What antivirus should I get in 2016

Mamma8 · 17 Mar 2016

BlackHawk1 said:

Mamma8 said:

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 · 18 Mar 2016

Avast is a good choice for me ...

edassange · 18 Mar 2016

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 · 19 Mar 2016

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 · 19 Mar 2016

hazel123 said:

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 · 19 Mar 2016

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

DavidE · 19 Mar 2016

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 · 20 Mar 2016

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 · 04 Apr 2016

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 · 04 Apr 2016

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