Is paying for antivirus a waste of money?

BunnyJ · 07 Mar 2016

dencal said:

Not strictly true......I take note of respected AV testing site reports, as do M$ who do collaborate with them.
The last time I checked Avira Free received the same high rating as any of the other top paid versions.

And with each report the AV's that are the best are usually different. It's really hard to pick out the true best AV, IMO.

All AV's have the same issue.. when new viruses come out none of them are really ready for it.

DooGie · 07 Mar 2016

BunnyJ said:

And with each report the AV's that are the best are usually different. It's really hard to pick out the true best AV, IMO.

All AV's have the same issue.. when new viruses come out none of them are really ready for it.

Agreed BunnyJ and all the tests of AV's have variables thrown at them. I'd love to see a test carried out of every AV having a selection of the most destructive virii known thrown at them in a controlled environment and see which comes out best. Trouble is the results would still probably be skewed.

BunnyJ · 07 Mar 2016

DooGie said:

Agreed BunnyJ and all the tests of AV's have variables thrown at them. I'd love to see a test carried out of every AV having a selection of the most destructive virii known thrown at them in a controlled environment and see which comes out best. Trouble is the results would still probably be skewed.

For me the bottom line is, no AV is perfect and it makes little sense to pay for any of them.

Rich87 · 07 Mar 2016

I believe paying for one is a waste of money. There are many free alternatives out there which are just as effective and lightweight so they don't use all your CPU resources in the background. Personally, I don't use any Anti Virus and just stick with Windows Firewall and Defender for security. I'm tech savvy enough to avoid malicious links/adware infested websites. And on the rare occasion I do get something I'll use a program like Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit and manually do a scan to take care of it.

itsjustnav · 07 Mar 2016

I use AVG Anti-virus which is free and wonderful and I would recommend it.

whs · 07 Mar 2016

itsjustnav said:

I use AVG Anti-virus which is free and wonderful and I would recommend it.

At our computer club we got all 6 club computers heavily infected. They were protected with AVG.

Lee · 08 Mar 2016

BunnyJ said:

For me the bottom line is, no AV is perfect and it makes little sense to pay for any of them.

Lee · 08 Mar 2016

whs said:

At our computer club we got all 6 club computers heavily infected. They were protected with AVG.

Darn Wolfgang. . .you folks need to stay away from them Those Torrent sites. . .

Cliff S · 08 Mar 2016

COMPUTIAC said:

Thanks Cliff, works great.
I'm guessin' it will only show something it finds but not when it doesn't find anything ?

@COMPUTIAC,
That's what I'm hoping

MSE & Defender have protected me well enough the last few years.
I know this for 2 reasons:
1. At least once a month Full Scan with an Anti-Malware.
2. PC hasn't locked up, with a friendly message asking for bitcoin....

Stephanie · 08 Mar 2016

I am only using Windows 10 Firewall and Defender (Malwarebytes for a second opinion) and every thing is fine :)