Iobit vs Iolo and another AV question

I strongly advise against some third-party AV packages. You will probably run into issues and Windows Defender just does its job properly. Add more security layers, some second opinion scanner and you are all set.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Do you recommend not running ANY third party AV packages? If not. Which ones would you suggest? What do you mean by adding more security layers? And some 2nd opinion scanner? Like what?

Just to clarify something. The Pheenix360 is the System Mechanic suite of programs.

I think, in general, people on the forum are suggesting that these combo packages (for lack of a better description) are not really effective and some of them may even damage your system in ways that are not always visible (e.g. registry or optimization issues).

Others will have their own opinions and setup but this is how I do it:

1. Antivirus/antimalware/antispyware = Windows Defender

2. Browser addon for Chrome: AdGuard

3. a USB stick with portable security apps for checks from time to time. For example, I have programs to check registry or file changes, programs to run an extra security scan such as Hitman Pro (the free version), gmer to check for rootkits etc.

I rarely use them though because I practice safe browsing (no torrents, no dodgy sites, no porn etc. etc.) and about 90% of my web browsing is work-related.

At the end of the day, one solid antivirus program and a good dose of common sense is usually enough to keep the bad people out/off your computer.

Thanks. Are there any other votes for this software? Do they use their own virus definitions, or do you select between Avira or BitDefender? I'm a tad confused.

I've had some fun times. I removed all the IOBit software. Which went very smoothly. I then tried to remove Phoenix360/System Mechanic. Which was a major problem to remove, for all 4 programs. When trying to uninstall, the software created a link in the taskbar, which you had to delete, for the install to continue. I eventually, managed to force 3 of the softwares to uninstall (i'm not sure how... maybe by rapidfire clicking on the close link box, or some other, illogical method. But 1 program just would not uninstall. Nothing I could do would work. Windows Uninstall had the same problem, getting hung up on the link in the taskbar which wouldn't close. I had to re-install IOBit Advanced System Care to actually get rid of the remnants of Phoenix360/System Mechanic :) But to do that I had to also uninstall the Malwarebytes free version, I'd just installed, because it kept identifying IOBit's Advanced System Care install as suspicious. Even if I marked all the instances as not suspicious, it still marked them as suspicious. I guess this must obviously be because of the bad blood between them. I could then again uninstall IOBit Advance System Care, and reinstall Malwarebytes free version (which is in fact a 14-day trial version of their paid version :)

Fun Times :)

I would stick with Windows Defender. It just does its work. Add some other protection like Malwarebytes Antiexploit and you are probably all set. You can add some security extensions to web browsers (ublock origin (Edge, Firefox, Chrome), Microsoft's WD Browser Protection for Chrome, etc)