Is paying for antivirus a waste of money?

[FrankS]

Yes and no. I think an free antivirus is not necessarily worse than an paid antivirus, but an antivirus-vendor needs money to continue a solid and good development. And if an antivirus-vendor just gets money by advertisement, the software will be horrible and annoying very soon.
If you have the chance to get an paid antivirus for free, it's ofcourse a waste!

 

[Solarlynx]

"Is paying for antivirus a waste of money?"

If you pay for AV then you are doing the ever best distribution of money.

I mean that you really don't need that money and you give it to someone who need it.

 

[jamescv7]

Different perspective cause you are in a specific environment.

Home = not really needed.
Business = yes for security and much tight configuration.

No need to create a huge argument here.

 

[Solarlynx]

IMHO paying money is useful if the AV company provides great user support. I heard that about many companies including Dr.Web. It intrigues me greatly why Dr.Web is still operating on the AV market though it has completely withdrawn from all third-party tests. I think here's might be the answer: this company provides good user support.

 

[WinXPert]

I'm a miser. I go for free antivirus. Free works for me, why would I need a paid one. So it's a waste for me.

 

[Solarlynx]

Same for me. Though I would formulate as optimiser.

Optimiser isn't a miser.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

it depends. I saw my friend having KIS 2015 but her laptop was heavy infected by countless PUPs and scanning didn't detect anything while malwarebytes could. In this case, paying for KIS 2015 was totally a waste of money but if PUP detection had been enabled by default, the situation would have been different

KIS 2017 asks users to enable/disable PUP detection during installation => good implementation

for me if AVs don't ask users to enable PUP protection during installation or this feature is useless (avira), it's a waste of money. It's not a problem for MT users but average users

most average users will pay for the IS version but I believe most of them don't know how to use all IS components like safe money, banking stuffs or sandbox. I think using avast free (pup enabled) + unchecky is better for them

 

[Logethica]

"The Man who buys an umbrella will consider his purchase to be justified as he uses it to shelter from the storm...
...But the Man with the free umbrella will be equally dry"

 

[advanced_skill]

Just bought CIS Pro for $2.49.

Wasted or not, doesn't even matter anymore.

 

[Deleted member 178]

"The Man who buys an umbrella will consider his purchase to be justified as he uses it to shelter from the storm...
...But the Man with the free umbrella will be equally dry"

and the one naked will laugh at them for their cowardice

 

[ravi prakash saini]

and the one naked will laugh at them for their cowardice

You killed the both free and paid antivirus,i bow in front of you "O mighty antivirus slayer "

 

[Deleted Member 3a5v73x]

My short story is related to this topic.

When some years ago i caught my dad browsing through pron sites (of course i was shocked at first and closed session immediately) while i was connecting with Teamviewer to do remote PC maintenance cleaning, i realised something has to be changed (not the fact it self) but PC security wise, because all security software on Windows 7, 6 years back then on Dads PC was just at deffault settings with WD on, and he wasn't really aware of the coincidences which may happen of "brain-dead" link/image/advertisement click.

I believe in these days we live in, there is a very high chanse of getting an infection on windows systems, there MUST be someone in your family/friends who could take care of your PC or atleast is familiar with cleaning it/removing malware/creating backups, because my parents for example don't care about all this stuff, and just want Windows to work as they would want from the moment when installed without installing any additional software or configuring Windows settings for specific kind of needs, work/multimedia so on.

M$ has improved Windows Defender with Anniversary Update, so its great step forward of using just in-built Windows security. I'd say paying for an AV as home-basic-user is NOT a waste of money, but for advanced user it is, because you can secure your PC with just in-built Windows tools and common sense. If we talking about additional security software for windows, its worth investment ONLY if you know what you are doing and for what kind of purposes you need it for.

 

[Bryan Lam]

Alright so, with a basic knowledge and understanding of the online world as well as half a brain, anyone can stay safe without paid anti-virus or anti-virus as a whole. Though, It's always nice to have that sense of security.

Sure paid antivirus programs outperform windows defender, but in almost no circumstance would it make a difference. The only change would be the UI

Stay safe :3

 

[jackuars]

I'll cut my answer short

If you are a home user: yes, it's a waste
If you are in a commercial environment: no, it's not a waste

A combination of free security products will give the same protection as a paid antivirus

 

[Andytay70]

Cheaper to buy AV than it is to have a virus removed or your files unlocked/restored!

 

[FrFc1908]

for some av solutions it is ; take AVG Is for instance the only thing you will get extra in their payed suite is an outbound firewall. there are few security product worth the money : Norton , Emsisoft , G data the rest , well that's the choice of someone willing to pay for the other products

 

[Solarlynx]

Well, if you want to pay for an AV then buy Windows Defender.

 

[Aura]

I guess that right now I'm not really well placed to speak on the subject, since I get my licences (Emsisoft and Malwarebytes) for free, though I never thought that paying for an Antivirus was a waste of money. In fact, I always encourage the user to use a paid solution over a free one: not only paid products will over more features that enhance the protection the program gives to the system, but the money also goes directly to a company that works hard to protect users online and also work everyday to make the web a more secure place.

 

[Enes]

Waste of money. The thing is Windows has reset that is keep personal files. It took 15min or less. So I dont pay over 2000 Dolar for Photoshop or paying 90 Dolar every year for antivirus. I just reset my computer.

 

[Janl1992l]

Waste of money for protection? yes. Waste of money for keep the devlopment active and that the devs of your favourit program can life, no.

I do not pay for security, the only thing i pay is emsisoft because i like how they handle things and what they are doing.