a PC, 2 laptops, a few tablets..

We were with AVG (Internet suite) but they want £65 for another year but online are selling it for £32 😯

Barstuards.

Whats good out there these days please folks.

I went for a free one a couple of years ago, currently on Avast and no problems. Loads of reviews out there of free and paid options, I went for Avast on basis of those.

Whatever the free thing is that comes with your version of Windows (Defender or Security Essentials) plus an occasional sweep with Malwarebytes.

had no reason to fault mse/defender

As I thought,

Bye bye AVG!

The bloke who used to do the tech column in PC Format (and be entertainingly rude to people in the process) used to say a decent firewall and not opening dodgy attachments/teh warez was probably enough, and things are a lot better than the bad old days of XP.

Agree with the above.

Have only used Microsoft whatever it came with since windows 8.

The only time some of the more invasive protection might help is if you are a frequent ‘oh I better click this link’ when presented with a web page telling you there are 2.4 millions bits of spam on your computer.

As long as you are slightly computer savvy you’ll be fine with nothing more than Microsoft standard software.

Whatever the free thing is that comes with your version of Windows (Defender or Security Essentials) plus an occasional sweep with Malwarebytes.

^This

No problems on the 3 PCs in my house (Win10).

^ that.

The single best defence these days is ensuring that Windows and supporting apps (particularly Flash and Java – uninstall them if you don’t need them) are patched up to date, and not clicking on stupid shit. If you do that, MSE / Defender is more than adequate. I can’t remember the last time I had an infection at home, think it was Windows 98 days.

Windows Defender gets pretty poor results in tests, Avast and Avira beat it by a fair margin, and given they are also free I personally saw no reason not to use them instead, just in case.
Others are probably right, not clicking on stuff is probably your best defence, though if your computer is used by more than just you then the extra protection might be worth it….not sure I trust the wife to not open random attachments sent to her email!

Windows Defender gets pretty poor results in tests,

Do you want something that works properly or something that’s been design to perform well in tests?

not sure I trust the wife to not open random attachments sent to her email!

That’s what low-privilege accounts are for.