Is paying for antivirus a waste of money?

Originally Posted by XXHeronikXX
If you visit safe sites all the time then it is ok.

FWIW You can get embedded and drive by malware from any legitimate website or from a transient banner ad ,ad insert or any number of redirects D/L or installers etc just about anywhere at any given time .

Safe websites are a moving dynamic and can change at any given time I don't don't where you got that misconception above but it's just not true.

I been doing this before anybody ever heard much of the web and before AOL ,Facebook, Twitter,Reddit ,Myspace or the original Napster ...... we were on dial up usenet and BBS when I started .

At a minimum inside of the Windows firewall I would reccomend Windows Defender (only in Windows 10 ) and mbam + mbam RTP like I'm using in this box, for newbies or just folks wanting more protection maybe Avast or AVG free for more protection instead of Windows Defender and ofc free Mbam malware scanner + Mbam RTP and in any case Google Chrome x64 as the most secure web browser .

IMO You don't need to pay for AV & malware protection others may feel like they need to & have favorites opinions will vary. .

OTOH nothing is foolproof and people are often foolish don't forget to back up :)

Sent from Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview Evaluation Copy . Build 14279. rs1

blutos cousin said:

XXHeronikXX said:

If you visit safe sites all the time then it is ok.

FWIW You can get embedded and drive by malware from any legitimate website or from a transient banner ad ,ad insert or any number of redirects D/L or installers etc just about anywhere at any given time .

Safe websites are a moving dynamic and can change at any given time I don't don't where you got that misconception above but it's just not true.

People keep posting that myth in articles and on forums.

Trusting an AV alone to protect you, and throwing caution to the wind,
is like the people who drive like idiots, trusting that their cars safety systems(all the three letter acronyms(ABS, ESC, EBD and so on)), are going to keep them from having an accident!

BunnyJ said:

No.. what happens to some when they make comments like this one to one of our best members is they earn a stay in some ones ignore list.

It was meant as a humorous comment, hence the laughing smiley. No offence was intended.

Cliff S said:

Trusting an AV alone to protect you, and throwing caution to the wind,
is like the people who drive like idiots, trusting that their cars safety systems(all the three letter acronyms(ABS, ESC, EBD and so on)), are going to keep them from having an accident!

You can never trust any software no matter how high the ratings are to be 100% absolute protection for every possible circumstance. But there is also an old saying that does tend to foot the bill as far as "An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure"! Common sense lacking can allow many possibilities as far as getting burned!

As an example of something that I just inquired about pertaining to one vendor that looked familiar I had never ordered from however when clicking on a newsletter that came in Firefox suddenly springs up some Mozilla scam attack warning page. Apparently some script on the vendor's home page tripped an alarm bell while the vendor's site is free and clear of any malwares! The inquiry found no complaints about the vendor at all. The web filtering with the av software's firewall would have blocked out any suspect site. False alarm.

Now in contrast on two occasions back in 2013 one while going to order a micro atx board for an old case and an order for something else non related the sites appeared completely normal one found on a general Bing and the other lead off of a regular shopping site. They were scam sites!

The one for the board had only been up for a few months only and then shut down quickly being a hit and run trap site and the other started asking for more money to ship where they claimed they would refund and never did. Buyer Beware! Malwarebytes, Avast, Kaspersky, AVG, VIPRE, Trend Micro, etc. No good! Fortunately I use a preload type debit card since the first vendor tried making a $2,600 purchase online to Istanbul, Turkey! The other wasn't US based and these are why there complaint centers.

For any paid softwares excluding sites like those you would something like what Firefox saw as far as jumping the gun with a false alarm rather then having a Bad Day! As you can see it wouldn't matter any what program is in use you still have to be on top of the game at all times in order to avoid those "UT OH" moments!

rusty post said:

What is the general view on Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit?

If this is the beta one, I can tell you that it took out my Office 365 2016 when it was updating. It decided the update was malware and I had to do a clean install to recover!

And people wonder why I don't particularly care for Malwarebytes? For an independent sweep of a system when you suspect a bug could be hidden somewhere a stand alone special removal tool that can be run live may be needed. How to download and use VIPRE Rescue : Support

rusty post said:

What is the general view on Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit?

@rusty post,
I don't leave Home(page) without it!!
My thread: Solved Latest Version Malwarebytes Anti Exploit - Windows 10 Forums

Wynona said:

If this is the beta one, I can tell you that it took out my Office 365 2016 when it was updating. It decided the update was malware and I had to do a clean install to recover!

No @Wynona that isn't it. You're thinking of Anti-Ransomware Beta.

Anti-Exploit does this:

Instant exploit protection


Provides four layers of protection that work together to block exploits instantly. This happens in both in the first stage of the attack, preventing shell code execution, and the second stage, memory calls and sandbox escapes, and memory mitigation bypasses.



Doesn't slow computer


Doesn't require frequent updates because it doesn't use a signature database like traditional antivirus solutions. And it only takes up 3 MBs on your hard drive—the size of one high-resolution photo.



Protects vulnerable programs


Secures programs associated with older operating systems like Microsoft Windows XP that are no longer patched and protected by their makers. So you can keep the operating system you like without being exposed.



Works with other security solutions


Operates at a different level from and independently of anti-malware and antivirus programs, so you can install it without worrying about conflicting with other security solutions.