What is a good free antivirus or free trial ?

I'll buck the trend and say I've been using Avast free version since 2004/05 ?

Avast also has a 'Do Not Disturb' mode, which prevents it from interfering while running a game. This mode may be useful with your webcam ?

I also use Malwarebytes to cross check Avast occasionally. Generally only when something strange happens that give me

a fright. I've never had a malware/virus though.

• There is no perfect AV. They all miss some things, or produce false positives on occasion, but

they are all also improving over time. Particularly on the false positive level.

The big three Norton, McAfee, and Kaspersky do have history of causing systems to slow down. This was generally

when using their big 'suites' that run all manner of checks, but they have apparently improved on this over the years.

I imaging this would apply to any Anti-Virus that has a whole suite of tools, including Avast though.

When I'm trying to decide a 'what is best' question, I look for information on the internet. Ultimately, it's my own decision, but I try to get information from independent, professional sources. Here are a few sources I would look to for your question:

The Best Antivirus Protection for 2019 - PC Magazine (Neil Rubenking, who has been testing security software for many years)

AVTest - an internationally known antivirus testing facility

The best antivirus software for 2019 - TechRadar

Tom's Guide - sister publication to the renowned Tom's Hardware Guide

Best Antivirus Software for Windows 10 in 2018 - from the popular Windows Central website

The Wirecutter - owned by the New York Times;  The Wirecutter has a well-deserved reputation for thoroughness and independence

Pick a few candidates that you like best and take advantage of the free trials. When testing at home, also take into account how much you like (or dislike) the user interface and what services you can get from the developer's website.

Hello,

A good antivirus is one that is perfectly integrated in system.

Windows Defender is the best you can find, because it protects your pc as least as well as others, it is free and less ressource consuming than others.

It will not bother you with useless pop ups or change your settings as others do.

You won't have to uninstall it before upgrading like you should with others.

So adopt Wndows Defender, in my opinion, is the best choice.

Hello toronto-maple-leafs-fan

Based in your description you could use just Windows 10 Defender

if you use social networks and may download the occasional file here and there, Windows Defender should be just fine.

If you download a lot of torrent related files from the web, then I doubt Windows Defender would provide enough protection.

Windows Defender doesn’t pop up out of anywhere, and never asks you to spend your money to upgrade to a better service.

Hi toronto-maple-leafs-fan

Windows 10 already includes a decent Antivirus utility called Windows Defender Security Center.

If you want a third party solution, I personally recommend Avira.

Windows Defender has come a long way from the days of Microsoft Security Essentials.

It includes a decent Antivirus scanner thats more robust and uses heuristics and the cloud to detect and remove malicious code.

There is also a built in offline scanner you can use to scan Windows outside of the installation.

Windows Defender also includes a Firewall, Network Security and protections again newer types of attacks such as Ransomware.

So, its pretty robust, especially when combined with other security features such as Windows Smart Screen Filter. I think when used with a Standard User Account, some common sense - don't just download software from suspicious websites or open strange emails with attachments.

Also, keep a regular backup of your computer, system restore points; you really can't go wrong.

You can also supplement it with third party solutions such as the ESET Sysrescue offline scanner and Malwarebytes.

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/clean-virus-in...

Information in the above link is sourced from a trusted Microsoft MVP Blog.