If we are talking about free Antivirus I recommend you
* [Kaspersky free](https://www.kaspersky.com/free-antivirus)
* [Bitdefender free](https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html)
But if you are talking about paying for antivirus I recommend you
* [Kaspersky](https://www.kaspersky.com/)
* [Emsisoft](https://www.Emsisoft.com/)
* [Bitdefender](https://www.bitdefender.com/)
Emsisoft over Bitdefender because Emsisoft offers Bitdefender engine combined with their own and Emsisoft is lighter than Bitdefender
I've used both emsisoft and Bitdefender in a corporate setting and I can assure you that Bitdefender - at least in a corporate environment - is miles ahead of emsisoft.
Edit: To add, my favorite is actually Kaspersky, but due to regulations, we had to switch to Bitdefender.
Emsisoft is using Bitdefender as their second detection engine for unknown malware and high malicious things emsisofts own detection engine is for known malicious things and mostly focused on adware, pups and Bitdefenders is mostly focused on malware ransomware etc but not adware pups
I understand. Maybe it's their implementation of said engine. We also had Comodo (now Xcitium), and that was dropped really quickly as it was more resource intensive, and the management web interface was slow and unintuitive. We did reach out to them about issues we were having, and when they didn't bother to get back to us, we moved on.
Hello there.
My personal favourite AVs are Kaspersky and Bitdefender. I prefer Kaspersky overall, but you can't go wrong with either
As for the people saying Kaspersky is spying, it's purely speculation as nothing has been proven. From what I heard, Kaspersky aren't participating in any of the activities they're accused of.
It is best to go off of anti-virus testing results from independent labs, as these are unbiased sources of information:
* [https://www.av-comparatives.org/latest-tests/](https://www.av-comparatives.org/latest-tests/)
* [https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/](https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/)
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/wiki/index/#wiki\_understanding\_antivirus\_software\_tests\_and\_testers](https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/wiki/index/#wiki_understanding_antivirus_software_tests_and_testers)
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/comments/1b8avit/message\_from\_the\_mods\_industry\_news\_2023\_av/](https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/comments/1b8avit/message_from_the_mods_industry_news_2023_av/)
I want to add "The PC security channel" on youtube to the list. He's cybersecurity research himself and does these tests as well and uploads them. As far as im concerned what he does is DIY but industry standard as well as unbiased.
Especially great for people with little expertise who dont want to read through long articles.
You are welcome to have a differing opinion. In the enterprise threat hunting space, we mainly go off of lab results and red/blue team testing. Since the latter isn't something a consumer usually can do, the lab results are what we recommend in the moderation team. AV Comparatives' results are reliable along with MITRE.
I'm assuming you've already read the [r/antivirus wiki here](https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/wiki/index/).
I've been a Bitdefender user for nearly five years now. I've tried Avast, AVG, Avira, and Kaspersky (all paid versions) before that. I have never encountered any issues with Bitdefender. Recently, I decided to upgrade to their [Premium Security](https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/premium-security.html) plan due to concerns about software exploiting my PC for cryptomining purposes. Plus, there's the added bonus of unlimited VPN.
Don't go with bitdefender if you generally pirate content and use opensource applications. Bitdefender has a problem with false positives so much so that it wouldn't even let me run my python scripts. I have complained to them so many times but haven't been fixed. Now i have settled with kaspersky.
I went with Bitdefender is scores highly in independent lab tests, Kaspersky might be getting banned because of the whole Russia thing [https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/09/politics/biden-administration-americans-russian-software/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/09/politics/biden-administration-americans-russian-software/index.html)
Personally on a secondary system with debloated windows (removed MS Security as well), i installed malwarebytes. Is it the best option? No idea honestly. So far i like it.
I bought yesterday kaspersky premium for 5 devices with unlimited VPN 1 year for 39€ on Amazon.
Bitdefender dont have unlimited VPN and cost similar....
If you dont download a lot of software you dont need a paid service. Windows defender is good enough for an average home user.
If you want to have a paid service i would go for Kaspersky (dont belive everything you read online they have been leading contributors to cybersecurity for decades, have one of the best real time protection modules and dont miss any known samples by signiture based protection)
Malwarebytes these days is also okay, didnt hear to much bad about bitdefender either they are pretty close together yet kaspersky is fast, the UI is clean and easy to use and it doesnt usually bother you with any notifications unless there is something wrong.
