Advice Request Choose a new AV

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

What AV to chose?

  • Bitdefender Internet Security

    Votes: 35 34.0%
  • AVG Internet Security

    Votes: 5 4.9%
  • Avast Premium Security

    Votes: 9 8.7%
  • F-Secure Safe /Total

    Votes: 26 25.2%
  • Sophos Home Premium

    Votes: 6 5.8%
  • Microsoft Defender

    Votes: 31 30.1%

  • Total voters
    103
  • Poll closed .

show-Zi

Level 36
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Jan 28, 2018
2,463
No need to mess with group polices or install tools to control it. No false positives blocking trusted apps. Much easier to schedule both fast and complete scans, much faster scans.
I have never used Avast. However, I think that any third-party security software has the convenience of such adjustments better than the Defender. I get the impression that Microsoft's security, including firewalls, is a bit cumbersome to set up.:)
 

omidomi

Level 71
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Apr 5, 2014
6,001
I did trial Avast Premium Security a few weeks ago, and I would not recommend it over Avast Free Antivirus - a few reasons below:

The extra features are comfort layers rather than enhanced protection.

The Sandbox does not always let some apps run the way you'd like them too. A VirtualBox VM would be a more flexible replacement.

The Avast Firewall isn't easy to manage, and by sticking with Windows Firewall with Advanced Security you can easily block AvastUI.exe from internet access, therefore blocking any chance of Avast promoting Premium versions.

Plus it's all FREE. No credit card required.


Was, past tense.


Who invented "complete protection"? Bitdefender Total Security? F-Secure Total? Sounds like a marketing term to shift products. An updated OS, driver updates, modern browsers with built-in antimalware and silent updates, extensions to block harmful content, and cloud and local storage for backups. How many more layers is required?
I mean they provide more features that may provide more protection :unsure:
they have VPN service banking protection Webcam protection & blah blah ...may be my false?
 
F

ForgottenSeer 72227

Agreed, it's like Microsoft does it on purpose.
They do and for good reason.

We must not forget that the vast majority Windows users aren't very technical and as a result MS caters to them more then us techies/security geeks. We'd like to think we are more important, but we are not.:p

MS doesn't want to deal with support requests/compliants from those who make changes without realizing what those changes do. All 3rd parties have defaults which provide a good balance between security and performance. Even they recommend against changing them if you don't know what you are doing.

The biggest difference being how easy it is to access those settings. We must also remember that MS has geared these settings to be used primary in business/enterprises, not by home users. In saying that, atleast they still let us geeks change them if we want to, even if it is a little more work. :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Back3

Level 14
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Apr 14, 2019
654
I have a licence for F-Secure Safe. I like it very much: light, good protection and easy to set up. But nowadays, I'm using Microsoft Defender with Configure Defender, Simple Windows Hardening. I also have integrated into Windows Firewall the outbound firewall rules of H_C and SysHardener. No issues at all.
In the last 6 months, I have used 3 setups: F-Secure Safe, no issues; Microsoft Defender with hardening tools, no issues and Microsoft Defender with Comodo Firewall. Issues with Macrium and Edge.
 

show-Zi

Level 36
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Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 28, 2018
2,463
They do and for good reason.

We must not forget that the vast majority Windows users aren't very technical and as a result MS caters to them more then us techies/security geeks. We'd like to think we are more important, but we are not.:p

MS doesn't want to deal with support requests/compliants from those who make changes without realizing what those changes do. All 3rd parties have defaults which provide a good balance between security and performance. Even they recommend against changing them if you don't know what you are doing.

The biggest difference really, is the ease of access to those settings. We must also remember that MS has geared these settings to be used primary in business/enterprises, not by home users. In saying that, atleast they still let us geeks change them if we want to, even if it is a little more work. :)
I didn't notice this idea👍. It may be close to emisi in the sense that you don't want to change the settings too much. It is also more flexible than emisi in that it can be changed according to knowledge.

I feel that being able to make a wide range of settings according to the user's knowledge is an important point for software used by various people.:)
 

rain2reign

Level 8
Verified
Well-known
Jun 21, 2020
363
I didn't notice this idea👍. It may be close to emisi in the sense that you don't want to change the settings too much. It is also more flexible than emisi in that it can be changed according to knowledge.

