What antivirus should I get in 2016

[Mamma8]

yea I see it now

I don't think you do. Here...

Kaspersky

Operating systems and hardware requirements

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional x86 SP3
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition SP2
  • Intel Pentium processor 1 GHz or faster (or compatible)
  • 512 MB free RAM
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows Vista Business (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 7 Starter (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (SP1+SP2) (32/64-bit)
  • Intel Pentium processor 1 GHz or faster (or compatible)
  • 1 GB free RAM (32-bit)
  • 2 GB free RAM (64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8 (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8 Pro (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8.1 Enterprise (32/64-bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update
• Microsoft Windows 10 RTM (32/64-bit)*
  • Intel Pentium processor 1 GHz or faster (or compatible)
  • 1 GB free RAM (32-bit)
  • 2 GB free RAM (64-bit)

This is what I was reading
Microsoft Windows Vista / Home Basic / HomePremium / Business /Enterprise / Ultimate SP1 or higher(32-bit or 64-bit) Processor: 1 GHz or higher Memory (RAM): 1 GB (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
Microsoft Windows XP Home / Professional (32-bit) SP3 or higher / Professional (64-bit) SP2 or higher
Processor: 800 MHz or higher
Memory (RAM): 512 MB
Windows-based tablets (system with an Intel processor)
Windows 8.1 / 8.1 Pro (64-bit)
Windows 8 / 8 Pro (64-bit)
Minimum screen resolution: 1024 x 600
That is the word I missed higher

 

[pippox0]

Avast is a good choice for me ...

 

[edassange]

Of the free alternatives I also recommend Panda (uncheck their toolbar option on install), plus Malwarebytes free anti-exploit. WinPatrol Free and Zemana AtiLogger Free would also be good additions. uBlock Origin is also an excellent free adblocker. Its default settings are very good, but in advanced user mode it's awesome.

Despite very good protection, one product to avoid in my opinion is Comodo Internet Security. It's a nightmare to uninstall or clean install a new version, and even if you carry out their lengthy recommended procedure: Most Effective Way to Reinstall/Update CIS to Avoid/Fix Problems - Install / Setup / Configuration Help - CIS, chances are you'll still run into problems.

 

[hazel123]

It's a good question, which one for 2016. I've tried, in the past couple of years, Kaspersky and BitDefender and both gave me false positives - I only found out the Kaspersky was a false positive when I let it remove the offending item and it wrecked my install! That put me off both off them. Kaspersky is still free for Barclays customers I think - they say it has an onscreen keyboard for banking protection. I copied that idea and always use the Windows onscreen keyboard for entering banking details .

I've also tried Trend Micro Titanium, and liked it, but I believe that doesn't have the highest protection rates any more. Avira free is supposed to be good and scored highly in 2015 - it seemed a bit 'heavy' on one of my machines, re processing power. Other half likes Norton Security on his laptop, which has never caused any problems, but I believe Norton isn't popular. His laptop has always been clean. The latest one seems unobtrusive.

I'm also wondering which is best for 2016. Might try Avira free again. I like MSE too but am confused by the varying reports of whether it is effective enough. I did read a report that said it scored highly in late 2015 but not sure how reliable the information is.

Microsoft Security Essentials Scores Incredibly Well in New Antivirus Tests

This article tested some of the free options in June 2015 and rated Avira highly - I'm never sure whether these magazine testers are biased or not, but Avira scored highly with a number of reviews last year. I'm not keen on the nags to upgrade with some of the free options.

Best Free Antivirus: Windows Defender vs AVG, Avast & Avira - Avira Free Antivirus 2015

I keep malwarebytes free and malwarebytes chameleon on an sd card, just in case, and install and run malwarebytes if I think there's a problem - it's reassuring when it comes up with zero. I turn off antivirus before installing from sd card, then let it update itself and run it, then uninstall it and turn antivirus back on again.

 

[DavidE]

Kaspersky is still free for Barclays customers I think - they say it has an onscreen keyboard for banking protection. I copied that idea and always use the Windows onscreen keyboard for entering banking details .

You might be interested in trying Zemana Antilogger Free, they also have a paid version.
https://www.zemana.com/AntiLoggerFree

 

[hazel123]

Thanks, that looks good - is screen keyboard not enough then?

 

[DavidE]

I don't know if the screen keyboard is enough.
I just thought this might give you an added layer of security you might be interested in trying.

 

[hazel123]

Thank you I will check it out. I don't do online banking much but anything that makes it more secure is a good thing!

 

[edassange]

Hi @Mamma8. You don't specify free or paid, but my free antivirus choice would be the already mentioned Panda AV. I'v tried most of the free ones and I've had problems with all of them except Panda. Been using it for about 19 months. Very light, simple to use, updates when it's supposed to and scores very well in tests.

Like DavidE I also recommend Zemana AntiLogger Free. Also protects in other ways, ie, against Man-in-the-browser attacks.

Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Free is another excellent and light program and works with IE.

Finally, as an additional layer of protection, I recommend Norton ConnectSafe DNS.

This free combo is very user friendly requiring pretty much zero user input, will be very light on your system and will give excellent protection.

