Is paying for antivirus a waste of money?

[cornemuse]

Consider this: It is in the anti-virus industry's best interests that virus's, etc, all the nasty electronic crap, does NOT go away.

-c-

 

[UsernameIssues]

Consider this: It is in the anti-virus industry's best interests that virus's, etc, all the nasty electronic crap, does NOT go away.

-c-

Some of those electronic nasties...
...stole "secrets" from antivirus companies
...created government back doors (which lowered sales)
...got past AV tools (cost overhead with customer service calls)
...caused AV tools to crash computers (which lowered sales).

So -- it is in the antivirus industry's best interest that simplistic viruses do not go away. The really nasty ones hurt revenue


I generally install the free ones for those that I support.

 

[michael diemer]

I've concluded that it's a waste of time to read the latest review from PC Mag et al. Of course they are going to talk up the "best free antivirus." After all, the freebies hope you will upgrade. I'm sticking to MSE. There is no paid version to bother you with. I also think this is why they don't rate highly. No one makes any money off it. And yet, I keep reading that it does a good job. I've yet to hear of someone getting a terrible virus with it. (I'm sure someone will attempt to prove me wrong...).

 

[3Colors]

Not know if someone else will have been aware of this safety hazard that affected important pages : Large advertising-based cyberattack hit BBC, New York Times, MSN | PCWorld

I read that Eset has protection against ransomware , but I do not know if it is aware of the attack and is ready to handle it. The other AV will offer the same solution ?

The only site I visited was Msn but the version of my country :S

 

[UsernameIssues]

I've concluded that it's a waste of time to read the latest review from PC Mag et al. Of course they are going to talk up the "best free antivirus." After all, the freebies hope you will upgrade. I'm sticking to MSE. There is no paid version to bother you with. I also think this is why they don't rate highly. No one makes any money off it. And yet, I keep reading that it does a good job. I've yet to hear of someone getting a terrible virus with it. (I'm sure someone will attempt to prove me wrong...).

I'm not going to attempt to prove you wrong. I still install MSE for some users that I support, but I install Panda for other users. It depends on the user.

Some time when you are bored...
...let my posts to this old thread put you to sleep

The link above states the issue. This post shows that issue via videos. Sadly, MSE still has poor heuristics despite Microsoft's OS telemetry. Perhaps it is light on resources because it does so little :-(

 

[UsernameIssues]

Not know if someone else will have been aware of this safety hazard that affected important pages : Large advertising-based cyberattack hit BBC, New York Times, MSN | PCWorld

I read that Eset has protection against ransomware , but I do not know if it is aware of the attack and is ready to handle it. The other AV will offer the same solution ?

The only site I visited was Msn but the version of my country :S

Thanks for posting that link. I had not come across it yet.

It is just like the web-ad problems that Yahoo served up for weeks at a time all thru 2014.

CryptoPrevent should help stop some (most?) ransomware.
Be aware of this issue.

Malwarebytes anti-exploit and Hostsman should help too.


Most of these ad-based infections use Flash. I don't have Flash in IE (64bit) or Pale Moon (64bit). For websites where I need Flash, I use Chrome. Chrome handles updating it built in Pepper Flash well.

 

[mjf]

I use norton and don't like parting with money unnecessarily but I don't see convincing arguments against it.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

I only use Panda Free.

Should I have more?

 

[UsernameIssues]

I only use Panda Free.

Should I have more?

It would be interesting to ask the staff at Panda if they already do everything that CryptoPrevent and Malwarebytes anti-exploit already does. I'm not fond of having so many tiny/specialized apps to keep up with.

 

[ThrashZone]

Panda free does spot pup's pretty well popped up at the same time as mbam pro on one i missed
Can't remember the download probably imgburn bugware I tried when creating a all in one version installer iso.

 

[3Colors]

Thanks for posting that link. I had not come across it yet.

It is just like the web-ad problems that Yahoo served up for weeks at a time all thru 2014.

CryptoPrevent should help stop some (most?) ransomware.
Be aware of this issue.

