MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Its that time of year when I usually shell out £50 on an anti-virus programme; I have been using BullGuard as it came with a PC many moons ago. But is there better out there, or is windows own program good enough? Do I also need a Malwarebytes type program also?
Thanks
In built windows stuff, which version of windows are you using?
Windows 10. Thanks.
I'm using Avast Free - for basic AV protection it has been fine so far and very few "upgrade" notifications. Might be worth a look?
I use it in conjunction with the built-in Windows stuff which performs period scanning on top.
Well go to security on settings and turn on the stuff that is built in
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17464/windows-10-help-protect-my-device-with-windows-security
Oh and I also use Malwarebytes.
Bin paid AV, use built in Windows Defender in Windows 10. It's perfectly good enough now for AV and unlike almost all 3rd party AVs, it isn't bloated and doesn't slow down your system (Avast and AVG included, which used to be okay but have turned into bloatware).
It lacks the stuff the additional stuff sold in 3rd party stuff, like active link checking, email scanning, firewall, but it still catches the stuff on execution, a lot of mail servers do scanning anyway, Google do malware checks on links in the search engine, there's some malware checking in some browsers also, Windows has a firewall anyway, and then just use some common sense on what you're clicking on.
Add to that, you could get Malwarebytes free version and run it from time to time or if concerned about something you downloaded (paid version will sit in the background but that's more system bloat and you don't need it).
To give ms their dues, they've really improved defenders detection rate so it's pretty good now in that regard.
It's performance in terms of speed is not the best though, bit defender, bullguard and avira are faster while offering better or the same level of protection.
Personally I'd say for most people it would make note sense to spend 50 on a years worth of off-site backups with idrive or similar (despite the name, nothing to do with apple)
As above, just use the built in windows jobbie.
Also as above I'll run Ccleaner and malwarebytes every so often.
Cleaner as a bit of a catch all junk deleter amd malwarebytes if I suspect something is up.
Maybe a step too far for some but i have Firefox delete all cookies and cache on closing the app. And i use duckduck go as my search engine, not Google unless I need to for a particular reason.
It lacks the stuff the additional stuff sold in 3rd party stuff... but it still catches the stuff on execution,
Hmm, too much 'stuff'. I'm typing random garbage that doesn't match what I'm thinking and not proofreading 😄
Don't use ccleaner unless you know what you're doing.
Don’t use ccleaner unless you know what you’re doing.
That, please. A long time ago it really helped, now it just scares me. I hate finding it on a machine now as it usually means someone has been messing around and the most problem machines are ones where people have been trying to fix stuff
Plus it's largely pointless these days. Time was that it was pretty useful to be able to delete a couple of meg of space here and there, but that time was fifteen years ago.
Same with the registry cleaner - your registry isn't dirty, leave it alone. At best it won't make a fig of difference, at worst it could hose your system.
Does it still install Avast on the sneak, or have they fixed that now?
your registry isn’t dirty,
No but the sales team's is pure filth.