Best free protection?

[cpokey26]

Whats the best going free protection setup? Setting up a couple of older computers on my network; and been foolishly using Norton Internet Security on main (it was paid for...).

AV: AVG, Avira, etc?
Malware: I use malwarebytes; anythign else/better?
And Windows Defender firewall...

 

[PhilFrisbie]

I use AVG or Avast on my home PCs.

 

[cpokey26]

yeah, looks like Avast is most downloaded, with AVG close behind

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

MSE

 

[rdc85]

It looks good to me,

that setup is mostly what people use... (free ones)

 

[mattj7]

MICROSOFT ******* SECURITY ESSENTIALS. Personally, I don't care for any of the free anti-virus solutions that I've found. Sure, avg, avast, avira, etc. all work, but they hog resources, slow down your computer, and just seem to be a mess to configure and operate. MSE is free, and it was built by microsoft, who know more about the security flaws in windows than any third party company.

That being said, I also like malwarebytes, though it is just a simple run/scan program, it's not constant active protection. It does an incredibly good job though, and you can simply run it now and again to make sure your system is clean. Also I haven't looked into it but I'm sure there is a way to run scheduled scans with Malwarebytes.

So go with MSE for active protection, unless your copy of windows isn't validated. Then you'r outta luck, pal.

 

[cpokey26]

Thanks.

Got rid of Avira and switched to Avast, and seen some improvement. I.e. not bogging down the older computers as much.

But may try moving to MSE...

Anyone know, Is there a comparison anywhere of the various antivirus' and the amount of system resources they hog?

 

[rdc85]

If i had to chose, I like using kaspersky (anti virus only) but it paid service.....

 

[cpokey26]

Best answer selected by cpokey26.