Malwarebytes anti-exploit and Hostsman should help too.


Most of these ad-based infections use Flash. I don't have Flash in IE (64bit) or Pale Moon (64bit). For websites where I need Flash, I use Chrome. Chrome handles updating it built in Pepper Flash well.

With Eset did a deep level scan and found nothing . I plan to do a scan with Malwarebytes but I do not know , I have not even downloaded yet. That security breach affects only the website ( Msn ) but American version , or also the Latin American too(es-pe) ?


As the main theme , one can say that being careful where you click one could avoid finding a virus and therefore use an AV . But what if I have the need to search for information either for work or just for the need to know something more . Otherwise I will have to make several clicks (or download ) to find what I need . Do that without an AV I think is too risky. Have one installed is essential I think.

 

[FerchogtX]

I just use Avast Free and Malwarebytes Antimalware Free... Nada so far... I even find Avast a bit "paranoid" with some stuff...

I wonder if enterprises would consider paying for AV protection as a waste of money... it's obviously not the same needs a home user has...

 

[Benteke]

I...don't like parting with money unnecessarily but I don't see convincing arguments against it.

Same here. Been using Avast "paid version" for the past couple years. I like the additional spam filter & the safe browser option for sensitive activities. I used their free version for 3 yrs, the paid version is $30/yr, so that equates to $12/yr. Also use Malwarebytes free & Hitman Pro to scan.

 

[DavidE]

Been using Avast "paid version" for the past couple years. I like the additional spam filter & the safe browser option for sensitive activities

The safe browser option MIGHT be available in the free version now.
I've read mixed info about this from "Avast".

This thread says it is available in the free version for everyone:
SafeZone browser is now available for all Avast users

This blog says "We decided to make the SafeZone browser available to a portion of our free users for a limited time."
What is SafeZone Browser?

 

[lehnerus2000]

The safe browser option MIGHT be available in the free version now.
I've read mixed info about this from "Avast".

This thread says it is available in the free version for everyone:
SafeZone browser is now available for all Avast users

This blog says "We decided to make the SafeZone browser available to a portion of our free users for a limited time."
What is SafeZone Browser?

SafeZone Browser installed itself at the start of the month.

I only noticed yesterday because an update placed an icon on my desktop.

It wasn't listed in my "Programs and Features" window!

 

[DavidE]

SafeZone Browser installed itself at the start of the month.

I only noticed yesterday because an update placed an icon on my desktop.

It wasn't listed in my "Programs and Features" window!

To see what Avast optional tools you have installed,
In Programs and Features select Avast and click Change, then click Modify.
The options that are checked are installed.
I've found more optional tools that i didn't know were installed

 

[lehnerus2000]

I had to run the Avast installer to get to the "Tool Options".
However that also deleted my "Scan Exclusions".

It's strange that my other desktop didn't auto-install the SafeZone Browser when I manually updated Avast.

 

[Diosoth]

Various Firefox addons such as AdBlock, NoScript and such have probably done more to keep malware off my PC than most of the AV software, since browsing can deliver you a payload the quickest way thanks to infected ad banners. Only "real time" I have running is MSE and it, while being one of the poorer programs, hasn't found anything in a long time trying to infect me via normal browsing.

I have MBAM and SAS on hand for scans, with TDSSkiller in case I get hit with a rootkit again. I do have Spybot installled, but their "inoculation" hosts file additions seem to be increasingly rare these days and it's a super slow scanner- SAS can do in 20 minutes what Spybot takes 4-6 hours to do because Spybot uses an older method of scanning.

I considered Hitman Pro, but is it worth it when the others seem adequate for no cost?

Unfortunately, "staying offline" doesn't matter because if you have an offline PC that you install things on, it can still get hit. Too many "legit" companies are packing various PUP packages into their installers, usually because they get paid to include it. Even Adobe tries to shoehorn in some unneeded thing with every Flash update, and gog.com is doing it too. There have been cases of retail discs shipping with malware on them too because of an infection of the gold master or something else along the manufacturing lines.