New virus scanner needed after Jan 2020

[christiaan 4]

Have MSE virus scanner but in January Microsoft is stopping support for Windows 7 .

Thinking of getting the paid Norton 360 virus scanner.

It will be for my FSX ( and in the future for P3D and Windows 10 )

I want to keep my complete computer safe and of course the Flight Simulations.

Any tips are most welcome.

 

 

[Quasimodo 505]

I've used ESET NOD32 anti-virus since 2013. It's the suggestion of Nick Needham in his FSX Bible and Haswell build from that same year. it doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on performance at all. Of course things might have changed since then. These thing don't stand still for long. I did run my FS system antivirus free for a few months but I occasionally got the impression that something was going on! I've been updating my system and overclock lately and reinstalled it. Initial scan showed no treats so I was just being paranoid. Still it seems to have had no impact on the system at all so its staying for peace of mind. They have a free trial for 30 days or so.

[pmb 5,130]

I had several paid Security Suites for years (including Kaspersky and friends) which all tended to interfere with some programs I use, notably flightsim addons. Sometimes not even making excpetions, deactivating them or opening ports did help, but I had to install the scanner to see it's the culprit, notably of network/Simconnect issues.

I am now using the Windows 10 integrated scanner, where I have to set a few exceptions, too, but otherwise it's much less intrusive. Plus, it's less preformance-hungry than some others According to recent tests there is not much gap between the integrated scanner and payware scanners, if any.

So, when you decide to switch to Win 10 (I did pretty much at its launch) this would be an option.

Kind regards, Michael

[fppilot 4,256]

Move to Windows 10 and it's integrated security, which with Windows security updates goes well past just antivirus.  Defender, the antivirus element of Windows, is only one part of that security.  I also supplement Defender with Malware Bytes for protection against all forms of malware.

Edited December 5, 2019 by fppilot

[vortex681 806]

It's worth a look here (a highly respected comparative site) before you decide what to use:

https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/real-world-protection-test-july-october-2019/

https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/performance-test-october-2019/

Windows Defender works but it usually comes at the bottom in tests for false positives and system impact. I use Bitdefender which I leave on all the time and it doesn't appear to have any impact on gaming. I also use Malwarebytes Premium which happily co-exists with Bitdefender and, similarly, has no noticeable affect on performance.

 

[overspeed3 410]

      I use Malwarebytes Premium.  It has a yearly subscription fee but it's worth it.  Caught many, many "PUP" type virus intrusions.  I also use a general virus checker Vipre.   

[ckyliu 1,743]

You haven't need to pay for a home anti-virus solution for many years. Symantec Norton historically was an intrusive and slow nightmare. But at any rate, your anti-virus should be disabled when gaming or games excluded from the resident shield.

I've used Avira free or Avast free on all my builds for years and they consistently rate highly, you can see the proof in the links Vortex681 posted. At the present time I am favouring Avira.

Edited December 5, 2019 by ckyliu

[Bob Scott 7,317]

Another vote for ESET NOD32.

[vortex681 806]

1 hour ago, ckyliu said:

But at any rate, your anti-virus should be disabled when gaming or games excluded from the resident shield.

It probably depends on your system and the antivirus you use, but I find that the combination of Bitfefender and Malwarebytes doesn't seem to noticeably affect the performance of any of my sims or games generally. Many antivirus programs now have automatic game modes to automatically reduce the system impact when gaming. Leaving performance aside, since a number of my games use Steam and are always online, I'd much rather be safe than sorry with regards to antivirus protection.

[G-RFRY 1,658]

You should always be protected.

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/nvidia-high-severity-geforce-experience-update

[pete_auau 1,061]

or  switch  to win  10

[vortex681 806]

21 hours ago, rjfry said:

You should always be protected.

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/nvidia-high-severity-geforce-experience-update

A great reason to avoid GeForce Experience (if you actually need one).

[G-RFRY 1,658]

5 hours ago, vortex681 said:

A great reason to avoid GeForce Experience (if you actually need one).

AMD had to do the same with the drivers software not long ago.

And in the release notes some time back Nvidia had to patch the drivers.

Edited December 28, 2019 by rjfry

[stans 656]