Anyone have a anti-virus they prefer to use? Do you just use the one that pre-installed and pay no mind as long as it's doing the job? (Make sure it's not McAfee)

For me, I use Windows Defender. It's gets the job down with no problem, no need to install another anti virus. I'm glad that windows defender as came a long way from being a laughing stock of an anti-virus.

I have used a lot of anti virus soft ware over the years. My most favorite are Kaperski and Bitdefender. Those two work great and are great preventing malware and attacks. My least favorite was Macafee. Macafee would pop up all the time. I found it would block emulators and even this site despite me telling it was safe.

For the most part I only use windows defender. If I am on someone else's computer aka mostly family I use malwarebytes. They are the type to download and trust everything they see. One even fell for an Indian scammer and I didn't find out for several months and I was at their house and heard the phone call.

I used to use a Fix me stick, it got the job done but I guess some overuse of it may have caused some problems

yeah Mcafee does suck nowadays, I wish SHAW would have a different default anti-virus provider

I just rely on Defender these days, I haven't reinstalled Malware Bytes because well, it wasn't their fault but starting over twice in the same year sucked

The only anti-virus program I have is the built-in Windows Defender. I've never really had any problems with it, so I don't see any reason to switch to a different one (and possibly one I would have to pay for as well).

Well looks like I will be using Bitdefender or Windows built in defender. The reason is Kaperski has now been banned in the United States due to the Russia Ukraine War. I personally think banning the product in protest of a war is overdoing it. It should be up to the consumers if they want to purchase or boycott the software not the US government. Oh well, it is what it is though. Maybe someday the ban will be lifted. As I stated in my post I really liked that software

well alot has happened since I made my post, Shaw is no longer offering McAfee for Shaw/Rogers users I don't think they offered anything else. Right now we are in the process of possibly switching up our modems due to a recent bout of crappy connection-itis (nothing to do with the recent bouts of why is the darn vizzed down so much itis)

I've been using BitDefender for some years now. Not sure how we got our hands in it, but all these years it has worked perfectly. Not a single flaw, no single malfunction, and also no trouble in upgrading it or renewing the license. I don't remember what anti-virus did we have before, but what's for sure is that it wasn't as good as this one currently is.

tornadocam : Yeah, the politics of banning everything Russian-related is absolute rubbish. In this particular case I feel like it's similar to TikTok, it's simply a software from a not-so-friendly country that has access to the devices of citizens and the perfect excuse to ban it popped up. Such a shame indeed.

EX Palen: In the USA bans have not really worked that well. Now some things in my opinion should be banned like p0rn because in the US it is a huge source of human trafficking. I also believe hard drugs like Meth, Fenatyl, Cocaine and anabolic steroids should be banned (they are). Now with that being said the problem that states have run into while banning the things i listed above is a little thing called the internet.

Here is a list of things the US tried to ban

Alcohol- In the 1920's the US banned alcohol consumption to try to get people to stop drinking. All this did was drive up crime and the black market. It gave rise to a lot of gangs in the 20's and early 30's. In the 1930's the US saw what a disaster this was and repealed Prohibition.

Assault Weapon Ban- This one is controversial in 1994 the US banned assault weapons. Mainly the AR-10 AR-15 rifles. Handguns, revolvers, shotguns, bolt and lever action rifles where not effected. This drove up black market sells on the internet. It also drove up black market sells anywhere. While it did reduce mass shootings. It had no effect on crime at all. In fact, crime stayed the same.

Napster 2001- Napster was a site that allowed users to download music. The entertainment industry threw a fit. Thus, the site was banned in the US. What happened well anything on the internet can be hacked. People hacked to get into the site. Moreover, it gave rise to sites like pirate bay. In fact it actually increased online piracy.

2000's Mayor Bloomberg tried to ban soda's over 16 ounces at grocery stores, and gas stations. Bloomberg wanted to stop people from consuming so much soda. He even tried to put a food tax on it. Well this did not work well at all. People went outside of New York City to get their large sodas. Grocery stores and gas stations lost millions in sales. Bloomberg reversed his soda ban.

I'm not a fan of Tik Tock as I have some major security concerns about it. But if the US bans it all it will do is increase hacking and piracy just like Napster did. Also people could use VPN to show their computer or phone is in a different country. Yeah this is not going to work at all.

Indeed, here in the USA bans generally do not work and we have a long history of bans being failures.

I think its Norton, I think, I don't even know if I use it. But if I did, that's what I'd use.

Now, I just use Windows defender. I used to use Norton, but I've come to realize that it's just unnecessary bloatware that serves no real purpose.

For the longest time I used to use ESET Smart Security, but that was about 10 years ago now. Like gamer, I just use Windows Defender these days and have never had an issue with viruses. I also see no point in shelling out money for a bloatware anti-virus service like Norton or McAfee when I barely use my laptop once or twice a week.

Macafee. I don't remember how I got the license, it probably came with my Laptop. I just pay once a year and get unlimited devices

I don't think I actually use one. My laptop came with one for like a year or two for free and once it expired, I just never went to get a new one. There arent that many sites that I use to begin with so I'm generally pretty safe and haven't needed one for my laptop yet. I did look into some a few weeks ago for my phone for Spotify reasons but didn't bother in the end.

Antivirus? Windows Defender gang over here.

It gets everything done that I need. I don't download sketchy things, so I don't really see a need to pay or even use one of those annoying free softwares.

I used webroot like...15 years ago when antivirus was still kind of needed.

I don't use any anti-virus, and I never have. I've always been of the opinion that anti-viruses cause more disruption to your computer than the average virus would with their constant pop-ups and notifications lol. I uninstalled Norton from my childhood computer for this reason (don't tell my mom!). Ultimately, you don't need anti-virus software unless you have no idea what you're doing on the internet.

Like others these days, I mostly just rely on Windows Defender and a little bit of common sense. Defender has massively improved ever since about the Win10 era (that's one positive, at least...) and as long as you relatively know how to navigate a computer and know not to click on certain, very obviously virus links, you'll be quite alright.

In the past before I decided to put my trust into Defender, Bitdefender was my choice of antivirus. Absolutely not a bad one, but the English translation/localization on it was pretty poor and I think there were some times where it noticeably slowed my computer down when not necessary.

I'm on the Windows Defender team now as well. I used to use a bunch of different ones over the years but I've gotten rid of them and now use the Windows Defender built in instead.

I still have Malwarebytes installed on my machines because I don't find it slows much down but it has caught things before Windows Defender which is nice.

Windows Defender works for me, easy to use, no install, doesn't cause problems

I recently installed Proton but it is stupid