I feel that being able to make a wide range of settings according to the user's knowledge is an important point for software used by various people.:)
I did mention Emsisoft in one of my previous posts just for those specific reasons @Raiden mentioned. Only it isnt a complete Internet Security solution (am a user of it myself) if the OP wants all the bells and whistles that you would usually find in an IS solution. Plus in my opinion if the OP is used to Sophos interface which is also quite user-friendly in my opinion, then that will have my vote. And some people just simply don't want to deal with third-party tools to more easily enhance Microsoft Defender which is understandable, to each their own right. ;)

You could always test out the various trials, to see if it performs better on your hardware, anyway. :D

"Don't fix it, if it ain't broken."
 

Stopspying

Level 19
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Well-known
Jan 21, 2018
814
....In the last 6 months, I have used 3 setups: F-Secure Safe, no issues; Microsoft Defender with hardening tools, no issues and Microsoft Defender with Comodo Firewall. Issues with Macrium and Edge.
Could you describe what the issues you had with Macrium when using Defender and CF please? I'm asking because I encountered some issues recently with Reflect scheduled backups not running when I had a PC using Defender and CF. I thought that it may have been CF permissions blocking the backup from running, I went through all of the possible settings that I could think of and found nothing that I felt might be the cause (I'm using CS's settings). I disabled CF and the next scheduled backup ran OK. I haven't had time to go back to this device and puzzle out what the cause was, its basically a test machine that is not networked so its not my current priority.
 

upnorth

Moderator
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Staff Member
Malware Hunter
Well-known
Jul 27, 2015
5,456
I am more than happy with Bitdefender Total Security installed on my system.
That vendor is right now being tested in the Hub here on MT. Highly recommended tag along and get one extra point of view.
 

Back3

Level 14
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Top Poster
Apr 14, 2019
654
Could you describe what the issues you had with Macrium when using Defender and CF please? I'm asking because I encountered some issues recently with Reflect scheduled backups not running when I had a PC using Defender and CF. I thought that it may have been CF permissions blocking the backup from running, I went through all of the possible settings that I could think of and found nothing that I felt might be the cause (I'm using CS's settings). I disabled CF and the next scheduled backup ran OK. I haven't had time to go back to this device and puzzle out what the cause was, its basically a test machine that is not networked so its not my current priority.
When booting my PC, I had a window asking me if I would like to boot with Windows or Macrium. When I clicked on Windows, it asked me the time I'd like to take to boot into Windows. After that, after each booting, I would get this window and my PC would boot after a 5 seconds lapse. I looked for settings in Macrium and CF and couldn't find any. So I uninstalled CF and my PC booted normally.
 

Stopspying

Level 19
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 21, 2018
814
When booting my PC, I had a window asking me if I would like to boot with Windows or Macrium. When I clicked on Windows, it asked me the time I'd like to take to boot into Windows. After that, after each booting, I would get this window and my PC would boot after a 5 seconds lapse. I looked for settings in Macrium and CF and couldn't find any. So I uninstalled CF and my PC booted normally.
Thanks for the quick response. So, like me you couldn't find the correct setting(s) to overcome the issue. I spent some time going through forums and FAQs for both CF and Macrium without success. I'm suspecting that it might be CF rather than Macrium at fault here, as Comodo have a reputation for abandoning things, while I feel that Macrium are better at maintaining their products. I could be wrong about Comodo as their firewall has probably been their most reliable product long-term and I hope it stays that way.
 

hanapupu

Level 1
Mar 31, 2019
9
I started using Avast Premium late last December - I've never had any pop-ups or indication to update or offer me anything after the original install, (VPN) after initial reboot nothing - That's on several PC's? For me, great product ! One of the easiest firewalls to configure, if I was going to choose the most difficult to configure out of all I've used recently for the inexperienced it would be Windows followed by ESET, easiest Norton.

it was small red dot notification on the right top corner for me. I was annoyed as ##### wit that little red dot, I don't need they breach guard. so I asked for refund
 

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