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What Anti-virus do you use?

What Anti-virus do you use?

  • None

    Votes: 36 22.4%
  • Bitdefender

    Votes: 6 3.7%
  • AVG/Avast

    Votes: 8 5.0%
  • McAfee

    Votes: 2 1.2%
  • Malwarebytes

    Votes: 11 6.8%
  • Sophos

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Webroot

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ESET NOD32

    Votes: 3 1.9%
  • Total Defense

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Trend Micro

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Windows Defender

    Votes: 82 50.9%
  • G Data

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • WeebRoot

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Avira

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Norton

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Kapersky

    Votes: 6 3.7%
  • F-secure

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Vipre

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 2 1.2%

  • Total voters
    161

winjer

Gold Member
I was watching Chris Titus ranking of several anti-virus and I got curious about what kind of protection people use.
So the question is simple, which anti-virus do you use?
You can elaborate a bit in the comments about why you use that solution. And whether you use only an anti-virus, or a full Internet Security Suit.

Edit: I see several people saying they use none. But remember that unless you actively disable Windows Defender, you are running it in the background.

 
Last edited:

Quasicat

Member
When I had a Windows PC, I used Defender. When I moved to a Mac, after some research, I found that my usage didn’t warrant an antivirus program. I do not use my Mac to surf the web or make purchases, as I use my iPad and phone for that. The only programs that I use, that are not found on the App Store, are Plex Media Server and Handbrake. Both programs I’ve used for over a decade and trust them.
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
Happy with Windows Defender on all machines.

I'm not careless with the sites I visit to be fair.
 

Dural

Member
At home, Windows Defender.

Work laptop, they have Carbon Black Cloud Sensor.

On another note, a buddy of mine sent me a picture of a Windows 11 PC at his work that kept getting popups pretending to be McAfee. Eventually it turned in to porn ads. Windows Defender wasn't catching it, he installed Malwarebytes Antimalware and it took several days before it stopped it. They said nobody downloaded or installed anything, anybody know where this could have came from?
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
windows defender with malware bytes as backup
Same here. Been this way for about 4-years too and haven't had any issues. My work offers a software called N-Able / N+ which wasn't listed; makes me wonder if they'd even be worth it. Prior to Windows 10, I used Kaspersky Security Suite.
 
Today, paying for a third party Anti-virus is almost pointless.
People also say that double shield is pointless in a souls game.

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Aces High

Gold Member
That was true a decade ago, but Windows Defender has become as good as most paid Anti-Virus.
Today, paying for a third party Anti-virus is almost pointless.
It's actually the other way round. Things got much worse than a decade ago. Cyber attacks have never been more severe and attackers have AI on their side.

If you use Windows AV or any free AV, your system is 100% hacked.
 

dalyr95

Member
When I had a Windows PC, I used Defender. When I moved to a Mac, after some research, I found that my usage didn’t warrant an antivirus program. I do not use my Mac to surf the web or make purchases, as I use my iPad and phone for that. The only programs that I use, that are not found on the App Store, are Plex Media Server and Handbrake. Both programs I’ve used for over a decade and trust them.
 

Mistake

Member
I use malwarebytes. Had to turn off web protection on it though, because it was messing with Sunlight which lets me stream to my phone using Moonlight. Also auto quarantine, which might be dumb of me, but an alert pops up instead and lets me choose what to do with the file
 
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RiccochetJ

Gold Member
I use Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium. A long time ago I purchased Malwarebytes Premium before they moved to a subscription model and I got grandfathered in.
 
I'm a very awareness driven user and don't go online on, well, suspect sites. So I just use Windows Defender and haven't had trouble in like many years.
 

Sushi_Combo

Member
I used to use a few on my mac but then kind of noticed that many of them are resource hogs. I think having a solid ad/script-blocker with some common sense browsing goes a long way without needing to have any of these installed.

In any case, Windows & Macs both offer their standard firewalls and are updated regularly.
 

TheUsual

Gold Member
In my dumbass teen years, I pirated a copy of Zone Alarm firewall. I wonder how compromised I made that computer...😂
 

Fbh

Member
Windows Defender. And I run a Malwarebytes scan every other week.
So far so good.


Just some weeks ago I was helping my dad with something on his computer and he has norton on it and I have to agree with the dude in the video that sometimes you'd almost be better off with a virus. It slowed down his PC so much.
 

xrnzaaas

Member
I was an ESET user for many years (since when they were only offering NOD32), but it's annoyed me a few times when it blocked a safe app for no good reason or stopped me from logging in to my banking system a few years ago. And the yearly sub just isn't worth paying.

Started using Windows Defender and it's enough for my needs since I don't visit any shady sites.
 
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ReBurn

Gold Member
For Windows I used to use Avast. Now I just use Windows Defender. On Mac I won't install a package that doesn't come from a trusted source.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Mac is the trusted source. :messenger_winking:
There are others. I download very little from the Mac App Store. For instance I like JetBrains IDE's and I'll download directly from them. Same for VS Code and Android Studio. The apps are verified and trusted and will install and run without having to go into the security app and give them permission.
 

Rockondevil

Member
I have the free Avast on my Mac but I don't really pay attention to what it does. If I went back to PC I'd definitely be dead.
 

eddie4

Genuinely Generous
I use common sense. Also, I don't do stupid shit on my PC where it would put me at risk. I do that on my linux laptop on my neighbors wifi.

edit: i guess defender counts, as its already installed.
 
Last edited:
Windows Defender is built-in, always active (unless you purposely turn it off), and works just fine for the majority of people who aren't trying to unironically download software from The Pirate Bay
 

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
It's actually the other way round. Things got much worse than a decade ago. Cyber attacks have never been more severe and attackers have AI on their side.

If you use Windows AV or any free AV, your system is 100% hacked.
Windows Defender is now one of the best AV’s for home machines and EDR in the enterprise space just behind Crowdstrike. Not sure what you’re talking about.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
I was watching Chris Titus ranking of several anti-virus and I got curious about what kind of protection people use.
So the question is simple, which anti-virus do you use?
You can elaborate a bit in the comments about why you use that solution. And whether you use only an anti-virus, or a full Internet Security Suit.

Edit: I see several people saying they use none. But remember that unless you actively disable Windows Defender, you are running it in the background.


Sophos now, but CrowdStrike very soon.
 

Aces High

Gold Member
Windows Defender is now one of the best AV’s for home machines and EDR in the enterprise space just behind Crowdstrike. Not sure what you’re talking about.
No it's not.

I recommend you talk to real pros in this field. They will tell you exactly the same I'm telling you. And by pros I don't mean your random 30 yo sysadmin who's only skill is to search reddit for software recommendations.

You guys can believe whatever you want. Your system is already hacked. You just don't know it. Enduser computer systems get hacked within less than 5 minutes as soon as they go online for the first time. You guys have no idea what's going on.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
A long time ago I had Norton installed on my PC but that program became such a resource hog that I switched over to Eset NOD32 which I'm still using. NOD32 is incredibly lightweight and I've never had any problems with it.

I hate paying too much for software so I always buy three year NOD32 licences from Ebay sellers for $10 or so. It's cheap, the keys work fine but I don't think any of that money is going to Eset, since official licenses are much more expensive.
 
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