Is paying for antivirus a waste of money?

Stephanie said:

What I would like to know (is Windows 10 Firewall and Defender) enough protection for the average user ?

It depends, average home user, or, average business user?
Does this user make financial transactions over the net, or like me and prefers not to(you are a bit hand tied then, but...)?

Windows firewall is more than adequate. Just like with GNU/Linux, all ports are closed until the user gives permission, including installing software and drivers. Most(not all but...) maleware needs "permission to run" given from the user. This is why social engineering is on the rise. Many 3rd party firewalls(including those in 3rd party AVSuites) are just frontends to Windows own Firewall.

Thank you Craig :)

Average home user I would say Cliff and thank you for your answer :)

Craig said:

You are very welcome, Stephanie :)
When i initially installed Windows 10, i thought that the firewall and Windows Defender protection would PROBABLY be sufficient.

After the three virus encounters i had over those months (which i outlined in an earlier post here) i was so impressed by the way Defender handled them that it went from PROBABLY to DEFINITELY...

I am also an "average home user" like yourself...

That is very reassuring Craig :)

Stephanie said:

Thank you Craig :)

Average home user I would say Cliff and thank you for your answer :)

You're welcome Steph:)
3rd party Suites definitely have their place, but Windows 10 has more than just Defender & firewall.
Don't forget App containers, UAC Credential Manager, Security Accounts Manager, Device Guard:

Table 1. Windows 10 hardware requirements

Windows 10 feature	TPM	Input/output memory management unit	Virtualization extensions	SLAT	UEFI 2.3.1	x64 architecture only
Credential Guard	R	N	Y	Y	Y	Y
Device Guard	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
BitLocker	R	N	N	N	N	N
Configurable code integrity	N	N	N	N	R	R
Microsoft Passport	R	N	N	N	N	N
Windows Hello	R	N	N	N	N	N
VBS	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y
UEFI Secure Boot	R	N	N	N	Y	N
Device health attestation through Measured Boot	Y*	N	N	N	Y	Y

Read more here at TechNet: What's new in Windows 10 security (Windows)

Thank you for the link Cliff :)

Stephanie said:

Thank you for the link Cliff :)

You are welcome.
One additional thing I can do as I have the Pro version,
like Wolfgang, I have Linux on Hyper-V(Ubuntu) and I can then surf the Great Unknown, AND, open email add-ons & click links I'm curious about. If something should happen, delete the VM and a 10 minute reinstall.

I have decided to uninstall my 3rd party Firewall and AV and just go with Windows FW and Defender :)

Stephanie said:

I have decided to uninstall my 3rd party Firewall and AV and just go with Windows FW and Defender :)

I have tried Trend Micro(trial) and Bitdefender(free) and found relatively little difference to (then on Windows 7) MSE, and Defender is the same thing now, so...