Best free antivirus to use with online Studio Pc

[surreal]

Hi everyone

Could you recommend me a free Antivirus that would work best with my Studio Pc with my DAW as I will have to be online often to do reportback on various Beta Testing and actively update the software whilst testing.

Regards
Surreal

[BertKoor]

Microsoft Security Essentials?
I think that's what ADK / Scan pc's come shipped with.

[surreal]

Ok cool.. I will check it out.. I think the standard Microsoft Windows defender is part of that package

[e@rs]

You Can also try Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition. Works for me.

[tehlord]

The windows one is invisible and flawless.

Unless you're trying reeeally hard to get a virus.

[Kaine]

Yep, we stick with security essentials as it works off published definition lists, rather than more intensive heuristic scanning that more in depth solutions rely upon. It does mean that it might be a few days behind day zero exploits, but as long as your not exposing yourself to the more dubious sites out there this shouldn't be a problem. It's not amazing in performance terms, but its about as lightweight as your going to get, and in most cases good enough for most peoples basic requirements.

[robotmonkey]

Microsoft Security Essentials?
I think that's what ADK / Scan pc's come shipped with.

Microsoft Security Essential and Defender are crap. Better than nothing but not adequate for protection.

Avast is the best.
Another good one is 360 Total Security Essential - if you go that route do not forget to turn on Bitdefender and Avira scanning engines.

[robotmonkey]

But as long as your not exposing yourself to the more dubious sites out there this shouldn't be a problem.

For years now this is just not true. There have been innumerable cases where completely respectable sites have distributed some nasty malware through hacked advertising channels and such. So not visiting "dubious" sites does not guarantee that you do not get infected.

Only way to be safe is to have a good AV protection and Microsoft Security Essentials is not it. Get a decent one. Why be a cheapskate when it comes to security? You can regularly get pretty good deals on Kaspersky, Eset, Bitdefender or Avast if you look a bit.

Also install a free Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit browser protection. Keep all your programs up to date (eg install Windows updates regularly and also update things like Flash, Java, your PDF reader and so on).

[fluffy_little_something]

I have used a number of free and commercial ones, the MS thingy has a terrible reputation with experts.
These days I use emsisoft, which is cheap, simple, light, and gets great results in independent testing.
Three years of their Anti-Malware solution (which is enough for me, don't need a firewall etc.) cost about the same as one year of Kaspersky, Bitdefender, etc.

[fmr]

Virus as we knew them are no longer a problem in a modern OS like Windows 7 and Windows 10, unless the user is too dumb to give permission to any dubious routine to gain administration privileges.

The real menace now comes from malware, like exploitware and phishingware, and the most dangerous of all - ransomware. For this, the best protection is no longer the traditional antivirus software, but a thing like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and the already mentioned Anti-Exploit. But not the free versions - the premium versions, which offer some additional features. I have been working like this for two years now, and no problems. Forget Avast, Kaspersky and all that. They are miles behind the malware people, therefore useless, and they actually compromise your computer performance.

[robotmonkey]

Forget Avast, Kaspersky and all that. They are miles behind the malware people, therefore useless, and they actually compromise your computer performance.

Just patently false. Kaspersky and Bitdefender are best in the industry with regularly 100% detection and prevention scores. Kaspersky research has been first to discover most of the famous APT-s and strains of malware.

Kapsersky has many modules including special modules for ransomware protection, cloud based behavioral analysis protection and so on. And it includes application white-listing module which actually is the best way to keep any malware out of your computer.

Kaspersky actually recently released one of their ransomware protection modules for free. One can run it alongside the already installed regular antivirus for added level of protection.
https://go.kaspersky.com/Anti-ransomware-tool.html

[legendCNCD]

For years now this is just not true. There have been innumerable cases where completely respectable sites have distributed some nasty malware through hacked advertising channels and such. So not visiting "dubious" sites does not guarantee that you do not get infected.

µBlock Origin, just block the ad's completely.

[robotmonkey]

For years now this is just not true. There have been innumerable cases where completely respectable sites have distributed some nasty malware through hacked advertising channels and such. So not visiting "dubious" sites does not guarantee that you do not get infected.

µBlock Origin, just block the ad's completely.

It's not only ads though. There's lot's of ways to hijack a website and serve malware. For example a legitimate and respectable Wordpress site could easily become a malware distributor.

[fmr]

Forget Avast, Kaspersky and all that. They are miles behind the malware people, therefore useless, and they actually compromise your computer performance.

Just patently false. Kaspersky and Bitdefender are best in the industry with regularly 100% detection and prevention scores. Kaspersky research has been first to discover most of the famous APT-s and strains of malware.

Kapsersky has many modules including special modules for ransomware protection, cloud based behavioral analysis protection and so on. And it includes application white-listing module which actually is the best way to keep any malware out of your computer.

Kaspersky actually recently released one of their ransomware protection modules for free. One can run it alongside the already installed regular antivirus for added level of protection.
https://go.kaspersky.com/Anti-ransomware-tool.html

Maybe you're right, but then, why is Malwarebytes particularly targeted by the malware creators?:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-sec ... t-pursuit/

[BertKoor]

Let me put it like this then. The amount of required security depends on the amount of risk the user takes and the environment you put yourself in. In sleepy little towns the risk you take by not locking your front and/or back door is quite different than when that same house were in a more risky environment.

For a music PC where web access is limited to well known sites, I think MS-SE is sufficient protection. For a family PC where dad likes to view his p*rn, mom visits all possible web shops, and the kids click on every blinking banner, it might not offer the best protection. Horses for courses