[SOLVED] Antivirus + VPN bundle

[Kevx555]

Dear forum members,

I'm looking for an antivirus + VPN all in one package or bundle. Last year I bought Norton antivirus as they advertised they come with a VPN. And it's true, I installed the antivirus and turned the VPN on. Then over the next few weeks I noticed I still get really targeted ads to my location. So I went on Google, checked my IP and it pinged to the exact city I was in. After further digging, I discovered that there exists something called IPv4 and IPv6. And while Norton VPN works on IPv4 it doesn't touch IPv6, so any site capable of looking IPv6 got through the VPN and it was basically useless.

Is there a good antivirus that includes a VPN that supports both protocols? Now I know I could buy an antivirus and VPN separately, but I would really prefer a bundle. Especially since you usually get 3 licenses and I use one to set up and protect my parents computer as well. They're pretty old and get easily confused with computers and adding more programs would only make it worse. And besides a all in one package is something I would prefer either way.

Thanks for all your help!
Sincerely,
Kevin

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you want solutions that are ACTUALLY going to do what you want them to do, then no, there really aren't any bundled options because none of the VPNs out there that are worth using are offered by companies who offer anti-malware or antivirus software.

If you're going to use a VPN you want to use one that keeps no record of customer data, a NO-LOG type VPN service, for complete (Or at least MOSTLY) anonymity. Most of them aren't that way.

These are the companies you want to look at for VPN services. Others are halfway solutions.

https://www.techradar.com/vpn/private-vpn-no-log-anonymous

As far as antivirus and malware are concerned, the likely best (And least likely to impose additional resource hogging on your system) option is to simply use Windows defender. It's already there, and it ranks up there as the best or among the best in the majority of testing done in recent years. MANY of us ONLY use this, because why install something that is going to do exactly what you are trying to avoid, which is affect or slow down your system via an infection, which is what most of them do these days. Common sense, avoiding sites you know better than to visit and keeping the definitions up to date on a daily or at least very frequent basis is the best policy, regardless of WHAT antivirus or antimalware program you finally decide to go with.

 

[kubacs]

Dear forum members,

I'm looking for an antivirus + VPN all in one package or bundle. Last year I bought Norton antivirus as they advertised they come with a VPN. And it's true, I installed the antivirus and turned the VPN on. Then over the next few weeks I noticed I still get really targeted ads to my location. So I went on Google, checked my IP and it pinged to the exact city I was in. After further digging, I discovered that there exists something called IPv4 and IPv6. And while Norton VPN works on IPv4 it doesn't touch IPv6, so any site capable of looking IPv6 got through the VPN and it was basically useless.

Is there a good antivirus that includes a VPN that supports both protocols? Now I know I could buy an antivirus and VPN separately, but I would really prefer a bundle. Especially since you usually get 3 licenses and I use one to set up and protect my parents computer as well. They're pretty old and get easily confused with computers and adding more programs would only make it worse. And besides a all in one package is something I would prefer either way.

Thanks for all your help!
Sincerely,
Kevin

If your not downloading sketchy ---- windows defender is by far the best, and you don't need an anti-virus, for VPN, probably NordVPN as its very trusted and simple purchase and use method, but by far the most trusted VPNs are open source ones, you can directly edit the code, or double check if anything is out of place, it requires compiling but it is not very hard.

<MOD EDIT: Watch the language>
My bad, sorry.

 

[mamasan2000]

If your not downloading sketchy ---- windows defender is by far the best, and you don't need an anti-virus, for VPN, probably NordVPN as its very trusted and simple purchase and use method, but by far the most trusted VPNs are open source ones, you can directly edit the code, or double check if anything is out of place, it requires compiling but it is not very hard.

<MOD EDIT: Watch the language>
My bad, sorry.

I thought you can use OpenVPN with most if not all of the VPN providers. The other option could be to host one yourself. On Linode, Digitalocean etc. They have servers around the world, right? Just turn on the cloudserver you want to run today.
It isn't all that hard to setup OpenVPN server. https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-an-openvpn-server-on-ubuntu-18-04
I had that up once. Now I'm lazy. I pay for a VPN. Not NordVPN, I don't trust em.

