Windows 7 paid anti-virus program

[DICKEYBIRD]

Anybody else on the forum allergic to W10 other than me?

I've never stopped using W7 for my meager needs and haven't had any malware attacks (knock on wood.) I picked up a refurb W10 Pro Dell PC for SWMBO a couple years ago but she never really adapted & hates it with a passion. I have to help her with it & we end up yelling at each other....not good. I got it for her originally because W10 is "better" & has Windows Defender to help cover her.

I "inherited" a couple fairly decent Dell W10 PC's from work recently & have been fiddling around installing W7 and a 500 gig WD SSD on one of them. (I have a few weeks of fiddle time due to the recovery from my 2nd Carotid Endarterectomy, done last Monday)

Anyhoo, anybody here have any first hand experience with a paid-for virus program for W7 that would keep it reasonably secure? I've been looking at Bit Defender in a package deal to protect the 4 PC's I have, including SWMBO's W10 PC when/if I flush it take it back to W7. I know that W7 support is over from MS over but I was hoping to stretch it out for a couple or 3 years more with a paid-for security program.

Thoughts?

[leesr]

Anybody else on the forum allergic to W10 other than me?

I've never stopped using W7 for my meager needs and haven't had any malware attacks (knock on wood.) I picked up a refurb W10 Pro Dell PC for SWMBO a couple years ago but she never really adapted & hates it with a passion. I have to help her with it & we end up yelling at each other....not good. I got it for her originally because W10 is "better" & has Windows Defender to help cover her.

I "inherited" a couple fairly decent Dell W10 PC's from work recently & have been fiddling around installing W7 and a 500 gig WD SSD on one of them. (I have a few weeks of fiddle time due to the recovery from my 2nd Carotid Endarterectomy, done last Monday)

Anyhoo, anybody here have any first hand experience with a paid-for virus program for W7 that would keep it reasonably secure? I've been looking at Bit Defender in a package deal to protect the 4 PC's I have, including SWMBO's W10 PC when/if I flush it take it back to W7. I know that W7 support is over from MS over but I was hoping to stretch it out for a couple or 3 years more with a paid-for security program.

Thoughts?

I use Kapersky does not hinder or slow done the computer, even thou it is a Russian company, it's very good, new user is very reasonable for 3 computers.
$36 for first time users, look at their web site

I always dislike window operating system after windows XP, I hate this backup to the cloud BS

[DICKEYBIRD]

Thanks! I had seen them before but was paranoid about it being Russian. Probably safer than MS LOL!

I found a W7 forum & it mentioned WDO (Windows Defender Offline.) That should help if I get a bug. Gotta read some more but sounds like you shut down the infected one & scan it from a separate PC.

[RB211]

I find W10 to be superior

[lugnut]

i have "Webroot Secure Anywhere" on my laptop, and it never slowed it down, ever

[flathead4]

We are forbidden to put anything on our work network that has any Kaspersky components. I upgraded all my computers at home to Win 10 through Microsoft's free upgrade process. Windows Defender comes free with it but I have used Norton for years. I get it for free as a Comcast customer. It can be an annoying hog sometimes but I trust it.

[Black Forest]

I use Eset. Love it and never had any problems.

[Canus]

Have been happy with AVG free version.

[Stu]

I use AVG paid version and Malwarebytes Paid. Happy with both

[SLK001]

We are forbidden to put anything on our work network that has any Kaspersky components.

Why is this? Is it just because they are a Ruskie company, or is there any method to their madness?

Every time I get a new computer, W8-W10 gets blasted off it and W7 gets loaded onto it. I can't put into words that this board would accept as to how much I despise those Windows offerings. As for AV, I quit using AV about 6 years ago. In its place, I now use an updated HOSTS file to block undesirable sites. Read about it here. And, before anyone starts bellowing, "that's crazy" or "you must be infected with EVERY virus ever created..." and such, I haven't had any problems since I made the switch. The HOSTS file acts as a traffic cop - any site that is listed in the HOSTS file gets its access from my computer blocked. You can't even GET to a bad site to get infected. Now this doesn't block viruses that hitch a ride in from other than the internet - that is where a website called VIRUSTOTAL comes in. Any file I'm not sure of is fed to this site where nearly every virus program gets a whack at it. All you have to do is view the results from this scan to find out how worthless AV products really are. I also regularly perform an off-line scan to double check my computer to see if it is still safe.

[RB211]

I like the built in Win10 antivirus/malware

[Georgineer]

I find W10 to be superior.
I like the built in Win10 antivirus/malware

I get your message, RB, but that isn't the point of Dickeybird's thread. I have no intention of using W10 if I can possibly avoid it, but I am interested in finding out how best to secure my W7 computers.

George B.

[BCRider]

My old still running laptop has always been running with Avast. I used the free version for some years then the paid subscription for 3 years when my previous desktop also used W7. I let this slide back to the basic freeware version when the old desktop imploded and the replacement came with W10. I do know that Avast blocked a few things from coming in during that time when really old links on some sites went to malicious sites instead of where intended. So it seems to work pretty well at identifying attacks. And the best part was that I didn't find that it slowed down the load times like I had with an older version of some other anti-virus.

[leesr]

I use Eset. Love it and never had any problems.

eset is also very good, the windows defender is like malware, I had to struggle to remove it, I have windows 10 and I hate it because Microsoft is trying to prevent the owner from
configuring their own system, and the cloud is a bs, I use USB external hard drives for back up, I purchased the Office 365 last year and was updated to MS365 , I hated it. I uninstalled it and reinstalled and older version of office that I own, no yearly leasing BS. I have an old XP box too that I run legacy software, old dos, and windows programs, I will eventually run on a virtual on windows 10.
I own all the software, I use it for very accurate proven calculations. the only reason I have the MS10 box is to communicate with customers and friends.

[leesr]

the only reason to use the cloud , is for offsite back up and roaming profile if one travels a lot, but what I do not like is were are these offsite servers at? China? Philippines, ? or where?
No sir I don't trust any thing these big corporations do, I don't put any thing of mine in the cloud.