Is it worth paying for an AV/IS

Any free AV (MSE, Avast, Comodo…) + MBAM Pro + Sandboxie Pro (both 1-pay lifetime license software) will protect you better than 99%+ of the planet is protected.

 

Imo you can get the same results from a free AV as you can with paid. I could care less about supporting the big names as I rather spend my money supporting the mom and pop type.

I have Bitdefender Av plus 2013 running on a netbook that I paid $5.95 for 1 yr otherwise I would not spend the normal price for a paid AV,unless it was a one off.

 

The only software I've felt the need to pay for was MBAM and Sandboxie. Just stellar products. Even if they gave me the full versions for free, I'd still want to give them something.

 

Yep well worth every peny.

 

I would gladly pay for an AV that was worth paying for. As it stands, I've been there, done that, and have yet to find one worthy of a second year of payment.

That along with experience (and Wilders) have taught me that there is no AV alone that can provide the protection needed against the present onslaught of viruses, malware, etc., etc.

A more intricate layered approach is what I've found is needed. And as a part of the layers I use, I am more than happy to pay for (a/k/a support) products like MBAM Pro and Sandboxie Lifetime. I only wish that there were more trustworthy products like them that actually offer something of value in return for my dollars.

 

If the free one works, save your cash.

 

It "can" be, if the extra features offered suit your needs.

For me personally, I see no instances where this would be the case though. And in fact, I'd sooner pay for the free versions than the paid most of the time. They're trimmer/quicker, and have everything I need. The extra features, guards, shields, or whatnot... just unnecessary bloat and/or overlap with other things I already have in place.

But for the next person, it might be useful.

If they offered a "slim" version of Comodo 6, with just the FW & D+... No sandbox/kiosk, no cloud scanning. No TVL. I'd buy the thing in a heartbeat. I'd pay 50, easily. Sandboxie & Macrium Reflect Standard each cost me about that, and I'd consider such a product right there with them.

And I'll bet a lot of people would love a FW only version too. It would be worth whatever people pay for say LooknStop, or likewise.

I think they have it all backwards. Offer the suites for free and pay for the specialized versions. It's worth more to have exactly what you need than a bloated, convoluted suite with a ton of crap you don't really need. To me, anyway.

 

I'd save my cash and use avast! free with sbie and oa.

 

I have used several paid products in past years, but what happens to me is I usually end up changing to something else well before the year is up, which makes me feel like I've wasted my money to some extent. Nowadays, I use free products... I think they're good enough, unless you have some very special needs....

 

I for one only use Avast! and some countermeasures in my browser like AdBlock, LastPass and Trusteer Rapport which I installed just now. I don't feel that I need anything else since I don't get infected.

Avast! is really fast, and supports SSDs throughout, my banking is covered by other stuff. On top of that, my Hardware Firewall runs a WPA2 password with a combination of big letters, small letters, numbers AND special characters, AND it uses MAC filtering as well, so I don't feel that I will ever need a paid security solution personally. If I actually get infected, I got my butt covered by Hitman Pro since I support them with translations for all their upcoming versions.

 

Waaaay back when I used an antivirus,I always used free Avira.

 

You nailed it.

Usually i prefer free software, specially for non security things but it's always nice to show some support to my favorite apps devs.

 

how do you scan your system Boost?what do you use?thanks

 

I scan my PC once a month using:
Hitmanpro > Free
Malwarebytes > Free

Downloads all scanned by virustotal,that it. No problems in almost 4 years now using this set-up.

 

Worth it, sure if you find a reliable product that does well in tests and performs well on your system. I've recently paid for a single product, MBAM. The rest of my setup is free and is serving me rather well.

 

Me thinks you can add Blueridge's AppGuard to the list.