Looking for opinions or advice!

[bersaguy]

My computer security program account is coming up for renewal and I am looking to see what companies people use and think do a good job. The one I am with seems to work ok but they have all of a sudden gotten very proud of their service. I got my notice it will be coming due soon and the price went up by 40% from last year so it has got me shopping. I don't know that much about the companies so I would like to hear what folks are using and do they like them. Other than the one I am using I am aware of Norton and McAfee and have used them in the past. The one I am using now was the one that this computer had on it when I bought it which is AVG. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Bersaguy       aka  Doug

[quedz]

See if this link will open for you.

 N/A

Edited April 6, 2019 by hughd

[TomInMN]

I just use the free version of AVG's offering.

Regardless, back up all your important documents and photos to an external drive (an actual disk drive or even a big thumb drive) regularly, just like any other housekeeping task. Then, if your computer becomes a paperweight for any reason, you still have your most important files.

[mikegideon]

Free AVG wears me out.. I probably didn't get it configured right. All my machines are company machines. We use Symantec Endpoint (Norton). My girl's personal machines are Norton as well. Can't really complain about them. And, they don't drive us crazy.

I normally scan with free Malwarebytes as well.

And, as was already mentioned. Back it up

[TomInMN]

13 minutes ago, mikegideon said:

Free AVG wears me out.. I probably didn't get it configured right. All my machines are company machines. We use Symantec Endpoint (Norton). My girl's personal machines are Norton as well. Can't really complain about them. And, they don't drive us crazy.

I normally scan with free Malwarebytes as well.

And, as was already mentioned. Back it up

Yes, Malwarebytes!

[Trekbike]

We use Vipre at work and it's always done a good job and doesn't have all the "bloat" like some programs.  

[DaveTN]

Who is your internet provider? Do they offer anything?

[DL126]

If your OS is Windows 7, use Microsoft Security Essentials.

Any later version of Windows has Windows defender built in.

Both work just as well as anything you'll pay $ for.

The most important part of your security is YOU.

[bersaguy]

Thanks for all the advice and now I have something to look at. I have planned on putting all my important my pictures and other stuff I want to keep on Thumbdrives. Going to get some next time I am at Walmart. I do have Windows 7 I am using so I will look at what explorer has to offer for sure.  Again, thanks for all the advice.

[analog_kidd]

I have been using the free AntiVirus that comes with Windows for years. Not sure if it is still supported on your Win7 O/S though. (Why didn't you do the free upgrade to Win10?) The free MS Antivirus works well, and I've never gotten a virus while using it. Of course, I'm not one to go willy-nilly clicking any link that pops up in my browser. I have a few trusted web sites that I visit, and I'm not likely to get a virus from them.

I also am a big fan of using host files to block unwanted sites. You need to have a (very) slightly better than average set of computer skills to set it up. You already have a host file on your PC, you just need to copy over it, or edit it in notepad and paste some text into it.

Here's how it works: When you browse to a website, your computer has to convert that friendly name into an IP address. It usually does that by looking up the IP on a DNS server. However, your PC will check the host file on your PC before it asks the DNS server. You can fool your PC by giving it the wrong IP address for a given web site. Usually that fake IP is 127.0.0.1, which goes nowhere. So if I add an entry to my host file for www.badwebsite.com to go to nowhere, if I accidentally click a link that tries to send me there, the browser just returns a blank page.

If you google "no ads host file" you'll get plenty of examples that you can copy onto your PC.

 

[Grunt67]

Doug, I've used the Free version of AVG for years, and haven't had an issue. Who knows, tomorrow could change that. As others have posted, Windows Defender works quite well also.

Overall, the best defense is you.

[bersaguy]

Ok first off thank everyone for their opinions and ideas. They are very appreciated.

Here is what I ended up doing. I have a grandson that is a trouble shooter for Verizon and has been for several years. He is a computer Geek for sure and if it anything to do with phones or computers he can fix it. I caught him on one of his few days off and had him come buy. Told him my concernes before he came. He said he uses Bitdefender which is the same company Verizon uses so he installed it on my Samsung 7 Smart Phone, my laptop computer and my desk top. Cost $82.00 for up to 5 devices and that is for 2 years. He said since I only had 3 devices he was going to split the cost with me and use the service on 2 of his devices so we would get our moneys worth from the service. After he downloaded and installed it he did total scans on all of my devices and now I am fully protected for 2 years anyway. As for a back up, he brought me a brand new external 500GB Hard drive and down loaded everything I wanted to back up and he said there is enough space left on it I should be able to store anything I want to store in the future. So that is where I am at with that. I feel much better knowing my devices are now protected and I have everything I wanted to save backed up. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by bersaguy

[DaveTN]

Sounds like your Grandson has you all fixed up….Good for him.

[bersaguy]

2 hours ago, DaveTN said:

Sounds like your Grandson has you all fixed up….Good for him.

Yea he  is really good with this type of stuff. He just stays so busy him finding the time can be an issue but he made time for me yesterday..........lol

[beebee233]

Here's a tip. Place a backup offsite (mom's/friend's/brother's house or office) in case of theft/fire/etc.

[bersaguy]

3 hours ago, beebee233 said:

Here's a tip. Place a backup offsite (mom's/friend's/brother's house or office) in case of theft/fire/etc.

Yep, grandson has already got that in the works. He is getting me another 500GB external hard drive and coming back to dub what he did yesterday and he will be holding onto it for me. I gave him a safe a couple years back when my ammo count to large for it and he will be keeping it in the safe.................

[DaveTN]

12 hours ago, bersaguy said:

Yep, grandson has already got that in the works. He is getting me another 500GB external hard drive and coming back to dub what he did yesterday and he will be holding onto it for me. I gave him a safe a couple years back when my ammo count to large for it and he will be keeping it in the safe.................

I have a couple of external hard drives and several portable hard drives. I use Acronis for system back-ups. I believe in redundancy in back-ups.

Too many people don’t learn about the need for back-ups until it is too late. Your chances of a hard drive failure or you doing something wrong are far greater than fire or theft.

My parents are in another state. I maintain their computers and back-ups remotely with the free version of TeamViewer. That’s something you and your Grandson might want to look into.

[Dane]

I've always used cloud storage for my backups.  I figure Google has more redundancy and better equipment than I can afford.  Its free/cheap and auto backs up anything I need. 

 

[DaveTN]

A note for those of you who may need more cloud storage than the free stuff offers…

I run several desktops, laptops, and tablets. I needed to upgrade my Microsoft Office and was always struggling with the amount of installs I could do with the standard options. I also wanted some cloud storage, but the free stuff didn’t offer enough space.

I recently switched to Officer 365 for 6 users. Each user gets 1TB of OneDrive (6TB total) and each user can install on 5 devices (30 total). That’s a pretty good deal for $100 a year. Break that cost up with friends or family members and its really cheap.

OneDrive is a simple interface with File Explorer and makes it easy to swap files between my desktop and laptop, without a network.