 

[mdd1963]

If your not downloading sketchy ---- windows defender is by far the best,

I'd still put far more faith in Kaspersky successfully blocking something sketchy (be it a bad website or blocking a malicious payload) than WIndows Security .Saying that default security suite s better as long as you never click on anything malicious or visit a bad website by mistake is likely.....dubious at best.

Which VPN is used is of little consequence, as I see no advantage to them being bundled unless it is effectively free with one of paid security suites...which I don't utilize.

 

[kubacs]

I'd still put far more faith in Kaspersky successfully blocking something sketchy (be it a bad website or blocking a malicious payload) than WIndows Security .Saying that default security suite s better as long as you never click on anything malicious or visit a bad website by mistake is likely.....dubious at best.

Which VPN is used is of little consequence, as I see no advantage to them being bundled unless it is effectively free with one of paid security suites...which I don't utilize.

Agreed, Kaspersky Rescue Disk is handy and is good, Norton Power Eraser is also pretty good, and adwcleaner, maybe sophos, I would only use major vpn's or open source ones.

 

[kubacs]

I thought you can use OpenVPN with most if not all of the VPN providers. The other option could be to host one yourself. On Linode, Digitalocean etc. They have servers around the world, right? Just turn on the cloudserver you want to run today.
It isn't all that hard to setup OpenVPN server. https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-an-openvpn-server-on-ubuntu-18-04
I had that up once. Now I'm lazy. I pay for a VPN. Not NordVPN, I don't trust em.

I only trust NordVPN because it is pretty major, one of the most popular choices, yea they do have servers all around the world, you can also rent a vps from amazon like the free ec2 plan, just host your server for a few days or similar.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd still put far more faith in Kaspersky successfully blocking something sketchy (be it a bad website or blocking a malicious payload) than WIndows Security .Saying that default security suite s better as long as you never click on anything malicious or visit a bad website by mistake is likely.....dubious at best.

Which VPN is used is of little consequence, as I see no advantage to them being bundled unless it is effectively free with one of paid security suites...which I don't utilize.

I wouldn't. In fact, there's no way you could EVER make me use Kapersky or Norton, and I know a little something about these programs. Not sure where you get the idea that it's better but the majority of comparisons done by legitimate sites against real world infections over the last four years or so have consistently shown Windows defender to be at or near the top of the pack in terms of reliability AND also it's going to be there anyhow, so why would you ever want to add more code bloat and resource usage by adding another application when it already has one that works extremely well. And in EVERY case, no matter WHAT you have, if you get a Day0 infection that's fairly advanced because you are frequenting shady sites, it won't really matter what you have you will still likely end up with a major problem and need to reinstall.

This is just another reason why consistently making full system backups at least once a week if not more frequently, is imperative and is really the ONLY way to completely protect yourself against drive failures, infections and other unforeseen occurrences that might wipe out your data. Backups are pretty much foolproof. Antivirus and malware scanners, or the idea that a drive has an assumed long life, are not.

Of course, just having anything is better than having nothing, but sometimes, not by that much. Those programs like Kapersky will work, but they include so much extra COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY crap that it's often a wonder to me that people don't have to expand storage or remove programs just to install them. Yes, slight exaggeration, but honestly, not that much. They are ridiculous.

 

[revodo]

Computers are workstations. If you have a table in your garage and you do woodworking on it, do you leave the projects on the table once they're finished? No. You place them somewhere safe. Always assume your computer can die, or be taken hostage in an instant. Only keep copies or replaceable programs on there. Hook up a backup solution daily / weekly, do an incremental or mirror backup, and unplug it until it's ready for the next backup.

As Darkbreeze has said, don't use all-in-one solutions. For a normal everyday computer, I run Windows Defender and Private Internet Access. Both are great at what they do. For extra security you can use VirusTotal to scan individual files or websites which runs them through a ton of anti-virus databases. You can also use things like sandbox programs, or virtual machines.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

As a tech, I usually recommend windows defender for a home pc. It’s lightweight and does the job and stays out of the way.

 

[Darkbreeze]

stays out of the way.

That's an important bit right there.