"Best" antivirus for 10 year old laptop Win7

[tidybear12]

[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]By "best" I mean it [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText][/FONT]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Doesn't hog my attention by hyperventilating all day long over imagined threats (Alvira)[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText][/FONT]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Doesn't bundle with Google f^}}*}* Analytics so that my every move is watched and logged which kind of defeats the purpose of having a VPN (Panda)[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText][/FONT]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Thanks.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SFUIText]
[/FONT]

 

[dsperber]

I simply go with free Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) as anti-virus on every Win7 machine I touch, which is now once again re-branded as Windows Defender on Win10.

And I also use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium to cover me on all things that it does that MSE does not.

 

[Alejandro85]

Doesn't bundle with Google f^}}*}* Analytics so that my every move is watched and logged which kind of defeats the purpose of having a VPN (Panda)

Antiviruses (or any other software) don't bundle "Google Analytics" or anything like that. That's included in some (well, many) websites to track visitors and get statistics. Any decent ad-blocker or a simple hosts file entry will get rid of those.
BTW, SevenForums is infected with Google Analytics tracking scripts, so you may want to reconsider your security if you're really worried

And finally, to add something relevant to the main topic, over the years I became strongly convinced that the best antivirus is the one that's not installed. Focus on good security practices and the built-in Windows tools instead.

 

[tidybear12]

Thanks, dsperber. There really don't seem to be that many on the market that cover all the bases. I think I'll give AVG another try. (I seem to be rotating these things, lol.)

 

[tidybear12]

Alejandro85, it's funny you say that. Every time I ran either MBAM pro or their ADe or whatever Cleaner, they would find PUPs from Panda, and before that Auslogics, and Acura, etc. I don't know what exactly to make of it but it sure doesn't make me feel any better.

The reason I brought up Google Analytics is that I installed Glasswire (free version) which shows everything that loads when you first boot up. Google analytics was one of the first things that appeared, and the path was through Panda. [removed due to rule 13] Forum Rules


The reason I deleted something I shouldn't have (that's a different post) is after what I saw in Glasswire and another app called cports from Nir Soft. I just hate what goes on in the background that I have no control over.

 

[file3456]

Try Bitdefender Free. It may or may not install. It's lightweight and cloud-based. It won't bug you.

To be honest with you, definition-based anti-virus software won't stop polymorphic malware like ransomware. You might want to have a look at Sandboxie for your browser in addition to running an anti-virus.

 

[lolnothankyou]

Having a properly configured firewall and browser is very important.

My choice would be Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool 2015 + Windows Firewall Control 5.3.1.0 + Firefox + user.js + uBlock Origin + uMatrix

Despite the name Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool 2015 is up-to-date. It doesn't have a real-time scanner but you can do on-demand scans.

 

[tidybear12]

Thanks lolnotthankyou! I will look into all of these.