Antivirus Software?

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18 Jun 2016
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26
Hi,
I have just bought myself a new PC and the last thing I want is running the risk of losing some of my expensive performance through viruses or other stuff on my computer that I don't know of.

I may go on dodgy websites and I may or may not download things from unknown sources, that may or may not ask me to ''disable any antivirus as it might corrupt files''. (Idon't whether that is true)

So do you think it is worth getting an anti-virus software, as often they are very obtrusive and suck on your performance. At least, I had some issues with my older PC.
 
The built in Windows defender software has become very good in my opinion. Ensure that "real time protection" is enabled, this is quite smart and should check all commonly infected files as they are accessed by the system, but won't suck up your system resources like a full, obtrusive scan will. This means you don't necessarily have to run a full system scan regularly, although it's not guaranteed to get everything. To be sure, I'd run a full system scan weekly at a time when you're not using your computer for anything performance intensive.

Also, ensure that you set it to automatically update, or check very regularly for updates. An anti-malware application is only as good as the malware definitions it has on hand, and malware is always one step ahead.

:edit: with reference to sites asking you to disable your anti-malware software... Just no! This is the equivalent of a dodgy geezer turning up at your house in a balaclava and asking you to leave the keys with him when you go out :p some anti-malware applications will pick up on and quarantine certain files that are commonly used with filesharing such as key generators or crackers. This is normally under the banner of "potentially unwanted programs", and if you want this sort of stuff you should be able to tailor your application to ignore certain things. Be careful with this though, and do your own research in to the pros/cons of using such files in the first place.
 
After trying most over the years i have stuck with Avira Pro.... works away quietly and rarely ever asks me for intervention. Has picked up things now and again and uses very little resources. It comes up near the top for detection rates and is cheap ( about £20 a year ).

About the only tiome i have to open it is to disable protection when burning windows ISOs to usb as it blocks them :P
 
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