Anti virus software

[jeepnik]

For years I have run Norton. I ws very happy with it until it became associated with Lifelock. At that time popups became relentless. The constant hard sell to buy other products began to irritate me. I held on hoping they would see the error of their ways, but alas this is not to be. I had a pervasive popup today that no mater how I told it to go away it kept coming back. The result is that I have canceled my automatic renewal and won't be renewing when this subscription period ends.

All this leads up to the question, which antivirus software do you use and what makes it appealing to you?

[wvfarrier]

I have Norton but rarely get any pop ups....??

[wecsoger]

Norton products once were useful, but that was in the Windows 3.1 and 98 era.

Now they're just revenue enhancement and not even worth the money, even if offered up free.

For now, with frequent updates Microsoft Defender isn't bad. Built-in, and free.

TrendMicro does a lot of corporate products. They have an online scanner called "Housecall" which is excellent.

https://helpcenter.trendmicro.com/en-us ... TMKA-18728

Stay away from questionable websites, like www.ukraine-brides.ru.

Don't click on all those links in the emails.

Any emails from Amazon/Paypal/Chase/BankofAmerica/UPS/FEDEX that say your account is cancelled or your delivery is pending, delete them

Do all of the above and you'll be ok.

[Alan Wood]

What operating system is your computer running? If it is Windows 10 or Windows 11 Wescogers suggestions are excellent. Microsoft Defender is relatively low impact (doesn't slow the system down too badly) and on Windows 10 and 11 free. The bad part is that every time a credible windows antivirus is developed that is effective the company is bought out by a new one that only cares about giving reports to managers about how many viruses it detected and quarantined. Not about keeping it effective it is at it's task. Windows defender while not sexy is as Wescoger and I have noted a reasonable antivirus application.

That having been said in today's ransomware rich environment I think it is critical that in addition to antivirus protection and the precautions Wescoger mentions you addopt a practice of backing up you data files to a usb thumb drive once a week and rotating through at least 3 if not 4 drives. So you have at least 3 weeks of backup. This is due to the fact that ransomware gangs seem to have been able to push ransomware out through advertisements on legitimate web sites like major News organizations.

[Griff]

I use Trend Micro Internet Security... have for the past 20 or so years.

[marlinman93]

My computer guy swears by Kaspersky, and puts it on all the computers he sells. Used it for years and I have no problems. Only time I get a notice is if there's a questionable site, or it's time to renew.

[Bronco]

I use Trend Micro Internet Security

[AJMD429]

.
Do you guys use VPN's...?
What about best email services...?

I'm getting ready to convert to another email and want simplicity and privacy and good filtration.

I got express VPN on my phone but haven't gotten around to the computers (a Mac and a Dell).

[Grizz]

I agree about Win10 anti-virus. it is transparent in operation, and it did catch one bug that got that far. i use a vpn, but because of what i've recently read about it, can't recommend the one i have, even though it has been kept up and upgraded as things evolve. i also do all of my banking and internet shopping on a box with no camera, no microphone, and no wifi. cat6 to a responsible router that has good bones and is a reliable NAT firewall.

OTOH, I don't use an antivirus on linux

for secure email i use startmail.com
it is based in europe which has stringent privacy laws. it keeps my comms encrypted on their servers until i open them up. it is secure in its practices, but i don't use it for daily time-sensitive email. there is a feature that will let it interface with your regular email, but i don't know at what point the encryption ceases.

it allows as many aliases as you want. temporary ones that I use for each and every online transaction for craigslist listings, and others. ebay, etc. there are permanent ones as well, so you could be 30-30 to one person or company, and 357Mag to another. i deal with financial institutions this way, it is the most secure thing i know of. i do NOT use my phone for banking or any other comms i want to be private. the temporary addresses look like the craigslist email addresses. you can turn off your aliases any time, so after buying the gangrene treatment from the clickbait vendor, turn off the address and never hear from the follow up brain-tumor-shrinker. yeah, the one that accidently shrinks the brain, that one.

i have used my phone for online purchases over a free wifi connection some friendly person made available in a boat harbor. in that case i tested my vpn to be certain that i had full end to end encryption, and bought supplies from a known vendor.

hope this helps. it's a jungle out there

pray for Ukraine people

[AmBraCol]

I've been running ZoneAlarm since it was just a firewall, before Windoze ever thought about doing anything useful in the security area. Now we're running Zonealarm Extreme Security and are 100% happy with it. Have had zero problems caused by any kind of virus since we started using it. I bought the one License/three machines deal for two years way back when and it automatically updates and keeps us bug free. It runs in the background and does its thing. There used to be more setup to it, but that's improved and it's basically plug and play now. You can download a trial and give it a run then if you like it pay for what you need. The last few computers I've bought have had McAffee on them. I immediately remove it and replace with ZoneAlarm. Any software that requires a special tool to completely uninstall needs uninstalled in my opinion (that'd be McAffee) Anyway, I trust the Zonealarm system much more than anything Microsoft produces.

[Grizz]

that's interesting Paul. i used zone alarm for awhile, way back when msft was constantly hacked. it quit working for me back when windows went from one iteration to the next.

do you look at your traffic with a sniffer to see what's happening in background?

i'm staying with win10pro until i sail because this box isn't able to run 11. fine by me.
then it's raspi for the nav and electronics.

msft is a little less unpaletable because i don't log into the msft account. i have my own admin account and just keep updating the OS while the scripters experiment with it.

Blessings of the Resurrection to you and all of yours and all the teams and all the pilgrims . . .