Which Anti-Virus question.

LuxyBoo

Estimable
May 5, 2014
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4,510
Hey guys, I've been running Malwarebytes, Avast, and Ad-Aware actively for the past 4+ years without any troubles, even using their full system scans at the same time and never had issues with that. But now my computer has started running a bit slower than usual and all that stuff so I'm thinking of going down to using just one of those three, and I'm really a security freak so I like to keep my PC as safe and healthy as possible with the best anti-virus/malware monitors, so my question is which one of the three should I use for actively monitoring? And should I delete the other two or just disable their active monitoring? I read in some places that I should fully delete them if shortening down, but I really like their scanners and like I said, I've never had problems running the three at the same time.
So yeah, what do you guys think I should do?
 

ronintexas

Honorable
Dec 10, 2012
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11,210
Avast does a great job with viruses and Malwarebytes with Malware and spyware....There is always a ton of debate as to which anti-virus program is the best....IMO - they are all really about the same. Every quarter when testing comes out, the leaders change....I run Windows defender actively, and Malwarebytes weekly. I never have problems with the computer.

ALWAYS - make sure the packages you have are up to date....and all updates for the OS installed....this creates the most issues on the computer.....
 
They each target different things unlike the paid for "suites".....if you are a security freak, do some reading of the test sites and I think you will find that the freebies just don't stand up to the paid for ones. I get a lot of calls to clean out PCs from people using freebies and I'd guess it's a smuch the user's failure to keep it current as it is any weakness in the products themselves. I usually am able to clean it out w. a free trial version of BitDefender, Zone Alarm or Kapersky.

http://www.av-test.org/en/

Avast scored 3.5 in Protection, 4.5 in performance and 5 in useability
AVG Free Scored a 4 / 4 / 4.5

Bit-Defender scored 5 in Protection, 5 in performance and 5 in useability
Kapeersky scored 5 in Protection, 5 in performance and 5 in useability
Intel Security scored 5 in Protection, 5 in performance and 5 in useability
Norton scored 5 in Protection, 5 in performance and 5 in useability
Zone Alarm scored 4.5 in Protection, 5 in performance and 5 in useability (which is odd since the use Kapersky AV)

You can usually get a 30 day free trial for most of them and after it ends you get nag-ware e-mails (about once a month ... at least they used to) which give you offers to buy it at prices that seem to decrease with each mailing.

I think I paid about $13 per seat last renewal .... I buy in multiples of 3 licenses as oddly enough, 5 and 10 seat licenses cost more per seat.
 
Since I went to renewable subscriptions 6 years ago ... at three sites .... can't say I have experienced any crashes related to AV / Malware. Did have one zero-day (conduit) threat get through thanks to a guest user on one box but removed it manually ....
 

LuxyBoo

Estimable
May 5, 2014
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I've decided to just stick with Avast and Malwarebytes, most of those on the site look good but I'm in no position to spend $60+ for anti-viruses.
I might try out Panda Internet Security sometime though, but since I've never heard anything on that or heard anyone talking about it I'm a little sketchy to get something new.
 
That's perty darn good price....cheaper than BitDefender's 3 pak which just shot up to $80

Went to the site and this got my attention....

http://store.fileforum.com/p30558-bitdefender_total_security_2015_3-pc

A bit of an upgrade to that one and 3 PCs for $11.65 each ...hope these around when my license expires in 88 days

http://store.fileforum.com/p31755-bitdefender_total_security_2015_5-pc_2-yr

$9 per year per seat

http://store.fileforum.com/p30573-bitdefender_total_security_2015_5-pc

$14 a seat ...

Have you used this site before ? .... I'm wondering if I can buy but not install for a month .... no contact information of location given.