Is streaming safe

[cyberrich]

Is streaming old movies in real time safe if I haven't downloaded anything? I recently watched an old public domain b/w film online that I simply streamed on a site called <removed by moderator>, I didn't download anything, I just pressed play. I've never been one to get viruses, so I haven't used Norton since it expired a couple of years ago, I just use windows defender which is free. Now that I've streamed this film online is my laptop likely to be corrupted in any way. I might get Norton again to check, but is there a good antivirus trial online that anyone recommends in the meantime? Thanks.

 

[weberdarren97]

I don't recommend antivirus trials. There are companies out there that make free antivirus that's easily comparable with premium Norton plans.

Avast Antivirus paired with Malwarebytes Anti Malware will be plenty. Avast is an active scanner like Norton, and will catch threats as soon as they arise. Malwarebytes is not an active scanner, you need to open it and press scan when you want it to scan.

As long as you don't have more than one active scanner, it's safe to have multiple antivirus programs installed at once.

 

[bignastyid]

That site contains pirated material so I removed it from the post. Sites like that opens you up to viruses and malware as they can have contaminated ads and even videos. Bitdefender and Kaspersy both have free trials, Bitdefender even has a free antivirus.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

https/www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

KA Scores 5.0 -5.0 - 5.0
http/usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/

BD Scores 4.5 - 5.0 - 4.5
http/www.bitdefender.com/Downloads/

AVG Scores 5.0 - 4.5 - 5.0
http/www.avg.com/us-en/free-antivirus-download

TrendMicro Scores 4.5 - 5.0 - 5.0
http/www.trendmicro.com/us/security/products/index.html

I would suggest never buying directly from the AV vendors.... you can usually get any of the above total solutions for about $10 per seat.

If you want to see how the free versions compare with the paid for versions, ;look at the avtest link above.

Avast Free caught 100.0 - 97.3 - 99.8 and 99.9 in the last test
https/www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-8/june-2016/avast-free-antivirus-2016-162213/

Panda Free caught 97.8 - 98.6 - 99.7 - 99.8 in the last test
https/www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-8/june-2016/panda-security-free-antivirus-16.1-162286/

Windows defender wasn't tested last round ... even tho last test did show big improvement, missing 10% of 0-day malware attacks is scary

Dec 15 (4.5 / 6.0 rating) = 97.5 - 90.0 - 99.6 - 99.6
https/www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-8/december-2015/microsoft-windows-defender-4.8-154547/

June 2015 (0.5 / 6.0 rating) = 90.2 - 84.7 - 88.5 - 95.2
https/www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-8/june-2015/microsoft-windows-defender-4.7-152347/

Feb 2015 (0.0 / 6.0 rating) = 69.3 - 76.6 - 73.8 - 73.7
https/www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-8/february-2015/microsoft-windows-defender-4.6-150671/


Both also did rather poorly in the performance test

They don't even list defender any more

 

[cyberrich]

Thanks for the tips. I've just downloaded the bitdefender free 30 day trial. Fortunately it didn't find a virus, but I won't be chancing watching any more films on that site just in case. What about watching stuff on youtube though, is there a potential there for spyware etc to get through.

 

[weberdarren97]

There's a potential to get malware at any location on the internet.

Some hacker can forcibly enter a server and plant a virus that transfers unwanted files to computers visiting the website hosted by said server.

However, YouTube is owned by Google... So its protection is pretty awesome. I do believe that they have many banks of servers, if one becomes infected then that one drops offline until it's dealt with, protecting all visitors from said infection.

 

[bignastyid]

I'd be very surprised if you got an infection from YouTube.

 

[weberdarren97]

Thanks for summing that up

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I'd be very surprised if you got an infection from YouTube.

Other than Google itself of course

 

[weberdarren97]

Lol

http/www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I had an old account on youtube but I never log in, recently I went to add a comment and it wanted me to log in ... when i used my old info, it needed my cell phone number. Yeah right .... I need more spoofed robocalls.

Give them your phone number so they can sell it along with all the tracking info.