother with any of that rubbish these days --mostly for HOME (corporate use is another issue) use any 3rd party AV software is a WASTE of time now.

Windows defender on W10 works fine -- anything else will either break the OS or make it run hideously slowly without any real benefit. Uninstall all that junk and just use Windows defender -- surf safely, don't reply or open spurious emails and don't give out too much personal info in social media and you'll be safe.

Cheers
jimbo

 

I agree on Defender.. I went back to using it., again.

The others can be more intrusive than I want or need.

 

*Ditto*Ditto*Ditto

 

My findings here have been the exact opposite! Does Defender bad sites with malicious coding you could run into on a simple Bing search for example? NO!

Does it screen downloads stashed away on a separate drive and detect anything suspicious as well as quarantine a download later to be found with some toolbar option checked off or a McAFail trial offer? NO!

It lacks as does most every other av program simply from not having any web filtering process which allows you run head on into bad sites with trojan downloaders dropped on you only reporting those after the fact not having that type of protections in place to begin with. That could well be the actual deal maker or breaker as far as just what WD is actually capable being that it's strictly a freebie tossed in for people who wouldn't know enough to try out any av or other type of security program to start with.

When you start counting too much on ANY program Whether that's Windows Defender or some other you have likely already lost the game! But you may only learn that one after something has had it's time on your machine! The point about "Common Sense" doesn't seem to be going over that well it appears!

Scams are a fast growing commodity on the web as well as bogus sites! Been to few and canceled a card or two when all appears legit at first! Cleaned off scam wares manually absolutely no av program even WD could remove. The paid for software here that includes a rather effective firewall as well as web filtering couldn't stop that one from getting on and ... Taking Over Completely!

The bogus "Windows Process Doctor" which was designed to block any access to the Taskmanager even with the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys tried was cleverly tucked into a sub folder under the owner's admin user account. Other fake trojans were scattered in different places on the drive to make it appear you needed to buy a bug remover from one particular place where the scam would take you!

That's called user interaction! While the initial bogey wouldn't allow itself to be deleted manually or even ownership taken over it could be moved to a new location and then once booted in Safe mode manually nuked off of the drive for good. Afterwards the av program's scanner simply picked up the rest and tossed them into quarantine! Where was Defender then? That wouldn't have prevented the "user interaction" when a kid simply clicked on the snare being a single link that saw the bomb drop on the laptop!

The gui for the scam ware was also very familiar at the time having been taken from the Advanced System Care program and a cross with gui the Windows Security Essentials uses. That was part of the gimic to make everything look authentic and get past any and all types of system protections! That one had to have seen a professional work up!

 

What i don't like about W10 Windows Defender,
The built-in scheduled scan runs every day, and stops if the PC becomes not idle, and then restarts later.
I only want a scheduled scan to run 1-2 times per week and not stop/restart for not idle.
It's a pita (for me) to change the WD scheduled scan to do what i want.

By default WD does not display an icon in the Notification Area.
By default WD does not have a right-click context menu option to scan a file/folder.
Tweaks are possible to get these, but why doesn't WD offer simple configuration options.

I installed Avast free on my Test Box W10 OS and i prefer it to WD.
Avast scheduling has always worked reliably for me, better than any other real-time security product i've used.
I do get some popup ads, but not enough that they bother me.
I only use the basic Avast free 3 shields options, none of the "add-on/optional bloat".
It is more complicated to check and set all options, initially and after a program update, but i've learned to take the time and do it.

Panda free can be super quiet if you turn off the News option.
My problem is the scheduled scan does not run if a scheduled scan is missed, and i don't get alerted for a missed scan.
And, i don't see any alert or notification area "change" when a scan is running in the background.

 

With the VIPRE Internet Security 2014 on the main on the 7 side with the 2015 likely now already updated to the 2016 on the 10 side of the dual boot as well as seeing the same on the mini tower used for test purposes the scans will start up and run regardless of what I am doing and not even intrude other then seeing the popup notification that disappears after so many seconds letting me know the scheduled scan is beginning. Unlike other programs including WD the foot print is very light and goes unnoticed without seeing that appear.

The person who first pointed me to VIPRE has always been 100% on the money with all types of thing being a mechanical engineer who has even done work for MS at times. Another former security analyst being a specialist in the field was asked what he preferred for an av program and came back with BitDefender av free + Zone Alarm(likely the free version of that as well) + common sense! People can argue until the moon falls into the ocean about what program is so much greater then the next and miss the one thing that applies to everything just in that one response only being "Common Sense" which will go much further then anything else!