PS - I also recommend the outstanding Zemana Antimalware Free as an on demand scanner. Even better than your Malwarebytes Antimalware Free in my opinion. Always useful to have a 'second' second opinion scanner too.

PS - I just noticed I replied to this thread 2 weeks ago and completely forgot about it.

 

[Mamma8]

Thank you yes it is older I haven't checked it recently because I had no responses I will look into that as well I think I had Panda at 1 point but didn't keep it

 

[Alejandro85]

I still find hard to believe that antiviruses still exist in 2016
Even worse is that many people put a lot of faith into them, while ignoring the most basic security principles.

 

[Fastlane69]

avast

I still find hard to believe that antiviruses still exist in 2016
Even worse is that many people put a lot of faith into them, while ignoring the most basic security principles.

i got avast premier, anyone else notice that all the rundll32,exe's disappeared ??

 

[Fastlane69]

i still find hard to believe that antiviruses still exist in 2016
even worse is that many people put a lot of faith into them, while ignoring the most basic security principles.

i think the av's exist because of numerous exploits. I dont feel well talking bad about ms in their forums but the only software release i ever used with no updates or corrections was dos 5 and i niss those days dearly.

 

[etaf88]

I absolutely agree with Alejandro85. Having a good Anti-virus is very essential however, as the adage..."prevention is better than cure", preventing malware from accessing your files in the first place is highly recommendable. The threat i encounter the most would have to be computer worms. At first i under-estimated computer worms but then i came across a malware blog-post that claims worms actually reproduce more actively than viruses. As opposed to waiting until damage is done, i think this article generally gives a good summary on how you can recognise malware from the very beginning.

 

[Alejandro85]

I absolutely agree with Alejandro85. Having a good Anti-virus is very essential however, as the adage..."prevention is better than cure", preventing malware from accessing your files in the first place is highly recommendable. The threat i encounter the most would have to be computer worms. At first i under-estimated computer worms but then i came across a malware blog-post that claims worms actually reproduce more actively than viruses. As opposed to waiting until damage is done, i think this article generally gives a good summary on how you can recognise malware from the very beginning.

That article is mostly crap than useful information. I totally agree that prevention is better than cure, but problem with antiviruses and its advertisements (like that that article) is that they tend to give a false sense of security, and many people believe that an antivirus is all they need to be completely safe, and don't worry with steps that give real security.

For example, the article you link goes to great length in explaining the different types of malware and the like, but fails to note that the distinction is merely academic without too much impact in real life and the prevention measures are pretty much the same. More often than not, malware mixes characteristics of each subtype, and it has been much more difficult to classify them at all.

About the prevention, it greatly remarks the importance of antiviruses and software updates (which are mostly true), but merely mentions firewall (without mentioning the importance of its configuration) and completely fails to even mention the most basic security principles, like running in a low privilege account, setting up the most limited permissions as possible and taking backups gets very little attention.

And they make their biggest mistake when they suggest to use antiviruses to remove viruses. That's utterly wrong. As every security expert knows, once a computer got infected by malware or compromised by a hacker, it's game over, you must reformat the system and reinstall everything from scratch if you ever want a clean and safe system again. This just reinforces the myth that it's worth to try to clean the affected systems and that a couple of antiviruses can reliably deal with unknown infections.

Instead of all those myths out there, I would suggest following good security practices, which is very rarely done (and Windows defaults don't help). Antiviruses have their use and in some cases help, but they're far from the only thing that should be used. What disturbs me the most is the enormous amount of faith people put in AVs, and the lack of knowledge in anything else. Times have changed and many factors that lead to the AV development no longer hold, malware generally has many different characteristics and both detection and removal is much different from 30 years ago.

 

[mjf]

I'm not a security expert by any means. However, if I believe I have malware then it is because one of my security programs have advised me that I have an issue or else I believe my PC is behaving in a suspicious way suggesting malware. I'm cautious about reacting too quickly to Pups because they are often false positives.
The easiest corrective action is to revert to a previous system image where malware and odd behavior is not detected. It is important to keep multiple images over a period of time (eg. over a 3 month period). The pain of a clean install is a last resort.

As far as the original thread title - I use Malwarebytes V2 for non real time anti malware checks and Norton for real time checks. I don't know how much protection they really add apart from a psychological belief that something is better than nothing.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I also like Panda and routinely install it for my clients. Lightweight, trouble-free and, other than they daily pop-up prompting you to upgrade, it keeps its head down and mouth shut unless there's a real threat. No crap about gunk in your browser or that kind of stuff. I use Malwarebytes free as a second-opinion scanner.

Regarding the usefulness of anti-virus software, for the vast majority of users, if it weren't for an alert from their AV software, it might be weeks before they realize that something is wrong. It is truly amazing how oblivious the average user can be. They will simply continue to struggle along, despite obvious signs that something is wrong. Things as blatant as home page and search engine changes are simply shrugged-off. Of course, Microsoft has conditioned people to expect that kind of crap.

 

[etaf88]

It's just a basic summary of malware prevention really. I found it useful.

 

[kristen theron]

Comodo Antivirus would be a good choice for you. As you are in need of antivirus for your simple home system then this particular AV would be a great choice.