Best Antivirus for 2020?

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A few days ago, a former colleague messaged me asking for a recommendation for Antivirus for his presumably new Windows 10 installation. If this question came my way 5 years ago, I would have recommended a veritable laundry list of reputable anti-virus for him.

Monster, Blue, Internet, Attack

However, technology moved on and I personally believe that 3rd party anti-virus is no longer necessary for personal PCs.  Let me explain myself.  Nowadays, threats from convetional computer viruses is no longer as dangerous as it was years ago.  Most malicious behaviour of conventional computer virus are automagically detected by most modern Operating Systems, including Windows 10 (as long as it is updated).  Real threats nowadays are not as obvious as computer viruses.  These new threats include Phishing, Ransomware, Drive-by Downloads, Malvertising, etc. and most of these are not necessarily detected and "fixed" by antiviruses.

So that we have established that conversional antiviruses are no longer a necessity in modern day personal computing, do we need to do anything to protect ourselves against these new threats?  Of course we do!

  • Always keep your operating system up-to-date.  New and emerging threats to computers often exploit security hotes that are present in the operating system so keeping your OS updated stops these threats on their tracks.
  • Never use your Windows computer as an "Administrator".  It may be inconventient to run as a "regular" user on your own system but this simple tip will save you a lot of headaches in the long run.
  • Activate and configure Windows Defender.  Windows Defender is the built-in antivirus of Windows 10 and if properly configured and kept up-to-date, it will is a reliable protection against viruses and other computer threats.
  • DO NOT DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL PIRATED APPLICATIONS.  I cannot stress this enough.  When downloading and using pirated applications risks of also downloading and running malicious content.  Even if you acquire those pirated apps from "reputable sources", don't run it.
  • When mobile, avoid using those "free" wi-fi access points.  Using untrusted wi-fi access will run the risk of having your internet traffic hijacked and your data stolen and doing this with all the readily available hacking tools is laughably easy nowadays.

In closing, it is safe to say that 3rd party anti-virus is no longer as necessary as it was years ago.  However, it does not mean that we can be careless.  It is still necessary to practice "good online hygiene" whem using your computers.

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