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Wanted: A Superior Anti-Virus

For the past few years the computers hereabouts have used Avast Pro anti-virus. Our subscription to that software is about to end and I’d like to consider alternatives.

The Good

There are some things that I like about Avast. In particular, I like the fact that it has a “Gaming” mode that eliminates all the prompts. I leave it that way all the time. It’s an anti-virus. I just want it quietly go about it’s business. I don’t want to be bothered by it.

Lenovo X-1-Carbon-AvastPro

The Bad

There are some things I don’t like About Avast Pro. Like so many companies, they’ve expanded beyond the traditional role of anti-virus to offer a plethora of additional services.

  • I don’t want their VPN service.
  • I don’t want their advice on how to “tune up” my PC.
  • I don’t want them to ensure that all of my applications are updated.
  • I don’t want it to try to connect me to known good Wi-Fi providers.
  • I most definitely don’t want them to be a login & password manager.

Some months ago there was a major version update to Avast Pro. In that update the app became a LOT heavier. On my old desktop it rendered my video production toolset unworkable.

The system had been a finely tuned balance, running vMix, a Hangout and VoiceMeeter. vMix and a Hangout are both heavyweight applications. The updated Avast Pro 7 pushed it over the edge, at least as far as that older machine was concerned.

And for what? I neither wanted, nor needed any of the super, new features offered in the new release. It was mostly about  selling new services.

Over the course of the past year we’ve also migrated to Windows 10, which has the built-in Windows Defender. Windows Defender runs as long as no third-party anti-virus is installed. It provides a baseline of protection, although most advise that something better is required.

I wonder what anti-virus they use inside Microsoft?

The Options

All the usual suspects remain in this space. I checked out reviews at PC Magazine, CNET and Tom’s. After all that reading I’m left uninspired. The easy thing to do would be to just renew our subscription to Avast Pro.

Maybe there’s a better approach. I’m open to options. What’s your opinion?

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