Which anti-virus software would you all 'anyone' recommend?

[usually_quiet]

and security software offering real-time protection is a scam.

I actually tend to agree with the last part, security software on Windows desktop is snake oil. I ran an experiment once where I installed Win 8.1, had the Windows antivirus running, antivir with the settings turned to high, spybot, malware bytes anti-exploit tool (which is supposed to stop zero day threats), the Windows firewall with the settings maxed and EMET with the settings maxed.

Then I decided to see how resilient it was virus attacks so I downloaded a bunch of "cracks" and ran them. Spybot, Malware Bytes, the Windows antivirus, and antivir all claimed to have detected and cleaned various viruses and trojans (interestingly enough they all detected different infections from the same tested cracking software) but monitoring the system for cpu and ram usage and sniffing packets with WireShark confirmed that the system was still infected and communicating with remote servers; in one case the system got hit with ransom ware that preceded to try and start encrypting files on my hard drive and perhaps the toughest virus of all was one where it would pin the mouse pointer to the upper left hand corner of the screen if you tried to launch task manager or the start menu. Basically you could move the mouse around but the moment you tried to launch the start menu or click on any icon in the task bar or try to launch task manager from teh task bar or by using the 3 finger salute the mouse pointer would glue itself to the upper left hand corner of the screen and nothing you could do other than a hard reboot via power button.

Real nasty virus, don't know what else it did but it defied all attempts to clean the system, nothing but a clean install would clean it.

There is some really nasty malware out there for Windows, I just can't bring myself to use a Windows pc to do any sort of personal computing, like banking or taxes or bill paying, at the very least I recommend to everyone to use a Linux distro that can run in live-usb mode to perform tasks where you will be exposing sensitive personal information.

Not surprising.

For 6-7 years, Microsoft's own AV has been possibly the worst product of its kind available. AntiVir is a mediocre security product. Running two AV programs concurrently tends to make both of them ineffective.

Malwarebytes anti-exploit tool is designed to stop threats introduced via browser exploits. EMET is another program that protects against browser exploits. I'm not sure those should be running concurrently either. However, I am sure they were not intended to protect the user against infected software he deliberately installs.

Windows own firewall programs are also crap. There are better ones that would be more effective, assuming you turned off Windows built-in firewall before running them.

For a few years now Spybot has fared poorly in testing. It is no longer effective. Sad but true.

Congratulations for successfully designing an experiment to produce the desired result, complete and utter failure. Dishonesty at its finest.

[VHSRules]

I have been using 'AVG' (free version) for 3 or 4 years now & its getting progressively worse. Its turned this computer into a slug. Thought I was having problems with 'thumb drives bigger than 4 gigs. Turns out AVG has the prob with them. It ingores settings in options-> 'scan settings' (when to do scan) mainly. Plus more, , , (rebooting w/o option of delaying reboot, etc. etc.)

What are all the various recommendations from everyone here? Any & all welcome. I do not go to wierd/ bad sites, I am as careful/prudent as I can be. (I have Ubuntu on a separate older computer I use if I get a wild hair, actually would prefer it but too many things do not work with it. 'WINE' does not get it for me, sadly)

https://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/eek/
https://www.emsisoft.com/en/

Anything by EMSISOFT is excellent.

[SameSelf]

No AV here. I run a VM (Virtual Machine). The base OS is (almost) never online.

Love the AV free mindset.

[Zero-11]

script blocker, µBlock + Brain.exe

[usually_quiet]

No AV here. I run a VM (Virtual Machine). The base OS is (almost) never online.

Love the AV free mindset.

Not exactly. He looks for malware with on-demand scanners, Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware. Those are anti-malware programs, although they don't offer real-time protection.

[Constant Gardener]

VMs are great - I use VMware Workstation for other purposes, and it is certainly handy for poking about in the less savory parts of the web. Surf, revert, repeat. The only place I routinely find nasties are within posts of popular textbooks, and they're usually rather obvious.

We're okay until someone dreams up malware that can escape a VM.

[fritzi93]

We're okay until someone dreams up malware that can escape a VM.

I should think so.

The weak point, as usual, is the user. And I mean the VM user enabling shared folders. Download something bad to a shared folder, open it in the base OS without scanning it first, and...

[leghorn]

I used to have KIS on my machine. I also tried ClamWin, AVG, Avira, Avast. But I had to learn that free tools are more likely to report false positives.

Right now I'm going with sandboxing software, Sandboxie in my case. Good stuff. My system hasn't been infected ever since.

[KarMa]

herdProtect is an interesting concept, and free. But it does come up with lots of false alerts so watch out.

[p_l]

ZoneAlarm used to be a good firewall, then it was bad. Now it's better again and I'm back to using it along with its bundled free antivirus.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2456175,00.asp

http://zonealarm-free-antivirus-firewall.en.softonic.com/

[Tom Saurus]

I have been using Norton Internet Security for quite a few years. The guy who I take my computer to insisted I switch to NOD 32. So far so good with NOD 32.

[deadmeow]

I use 360 Total Security, as it has 3 AV engines that it scans with (Avira, BitDefender, QVMII). It does not hog resources and it is free. I also have malwarebytes. I also image my drives.

Have not had an outright infection in many years, but sometimes if I even think there is a chance something bad might be hiding on the computer, I just restore an image.

Using a VM is a good strategy though.

[cornemuse]

I am trying 360 Total Security, seems unobtrusive.

The others? Well, among other things, whats the deal with 'luke filewalker'??? Some sort of joke?

-c-

[usually_quiet]

I am trying 360 Total Security, seems unobtrusive.

The others? Well, among other things, whats the deal with 'luke filewalker'??? Some sort of joke?

-c-

Somebody at Avira must be a Star Wars fan and a punster.