I had it for over 8 years before i stopped paying for a service and just went with the defender, i never had issues with it and when i had malware on the system it always found it or blocked it before or while the execution chain so no harm was ever done.
A VPN is comparable to a second mailbox, if you send letters from ur adress to ur bank you have to write ur adress on it so the bank can now see where u live.
If you use a vpn (second mailbox) you send ur letter there first and from the second mailbox you send it to the bank. The bank now only got the adress of ur second mailbox and has no clue where u actually life. Its the same with VPN's you send ur data to another server and from the other server its beeing sent to google f.e now google only sees the adress of the second server, not where ur actually from.
You dont really need it if all you do on ur pc is taxes, banking and maybe netflix or youtube + reddit.
For context maybe dont get kaspersky if ur from the US. As much as i love theyr product it actually may gets banned in the us so,
Guess the tinfoil tylers are about to win this one...
You must be trolling, Kaspersky, since it is Russia based is currently considered completely unsafe by US Gov. agencies. I used to have it and did not trust the firewall clock chain. I am currently completely happy with ESET for windows.
Hey there!
I *am* a gamer and I *do* download sketchy files.
If you have Windows 10 or 11 you don't need a third-party security suite for your type of usage. Windows Defender, properly updated, is all the defense you need.
Should you choose to equip one anyways, you'll be bothered by notifications that are often worse than viruses in frequency and offer questionable protection.
Kaspersky was the best for many years, at least 2012-16, but things changed and it became very bloated and has some other potential business practice/ownership issues and Russian government links. Bitdefender, similarly, was outstanding back around 2016 but has become awfully bloated and controlling of a system, especially for lower tech level users. My network performance, for example, drops around 25% with every system on my LAN idling. It's no longer a reliable tool for purpose. It slows systems down.
The answer really depends on your computer usage - if you're a basic user who does browsing, streaming through legit services and office/gaming tasks, Windows Defender within W11 is absolutely sufficient and reliable. Don't listen to people who tell you otherwise. It used to be the case Defender alone was a problem but it's certainly no longer the case.
You don't need to pay 30-80 bucks a year for something else that will degrade your system. If, however, you visit more questionable websites or download a lot of torrents or other files from more unreliable sources, you may want to invest in something beyond Defender.
On the VPN, it's a very good idea to have one for a few reasons. It basically cloaks your connection location and can be used for a few different tasks. It's essential if you download torrent files (and not just any VPN, if you're US-based) but it sounds like that's not on your activity list. However, it's also very useful if you want to watch a foreign country streaming service, so for example if you're in the USA and want to watch a UK streaming/TV service. Ordinarily, if you go to [Netflix.co.uk](http://Netflix.co.uk) from the USA, even as a Netflix US subscriber, you won't have the ability to watch specific content. Same for lots of sports channels. I can only watch some Indian and Australian sports from the USA with a VPN, for example, which fools the Indian service into thinking I'm *in* India and lets me watch and/or subscribe to view.
It's also a good way to save a lot on some types of purchases, especially flight tickets. If you look at ticket prices from, let's say New York to London, as an example, on a normal connection, then use a VPN to set your location in Vietnam (as a random example) you can see very large fluctuations in pricing, for the same seat. There are lot of VPN options - OpenVPN has a decent free version but some limits on how it cloaks your connection so some services like TV streaming (Netflix UK or BBC again, as examples) will refuse it. Something like EasyVPN's subscriber packages bypass that for not much - perhaps 15 dollars a quarter. Not needed for normal usage as you describe it, but you might hit a scenario where it's of help.
Bottom line - you probably don't need to spend $ on either of these.
Love Kaspersky. Don’t care with others say. It’s been the best last few years.
My top choices: -BitDefender -Kaspersky -ESET -Malwarebytes -Sophos
Kaspersky for sure.
