I'm putting together a new machine from parts that should arrive later today. I'd love to hear suggestions on what kind of security program to install. Free would be nice.
Assuming this is for Windows, the most important thing isn't whether it's AVG antivirus or Panda Cloud antivirus or something else, what's vitally important is to not download it from a link presented on a reviewer's or blogger's web page. I sat and watched one such disaster - software installed OK, but with additional malware to take over all search bars and startup pages etc. Almost impossible to get rid of.
Install _only_ from the vendor's verified-really-it's-them web site, not from anywhere else even if it looks like it must be the most serious reliable page in the world.
I would strongly recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. This is one use case where being strongly integrated with the OS makes a lot of sense. Other products are not part of the development process at Microsoft and they vary widely in their capability and impact on system performance. Some, like the Norton tools I find quite ugly, sometimes significantly changing machine behavior adding problems that don't need to be there. Others, like AVG don't do that so much, but tend to be tepid in their overall effectiveness.
MSE walks a fine line and the Microsoft boffins got this exactly right, IMHO. It gets its updates through the same basic means other Windows things do, it's got the right options, they are easy, there is no BS, and it's fairly lean in terms of it's impact. Best thing is you can run the defaults and be running well. Many of those other solutions contain extras, such as fire wall, etc... The standard, default Windows fire wall is a good one and it can handle the majority of the use cases people need a fire wall for and it does so with reasonable, easy options. Use that and the MSE and you've got "in the box" supported solutions that really work and are low hassle.
Highly recommended.
Many of the other programs give you lots of feedback. Frankly, after evaluating all of those, I find the feedback really contributes more to justifying what you paid than they do real, material action items the vast majority of the time. MSE and Windows Firewall communicate when they need to, and that's optimal in my experience.
One thing I found rather telling is that Microsoft stayed out of that ecosystem for a long time for fear of the usual and often justified claims they are putting people out of business, limiting choice, etc... What was interesting is they all squealed like stuck pigs when Microsoft put MSE out there, and then suddenly those other solutions got a lot better. Interesting how there is a lot of money to be made where there are a lot of problems to solve. The other companies have a core conflict between doing their job well and making money and adding other value. MSE forces them to really add value and really deal with things instead of expanding the tool to add value that is more artificial than not.
Comments
Install _only_ from the vendor's verified-really-it's-them web site, not from anywhere else even if it looks like it must be the most serious reliable page in the world.
-Tor
MSE walks a fine line and the Microsoft boffins got this exactly right, IMHO. It gets its updates through the same basic means other Windows things do, it's got the right options, they are easy, there is no BS, and it's fairly lean in terms of it's impact. Best thing is you can run the defaults and be running well. Many of those other solutions contain extras, such as fire wall, etc... The standard, default Windows fire wall is a good one and it can handle the majority of the use cases people need a fire wall for and it does so with reasonable, easy options. Use that and the MSE and you've got "in the box" supported solutions that really work and are low hassle.
Highly recommended.
Many of the other programs give you lots of feedback. Frankly, after evaluating all of those, I find the feedback really contributes more to justifying what you paid than they do real, material action items the vast majority of the time. MSE and Windows Firewall communicate when they need to, and that's optimal in my experience.
One thing I found rather telling is that Microsoft stayed out of that ecosystem for a long time for fear of the usual and often justified claims they are putting people out of business, limiting choice, etc... What was interesting is they all squealed like stuck pigs when Microsoft put MSE out there, and then suddenly those other solutions got a lot better. Interesting how there is a lot of money to be made where there are a lot of problems to solve. The other companies have a core conflict between doing their job well and making money and adding other value. MSE forces them to really add value and really deal with things instead of expanding the tool to add value that is more artificial than not.
MS did the right thing on this one.
I'm open to more advice.
Edit: Parts arrived. Dang, these things are easy to put together these days. Everything worked the first time.