Battle Are there any decent, easy to use antivirus programs that don't collect or sell user data?

mellowsky

New Member
Thread author
Jan 8, 2020
1
This isn't actually for me, but for a friend. I need an antivirus for Win10 that's easy to use and doesn't require much user interaction. My main issue is that many antivirus suites collect and sell user data and I'm not sure I want to put that on their computer. Ideally I'm looking for a free antivirus, but if that just doesn't exist than they'd probably want the cheapest option available. I should also say that this antivirus will pretty much be the only thing protecting them, so I need to use something that would protect them from most threats without having to worry about poor detection or behavior blocking.
 

Burrito

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May 16, 2018
1,363
Most paid AVs don't monetize your data.

I would not be surprised if Avast is an exception to that.. they seem to be sorta scummy.

For that and other reasons.... unless you have the need for free... pay for your AV.

Yes, as Azure indicated -- Emsisoft are the good guys of the industry. They seem to be squeaky-clean.

1578710128456.png
 

oldschool

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Mar 29, 2018
7,043
If you want free AV, then Windows Defender is your easy choice - unless you consider that complicated to use. If you install ConfigureDefender to harden WD your friend can easily select Default, High or Max profile. Very easy. Or you can set it up for your friend using High, and your done. This setting won't cause any problems for you or your friend.

Bitdefender Free is "no-brainer" easy to use and it has one feature > On/Off. Their web filter does send URL data to BD and this feature cannot be switched off. Do they sell that info? I don't know since I never checked their privacy policy. No other free AV is as easy to use as BD.
 
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South Park

Level 9
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Jun 23, 2018
431
Emsisoft has a good reputation for protecting user privacy, and it would be my first choice for a paid AV. Since I'm broke at the moment, I use Windows Defender (with H_C) and Configure Defender set to "high." Over ~2 wk with this setup, I haven't had any false positives.

AVG, Avast, and Avira free all extensively collect browsing data. I would not use any of them.
 
F

ForgottenSeer 823865

so all telemetry is sent already :D:D
Probably lol, you know the kind of paranoids that made me laugh the most are the privacy ones, they invest lot of time and resources to eliminate every traces of data mining they are aware of but they forget one big factor, the OS. They keep using Windows...
Let say MaleficSoft is indeed a data mining predator, do you really think by using 3 tools you will eliminate it? there is few system processes that have to call home for the OS to perform as intended (like Svchost.exe, etc...), don't you think, MS wouldn't use them to exfiltrate datas?

So yes WD is good enough, no need to look further.
 

DDE_Server

Level 22
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Sep 5, 2017
1,168
Probably lol, you know the kind of paranoids that made me laugh the most are the privacy ones, they invest lot of time and resources to eliminate every traces of data mining they are aware of but they forget one big factor, the OS. They keep using Windows...
Let say MaleficSoft is indeed a data mining predator, do you really think by using 3 tools you will eliminate it? there is few system processes that have to call home for the OS to perform as intended (like Svchost.exe, etc...), don't you think, MS wouldn't use them to exfiltrate datas?

So yes WD is good enough, no need to look further.
you are obligated for that .as this OS (Microsoft windows) is dominant as most developed app and software *especially Engineering and productivity also Gaming for the others) is working on it and not compatible for working on the good alternative (Linux OS which respect your privacy due to its opensource nature) so your role is to mitigate the gaps and the flow with any tool you able to use however it is not 100 percent mitigation as you said 100 solution will be using another OS respecting your privacy (would not be satisfied unless it source code are opened)
 

Moonhorse

Level 37
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May 29, 2018
2,602

lol


I dont know about sophos is it that worse about privacy

 

XLR8R

Level 4
Jan 20, 2020
164
Emsisoft, BullGuard, eScan. Possibly, these three are the best when it comes to user data collection policies. BitDefender is also OK. Apart from that, Kaspersky maybe.

Avast/AVG are among the most data hungry products, that doesn't mean you are at much risk using them though.
 

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