What is the BEST Protection for DUMB Users?

JOSHSKORN said:

I went ahead and took a shot in the dark and purchased Kaspersky Total Security. It was one of four total security suites with perfect scores. I installed it on 3 Windows 10 PCs last night and it seems to be working decently.

The question remains: Is this sufficient? Or am I still needing something like SuperAntiSpyware and/or MBAM/MBAE? If you all remember the rotisserie chicken infomercial, "Set it and forget it", that's pretty much what I'm looking for. Something that'll do its thing under the hood and keep the PC safe with almost zero user interaction.

EDIT: OOPS! I didn't see @simrick's post just above mine. I guess it looks as if I am "parroting" the post. "Great minds think alike!"

KTS is a very solid choice (I have used Kaspersky products for years), although (in general) Kaspersky products are NOT necessarily the most "set it or forget it" among the popular AVs. Over the years, their user-friendliness has improved quite a bit.

Yes, you can still add the additional layers of complementary protection.
My personal preference favors MBAM + MBAE (both Premium) over SAS (which I still use for a manual, on-demand scanner, primarily for non-malware tracking cookies).

MBAE (either Free or Premium) is ~entirely "set it and forget it" out of the box, although the Premium version also allows users to customize settings and to configure custom shields for other programs not covered by the Free version. But the default settings are good for most users.
Either way, it helps to protect against exploits, which are a major vector for malware these days and which are not well covered by most of the standard AVs.

MBAM Free does not provide real-time protection. It is just a manual, on-demand scanner for primarily non-viral malware.
MBAM Premium does provide layered protection alongside your AV. It should likewise be fine out of the box, using the default settings, with little user input for configuration or management, although it can be tweaked/configured by an advanced user who wishes to do so.

Having said all that, there are other available options for paid, real-time anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-exploit protection.

HTH,

MM

You could also think outside the box and try something in addition alongside the regular anti-virus and anti-malware solutions.

Two suggestions are Appguard and NoVirusThanks, both are anti-executables. I use AG, its bulletproof and very easy to use, not much will get by it. NVT is fairly easy to setup and has few popups once it learns your system.

What about adding PeerBlock to the mix? What all does that do? I've installed it on my computer, before and it claims that if I stop it, I there could be up to 60 harmful connections to my computer every second, or something like that.

JOSHSKORN said:

What about adding PeerBlock to the mix? What all does that do? I've installed it on my computer, before and it claims that if I stop it, I there could be up to 60 harmful connections to my computer every second, or something like that.

While a layered approach is important, there comes a point where "more is less".
If one runs too many security applications (especially in real-time), the likelihood of potential conflicts/clashes/slowdowns or other performance problems increases. Without knowing the specs of the system in question, it's hard to say.
And Kaspersky products, in particular, can be finicky about having too many, conflicting security applications installed.
With increasing numbers of installed/running security applications, there is more work/interaction for the user to keep them updated, configured, compatible, etc.

Moreover, no one security application or combination of applications can protect 100% of computers 100% of the time from 100% of the malware in the world.
As mentioned in my earlier reply here, the most important computer security component is the one between the chair and keyboard. A user who is determined to become infected will do so, no matter what security programs are installed.

The references and resources offered in that earlier reply provide extensive information about safe computing practices, security application selection, etc.

Cheers,
MM

JOSHSKORN said:

I went ahead and took a shot in the dark and purchased Kaspersky Total Security. It was one of four total security suites with perfect scores. I installed it on 3 Windows 10 PCs last night and it seems to be working decently.

The question remains: Is this sufficient? Or am I still needing something like SuperAntiSpyware and/or MBAM/MBAE? If you all remember the rotisserie chicken infomercial, "Set it and forget it", that's pretty much what I'm looking for. Something that'll do its thing under the hood and keep the PC safe with almost zero user interaction.

Did you buy the ruler and show the 'next time....' face as well just in-case?

simrick said:

:ditto

Just set your DNS servers on your NIC to OpenDNS to thwart visits to known malicious sites.
IPv4
208.67.222.123
208.67.220.123

IPv6
2620:0:ccc::2
2620:0:ccd::2

This does what?

None of the AV programs will really help. The best protection is to stay off the internet with Windows. Run the internet from a virtual Linux system. Then you are pretty safe. That way it is unlikely that malware even gets to you - and if it does, the virtual system is easy to replace from a backup copy.