What anti-virus do you all use?

[fc-ramon]

I personally use Malwarebytes but recommend my customers Kaspersky or Windows Defender. I was wondering what every one else uses and what your experiances have been with it?

 

[Joseph K]

I use Windows Defender. It works well on my PC.

 

[ServWise]

Windows defender is perfectly capable. I personally use Comodo internet security as I prefer the firewalls better configuration option and the Antivirus is pretty good also. Comodo Internet Security has a free version.

 

[mattk]

Windows Defender.

 

[alan1302]

Kaspersky

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Garlic with turmeric and I wear a mask

 

[fisicx]

Anti-virus? What’s one of those? Looked on my Mac and can’t find one.

 

[paulears]

I was always an avg fan but it intrudes so much now. It is so protective it now stops you doing things while it sends them for analysis. It also rejects you trying to turn it off so innocent actions can be performed thwarts me. It does constantly seem to now want you to do things that surprise, always cost extra.

 

[gpietersz]

Do not use or need it on Linux.

 

[paulears]

Very true, but Linux is hardly a computer OS for the masses - which is where the anti-virus products are needed?

 

[Darren_Ssc]

We're offering FREE cyber security check-ups for small businesses!
Ramon
Forward Cyber

Doesn't say much for your business does it, or are we a few posts away from a linkathon?

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Very true, but Linux is hardly a computer OS for the masses - which is where the anti-virus products are needed?

In that case, the best program for you Paul is already on your machine - its called windows defender.

 

[fc-ramon]

Doesn't say much for your business does it, or are we a few posts away from a linkathon?

I don't understand what my signature or business has to do with this. I was simply asking what everyone else uses? I don't believe theres anything wrong with that?

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I don't understand what my signature or business has to do with this. I was simply asking what everyone else uses? I don't believe theres anything wrong with that?

MY mistake, pure coincidence then.

 

[gpietersz]

Very true, but Linux is hardly a computer OS for the masses - which is where the anti-virus products are needed?

The OP asked "what every one else uses"

I do not think AV is only needed for the masses. Its not a matter of users's competence as much as what attacks exist for an OS and how common they are. Also, uite a lot of the desktop Linux user base are not geeks - its a great solution for people to install for friends and family to reduce the number of support calls they get or to help out people who do not want to upgrade hardware.

 

[fc-ramon]

The OP asked "what every one else uses"

I do not think AV is only needed for the masses. Its not a matter of users's competence as much as what attacks exist for an OS and how common they are. Also, uite a lot of the desktop Linux user base are not geeks - its a great solution for people to install for friends and family to reduce the number of support calls they get or to help out people who do not want to upgrade hardware.

Yes thats a good point, I run linux too when i can and have a windows on a dual boot. You're right, most linux users are not geeks - they're ex-windows users who have moved over cause they dont like the forced updates ,s pying of windows 10 or want to get extra life out a pc. However for most linux uses a AV is not needed (mostly because software is only installed from repos and distros like ubuntu dont have any open ports by default) but it doesnt hurt to install clamav if your linux pc is sharing files with other windows pcs!

I personally find i use virustotal to scan files quite often too

 

[Clinton]

It's touching so many people have so much faith in Windows Defender.

Defender has a lot of known vulnerabilities and is full of holes. Besides, it doesn't protect you from the worst spyware and malware operators based in Redmond, Washington. It collaborates with them.

We currently have 8 machines in the house. The ones running Windoze use Comodo and Malwarebytes and occasionally one or two others not to mention regular runs of CCleaner.

 

[fc-ramon]

It's touching so many people have so much faith in Windows Defender.

Defender has a lot of known vulnerabilities and is full of holes. Besides, it doesn't protect you from the worst spyware and malware operators based in Redmond, Washington. It collaborates with them.

We currently have 8 machines in the house. The ones running Windoze use Comodo and Malwarebytes and occasionally one or two others not to mention regular runs of CCleaner.

Defender used to be terrible - but microsoft now spends millions on improving defender that now its pretty good and ranks quite highly for a free anti-virus. - plus Windows is spying on you with or without defender.

CClearner is owned by avast / avg group - They're not really good anymore. They've been caught selling user data before and do all kinds of data mining and annoying and quite frankly scaremongering upsells to people who don't know much about computers.

Microsoft advises against registry cleaners and clearing cache may free up space but cache is there for a reason. The built in disk-cleanup tool in Windows 10 is pretty good now and if you need to remove cookies that can be done via the browser

 

[Alan]

Very true, but Linux is hardly a computer OS for the masses - which is where the anti-virus products are needed?

Masses - lol - 50 billion flies can't be wrong - so eat sh*t.

I still don't get why people still run MSh*t, all I ever see are issues. My 87 year old mum uses Linux and doesn't know the difference, except it works and her laptop is about 12 years old.

