Product:
Microsoft Windows 10
Issue:
What anti-virus software should i use on my old laptop?
Suggested solution:
Windows Defender is good, but when there are no more updates, you can consider to use a separate Anti-Virus software product.
You have to yourself decide what to use (and if you need it) as the software market for anti-virus program is lucrative, program that was good for 10 years ago is maybe not the best today.
Consider:
- Is the software easy to understand for me? Can i setup schedule scans in a easy way?
- What is the price the second year? Most software will give you a 50% discount the first year. Check if you can get a family price for 3-5 computers. Review sites have often links to good offers.
- Does the software take a lot of CPU when running or does it do the scan in the “cloud” ? Check more than one review to see if the program will slow down your PC.
- Check more than one review of the software – most top teen listings are only trying to sell you a special anti-virus software where they get most money from.
- Do you trust the company behind the program? Check WIKI pages about what country the software comes from.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malwarebytes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIPRE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitdefender
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZoneAlarm
As of January 2006, ZoneAlarm was reportedly[6] sending data to the company’s servers in a covert fashion. A developer dismissed allegations that ZoneAlarm was spying on its clients, saying that it was an issue related to software updates and that it would be fixed.[7]
In December 2007, a browser toolbar was shipped with ZoneAlarm as an opt-out, which was not well received.[8] This was removed in later versions of the software.
On September 2, 2010, the free version of ZoneAlarm started showing a “Global Virus Alert” popup as a scareware tactic to get users to switch to their paid security suite.[9] The popup was turned off by ZoneAlarm marketing team after an uproar from disgruntled users, many of whom uninstalled the software.[10][11]
These program have a free version (that you can test):
https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/consumer/free-antivirus
https://www.malwarebytes.com/solutions/virus-scanner
https://www.zonealarm.com/software/free-antivirus
the free version is maybe not the same program as the full version of the program. Check what engine is inside the anti-virus program.
You can also try the more expensive ones:
https://vipre.com/home/vipre-antivirus-plus/
https://www.gdatasoftware.com/antivirus-windows
We tested the Bitdefender windows version on Windows 10.
We run a deep scan, and it found things in old TM1 files, version 2.1.5, Trojan.GenericKD is Windows-only malware, as far as I know, so it’s highly likely that these detection’s are false positives, as it looks like many anti-virus software can find them in different files.
If there where issues, this are solved now. IBM sends out updates regularly. We checked the latest version PAL 2.1.14, and there where no issues there.
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7246602
(It looks like the Bit-defender can not scan ZIP files larger than 2 GB)
We upgrade Bitdefender to PLUS version in hope the firewall should be part of that deal.
But firewall was not part of the PLUS version. We got the VPN function, but you can not choose what country you will be using. We need to upgrade again to get firewall…
The company change the offering every year, so the package you have the first year may be something different the next year. If you stop your automatic subscription, then the bitdefender program stops working when the subscription ends. Malwarebytes have a different solution.
Passwords manager is better to use separate program like:
https://bitwarden.com/pricing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KeePass
More information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antivirus_software
https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/106172/
https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/prevention/
Before you decide, search the internet for zonealarm issues…