I've seen a lot about bitdefender on the internet. But what's your choice?

UPD: there's a newer topic on this subject:
https://audiosex.pro/threads/best-antivirus-software-2024.7529/

 

Last edited by a moderator: May 21, 2024

I have the "Windows Defender" which is already built into Windows 10 and does its job quite well.

Microsoft Defender - Best free Windows antivirus
Norton 360 with LifeLock Select - Best antivirus subscription for Windows
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition - Best free antivirus alternative for Windows
Malwarebytes - Best on-demand Windows malware removal
McAfee Total Protection - Solid subscription antivirus alternative

 

I already tried it, But it's a bit annoying when allowing false positives and I noticed that sometimes it consumes more memory on my laptop.

Currently I'm in the same situation, But due to my heavy browsing and file downloads(Not audio stuff) I thought it would be better to have an AV software.

 

You really have to remember before installing anything to turn off Defender and then turn it back on, not the most convenient way.

 

You could just Sandboxie (you can even get a portable version of Sandboxie Plus) your web browser and be safe.
Common sense is the best antivirus. IF you download warez a lot or surf suspicious webpages, you could dualboot having a "clean" OS with your work and personal stuff and the other OS to warez and such.

 

Kaspersky 4 ever. Nowdays it is easy on cpu and overall performance, so just for precautions measures you have to have it...
My warm recommendation

 

Windows Defender + brain.
Antivir programs from external providers are always potential gateways for malware.

 

This!
Just don't use external av solutions!!
The best explanation I found on youtube, unfortunately german, but just use english subtitle, you'll get the idea!

Furthermore:
Windows firewall does the best job. If it's a bit messy to use, install WFC (windows firewall control) as applet to control.

 

I always try but sometimes i forget.

Btw this is not about warez, mostly. I only download them from trusted sources.

This situation is different have to test various applications from software projects in college and copying data between many unknown usb drives.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 10, 2022

For me, too. Almost 20yr
I have even had rather bad experiences with A/V, because I was more careless on the road with the supposed protection.
No A/V and a good data backup strategy plus caution are the better alternative.

@bigboobs

 

My advice: do not vote (let virus maker's job a little more difficult). Change antivirus every couple of years.
I have Antivirus turned on all the time (and Windows Defender is turned off) and I have a custom firewall on (which blocks all traffic)
My advice: use VM for any 'key generators' (you can copy the generated code to your computer and delete VM after that) (Fo key generators use a clean copy of VM every time).
Install VST2 only (instead of VST3) because it is easier to hide viruses in VST3.
Do not use cracked software if you do not understand the risks.
And ignore users who disagree with me.
Be smart. Nobody works for free. If something is free, you are the product.
Best wishes

 

Last edited: Apr 10, 2022

I still rely on the good old brain.exe
It hasn't disappointed me in all the years I've used it.

 

Windows Defender 2022 + Common Sense 2022

 

So I changed the title a little bit .

So, I totally agree with you guys. I've been using computers for a while and haven't used many AV softwares since then. I never had any severe infections either. But I really doubt those usb drives and shared file links that daily arrives to me.(And I can't skip)

Once I used kaspersky, the only AV software that I ever tried. It was pretty ok plus a free vpn subscription(with limited daily traffic btw).

But the thing is, I disabled win defender and de-bloated windows for better performance. It actually worked saving me around 1GB of memory.

 

Linux

 

Visual studio required.

However I think defender problems got solved after adding some exlcusions and fiddling with task scheduler. Let me check again.

 

Believe or not, Just re-enabled defender, After some tweaks I was able to drop memory usage to the least yet!

Whole cleanup process(Windows 11) :

1.Disable unwanted startup programs.
2.System cleanup + remove %temp% and temp files.
3.De-bloat windows using ThisIsWin11.(Not everything is disabled)
4.Add exclusions to defender root folder and anti-malware executable process.
5.Edit windows defender scheduled scan and other preferences, adding new weekly triggers in task scheduler.

These steps helped me to drop idle memory usage from around 5GB to 2.7GB with windows defender enabled. Hope this helps someone.

And many thanks to all repliers!