Battle Best Anti-Virus and/or IS for me

[Rogerius]

Hello all!
I have a question for you which is bugging me so long.
I don't know which AV or IS to choose for me, and I need your help.
My browsing behavior is good, and I don't use torrent so much, so I thought maybe IS (Internet Security) isn't necessary.
My laptop isn't so strong (i5-3337U & GT 710M) and sometimes I use it for gaming, so the performance is the most important.
I'm using Windows 8.1.
My options is the following ones:
- ESET Smart Security 7 or 8 beta (for this I have a free license because my university)
- ESET NOD32 7 or 8 beta (for this I have a free license because my university)
- Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 (free key from here)
- any other free AV, or paid AV with free key (for example: AVG)

First question: Antivirus or Internet Security? Why?
Second question: Which one?

Thanks for your answers in advance, and sorry for my bad English.

 

[dowN1]

Eset smart security (you can go with nod32 also, but since it's 'free', why not choose ESS) ; super light, great detection, don't ask you almost anything (you'll forget it's there)

 

[GabiCRX]

"ESS vs NOD32 vs Bitdefender IS vs any free AV"
What i suggest it's not free, it's not light, but when it comes to level of protection and features i think it's one of the best, Kaspersky.

 

[Oxygen]

ESET Smart Security is very light and has very good detection.

 

[jackuars]

Browsing behavior = good
No torrents = Yes
Home user = Yes
Computer knowledge = Medium?

All you need is a free antivirus Try 360 IS. It's quite light.

 

[OneDay]

I personally don't really like internet security suites.
So, you should go for an antivirus (I'd suggest ESET NOD32 7 or 360IS/TS for free) and Windows Firewall.

 

[omidomi]

for me 360 and emsisoft and kaspersky.

 

[Rogerius]

I used Kaspersky before, but I have only bad memories...
On one day my system isn't started. Hardly I could boot up, and made the explorer.exe working for a while (which is always restarted in 1 minute but somehow I could fix, so it was stable for 15 mins).
I made a system scan with Kaspersky (it was installed at that time, when I installed my OS; always on & not hacked or cracked (90 day trial)), nothing. In my despair I uninstalled it (and because it's Windows 8 it switched back the built-in MS Security Essential).
It was funny, because in 1 minute it found 1-2 infected file (which was linked to the explorer.exe in system32 -> that was the reason why it always restarted itself), and after the malware removal, my system was normal (at least until I backed up everything and reinstalled my OS).
From this moment I avoid Kaspersky...

 

[VirusAttak]

you need a AV
you really don't need a paid AV as you are not a hardcore user of internet .
As i can see you have a key ESET so my advice is to go for it it is light and does not impact on performance so play what ever game you want

 

[Rogerius]

Browsing behavior = good
No torrents = Yes
Home user = Yes
Computer knowledge = Medium?

All you need is a free antivirus Try 360 IS. It's quite light.

No torrents = max. 3-5 in a month
Computer knowledge = High
I learning computer engineering at my university.

 

[jackuars]

No torrents = max. 3-5 in a month
Computer knowledge = High
I learning computer engineering at my university.

Well then you don't need a paid for antivirus. 360IS or any free antivirus should protect you well. Avast is quite light too.
I don't think I'm supposed to talk about torrents here, but if you download them, read the comments before downloading, that's why KickAssTorrents is the best place for it.

By the way there are plenty of legal torrents too.

 

[silversurfer]

ESET always light on your system and has very good detection!

 

[Atlas147]

Using Bitdefender IS now, been using it for at least 2 months now, really light on my system! I really like that they provide what they call a "security report" after every week (sort of a summary) to show you what are the detections that they've picked up on your computer. I think another one that I would say is good would be Qihoo 360 IS, was using it for a long period of time before I changed to Bitdefender to test it out, I really love the interface and the best thing about it is that Qihoo is free and has stunningly good detections and doesn't have ads advertising their paid products (because they don't have paid products).

 

[Rogerius]

Guys, NOD 32 (or ESET Smart Security) is free for me, so if you compare something to that, money isn't an aspect in this case (only after I graduated (min. 3.5 years)).

 

[Exterminator]

ESET Smart Security 7.It is very light for a suite and runs very well on Windows 8.There is really no need to use the beta version since on its official release you can just install version 8 right over version 7.Since you get ESET for free I personally think that is your best choice.ESET is pretty light for a suite but my next choice would be ESET Nod32 AV & Windows firewall.

 

[Purshu_Pro]

ESET NOD 32 Should do good with you and your computer.
I believe a complete internet security pack is not needed unless u use a laptop.
ESET SS Product Comes With AntiTheft which may become a good handy tool if u loose ur Laptop.
If u are using windows 8/8.1 ESET NOD 32 is enough because it doesnt provide any good spam filtering for Metro Mail App.
The only additional feature with ESET SS is that u will be given Antitheft and Firewall and Antispam. All the other other features are covered in corresponding product with same level of security.

 

[tonibalas]

currently i'm using eset nod32 with windows firewall and i'm very happy with it it's very light and i don't feel any slow down on my laptop since you have a license for nod32 use it and i am sure you will be more than happy with it

 

[Anupam]

Here is my thought

Paid --> ESET, Emsisoft, Karpersky
Free --> Avast Free, 360 IS/TS with Windows Firewall.

 

[starchild76]

my preference is AVG Is the product you love or hate , its slowely but steadely improving bit by bit. its certainly not perfect , but suits me just fine but these things are about personal tastes and needs!

 

[Anupam]

my preference is AVG Is the product you love or hate , its slowely but steadely improving bit by bit. its certainly not perfect , but suits me just fine but these things are about personal tastes and needs!

I am also an AVG fan. It's light and simple and perfect for normal users. But then I moved to Avast and 360 IS. I felt Avast and 360 IS is little bit better . But that does not mean AVG is bad .