Low Bandwidth (Pref Free) Anti-Virus

seanbaussie on 20/04/2014 - 18:12

My mother-in-law isn't incredibly computer literate & so does sometimes do things that might put her computer at risk, so is in need of a reliable anti-virus solution. She's not good at updating things either.

She has tried several anti-virus options over time but 2 problems come up:

  • She only uses 3G internet and is in a dead spot for connection, so her internet connection's slow
  • Her computers aren't really all that up-to-date

What I'm looking for, therefore, is your experience with an anti-virus that:

  • Has small-sized updates (the initial download size doesn't matter because I'd download it for her - but it's going to be installed on a desktop at her house so I'd like a program that doesn't need huge initial updating either).
  • Is easy to use
  • Doesn't take a stack of power to run
  • Is reliable
  • Preferably is free. She's been sucked in by paid versions of McAfee before that slowed her computer down and sucked money from her account at ridiculously high prices before. She's not tech-savvy enough to stop payments online either/pick up what is actually 'needed' and so pays for whatever, hence my preference for free.

I did see http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php?chart=chart2&yea… , I've tried AVG and avast but both have had fairly high bandwidth needs or large update sizes. ZoneAlarm can be so too, and I've read that Microsoft SE isn't necc. reliable.

I guess I'm trying to find the best of the bunch in this regard…

Poll Options expired

  • 0
    AVG
  • 1
    Avast
  • 0
    ZoneAlarm
  • 3
    Microsoft SE
  • 0
    Something Else (Please place in comments)
Computing

Comments

  • cooldude123 on 20/04/2014 - 18:20

    MalwareBytes Anti-Malware is quite reliable when used with something like Microsoft SE. The Free version works perfectly, but I purchased a license for live scans. Updates are daily but really small (about 2-3 MB)

    Maybe try something like Kaspersky as well (costs money but well worth it)

  • scrimshaw on 20/04/2014 - 22:05
    +1

    I hope your mom-in-law isn't still using Windows XP.

    I recommend MalwareBytes also, but I know from experience installing it on my parents laptop, they have never actually fired the program and do an on-demand scan themselves.

    So you might want to consider if the user may 'forget' to perform these scans as MalwareBytes Free doesn't have a resident component and either go the paid version or use Task Scheduler to make the program run once a month or something.

    • seanbaussie on 21/04/2014 - 09:29

      Your guess is correct about them actually running malware bytes (or any other program), good hint abt the scheduling.
      I'm wondering, though, what she'd do when presented with a list of suggested tasks (eg delete this entry), I think this could equal confusion. Is malwarebytes accurate enough that it never removes something that might actually be needed (if I were to say 'always delete everything it finds')?

      • scrimshaw on 21/04/2014 - 14:32

        MalwareBytes is usually pretty spot-on with detections. YMMV. The removed items go into quarantine, not deleted permanently.

        What I would also suggest is to clone the computer's HDD when you have it, after you have installed all the neccessary programs and Windows Updates. Then perhaps write some instructions showing how to restore the computer using the imaging software.

        This way your mother in law can at least have a method of refreshing her PC without needing to re-download the software and patches again, saving some time and bandwidth.

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