AntiVirus

[S1KRR]

So for as long as I can remember, I've always had McAfee virus protection. It seems to work OK. So I've never really thought about it.

However, the auto renewal cam through the other day and it's £90 for a year! Obviously "new" customers get a far better deal. £60 for 2 years. I've fired off an email to them asking if there's a cheaper price point they are prepared to offer me, but not expecting much.


There's 2 ways I can get round this. One is to end my subscription and start a new product purchase with a different email account. The second is to consider alternatives. Probably Kaspersky and Norton. The latter I've heard can be quite intrusive in terms of memory it uses. But I know F- all about Kaspersky.


Are the competitors worth entertaining, are they all much of a muchness really?

[randlemarcus]

Microsoft Defender is as good as any of the paid AV lot, is part of the OS anyway, and is free.

[bitchstewie]

If you're using Windows 10 there's a good argument that keeping it fully patched and using an up to date Chrome or Edge with ad-blocker and something like Gmail that Windows Defender is sufficient.

If you're the sort of person who clicks anything and goes looking on "specialist" sites there may be more arguments for a third-party product.

Look at Avira and ESET perhaps.

[Glosphil]

Norton. Less than £30 for up to 5 device {PCs, phones, tablets). Less for 1 device.
I've used it for years. Later versions much better than it used to be with resource usage.
Buy from Amazon - much cheaper than direct from Norton even for the annual renewals.

[Chris Hinds]

Concur that Microsoft's AV is fine vs the free ones, but if you want something else then NOD32 remains my go-to package. It's not bling like some but it's low footprint and high integrity.

[Mr Pointy]

Keep windows patched, use an Adblocker & NoScript & you have most things covered. Personally I use Kaspersky which costs £20 a year for three devices:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=kaspersky+internet+se...

Some reviews here:
https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

McAfee are ripping you off.

[Taita]

Glosphil said:

Norton. Less than £30 for up to 5 device {PCs, phones, tablets). Less for 1 device.
I've used it for years. Later versions much better than it used to be with resource usage.
Buy from Amazon - much cheaper than direct from Norton even for the annual renewals.

No. Absolutely utterly not this. Norton, mcafee etc are total ste.

Microsoft Defender is genuinely fantastic.

[S6PNJ]

If you do want an aftermarket AV, then Sophos Home is free - https://home.sophos.com/en-us.aspx or you can pay for the 'premium' version.

[ARHarh]

been using windows defender for a few years here. Never had a virus and I visit some places on the net that are a breading ground for virus attacks.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

randlemarcus said:

Microsoft Defender is as good as any of the paid AV lot, is part of the OS anyway, and is free.

This, not only will it save you £90 but your PC will speed up because the virus scanner won't be hogging resources....

[Nimby]

If you bank with NatWest you can get Malwarebytes Premium for free. Other banks may well offer normally-chargeable AVs - worth checking if for some reason you don't like Defender.

[Monty Python]

I never renew my AV - it's always cheaper to buy the complete version.