 

[alan1302]

I still don't get why people still run MSh*t, all I ever see are issues. My 87 year old mum uses Linux and doesn't know the difference, except it works and her laptop is about 12 years old.

Try playing the majority of the latest games just on Linux and see how far you get.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Try playing the majority of the latest games just on Linux and see how far you get.

Alan
Do you know something
I have never played a video game in my life !

We do have xboxes Playstations and stuff here but I have never even touched them

 

[fc-ramon]

Try playing the majority of the latest games just on Linux and see how far you get.

Actually proton on linux has made great leaps running Windows games in the past 2 years. The issues i see with linux are more the fact that

• Games with anti cheat wont run
• Windows programs that people run daily such as office and most other paid windows programs don't run under wine at all or with a lot of issues.

Before someone says oh but you can use libreoffice as a office replacement. Yes libreoffice is good but as soon as you get past some simple formatting on a .docx you will need microsoft office to view the document correctly.

 

[Alison Moore]

We use (and have done for years) Eset AV.

 

[Bob Morgan]

Rabavert for the cats and dogs!

 

[Ian J]

The issues i see with linux are more the fact that

• Windows programs that people run daily such as office and most other paid windows programs don't run under wine at all or with a lot of issues.

My programs will run under wine but the more wine involved the less accurate the results

 

[gpietersz]

Try playing the majority of the latest games just on Linux and see how far you get.

I am not a gamer, neither are a lot of other people. A lot of people will use a games console for games, not their PC. If you are an avid gamer, and you play games on a PC, then Windows is probably your best bet. MacOS and Linux are well behind in the number of available games.

Unless @Alan 87 year old mum is an avid gamer its not important to her.

 

[alan1302]

I am not a gamer, neither are a lot of other people. A lot of people will use a games console for games, not their PC. If you are an avid gamer, and you play games on a PC, then Windows is probably your best bet. MacOS and Linux are well behind in the number of available games.

Unless @Alan 87 year old mum is an avid gamer its not important to her.

They asked why anyone would use Windows when you can run Linux - I gave them an example.

I've never really got on with Linux - I know it gets a lot of love from people but am happy to stick to Windows - never had any major issues with it in years.

 

[DontAsk]

With Windows it's generally very easy to google a problem and find out how to solve it.

With Linux you will get multiple conflicting answers for different distros, different releases, etc, ...

BTDTGTTS

 

[AstEver]

It always ends up with a discussion on Windows versus Linux

I use ClamAV on Linux.

One of the best decision in my life was to install Linux on my parents' machines - they had always managed to get the Windows infected or break the system somehow.

As for games on Linux, Gog and Steam offer a decent number of good and latest games.

 

[forevergroup]

According to Microsoft's own research, they see more than 90% of threats just once which I find pretty astonishing.

Therefore the efficacy of legacy signature-based AV is becoming more limited compared to solutions that offer protection against advanced threats and sandboxing.

(Sandboxing is the antivirus equivalent of a controlled bomb explosion. Let the unknown file run in a controlled environment so that it can be observed)

For a time we used Microsoft Defender ATP (now known as Microsoft Defender for Endpoints) which essentially adds these kinds of protections in to Microsoft Defender alongside EDR - Endpoint Detection and Response - capabilities. Incredibly powerful but very complex.

We now use Cisco AMP (Advanced Malware Protection) for Endpoints which is a next-generation solution. It's a bit of a beast but far less cumbersome than Defender ATP, with far broader native OS support and integration with other Cisco products. We have numerous Cisco accreditations so it made sense for us.

The nice thing about AMP is that it has multiple layers to detect threats. The Tetra engine (Bitdefender) - a Virus Total plugin - and Threatgrid sandboxing. If a file gets through all that there is the behaviour monitoring, network monitoring, etc.

It's worth mentioning that ~80% of attacks use DNS at some point in the kill chain so adding a web filtering solution such as Cisco Umbrella or TitanHQ WebTitan adds useful utility.

And then there's also the fact that ~90% of attacks start with a phishing email so it makes sense to have suitable email security also. It's all about layers. Oh - and MFA MFA MFA.

 

[gpietersz]

With Windows it's generally very easy to google a problem and find out how to solve it.

With Linux you will get multiple conflicting answers for different distros, different releases, etc,

My experience is the opposite.

I quite often find advice for another distro works for me. Most often the Arch wiki has helped me several times - and I have never used Arch or a related distro.

The big distros all have forums which are helpful.

When you Google just include the distro name in your search.

 

[DontAsk]

When you Google just include the distro name in your search.

I do, just as I will include "windows 10" when searching for windows. It doesn't help in my experience.

 

[Emre Eldar]

I'm a Kaspersky user. It works well on my laptop

 

[Naheed Mir]

I will recommend using windows defender.
It got much better over the years since its release and is being constantly updated.
For basic protection, it's good enough; however, for high protection like anti-malware, anti-exploit, firewall, ransomware protection, you can use any other antivirus too.