best free anti-virus?

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CardsofSTL
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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by CardsofSTL »

go birds wrote:i must getting old if i'm asking about the best free pc anti-virus. my trial membership of "webroot" ran out yesterday and i'm not sure it's even necessary to pay for anti-virus when there are plenty of free options out there.

back in my more tech-savvy days i was using avast, but it's been a hot minute since i've installed an av program.

what do yall use?

Image
Also you look even older in that picture with your laptop than you do in your avatar. You need to start living better.

I'd still hit it.

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InvincibleCakeEater
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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by InvincibleCakeEater »

Haven't used an AV for years.

Don't click shady [expletive].

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Jocephus
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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by Jocephus »

so i bought a new laptop 'cause it's on windows 7, which soon will no longer receive security updates from MS, and the laptop is 9 years old. i've used avast for years now and feel like i'm able to mimimize it's presence on my computer while still getting protection.

i haven't even opened up the new laptop just 'cause i know going thru all the settings and customizations and getting things transferred is a bit of a chore (first world problem). i happened to see this lifehacker article and it mentioned bitdefender as a good free antivirus, didn't know if anyone had used it before and/or had thoughts on it. sometimes avast seems kinda bloaty so if this one is less of an impact on computer i imagine i would switch, even though i am generally comfortable with avast.

Michael
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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by Michael »

Michael wrote:The windows built-in anti-virus is all I use.
This is still my answer. I have no reason to change.

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CardsofSTL
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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by CardsofSTL »

Michael wrote:
Michael wrote:The windows built-in anti-virus is all I use.
This is still my answer. I have no reason to change.
You're not looking at enough p0rn.

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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by Michael »

haha

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New Pagodi
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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by New Pagodi »

Jocephus wrote:so i bought a new laptop 'cause it's on windows 7, which soon will no longer receive security updates from MS, and the laptop is 9 years old. i've used avast for years now and feel like i'm able to mimimize it's presence on my computer while still getting protection.

i haven't even opened up the new laptop just 'cause i know going thru all the settings and customizations and getting things transferred is a bit of a chore (first world problem). i happened to see this lifehacker article and it mentioned bitdefender as a good free antivirus, didn't know if anyone had used it before and/or had thoughts on it. sometimes avast seems kinda bloaty so if this one is less of an impact on computer i imagine i would switch, even though i am generally comfortable with avast.
Is the old laptop still usable? Microsoft isn't advertising this fact, but if you install windows 10 with the install media from here, it will activate with the windows license for the previously installed version of windows 7, 8, or 8.1. The install process will completely nuke the hard drive/ssd though so you need to back up anything you want off of it first. (You could also install linux mint on the old laptop - it's really simple and works well with older hardware).

To answer the original question, I also think windows defender that comes with windows is good enough.

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Jocephus
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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by Jocephus »

i dunno, it's one of those things...i mean, yeah, technically teh laptop is still usable but i've also been feeling it dragging along these last few months in particular. i'm kind of in the middle of being savvy/comfortable enough to fix/upgrade things but i haven't bothered to look too much into it. figured i'd just treat myself to new machine and all the bells and whistles.

i remember 3-4 years it i think MS rolled out free copies of windows 10 for people (shortly after windows 10 was released). in retrospect, i wish i would have taken them up on that offer. the main reason i didn't was, well 1, "don't like change" mentality but also i had heard/read stories of the upgrade process screwing up people's computers etc.

thanks for the link/info though

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Jocephus
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Re: best free anti-virus?

Post by Jocephus »

well here's a reason to not use avast, glad i put bitdefender on my new laptop

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