Software Review Zero Day Ransomware vs Popular Antivirus and EDR

[rashmi]

Not eveyone get interested in cyber-security, even if in the field of IT.
Some find it boring.

Most people don't have antiviruses, extensions, ad blockers, and malware test fetishes, except forum users—scans, popups, warnings, and bugs <that's basically foreplay>—these creatures get oddly excited and... leave with zero satisfaction! These techy creatures find troubleshooting like the G-spot and system crashes like an explosive orgasm!

 

[Khushal]

Spoiler: Lmao

Most people don't have antiviruses, extensions, ad blockers, and malware test fetishes, except forum users—scans, popups, warnings, and bugs <that's basically foreplay>—these creatures get oddly excited and... leave with zero satisfaction! These techy creatures find troubleshooting like the G-spot and system crashes like an explosive orgasm!

 

[devjitdutta2025]

Full disclosure: My history with antiviruses isn't uniform, but I'm basically just a former Kaspersky user who was orphaned. I've been wandering since.

I'm no fanboy, but I have to believe it's about time for Avast to make some noticeable leaps forward. Gen Digital's 2026 revenue is forecast to be $4.7–4.8B. With Norton engineers now on board and all that cash, you'd think that they would have some impressive R&D and improvements in the pipeline.

If you want a set & forget AV, try McAfee. If you want an AV that’s highly tweakable, try ESET. Both of them are as light as a feather and provide top notch protection.

 

[RansomwareRemediation]

It is okay but not industry leading. Behavior shield does not have any sensitivity settings and core shields settings does not make any difference. IDP is the only saving grace for Gen. In the recent Avast free gui bypass report i shared here the goal of the actors was to bypass only IDP coz they knew their malware would bypass all other Avast defenses.

Who says they are not leaders in the industry? If they own 3 antivirus companies together. It is highly unlikely that they are not leaders. The number of users that GEN Digital has is unbeatable.

 

[Khushal]

Who says they are not leaders in the industry? If they own 3 antivirus companies together. It is highly unlikely that they are not leaders. The number of users that GEN Digital has is unbeatable.

I said about protection not global market share.

 

[RansomwareRemediation]

I said about protection not global market share.

I said about protection not global market share.

They are 3 companies together. Don't you think that money and power are everything in life? Greater number of users = greater protection, greater network, it is all proportional. There is a reason Avast is always at the top of the best antivirus currently, the union with Symantec and Avira is no less important.

 

[ForgottenSeer 116559]

If you want a set & forget AV, try McAfee. If you want an AV that’s highly tweakable, try ESET. Both of them are as light as a feather and provide top notch protection.

I've used both of them recently, ESET the longest. I actually have valid (cheap) licenses.

They are light and certainly have their strengths. I had some annoyances with McAfee, however. Can anyone make the case that ESET and McAfee are well beyond Avast's capacity today?

 

[devjitdutta2025]

They are 3 companies together. Don't you think that money and power are everything in life? Greater number of users = greater protection, greater network, it is all proportional. There is a reason Avast is always at the top of the best antivirus currently, the union with Symantec and Avira is no less important.

No I don’t agree more is better. It’s about quality not quantity. Kaspersky and ESET are better than AVG, Avast, Norton and Avira and have lesser impact on the PC. Moreover Gen D is not very privacy focused and have been caught selling user data in the past. Protection wise AVG, Avast and Norton are great no doubt but they are NOT the best in the industry period. There are much better alternatives.

 

[ForgottenSeer 116559]

No I don’t agree more is better. It’s about quality not quantity. Kaspersky and ESET are better than AVG, Avast, Norton and Avira and have lesser impact on the PC. Moreover Gen D is not very privacy focused and have been caught selling user data in the past. Protection wise AVG, Avast and Norton are great no doubt but they are NOT the best in the industry period. There are much better alternatives.

Avast closed the Jumpshot subsidiary behind this kind of data selling in January 2020 and settled with the FTC in 2024. According to the FTC's official Decision and Order, Part V, Avast is now engaged in a 20-year legally binding agreement to implement a comprehensive privacy program:

Core Requirements (verbatim highlights from Part V of the Order):

• Establish and maintain a written comprehensive privacy program to:
  • Protect the privacy of “Covered Information” (e.g., browsing history, device data)
  • Prevent the deceptive practices alleged in the complaint
• Key elements the program must include:
  1. Designated employee(s) responsible for overseeing the program
  2. Risk assessment of internal/external privacy risks (employee training, systems design, incident response, etc.)
  3. Reasonable safeguards + regular testing/monitoring of those safeguards
  4. Vetting and contracting service providers to protect data they receive
  5. Ongoing evaluation and adjustment of the program based on changes or new risks
• Independent audits: Every 2 years for 20 years, a qualified third-party must assess and certify that:
  • Avast has a privacy program meeting or exceeding FTC requirements
  • Controls are effective enough to reasonably protect user privacy
• Additional permanent bans: No selling or licensing of browsing data from Avast-branded products for advertising purposes.

