So recently the School IT topic got off into a tangent on antivirus. Thinking it was a useful discussion, I made this topic.

My antivirus system:
I use Windows Defender for periodic scanning and have Malwarebytes to supplement it (it's the free version so I have to start scans manually). On top of that, I use basic measures to prevent infections, as not getting infected is the best anti-malware. Things I do include, but are not limited to, adblocking (to remove fake download links) and checking what installers are actually installing so I can keep from installing unwanted junk.

Why don't I use another, “name brand”, paid subscription AV?
Simple. I do not need to. If Windows Defender doesn't get it, that's why I have Malwarebytes. And those are only necessary if my PC gets infected. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Besides that, I have also used them in the past. Namely, Avast and McAfee. I have dumped them both in favor of my current system. Why? Because in my experience they do more to cause problems than to solve them. They slow your computer. My family finally ditched McAfee after we had numerous printer issues, which were created by McAfee's firewall blocking the print spooler. There is no reason why that should have happened. So goodbye McAfee! Our PCs have been fine ever since as well. And printing works right.

So, what do you use? Why do you use it?

infinitytec wrote:

So recently the School IT topic got off into a tangent on antivirus. Thinking it was a useful discussion, I made this topic.

My antivirus system:
I use Windows Defender for periodic scanning and have Malwarebytes to supplement it (it's the free version so I have to start scans manually). On top of that, I use basic measures to prevent infections, as not getting infected is the best anti-malware. Things I do include, but are not limited to, adblocking (to remove fake download links) and checking what installers are actually installing so I can keep from installing unwanted junk.

Why don't I use another, “name brand”, paid subscription AV?
Simple. I do not need to. If Windows Defender doesn't get it, that's why I have Malwarebytes. And those are only necessary if my PC gets infected. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Besides that, I have also used them in the past. Namely, Avast and McAfee. I have dumped them both in favor of my current system. Why? Because in my experience they do more to cause problems than to solve them. They slow your computer. My family finally ditched McAfee after we had numerous printer issues, which were created by McAfee's firewall blocking the print spooler. There is no reason why that should have happened. So goodbye McAfee! Our PCs have been fine ever since as well. And printing works right.

So, what do you use? Why do you use it?

I use Windows Defender, don't have MBAM handy, but I tend to avoid downloading from anywhere I don't feel is safe. Most of my downloads are from Steam, GitHub, SourceForge etc. Places with good reputations. Of course it isn't 100% meaning I won't get infected, but if I'm stupid enough to get infected, I'll either have Defender try and fix it, give MBAM a go and if that doesn't fix it, reinstall Windows.

bybb wrote:

infinitytec wrote:

So recently the School IT topic got off into a tangent on antivirus. Thinking it was a useful discussion, I made this topic.

My antivirus system:
I use Windows Defender for periodic scanning and have Malwarebytes to supplement it (it's the free version so I have to start scans manually). On top of that, I use basic measures to prevent infections, as not getting infected is the best anti-malware. Things I do include, but are not limited to, adblocking (to remove fake download links) and checking what installers are actually installing so I can keep from installing unwanted junk.

Why don't I use another, “name brand”, paid subscription AV?
Simple. I do not need to. If Windows Defender doesn't get it, that's why I have Malwarebytes. And those are only necessary if my PC gets infected. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Besides that, I have also used them in the past. Namely, Avast and McAfee. I have dumped them both in favor of my current system. Why? Because in my experience they do more to cause problems than to solve them. They slow your computer. My family finally ditched McAfee after we had numerous printer issues, which were created by McAfee's firewall blocking the print spooler. There is no reason why that should have happened. So goodbye McAfee! Our PCs have been fine ever since as well. And printing works right.

So, what do you use? Why do you use it?

I use Windows Defender, don't have MBAM handy, but I tend to avoid downloading from anywhere I don't feel is safe. Most of my downloads are from Steam, GitHub, SourceForge etc. Places with good reputations. Of course it isn't 100% meaning I won't get infected, but if I'm stupid enough to get infected, I'll either have Defender try and fix it, give MBAM a go and if that doesn't fix it, reinstall Windows.

Yep.
And that's why we back up files.

infinitytec wrote:

bybb wrote:

infinitytec wrote:

So recently the School IT topic got off into a tangent on antivirus. Thinking it was a useful discussion, I made this topic.

My antivirus system:
I use Windows Defender for periodic scanning and have Malwarebytes to supplement it (it's the free version so I have to start scans manually). On top of that, I use basic measures to prevent infections, as not getting infected is the best anti-malware. Things I do include, but are not limited to, adblocking (to remove fake download links) and checking what installers are actually installing so I can keep from installing unwanted junk.

Why don't I use another, “name brand”, paid subscription AV?
Simple. I do not need to. If Windows Defender doesn't get it, that's why I have Malwarebytes. And those are only necessary if my PC gets infected. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Besides that, I have also used them in the past. Namely, Avast and McAfee. I have dumped them both in favor of my current system. Why? Because in my experience they do more to cause problems than to solve them. They slow your computer. My family finally ditched McAfee after we had numerous printer issues, which were created by McAfee's firewall blocking the print spooler. There is no reason why that should have happened. So goodbye McAfee! Our PCs have been fine ever since as well. And printing works right.

