Battle Free Antivirus of the Year 2020 - Poll

[jackuars]

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From your nominations at Free Antivirus of the Year 2020 - Nominate, 5 products have been selected for the final poll phase starting today.

Compared to the Poll conducted last time, we have a new contender, WiseVector StopX.

The poll will be closed on 14th Nov 2020 and the winner revealed on 15th Nov 2020.

Do reply in this thread which product you chose and why?
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**** Also please take a moment to mention the Pro's and Con's you have found in the Product, so that it will be helpful for others while making their decision. ****

Post the poll phase, we will start the nominations for Paid Antivirus of the Year 2020

 

[Gangelo]

When a built-in solution like Defender works so well, I do not see a reason to even consider another free alternative.
If someone wants to pay for a premium AV or suite that's another story.

 

[jackuars]

It's amazing to see that one of the worst products in it's category at one time Microsoft Edge (IE) in Browsers and Windows Defender in Antivirus is now among the top of it's category. Never knew a day like this would arrive for these Microsoft products. It will be only a matter of time that 3rd party vendors will cry foul at Microsoft's dominance.

 

[uninfected1]

Kaspersky. They raised the free AV bar a couple of years ago when they introduced the previously premium only System Watcher and for me they're still ahead of the pack.

 

[ChoiceVoice]

i'm not a fan of tweaking WD. i've had multiple instances of being unable to remove those tweaks, resulting in a broken defender security center. and it is hell to fix that. I'm not sure what causes it, perhaps a major update to defender that doesn't like the tweaks or something, but it's happened to me likely 3x before. that said, i like defender and have no real problems with it, and it is easier. kaspersky is proven to be better at protecting your system but once abruptly, and unannounced, installed a VPN on my father-in-law's computer that messed up his internet. i think kasp is a bit heavier too. but i like both.

 

[FireHammer]

Hey, I know Windows Defender is coming strong lately, but I voted on my personal favorite Bitdefender.

 

[jackuars]

Last day cast your votes

 

[Nagisa]

Honestly I'm surprised there is no FortiClient on the list. It's one of the lightest and have excellent signatures.

 

[Nautilus]

voted for wise vector becuase of their simplicity / engenuity straight out of the box.

 

[jackuars]

Sadly it didn't receive enough votes during nomination phase even though its a great product

Honestly I'm surprised there is no FortiClient on the list. It's one of the lightest and have excellent signatures.

 

[Andy Ful]

i'm not a fan of tweaking WD. i've had multiple instances of being unable to remove those tweaks, resulting in a broken defender security center. and it is hell to fix that. I'm not sure what causes it, perhaps a major update to defender that doesn't like the tweaks or something, but it's happened to me likely 3x before. that said, i like defender and have no real problems with it, and it is easier. kaspersky is proven to be better at protecting your system but once abruptly, and unannounced, installed a VPN on my father-in-law's computer that messed up his internet. i think kasp is a bit heavier too. but i like both.

Did you use ConfigureDefender? If so, then you can share your experience on ConfigureDefender thread.

ConfigureDefender utility for Windows 10

ConfigureDefender utility for Windows 10/11. Developer website: https://github.com/AndyFul/ConfigureDefender Softpedia: https://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-SOFTWARE/System/System-Enhancements/ConfigureDefender.shtml Hard_Configurator website (thanks to @askalan)...

malwaretips.com

 

[Nightwalker]

It's amazing to see that one of the worst products in it's category at one time Microsoft Edge (IE) in Browsers and Windows Defender in Antivirus is now among the top of it's category. Never knew a day like this would arrive for these Microsoft products. It will be only a matter of time that 3rd party vendors will cry foul at Microsoft's dominance.

Microsoft 365, Outlook, Skype, OneDrive and Xbox division are pretty good too these days, I never thought that I would see a day with Microsoft nailing in so many areas.

 

[Local Host]

Windows Defender may be good enough for MT users, but certainly isn't good enough for average joes.

Obviously my vote goes for Kaspersky, I would never in my right mind leave a family member exposed with Windows Defender.

 

[Cortex]

One thing I wonder if WD was (became) a pay yearly product as KIS, ESET etc how many would use it (buy it) as opposed to other products? - For example this occurred with OS Armor, a loved program when free then it became a pay product & users left in droves,

 

[ForgottenSeer 85179]

Windows Defender may be good enough for MT users, but certainly isn't good enough for average joes.

