by Ean McDonald - February 28th, 2022

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Windows Security (used to be “Defender”) works pretty great as long as you have an internet connection. Here is more information on that aspect. We estimate that most of our clients will normally have a consistent internet connection, at least when introducing new files to the computer. The second part of our rationale is that we didn’t want to saddle our clients with a subscription service from an alternate anti-malware platform right from the start, because many won’t need that. The included Windows Security seems like the best starting point for all of our clients.

<aside> 🦠 If you choose to use an alternate anti-malware platform that stores virus definitions locally, remember that more isn’t always better. This is especially true if you have multiple programs that “repair the registry”.

Picture your Grandma making a pie, or if your Grandma wasn’t known for awesome baking, picture Ean’s Grandma making a pie. Now imagine introducing a Gordon Ramsay-like figure into that kitchen. Both, can make pies, and both can make arguably great pies. They will both do things differently however. Gordon is going to be complaining that Grandma doesn’t have the best cooking setup, and Grandma is going to be annoyed that a fancy TV personality needs any of that junk to bake properly.

Just like Grandma and Gordon, in computers, multiple software platforms that promise to clean your registry are likely going to have different definitions for what the ideal looks like, and they’ll end up fighting back and forth and potentially messing up your system.

If a program like Malwarebytes is being used for manual scanning every now and then to catch anything that Windows Defender hasn’t seen, that shouldn’t be any problem.

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Alternate Anti-virus Solutions

Norton Antivirus - Avoid

First, I want to mention a platform that we recommend you stay away from. Norton Antivirus is a bloated computer resource hog. You’ll normally find it near the top of lists for how effective it is, but it does this at the expense of you no longer being able to do much with your computer. As of March 2022, Norton is also pairing their software with a crypto mining service where they take a commission from what is mined. It might seem great, but it’s likely that you won’t make more than what it costs in energy.

Kaspersky and Bitdefender

According to a test run by The PC Security Channel on Youtube, Kaspersky and Bitdefender are at the top of the list from their perspective and this video compares the free versions which are available. You can download the free Kaspersky here, or Bitdefender here.

Try Linux!

Yeah, if you’ve known us for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard one of us recommend Linux 😄 We’re big fans of how light it runs, how it can breathe new life into some of our older hardware, but also how secure and private the installations we use are.

It’s easily arguable that you don’t need an antivirus in Linux, and that antiviruses may make Linux less secure. Let us know if you want to learn more!

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