best free virus protection program


wislingsailsmen's avatar
im using windows 8.1 what is the best "free" virus protection program?
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IKrines's avatar
There is a free build in Antivirus programme in Windows, Windows defender, it is decent. However I personally don't recommend to look actively for a free antivirus, as the risk getting a nasty malware or virus disguised as antivirus.
annieross987's avatar
So if you're in need of free virus protection for Windows 8, use one of them the following option:

- Avast free antivirus
- AVG Antivirus free 
GrendalUnleashed's avatar
Well first off stop using 8 as MS have provided a free update to 10 as they have addmitted 8 is a POS.

Formatting your PC every 6 months is the best protection as malware presents a higher risk than viruses these days.

Also (not to your point but worth considering) adding security software to your system flags your machine online as a target, in the days of Norton as the premier security the most damaging viruses were developed and released by...Norton prior to their updates (and in some cases in the same).

If you are a basic web surfer then just use the preinstalled MS Firewall you will be viewed by hacking software as a pointless target as the more security you have the more likely you will be perceived as having something of value to the hackers.


IKrines's avatar
Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 has some nasty bug effecting certain PCs, that create a crazy high usage of RAM/CPU, when you have 8 gb or 16 gb of RAM, It legitimately killed my last laptop, as it did destroy the RAM over time.
The worst thing is it keep returning in new forms, despite them trying to fixing it in updates, and it also exist on my new PC.
I do understand why some won't update to Windows 10, because it is just not stable on all computers, and you have to fix it trough Commando prompt.
GrendalUnleashed's avatar
The "bug" in question is a design issue.

8/10, to a lesser extent 7 too, have been designed to be used on towers/laptops and tablet devices. Now this should have been an easy adaptation for the OS: during install you are given the option to sertup for tower, laptop or tablet...simples :)

However this would have required extra coding, testing, debugging and thus time that would have delayed release and potential market share (ie: profits) and so someone at MS said 'f*ck it!' and the system was released as a 'one size fits all' entity.

7 was more biased towards tower/laptops, 8 was...well a piece of poop!...which even MS admits, so by the time 10 comes about tablets have become a phenomenom in sales (iPad) and MS want's its share so the 10 OS is heavily constructed to run on tablets with low CPU/Memory specs compared to tower/laptops.

I've been building bespoke computer systems for a verrry long time and still have machines running Xp as it was the last stable OS out of MS, but time moves on and unless otherwise specifically requested I will only install 7 onto a Windows machine. I can load, setup and debug an Xp machine in under 40min, 7 takes about an hour and a half, 8 I've never touched as it was obviously flawed from the moment the first nerds got access to it and 10...

The first time I installed 10 (on a dual core, 4Gb ram machine with IDE drives) it took the better part of three days to debug and get anything like the speed I was getting on Xp.

The most important element to remove from 10 is 'Automatic updates', many of these "updates" are data collection/analytics communications from the tablet modules, 'apps', and not actually updates to the device's functionality. One reboot took 43mins 17secs while 'Automatic updates' were being configured.

While AutoU maybe the MS system's biggest and growing pain 10 has so many 'apps' running in the background that they, through cummulative effect, become a major system hog in any device that has a decent CPU/RAM. On a tablet there are limited resources for the OS to use and the system manages which has priority for them, not on towers/laptops/notebooks. When presented with a larger amount of CPU/RAM 10 seems to go into party/rave mode and all background apps have free reign to flood the core processors with every dumb request they want:

Hey what's my location now? - If it's the tower it's the same as 5nanosecs ago.
Hey what's the weather doing outside? - I have an actual window, f* off!
Hey is there an Xbox One connected to this router? - the only reasons to link your tower to a XOne is a) for extra game storage or b) to play over multiple screens which the XOne can't do itself.
And over a hundred other stupid system requests...

All of which is akin to trying to create an oil painting in a thrash metal mosh pit while The Sex Pistols play on another stage behind you.

.....not ideal :D

Services is the first port of call to turn off the system hogs but in Win 10, and forward too I suspect, that's not enough as 'apps' have their own settings, so does the system (separate of services) and it's getting harder to find and isolate them...

See: the ongoing issues with graphics tablet functionality being impacted by the 'Pen/Touch' tablet app, as I understand it the Gtab makers are not allowed to add a script to their driver install that imobilizes this app and it is left to the Gtab user to disable it which usually requires going into three seperate parts of the OS to do so.
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k-rooltyfree's avatar
Common Sense 2019
or Linux