Anti-virus... install or no?

mrcheez

I bought a new setup recently (i7 7700, GTX 1070, 16GB RAM) and it has Windows 10 on it.

I'm going to use it for work as well as gaming, so I've installed Office, SQL Server, Visual Studio and other work-related things.

These tend to eat up resources, but I can generally turn them off in Task Manager.

One thing I haven't installed yet is an anti-virus. I'm going to do my best to avoid dodgy downloads (using my old PC for these perhaps), so not certain if I should get an anti-virus as I think it will just eat into the performance of the machine (I want to run games at Ultra while using my VR headset).

Ant-virus would generally be harder to disable.

Have ye found that anti-virus is something that might affect machine performance? Do the "Gaming modes" on these anti-viruses help much?

Lemming

mrcheez wrote: »

I bought a new setup recently (i7 7700, GTX 1070, 16GB RAM) and it has Windows 10 on it.

I'm going to use it for work as well as gaming, so I've installed Office, SQL Server, Visual Studio and other work-related things.

These tend to eat up resources, but I can generally turn them off in Task Manager.

One thing I haven't installed yet is an anti-virus. I'm going to do my best to avoid dodgy downloads (using my old PC for these perhaps), so not certain if I should get an anti-virus as I think it will just eat into the performance of the machine (I want to run games at Ultra while using my VR headset).

Ant-virus would generally be harder to disable.

Have ye found that anti-virus is something that might affect machine performance? Do the "Gaming modes" on these anti-viruses help much?

TBH, blaming AV products is a crutch used by everyone else (games developers, hosting companies, other unrelated software and/or hardware/driver companies). I have used Norton AV since forever and yet to have a problem that was AV-specific for gaming. I have seen [much] earlier versions of kaspersky monopolise desktop resources (in a workplace setting ... not gaming related) but that's about it.

I also have all of the above listed "work" software installed on my home machine (AMD FX8350, 16GB ram, 2xSLI Nvidia 770, on Win10) and never have to disable any of them in order to game. If I were hosting SQL server for many people and had large databases with large datasets being routinely pulled off them then yes I would have a problem; but that scenario raises several fundamental questions anyway that have nothing to do with AV.

wally1990

Not my area of expertise but isn't there a gaming mode now on most anti virus ??

Tony EH

Download Avast. Install it. It has a very small footprint.

https://www.avast.com/en-us/index

I haven't had a virus in about 10 years of using it.

mrcheez

Tony EH wrote: »

Download Avast. Install it. It has a very small footprint.

https://www.avast.com/en-us/index

I haven't had a virus in about 10 years of using it.

I'll check it out.

I installed Avira on my laptop in the office and it had a major performance impact on my setup over time. Uninstalled it and it was as if I had a brand new machine.

Hence my concern regarding the gaming machine. I know I'm well powered for most games at the moment, but in a year or two my spec will be average to below-average and I don't want something like a bad av eating up resources.

mrcheez

Incidentally I take it McAffee is a no-no

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg

SickBoy

If you don't have a 3rd party antivirus program installed then you're already using Windows Defender which is built into Windows 10.
Installing something like avast, avg or Norton will disable Windows Defender and be your antivirus client.

Nothing wrong with Windows Defender either as long as you have a bit of common sense.

Inviere

I stick with the built in Windows Defender. I got sick & tired of intrusive advertising pop ups using Avast etc...they reminded me more & more of actual virii themselves as time went on! Have been relying on Defender for over a year now, it's non intrusive, fast, and as above, if you're savvy enough with what you do, it's more than capable.

wotzgoingon

I've been using avast for a few years now and never had any problems with virus' or even computer slowdowns.

mrcheez

Those using Avast has it ever caught any malicious software, or have you generally not tempted fate?

Kiith

I've used a few over the years (AVG and Avast mostly), but recently i've just used Windows Defender. AVG started using up a huge amount of system resources, and kept trying to add new bull**** anytime it wanted to update.

No issues with viruses or malware for ages now.

me_irl

Avira seems to score as the best "all rounder" here for Windows 10.

https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

EDIT: ^ That's the Avira paid version tested, the Avast seems to be the next best free a/v.

wotzgoingon

mrcheez wrote: »

Those using Avast has it ever caught any malicious software, or have you generally not tempted fate?

I use avast and have never got a virus and I do be on dodgy porn sites at times. Some times just browsing the web i would click on a site and a pop up would pop up and say it block something.(I'm not sure what, malware or some such)

I never tested it fully like opening a .exe that would be in my spam email folder though. Just to see if it would block it.

poos

Cc cleaner - No issues

me_irl

poos wrote: »

Cc cleaner - No issues

That's not an antivirus program.

Kiith

poos wrote: »

Cc cleaner - No issues

While i swear by CCleaner, it won't stop you getting a virus. It won't find viruses, malware or spyware.