I need to disagree. My girl friend is a average user, use Discord, Steam and so one and even with these kind of insecure software she use, WD is enough.
Sure i configure her PC but only a little bit with ConfigureDefender (recommend mode) but she never get infected. And this without all the extended security features like SRP and so one.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Windows Defender may be good enough for MT users, but certainly isn't good enough for average joes.

Obviously my vote goes for Kaspersky, I would never in my right mind leave a family member exposed with Windows Defender.

I think even in default settings, it isn't bad. I have several friends who use Windows Defender in default settings and some of them even use quite a few pirated programs (mostly Adobe products). All but two of them were infected with ransomwares but defender did detect those but they choose to disable WD to use the malicious crack. Ow btw, one of the infected user was using Kaspersky. So, there's no medicine to stupidity. The negative thing about the default WD is that the PUP protection is still disabled by default I think. Though they have now added it into the UI.

One thing I wonder if WD was (became) a pay yearly product as KIS, ESET etc how many would use it (buy it) as opposed to other products? - For example this occurred with OS Armor, a loved program when free then it became a pay product & users left in droves,

Most users won't because the main point of Windows Defender is that it's totally free and integrated into the system. Windows already have an antivirus installed so many don't feel the necessity to use another. This tendency is only going to increase over time.
Also I think Microsoft's decision to include an AV into Windows is to increase the security of the OS itself. This is why it's part of the so called, "Windows Security". It's not a typical antivirus, Microsoft don't directly make any money from it. Windows Defender is there to protect everyone using Windows 10.
Btw, I'm not saying everyone should ditch third party AV. There are many other reasons why one may choose to use something else.

 

[ForgottenSeer 89360]

This tendency is only going to increase over time.

This is an assumption. There are no permanent leaders, all tendencies are temporary and subject to change.

 

[SeriousHoax]

This is an assumption. There are no permanent leaders, all tendencies are temporary and subject to change.

This is based on the trend since the release of Windows 10 in 2015. Like I said, the reason for this is that there's already an AV integrated into the system so most users are happy that it's there protecting them. Buy if you go to buy a PC either the OEM will provide you third party AV license for free or they will insist you to purchase one. Yesterday, a relative of mine bought a new PC and I was there to help him since he's a noob in the PC world. The shop from where I purchased are the authorized ESET seller in my country. They tried so hard to sell a ESET license to me but I declined. Not once but thrice. They were so persistent. This is one of the way many third party AVs are sold worldwide. Average users believe everything they say.

 

[ForgottenSeer 89360]

This is based on the trend since the release of Windows 10 in 2015. Like I said, the reason for this is that there's already an AV integrated into the system so most users are happy that it's there protecting them. Buy if you go to buy a PC either the OEM will provide you third party AV license for free or they will insist you to purchase one. Yesterday, a relative of mine bought a new PC and I was there to help him since he's a noob in the PC world. The shop from where I purchased are the authorized ESET seller in my country. They tried so hard to sell a ESET license to me but I declined. Not once but thrice. They were so persistent. This is one of the way many third party AVs are sold worldwide. Average users believe everything they say.

Yes, obviously ESET has offered this shop some incentive and they are hungry for their bonus
Users might be happy being protected by Windows Defender, but this is a heavily over-saturated market, full of dogs, hungry for both market share and data (data is essential to their functionality). Just one move from any big player in the industry might cause 50% of Windows Defender users to quickly feel unhappy and switch. So we can't really say that this tendency will only keep growing. Time will tell.
It's all like a game of backgammon.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Yes, obviously ESET has offered this shop some incentive and they are hungry for their bonus
Users might be happy being protected by Windows Defender, but this is a heavily over-saturated market, full of dogs, hungry for both market share and data (data is essential to their functionality). Just one move from any big player in the industry might cause 50% of Windows Defender users to quickly feel unhappy and switch. So we can't really say that this tendency will only keep growing. Time will tell.
It's all like a game of backgammon.

I agree. Anything can happen in the next few years. You never know. I also agree with the data part. I think collecting data (not personal data) is the main reason why even big vendors like Kaspersky and Bitdefender has free AV.
Anyway, we have gone slightly off-topic but healthy discussion

 

[Cortex]

In my experience average Joe & Joanna's still don't know Windows has a decent built in protection, someone work with just bought Norton after UK TV Ad's & had no idea WD existed, this person is not alone in those I work with.