Grundig IT Newsletter
Antivirus and Antimalware Software Suites Compared – Which do we like most?
Computing News That You Can Use – April 2023
Ransomware, identity theft, hacking, viruses, spyware… There’s a ton of illegitimate activity that all of us need to be aware of. Running antivirus and / or antimalware applications on your system is an important part of protecting from these threats. Do you have the one that’s best for you?
This month we’re going to be reviewing computer security software – some free and some paid – and analyzing what we like and dislike about all of them, and why we use the combination we do when protecting your systems.
McAfee
A common antivirus suite on the market today is McAfee. Their antivirus software has a large market share, in particular among the residential and personal computer markets. McAfee scores OK on professional antivirus testing in labs and in active use. McAfee is a long-standing name for antivirus… and we don’t really ever recommend it. Dell and BestBuy computers often come with McAfee pre-installed, running a ‘free trial’ that will change to a paid subscription later on . Additionally, Adobe Acrobat Reader, often offers to install McAfee as part of its installation. We recommend unchecking that option when installing Adobe Reader.
Norton Antivirus
Norton Antivirus also comes pre-installed on a number of computers, and Norton, similarly, gets bundled in with other program installations. Both McAfee and Norton have relatively strong antivirus programs, and they have a bunch of bells and whistles to protect your browsing and identity. However, they also are rather invasive with their work, they take up more background memory than most and they often end up aggressively stopping some legitimate applications from running.
Windows Defender
The pre-installed antivirus application from Microsoft is actually one we like: Windows Defender. Microsoft includes this with every single copy of Windows, it gets regular updates, and is near the top-end of the protection scale. Furthermore, it is deeply integrated with Windows 10 and 11 machines, only minimally impacts computer function, and very, very rarely interrupts your day with its presence. Defender automatically suspends itself if you install another antivirus, and will re-activate when no other antivirus is present.
Avast and AVG
Two more names that are well known as strong free antivirus software are Avast and AVG. They have maintained a good reputation, at least until a couple years ago, when evidence surfaced that the free software was recording a large amount of user data and having their subsidiary company sell it for profit. This sort of action can greatly hinder a company’s trust levels, and, though they claim to have stopped such actions, I do not see a reason to use their product when other options are available.
Webroot
The last antivirus we’re going to look at is Webroot Secure Anywhere. This is the real-time protection we often install on our client’s systems. Webroot provides us a cloud management console to allow us to monitor any problems it detects. We can add specific applications to its safe list if it starts blocking necessary software on our clients. Furthermore, Webroot is exceptionally thin – meaning it runs with a minimal performance hit when running and rarely, if ever, interrupts a user’s active work. We actively tested Webroot against various threats before choosing it as our primary offering.
Malwarebytes
A long-known program for cleaning up a system at risk is Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes has a paid service which offers real-time protection, and a 14-day trial when you install its software, which can be reverted to the free version easily. Malwarebytes Free has been used for over a decade by computer professionals to clean out a system at risk. The free version does not offer continuous, real-time protection, but is still a powerful on-demand tool for scouring unwanted cookies, downloads, and software from your machine. We like to keep Malwarebytes Free on our systems as a secondary scan that will not interfere with any other protection suite.
There are a lot of options here we haven’t examined here – a number of our clients have good results with ESET and VIPRE, which have good results with small businesses.
Need Help?
As always, we’re happy to help you make any decisions that will help you protect your systems. Call, email or text us anytime if you need assistance.
Tom Grundig – 925.528.9081 – Tom@grundigit.com
Quote of the Month
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
—Albert Einstein