Spybot - Search and Destroy used to be amazing. Seems to be a bit bloated now though, so i haven't used it in a while.

Digital Solitude

I use Malwarebytes Free with Windows Defender, Defender Runs in the background and every few weeks I'll run Malwarebytes as an extra precaution.

Can someone advise would a Script Blocker for your browser be any use for malware prevention? I'm guessing so but haven't any knowledge to back it up

ancapailldorcha

I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials. No issues here either and it is free.

Skerries

Digital Solitude wrote: »

I use Malwarebytes Free with Windows Defender, Defender Runs in the background and every few weeks I'll run Malwarebytes as an extra precaution.

this is what I recommend for most users as it deals with most things

Raging_Ninja

Most third party antivirus these days outside of basic windows defender do little to defend your PC and in fact usually just increase the threat surface area. Most threats these days are zero-day exploits, so no amount of antivirus is going to protect you as these are fundamental to the OS and applications you are running. Only regular updates will protect you from those.

You're better off just disabling flash, adding noscript and/or ublock origin and be careful about what you download and what applications you run.

jumbobreakfast

Kiith wrote: »

While i swear by CCleaner, it won't stop you getting a virus. It won't find viruses, malware or spyware.

Correct. In fact it looks like malware has found ccleaner:

https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/18/16325202/ccleaner-hack-malware-security

o1s1n

poos wrote: »

Cc cleaner - No issues

On a side note, I'd love to know where the optical illusion of an additional 'C' comes from. I called it that for years too myself. It's actually just called C Cleaner. :pac:

Angron

o1s1n wrote: »

On a side note, I'd love to know where the optical illusion of an additional 'C' comes from. I called it that for years too myself. It's actually just called C Cleaner. :pac:

Yeah, it took me a while to cop there was only one C too :pac:

Kiith

Careful with CCCleaner as well, as my sister downloaded it thinking it was CCleaner, and it did all sorts of bull**** on her system.

Army_of_One

yeah malware got packaged with an earlier version..the latest is .34 and safe (apparently ).

I only have CCleaner, malwarebytes and windows defender on my gaming pc...none of which affected gameplay.

mrcheez

OK so ... avoid Avast too then I guess

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/18/avast-reckons-ccleaner-malware-infected-2-27m-users/


So Windows Defender, Malwarebytes and use a separate PC for torrents seems to be the way to go

Army_of_One

mrcheez wrote: »

and use a separate PC for torrents seems to be the way to go

I've always used the same pc to torrent but I play it very safe with downloads.

Use a vm to download the torrents and scan etc with that..if its dodgy just revert the vm back to a clean snapshot.It's not annoymous downloading though.

Use a vpn for a bit more privacy with torrents .

wotzgoingon

mrcheez wrote: »

OK so ... avoid Avast too then I guess

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/18/avast-reckons-ccleaner-malware-infected-2-27m-users/


So Windows Defender, Malwarebytes and use a separate PC for torrents seems to be the way to go

Where does it say avast is bad in that article mind you I quickly skimmed through it.

mrcheez

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Where does it say avast is bad in that article mind you I quickly skimmed through it.

Avast's software was hacked. It might have just be CCleaner affected....emphasis on "might"

EoinHef

mrcheez wrote: »

Avast's software was hacked. It might have just be CCleaner affected....emphasis on "might"

Hmm doesnt say that either. Its says avast bought piriform,makers of CCleaner products,in july. It was prirforms infastructure that was compromised. Now avast,as new owners,are going to move downloads to avasts own servers as they are more secure.

So basically the only reason avast is mentioned with this story is because they are the new owners of piriform.

bigphil2

ive been using eset.ie for the past couple of years,ive found it great. Doesnt use up loads of resources and ive not have any virus issues..

moonlighting

malwarebytes does a good job but i noticed in the last few months its become a bit spamy with updates and notifications that cant be fully disabled

mrcheez

Army_of_One wrote: »

I've always used the same pc to torrent but I play it very safe with downloads.

Use a vm to download the torrents and scan etc with that..if its dodgy just revert the vm back to a clean snapshot.It's not annoymous downloading though.

Use a vpn for a bit more privacy with torrents .

I like that VM approach alright. Is there no chance at all of any infection from an infected VM (through the network, or runtime etc) ?

Taylor365

Common sense and windows built in stuff is all I've used. 20 years, no viruses.

I've removed ccleaner recently as that acquisition is going surely ruin it. Back to manually cleaning things up! :pac:

_Kaiser_

Bitdefender or Kaspersky consistently get the highest ratings -both have free/paid versions. I use Bitdefender myself as I got a good discount code at the time on Bargain Alerts.

sierra117x

poos wrote:

Cc cleaner - No issues

Cc cleaner itself was a virus for about a month...something like 130k end users infected after virus software piggy backed with the legitimate software. The Devs themselves picked up on it