While I agree it's inexcusable, American ISPs actually collect and sell more comprehensive data than Avast ever did, and there have never been any consequences or changes. Their algorithms and processing for removing personally identifiable information have never been shown to be any better than Avast's was 6+ years ago

Can we be sure that McAfee's data collection surpasses the privacy controls at Avast + NortonLifeLock (Gen Digital)? Some might also take issue with an antivirus potentially connected to Russian intelligence.

I like various aspects of ESET, but I've been shopping around. Everything has its pros and cons.

 

[RansomwareRemediation]

No I don’t agree more is better. It’s about quality not quantity. Kaspersky and ESET are better than AVG, Avast, Norton and Avira and have lesser impact on the PC. Moreover Gen D is not very privacy focused and have been caught selling user data in the past. Protection wise AVG, Avast and Norton are great no doubt but they are NOT the best in the industry period. There are much better alternatives.

Eset is not better than Avast. And neither does kaspersky. The past is not interesting. Avast, today is another company and is very powerful in terms of protection. And if you want to talk about the past, Kaspersky doesn't have a very good one either, for some reason it was banned.

 

[Jonny Quest]

They are 3 companies together. Don't you think that money and power are everything in life? Greater number of users = greater protection, greater network, it is all proportional. There is a reason Avast is always at the top of the best antivirus currently, the union with Symantec and Avira is no less important.

No I don’t agree more is better. It’s about quality not quantity. Kaspersky and ESET are better than AVG, Avast, Norton and Avira and have lesser impact on the PC. Moreover Gen D is not very privacy focused and have been caught selling user data in the past. Protection wise AVG, Avast and Norton are great no doubt but they are NOT the best in the industry period. There are much better alternatives.

@devjitdutta2025 Ransomware didn't say it was the best, but it's always on top with high scores in testing, and it's always, usually with the free version.

Eset needs what, Premium with LiveGuard to "compete" with some of the other AV's at their level? Granted, when I used Eset Premium it was incredibly light, but, when I used Avast free, I didn't even know it was there.

And I really think we need to get past the Avast selling user data, they admitted it and paid the fine, let's move from that.

 

[devjitdutta2025]

Eset is not better than Avast. And neither does kaspersky. The past is not interesting. Avast, today is another company and is very powerful in terms of protection. And if you want to talk about the past, Kaspersky doesn't have a very good one either, for some reason it was banned.

We all know why Uncle Sam banned K and I don’t want to get into a political debate here. Once a company is caught selling my data, I won’t trust that company again. In terms of protection I never said it’s bad but it’s not the best either. In fact it’s the most popular free AV around.

 

[devjitdutta2025]

@devjitdutta2025 Ransomware didn't say it was the best, but it's always on top with high scores in testing, and it's always, usually with the free version.

Eset needs what, Premium with LiveGuard to "compete" with some of the other AV's at their level? Granted, when I used Eset Premium it was incredibly light, but, when I used Avast free, I didn't even know it was there.

And I really think we need to get past the Avast selling user data, they admitted it and paid the fine, let's move from that.

Most of the AV’s nowadays score high including WD except for a few like Webroot, Panda. The battle is very close and it’s very hard to pick a true winner.

 

[devjitdutta2025]

Therefore, the protection against ransomware is working, it's just that the IDP is the one that is not capable of detecting the sample. But it is not a 100% Avast fail.

ESET SSP also has protected folders control. For some reason they don’t have any folder included it in default. Once you set up your folders it’ll work like Avast anti ransomware smart mode. I dunno why ESET keeps it disabled by default.

 

[cartaphilus]

You are a security-oriented user, just like me; too many users get their installers from 3rd party hosting websites; softonic is described by name in several detections of PUPs and even trojans bundled to the installers downloaded from, on VT.

I get mine from those 90s warez sites with all bunch of download buttons that take you to more sites with more download buttons ad infinitum; meanwhile your browser gets hijacked. Its a very good system; it sure keeps me awake.

Hopefully one of these days I will be able to finally click on the correct button and get my file.