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Do we even need the typical 1-year license for AV software with Windows 10?

BonzaiDuck

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
I buy an annual 5-PC license for Kaspersky Internet Security once a year. It works out to about $10/annum per machine. As long as Kaspersky Labs offers OEM install-discs or licensed downloads, it has been a real convenience and comfort against any security worries.

But Win 10 is at least the second OS generation providing "Windows Defender" and the Windows Firewall goes way back before Win 7.

I'm wondering if I even need an AV program other than what Win 10 provides.

Any experiences? Any thoughts or comments?
 
This is just my opinion, but I used 3rd party AV for years without incident. Since W10, I've been using Defender solely. Again, without incident so far.
My guess is that Defender alone is OK so long as you have safe surfing habits.
 
abekl said:
This is just my opinion, but I used 3rd party AV for years without incident. Since W10, I've been using Defender solely. Again, without incident so far.
My guess is that Defender alone is OK so long as you have safe surfing habits.
Click to expand...

Good to hear your opinion about it. I've got a younger brother here -- retired and disabled -- who thoughtlessly cost me a weekend's worth of time looking beyond the usual Suze Randall porn. My 91-year-old Moms has this Publisher's Clearinghouse Fetish, and just won't listen when I tell her we could just buy more PowerBall tickets. PCH seems to have all sorts of risks at their web-site.

Personally, I may be the only one in the house who just doesn't go to certain websites. I've also come around to the view for some time that if you're better off using features built-in to Windows as opposed to installing something else on top of it -- if the Windows feature is adequate.
 
I use avira because it's free. If windows defender was as good as avira and free, I'd use it. If avira charged money, I'd use one that was free. If they all charged money, I'd use defender. I don't really do that many bad things with my computers. The days of browsing questionable sites for freeware to tweak windows or whatever are long gone.
 
stockwiz said:
I use avira because it's free. If windows defender was as good as avira and free, I'd use it. If avira charged money, I'd use one that was free. If they all charged money, I'd use defender. I don't really do that many bad things with my computers. The days of browsing questionable sites for freeware to tweak windows or whatever are long gone.
Click to expand...

Well, I was going to make myself feel comfortable with Windows Defender.

But since the same machine is licensed for KIS with 265 days left, I just did my homework, downloaded the Win10-compatible KIS 2016, and installed it. No pinch -- nooo sweat.

So I can worry about my options over the last month ending the 265 days. But like I said earlier, for 5 PCs for a year, $10/PC/annum. A dollar a month. Does anyone doubt . . . that KIS is good? Works for me! . .
 
been using Kaspersky with firewall for years with safe surfing habits. no issues so far. I also then install it on all of the laptops in my family most of whom have no idea what adblocker even is.
 
The "which AV" discussion really hasn't changed over the years. The only thing that has changed is that MS is finally doing what they should have done several OSs ago: the AV (that they already offer) comes with the OS, enabled by default.

I mentioned this in another thread, and I still stand by it. An AV is only part of the protection you want in today's environment. I still have a group of people I do PC help for everyone once in a while. The ones that are always getting viruses are calling way less since ad-blockers have been installed in their browsers. Normal AV just can't react fast enough to get these guys. Weekly AV scanning does help, which most people don't do anyway.

So if you have safe browsing habits, Defender is fine. If you don't, get the best-rated AV you can. Either way, use a good ad blocker.
 
Even if you choose to just run defender you should at least use the free version of Malwarebytes and scan your system on a regular basis. The onion ring layered approach to safety/security is always the best method.
 
Ketchup said:
The "which AV" discussion really hasn't changed over the years. The only thing that has changed is that MS is finally doing what they should have done several OSs ago: the AV (that they already offer) comes with the OS, enabled by default.

I mentioned this in another thread, and I still stand by it. An AV is only part of the protection you want in today's environment. I still have a group of people I do PC help for everyone once in a while. The ones that are always getting viruses are calling way less since ad-blockers have been installed in their browsers. Normal AV just can't react fast enough to get these guys. Weekly AV scanning does help, which most people don't do anyway.

So if you have safe browsing habits, Defender is fine. If you don't, get the best-rated AV you can. Either way, use a good ad blocker.
Click to expand...

Puffnstuff said:
Even if you choose to just run defender you should at least use the free version of Malwarebytes and scan your system on a regular basis. The onion ring layered approach to safety/security is always the best method.
Click to expand...

Pretty much what I've been doing for years now myself, just Defender and an ad blocker, and scan with Malewarebytes pretty regularly. Installing things on top of it does seem to just bog things down a bit to me.

I haven't had problems in years on a few rigs when I stopped using a third party AV. I am using WIN 10 on a couple that way.
 
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My basis for using Windows Defender/MSE is that a) it's free and b) it keeps itself to itself unless there's actually something worthy of user notification.

I don't know about *all* of the other free AV solutions, but AVG and Avast free editions both like to pop up inane crap and try to sell "PC speed up" solutions. Christ, even the paid-for versions of the "Internet Security" versions of those products still try to sell "PC speed up" solutions.

Wrt the "safe browsing" argument, with the amount of crap I remove from customers' PCs (regardless of the security software they're using), I have very little faith in any AV/"Internet Security" software these days. That's just aside from the scenario I've encountered plenty of times over the years when "Internet Security" software goes squirrely and stops the user from getting on the Internet, or the umpteenth time that Norton can't figure out what went wrong, gives out an error message that when googled comes up with a Symantec article saying "we have no explanation for what caused this, try reinstalling!".
 
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IMHO, and it hasn't changed for years, the whole consumer security software industry is a borderline scam. This is evidenced by their inability to deal with dynamic 0-day exploits, complete failure of detecting threats before they're already so common Windows has already dealt with it, lack of reasonable recovery or repair upon infection and the constant barrage of ads, promos to upgrade versions and hawking worthless optimization and speedup tools to their customers. While they have improved somewhat in terms of not making your computer run like it is infected with a virus while running virus protection, they still introduce a layer of potential problems for no reason. With hooks into the system, you now need Windows to be stable, plus this third-pary. No thanks.

Finally, the overwhelming majority of infections are self-inflicted, or people fall prey to bogus flash ads that launch ransomware with tricks like posing as the Adobe updater. That is not going to happen to any of my machines. Why wear a condom if you're not having sex?
 
mikeymikec said:
My basis for using Windows Defender/MSE is that a) it's free and b) it keeps itself to itself unless there's actually something worthy of user notification.

That's just aside from the scenario I've encountered plenty of times over the years when "Internet Security" software goes squirrely and stops the user from getting on the Internet,
Click to expand...

Been there, seen that. The first thing I now do when someone can't connect to the internet, is (after doing malware scans with Malwarebytes), is ask if they are running Internet Security software, and tell them to un-install it.
 
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