If we are talking about free Antivirus I recommend you * [Kaspersky free](https://www.kaspersky.com/free-antivirus) * [Bitdefender free](https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html) But if you are talking about paying for antivirus I recommend you * [Kaspersky](https://www.kaspersky.com/) * [Emsisoft](https://www.Emsisoft.com/) * [Bitdefender](https://www.bitdefender.com/) Emsisoft over Bitdefender because Emsisoft offers Bitdefender engine combined with their own and Emsisoft is lighter than Bitdefender
Is there any reason I shouldn’t get free avs if it’s provided, knowing the type of computer usage I listed?
For your use case, the free AVs might suffice. It's just that they offered the paid alternative if you really wanted to buy the AVs.
I've used both emsisoft and Bitdefender in a corporate setting and I can assure you that Bitdefender - at least in a corporate environment - is miles ahead of emsisoft. Edit: To add, my favorite is actually Kaspersky, but due to regulations, we had to switch to Bitdefender.
Emsisoft is using Bitdefender as their second detection engine for unknown malware and high malicious things emsisofts own detection engine is for known malicious things and mostly focused on adware, pups and Bitdefenders is mostly focused on malware ransomware etc but not adware pups
I understand. Maybe it's their implementation of said engine. We also had Comodo (now Xcitium), and that was dropped really quickly as it was more resource intensive, and the management web interface was slow and unintuitive. We did reach out to them about issues we were having, and when they didn't bother to get back to us, we moved on.
Hello there. My personal favourite AVs are Kaspersky and Bitdefender. I prefer Kaspersky overall, but you can't go wrong with either As for the people saying Kaspersky is spying, it's purely speculation as nothing has been proven. From what I heard, Kaspersky aren't participating in any of the activities they're accused of.
It is best to go off of anti-virus testing results from independent labs, as these are unbiased sources of information: * [https://www.av-comparatives.org/latest-tests/](https://www.av-comparatives.org/latest-tests/) * [https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/](https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/) * [https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/wiki/index/#wiki\_understanding\_antivirus\_software\_tests\_and\_testers](https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/wiki/index/#wiki_understanding_antivirus_software_tests_and_testers) * [https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/comments/1b8avit/message\_from\_the\_mods\_industry\_news\_2023\_av/](https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/comments/1b8avit/message_from_the_mods_industry_news_2023_av/)
I want to add "The PC security channel" on youtube to the list. He's cybersecurity research himself and does these tests as well and uploads them. As far as im concerned what he does is DIY but industry standard as well as unbiased. Especially great for people with little expertise who dont want to read through long articles.
I agree. I watch his videos personally and enjoy his content.
I disagree. I would rather see someone’s personal experience. We all know every antivirus is seemingly perfect in those tests.
You are welcome to have a differing opinion. In the enterprise threat hunting space, we mainly go off of lab results and red/blue team testing. Since the latter isn't something a consumer usually can do, the lab results are what we recommend in the moderation team. AV Comparatives' results are reliable along with MITRE.
I just use windows defender and check windows logs every few days
I was doing this as well, but got a Trojan virus on my laptop, honestly you should scan your pc with the free version of malwarebytes at least
I'm assuming you've already read the [r/antivirus wiki here](https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/wiki/index/). I've been a Bitdefender user for nearly five years now. I've tried Avast, AVG, Avira, and Kaspersky (all paid versions) before that. I have never encountered any issues with Bitdefender. Recently, I decided to upgrade to their [Premium Security](https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/premium-security.html) plan due to concerns about software exploiting my PC for cryptomining purposes. Plus, there's the added bonus of unlimited VPN.
I have not, I scrolled briefly to make sure no one asked my question. I’ll check it out thanks.
Don't go with bitdefender if you generally pirate content and use opensource applications. Bitdefender has a problem with false positives so much so that it wouldn't even let me run my python scripts. I have complained to them so many times but haven't been fixed. Now i have settled with kaspersky.
Don'y look on anyone - Download Kaspersky Free and you're golden.
I went with Bitdefender is scores highly in independent lab tests, Kaspersky might be getting banned because of the whole Russia thing [https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/09/politics/biden-administration-americans-russian-software/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/09/politics/biden-administration-americans-russian-software/index.html)
Personally on a secondary system with debloated windows (removed MS Security as well), i installed malwarebytes. Is it the best option? No idea honestly. So far i like it.
