Battle Small business with 4 PC's and low budget. What antivirus?

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ForgottenSeer 823865

Win10 Windows Defender is good enough for such small business, what he needs isn't the best AV, what he needs is

1- to train his employees not to click any attachments or surf on websites not related to their job.
2- regular backups of their datas: Cloud sync + hourly backup on a external drive + daily backup on another.
3- a backup of their system on another external drive.

So the cost is just 3 external drives, subscription to a free cloud backup service.
Small businesses don't need to pay for an AV when WD is more than decent, small business needs data safekeeping strategy.
 

EndangeredPootis

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Sep 8, 2019
461
Thanks everyone for the suggestions, let me know if we are not using internet services and using computers for offline office use than what is best option for us?
Windows defender is enough, it has a good and fast behavior blocker so even if you dont have access to a updated database it can still work, you should also enable Controlled folder access as there are ransomware that can still encrypt your files even when youre offline, you can also use ConfigureDefender and set it on High to get the most out of it without making it too prone to false positives.
 

Antus67

Level 9
Verified
Well-known
Nov 3, 2019
413
Windows 10 Windows Defender is good enough for such small business, what he needs isn't the best AV, what he needs is

1- to train his employees not to click any attachments or surf on websites not related to their job.
2- regular backups of their datas: Cloud sync + hourly backup on a external drive + daily backup on another.
3- a backup of their system on another external drive.

So the cost is just 3 external drives, subscription to a free cloud backup service.
Small businesses don't need to pay for an AV when WD is more than decent, small business needs data safekeeping strategy.
Good advice Umbra makes sense and to the point(y)
 
F

ForgottenSeer 823865

Windows defender is enough, it has a good and fast behavior blocker so even if you dont have access to a updated database it can still work, you should also enable Controlled folder access as there are ransomware that can still encrypt your files even when youre offline, you can also use ConfigureDefender and set it on High to get the most out of it without making it too prone to false positives.
indeed.

Win10 has all he needs, set the employees on Standard User Account, enable Controlled Folders, follow my advice above, then malware will have hard time to get in and on top you will not worry too much about losing your precious datas since you have them saved on external drives which won't be encrypted by ransomware.

an old sage said "why wear an armor to protect you from the rain, when you already have a raincoat"🧘‍♂️
 

monkeylove

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Mar 9, 2014
489
I found this list:


I read somewhere that some free versions of AVs can only be used for non-commercial use.

You can probably try each one and see which one doesn't slow down the PCs.
 

valvaris

Level 6
Verified
Well-known
Jul 26, 2015
263
I found this list:


I read somewhere that some free versions of AVs can only be used for non-commercial use.

You can probably try each one and see which one doesn't slow down the PCs.
To be honest the Quote stated about some AV-Scanners being for Home use only is partially correct.

Why?
Some AV Developers use different Engine versions for Home and Business solutions.

Reason?
These are especially important because of IT-Solutions for specific areas of business-software.

Example?
SAP, SAP Business One, Manufacturing Software, CAD and allots more... those are business-critical applications.

OK and that means what?
The SMB / SOHO / Ent. solutions of AV Products have exclusions build in or can be optimized for the business-solution required.

Performance or Protection?
The thing is both is hard to achieve since there is no baseline "per-se" - But as a business you are required to protect your systems as much as possible. (Perspective from a German Technical-Consultant) - Why is that? Here we have laws and specific insurance policies that require a company to be as technologically protected as possible otherwise the owner has to pay out of its own pocket. So to protect that investment in a company I suggest a complete solution. From the Network Side up to the Client.

What are you talking about and who are you?
I myself am a:
- Technical-Consultant
- Sophos Consultant / Engineer / Architect
- and more... do not want to get in to detail that much. ^^

So what is my final suggestion?
Take a look at Sophos XG Firewall in combination with Sophos Intercept X Advanced

What does that do?
The Firewall is your first line of defense with build in dual-scanner, https-inspection, IPS/IDS and lots more.. the main point is "Heartbeat" that communicates with your AV Sophos Intercept X Advanced an tells the Firewall if the system has been compromised! If so it can isolate that system from itself and other clients in the Network. The AV has a very unique Ransomware protection and detects encryption attempts as soon as it detects them - It will isolate itself - restore the encrypted files - give a report on how that process was executed and lots more...

If someone needs more details just PM me...

Sincerely
Val.
 
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