What antivirus do you recommend for win 7? MSE good enough? I currently only have windows defender but i just discovered that defender is not even an antivirus but just an antispyware. i'm kinda very carefull when browsing the web so i never had problems before but still i think i want an antivirus. MSE or something else?
ClamWin, VirusTotal. But best "antivirus" is properly configured Windows (ie. with disabled/removed all scripting technologies, etc) and conscious user.
antivirus is not a good solution at all, you should have software that covers you with A/V - Firewall - Sandbox - HIPS, and many other features and to use your brain, this is the most important thing if you have just A/V ... just wait for the Next virus ... For a good example, check s**tOS Site, a great example people sharing viruses, for free, But the A/V scan was good ... how is it possible? Kaspersky / Comodo can be a good solution for you For start... Comodo has a free version for a Security suite i didn't check if it fits Win. 7 but you can check by yourself.
Antivirus is like having bulletproof vest with 75% effectiveness while being shot 4 times In short: never entrust your entire security to an antivirus software.
Microsoft's in Win10 and 11 is just fine for most users. Kaspersky is great for power users because of its verbose mode, where you can turn off its automatic take action autopilot, and get popups letting you see when some app tries to do suspicious things in OS protected areas or contact some IP that might be worth double checking. ESET and Bitdefender are also pretty great. Not that familiar with the other products, but most should do fine. But, again, for most people, a properly configured Defender and being mindful of what you run from more shady websites should do perfectly fine. There was an era a while ago when almost everything was virused, from Amiga diskettes to later work PCs full of spyware, not updated, vulnerable etc., but things have been steadily improving.
I would suggest cloud based solutions like webroot or Hitman. Extremely lite on system resources, no updates needed (because the signatures are in the cloud) and extremely low disk footprint. My Hitman takes 14 MB of diskspace and 10 MB of RAM and uses two detection engines, Bitdefender and Surfright.
I would back wkeller on this one! winclam is an open source av compactible with avery version of windows (from Win95 to Win11) This alone is a good sign for me. It will autoupdate its definitions daily but it won't scan anything unless you explicitly scan a file, folder or the contents of the RAM. 1. So it doesn't hog your cpu by constantly running on the background. 2. It won't randomly start deleting patches or cracks There is also a companion program called clamwin sentinel which will run in realtime but can be set to just inform you or take actions as well. Any realtime AVs is a bad idea though if you are just a private person minding its own business. If you are also in the search for a good firewall, Binisoft Windows Firewall Controll v4.5-4.8 is the one I use it has a manual mode which mean that you can block what ever you like. Being windows update or system (just an example don't do it )
thank you all for replying. I just wanted to add that im looking for something free with no monthly sub plan. Also privacy is something i care about and i would prefer something open source, or stay in the microsoft ecosystem at worse (is M Security Essentials really bad in 2023?) i did some research on on ClamWin and yes its opensource and minimal but almost everyone says that it's just bad and doesnt find viruses.
On Windows 7 i would personally recommend a good firewall like Soft4ver Look'n'Stop firewall Perhaps a sanbox if needed? and VirusTotal for all the rest like common sense... Virus scanners are overrated for normal common people...
Just wanted to say thanks for this using ClamWin now noticed every anti virus I tried would just bog down my laptop. So something on demand is what I seriously needed & was looking for. Even turned off windows defender for extra performance probably just start using ClamWin from now on.