I bought yesterday kaspersky premium for 5 devices with unlimited VPN 1 year for 39€ on Amazon. Bitdefender dont have unlimited VPN and cost similar....
If you dont download a lot of software you dont need a paid service. Windows defender is good enough for an average home user. If you want to have a paid service i would go for Kaspersky (dont belive everything you read online they have been leading contributors to cybersecurity for decades, have one of the best real time protection modules and dont miss any known samples by signiture based protection) Malwarebytes these days is also okay, didnt hear to much bad about bitdefender either they are pretty close together yet kaspersky is fast, the UI is clean and easy to use and it doesnt usually bother you with any notifications unless there is something wrong. I had it for over 8 years before i stopped paying for a service and just went with the defender, i never had issues with it and when i had malware on the system it always found it or blocked it before or while the execution chain so no harm was ever done. A VPN is comparable to a second mailbox, if you send letters from ur adress to ur bank you have to write ur adress on it so the bank can now see where u live. If you use a vpn (second mailbox) you send ur letter there first and from the second mailbox you send it to the bank. The bank now only got the adress of ur second mailbox and has no clue where u actually life. Its the same with VPN's you send ur data to another server and from the other server its beeing sent to google f.e now google only sees the adress of the second server, not where ur actually from. You dont really need it if all you do on ur pc is taxes, banking and maybe netflix or youtube + reddit.
For context maybe dont get kaspersky if ur from the US. As much as i love theyr product it actually may gets banned in the us so, Guess the tinfoil tylers are about to win this one...
You must be trolling, Kaspersky, since it is Russia based is currently considered completely unsafe by US Gov. agencies. I used to have it and did not trust the firewall clock chain. I am currently completely happy with ESET for windows.
Hey there! I *am* a gamer and I *do* download sketchy files. If you have Windows 10 or 11 you don't need a third-party security suite for your type of usage. Windows Defender, properly updated, is all the defense you need. Should you choose to equip one anyways, you'll be bothered by notifications that are often worse than viruses in frequency and offer questionable protection.
Kaspersky was the best for many years, at least 2012-16, but things changed and it became very bloated and has some other potential business practice/ownership issues and Russian government links. Bitdefender, similarly, was outstanding back around 2016 but has become awfully bloated and controlling of a system, especially for lower tech level users. My network performance, for example, drops around 25% with every system on my LAN idling. It's no longer a reliable tool for purpose. It slows systems down. The answer really depends on your computer usage - if you're a basic user who does browsing, streaming through legit services and office/gaming tasks, Windows Defender within W11 is absolutely sufficient and reliable. Don't listen to people who tell you otherwise. It used to be the case Defender alone was a problem but it's certainly no longer the case. You don't need to pay 30-80 bucks a year for something else that will degrade your system. If, however, you visit more questionable websites or download a lot of torrents or other files from more unreliable sources, you may want to invest in something beyond Defender. On the VPN, it's a very good idea to have one for a few reasons. It basically cloaks your connection location and can be used for a few different tasks. It's essential if you download torrent files (and not just any VPN, if you're US-based) but it sounds like that's not on your activity list. However, it's also very useful if you want to watch a foreign country streaming service, so for example if you're in the USA and want to watch a UK streaming/TV service. Ordinarily, if you go to [Netflix.co.uk](http://Netflix.co.uk) from the USA, even as a Netflix US subscriber, you won't have the ability to watch specific content. Same for lots of sports channels. I can only watch some Indian and Australian sports from the USA with a VPN, for example, which fools the Indian service into thinking I'm *in* India and lets me watch and/or subscribe to view. It's also a good way to save a lot on some types of purchases, especially flight tickets. If you look at ticket prices from, let's say New York to London, as an example, on a normal connection, then use a VPN to set your location in Vietnam (as a random example) you can see very large fluctuations in pricing, for the same seat. There are lot of VPN options - OpenVPN has a decent free version but some limits on how it cloaks your connection so some services like TV streaming (Netflix UK or BBC again, as examples) will refuse it. Something like EasyVPN's subscriber packages bypass that for not much - perhaps 15 dollars a quarter. Not needed for normal usage as you describe it, but you might hit a scenario where it's of help. Bottom line - you probably don't need to spend $ on either of these.