If you’re a Windows user, it can be incredibly hard to know if your computer is secure. You may have important documents and files, bank online, or just want the peace of mind knowing that what you’re doing isn’t being watched by a malicious hacker. If any of that sounds familiar to you, believe us, we’ve been there. It’s 2018 and we’re getting ready for another amazing year at PC Touchup. As part of our goals and planning for this year, we decided it’s time to bring back the TechBlog and with it some helpful information for the computer users of the Woodland Park community. In this post we’ll take a look at some of the pros and cons of free and paid antivirus.
Free Security Solutions:
For Windows 7, 8, and 10, Microsoft took the same program and built it into each different operating system, the names of which I have listed below. This is to ensure that people who didn’t have antivirus would have an automatic program that runs immediately when no other antivirus is detected. This platform was developed by the same company who designed all of Windows operating systems. They understand exactly what should and shouldn’t be there, and when a vulnerability is exposed, they create what is known as a “definition” which helps remove the problem for other users. This antivirus is also very minimalistic, only telling you when there is a major problem and will update automatically with Windows Updates.
It’s all the same tool, but they made slight changes for each operating system:
Windows 7 - Microsoft Security Essentials
Windows 8- Windows Defender
Windows 10- Windows Defender Security Center (If you have creators update)
PC Touchup recommends using Microsoft-built security over any other free antivirus options such as: Avast, AVG, Kaspersky, etc. because many other free antivirus companies are going to try and lure you into buying their paid version. All of the above mentioned programs that we recommend are not pushing you to buy anything.
Paid Security Solutions:
For your software to really be effective, there should be active scanning for viruses, which will prevent viruses for affecting you as soon as they breach your system. Paid programs hire large research teams to develop definitions for the viruses and malware that are continuing to surface. These definitions determine what a virus is, what it looks like and how to remove that virus. This means that paid options are almost always superior to unpaid programs in their effectiveness.
At PC Touchup, we use and recommend Malwarebytes:
$40/year
For any Windows Operating System
Includes: automatic scans, updates, and live-scanning.
Tips from PC Touchup:
Definition Updates are very important and should be something you are checking on a regular basis. If you pay for an antivirus then it will do this automatically. Microsoft Security Essentials with do this for you through Windows updates, or you can do it manually. (These updates are to constantly refresh anti-malware definitions that cover the latest threats. This increases the ability of anti-malware solutions to accurately identify threats.) Source of info
Most of the antivirus software available is very persuasive and constantly pushes you to buy something from them. In addition to this, when you do buy their software, it tends to take up a ton of system resources and can make your computer run slower in many cases. They may be limited in use or will try and get you to pay once they do find a virus. Most of these are scams. So to play it safe, stick with the Microsoft-built security and be sure to update it regularly.
Some Examples:
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