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Hating on AVG antivirus/firewall (internet security)

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mouser:
I've been using AVG Internet Security antivirus and firewall for last few years (I like that it's an integrated tool).

Each year it seems to get worse and worse -- more bloated, more opaque, more intrusive into system, more convoluted, slower, etc.

Today I plugged in one of my backup drives, and slowly started getting notices that AVG was deleting files from it that were dangerous mail attachments.  It was a backup of an older mail folder, so the problem is not so much that it was deleting malicious files (the attachments in the old mail folders were surely spam and bad) -- the point is --- I don't need my pc slowed down by an antivirus scanning entire backup drives the moment i plug them in.. It's just one more example of AVG trying to "help" me by doing a million things behind my back that slow down my pc.  STOP DOING THINGS I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO DO!

I think I am basically at my breaking point and need to move to another software.

Any other suggestions for a NON-BLOATED antivirus + firewall combo?

wraith808:
I use Malwarebytes and Windows Defender.  For the firewall, I currently just use Windows firewall.  I've tried a few (WinPrivacy, Tiny Personal Firewall, AVG) but in the end, it was more trouble than it was worth.

Shades:
My security measures (for home) are practically similar to what wraith808 applies. The Windows Firewall is good and doesn't demand much resources. It's interface isn't that great, but there are solutions for that as well. Since Windows Vista/7 the Windows firewall has been so good that I never used another one again. Heck, even the one in Windows XP was already half decent.

Windows Defender might not be the best of the absolute best, but it is good and in combination with common sense and a good add-blocker, you are already very secure. Then add MalwareBytes and notice how much faster your computer is, while being protected against the lion's share of culprits on the internet. Keep all of these tools up-to-date and you will have the smoothest Windows experience your computer can provide.

Nowadays the anti-virus software itself is being targeted, because of the amount of low-level access and rights these suites claim and their ability to process every type of file (to see if a file has been infected) on your computer.   

Stoic Joker:
Vote 3 for Windows Defender, as all the latest trends in security point to AV being virtually useless because of the focus on hacking the wetware (user). So low resource usage "good enough" AV (e.g. Windows Defender) is the most common recommendation coupled with the need for reduced permissions, and "Human Firewall" training. Which gets the user into the habit of slowing down just a bit and thinking about what they're about to click on. Anything hot-button or excessively emotive should be reflexively deleted.

It sounds tricky as hell - Eek! Training End Users!?! Impossible! Sacrilege!! ...But it's really not as bad (or completely insane) as it sounds. I've had really good luck with it here for quite a few years.

Dormouse:
I don't know. On some of our computers we do this. And I think it's good enough for the vast majority of threats.

But I can usually arrange it so that Bitdefender doesn't cost me much and system impact seems very small except for a minute at start up. Also have Malwayrebytes (except when it decides it won't deal with live threats).

So, for me, it is all a small bit of gain (maybe) on the one side against a small cost on the other. Decision could swing either way any time depending on circumstances.

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