So, what do you use? Why do you use it?

I use Windows Defender, don't have MBAM handy, but I tend to avoid downloading from anywhere I don't feel is safe. Most of my downloads are from Steam, GitHub, SourceForge etc. Places with good reputations. Of course it isn't 100% meaning I won't get infected, but if I'm stupid enough to get infected, I'll either have Defender try and fix it, give MBAM a go and if that doesn't fix it, reinstall Windows.

Yep.
And that's why we back up files.

That's also why I have an SSD with Windows, OneDrive on one Disk (a 2TB one) and two 500GB drives striped together to store Steam games.
A reinstall will lose barely any data.

Daily reminder the best antivirus is regular off-site backup

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

Daily reminder the best antivirus is regular off-site backup

Yep

infinitytec wrote:

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

Daily reminder the best antivirus is regular off-site backup

Yep

No, RAID is the best backup

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

Yep.

Harmful advertising is on the rise.

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

I've forgotten what the internet's like with ads on because I've used adblockers for so long

<offtopic>Was this always in TiRaP?</offtopic>

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

Daily reminder the best antivirus is regular off-site backup

I use OneDrive for file storage and they provide tools that let you restore earlier versions of files and deleted files up to 30 days.

CatsUnited wrote:

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

I've forgotten what the internet's like with ads on because I've used adblockers for so long

Every time I had to re-setup chrome I had to experience the web with ads again and it's horrible.
Now I use Opera, which has a built in adblock.

bybb wrote:

CatsUnited wrote:

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

I've forgotten what the internet's like with ads on because I've used adblockers for so long

Every time I had to re-setup chrome I had to experience the web with ads again and it's horrible.
Now I use Opera, which has a built in adblock.

Why not use Brave? I get no ads and it has BAT

DatOneLefty wrote:

bybb wrote:

CatsUnited wrote:

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

I've forgotten what the internet's like with ads on because I've used adblockers for so long

Every time I had to re-setup chrome I had to experience the web with ads again and it's horrible.
Now I use Opera, which has a built in adblock.

Why not use Brave? I get no ads and it has BAT

Why not use Opera? I get no ads and it has all of Ethereum.

Anyone used to watch tutorials on how to make an antivirus with Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 or was that just me?
10 year old me didn't see the point in making them when the videos said to copy paste most of the code.
10 year old me also didn't realise that 2010 edition was 4-5 years old at the time as well

bybb wrote:

DatOneLefty wrote:

bybb wrote:

CatsUnited wrote:

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

I've forgotten what the internet's like with ads on because I've used adblockers for so long

Every time I had to re-setup chrome I had to experience the web with ads again and it's horrible.
Now I use Opera, which has a built in adblock.

Why not use Brave? I get no ads and it has BAT

Why not use Opera? I get no ads and it has all of Ethereum.

I just wish I invested in cryptocurrency when I first heard of it in 2013.

CatsUnited wrote:

bybb wrote:

DatOneLefty wrote:

bybb wrote:

CatsUnited wrote:

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

I've forgotten what the internet's like with ads on because I've used adblockers for so long

Every time I had to re-setup chrome I had to experience the web with ads again and it's horrible.
Now I use Opera, which has a built in adblock.

Why not use Brave? I get no ads and it has BAT

Why not use Opera? I get no ads and it has all of Ethereum.

I just wish I invested in cryptocurrency when I first heard of it in 2013.

I've got 0.00176 ETH in my wallet right now and I've got 0.0047 ETH being sent to me.
It's never too late to get crypto, and the best thing about crypto in 2019, is I got all this ETH for free (it's not much but I didn't even have to work for it)

Moved to AT by request.

Harakou wrote:

Moved to AT by request.

Thank you

DatOneLefty wrote:

bybb wrote:

CatsUnited wrote:

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

I've forgotten what the internet's like with ads on because I've used adblockers for so long

Every time I had to re-setup chrome I had to experience the web with ads again and it's horrible.
Now I use Opera, which has a built in adblock.

Why not use Brave? I get no ads and it has BAT

Why not use literally any browser that isn't a crypto scam

StopSnitching2K19 wrote:

CatsUnited wrote:

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

as a follow-up: the other best antivirus is ublock origin

I've forgotten what the internet's like with ads on because I've used adblockers for so long

Maybe slightly unrelated, but I just simply despise advertisers. They completely invade your privacy just so they can try to sell you something.

me too thanks

bybb wrote:

Anyone used to watch tutorials on how to make an antivirus with Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 or was that just me?
10 year old me didn't see the point in making them when the videos said to copy paste most of the code.
10 year old me also didn't realise that 2010 edition was 4-5 years old at the time as well

I actually made an “antivirus” (extremely basic signature detection against files) for a class. It used GNU C++ 17.