W10 Antivirus recommendation for IT illiterate

[Mussels]

So i'm catching up with my mother tomorrow, and need to format her PC due to her collecting some wonderful ransomware.


I'll be using the opportunity to get her on windows 10, however i'll be forced to disable windows update due to her having a measly 2GB a month of bandwidth on her portable 3G internet.

In order to prevent another recurrence, i'm looking for recommendations of a lightweight antivirus that wont use large amounts of data for its AV definitions, and wont care about being used offline for weeks at a time.

 

[Kursah]

Set her DNS to OpenDNS. Honestly I've found W10s Defender to be pretty decent.

You could always download and use MalwareBytes Free 1.75 as its definitions are still updated daily...Google a script to run its scan daily.

Most of.the Free AV solutions are very web, update and upgrade AD oriented...so honestly here I see them being more of an annoyance.

I really think MBAM free scripted/manual when you visit + Built in defender + OpenDNS will be enough, will be light weight and good to go.

You don't need an account to use default OpenDNS filtering rules....just manually set your NIC or better yet router to give that out for DNS instead of.what the ISP offers. If you choose to do the free home version you can even set what filters are active, set what domains to block or allow if an override is needed, etc. But that does require an agent so might not be the most useful here it is super light weight. I run the agent on my server...it's only used to track your WAN IP so that your DNS filtering rules apply to your network. Works amazingly well...and can block a large chunk of bad shit before it gets a chance to enter the network. Its super effective.

I wouldn't go any further than that IMHO.

 

[Mussels]

open DNS and similar are not options, too easy to get undone or go wrong and i live 6+ hours away from here so i cant do anything but teamviewer support in case things go wrong.

malwarebytes and a script are options, as is teaching her how to use it - but something with realtime protection would be better.

 

[m&m's]

Avast should work and shouldn't use a lot of bandwidth: You just need to uncheck a lot of useless stuff during the install.

Once installed, set the virus definition to update weekly (10080 min (it normally verify every 240 min)), set the program update to manual and turn the silent mode on.

Also I would highly recommend to install an adblocker which should be the best protection against shady websites.

 

[xfia]

i never get infected with just letting windows do its thing and using firefox with adblockplus and ghostery. they have pretty much any add-on you could ask for but yeah i have used avast before and i could really only give a good review. easy to use, pretty fast and not to much of a resource hog.

 

[Countryside]

Actually im quite impressed with Panda cloud free its lightweight cloud based and blocks most of the bad also yeah like said before install adblock plus.

PS: My parents had the same problem so in my experience panda cloud is a good AV for elderly it does not ask questions, works silently and gets the job done.

 

[Bo$$]

Kaspersky, simple interface, auto updates, and takes care of shit itself. (i've had it without a license for 9 months and it's heuristics scanner worked just fine for me without any updates)

 

[Dethroy]

I second Panda cloud free. Windows Defender has become a decent alternative as well.

 

[Drone]

The easiest way is just leave it to Windows Defender and when something nasty appears just use malwarebytes

 

[Mussels]

The easiest way is just leave it to Windows Defender and when something nasty appears just use malwarebytes

unfortunately with windows 10, if i want updates to defender i get all the windows updates as well. With her data cap, thats not an option.


as for all the other posts: i'll look into them. avast was my original preference, but i wanted second and third opinions before locking into something i cant change for another 6 months.

 

[NC37]

Yeah I've had stuff that Defender caught that MS Security Essentials didn't catch...never used MSSE again.

Defender + MalwareBytes + removing IE from anywhere visible. Use a decent browser + adblock = best AV ever

 

[Drone]

unfortunately with windows 10, if i want updates to defender i get all the windows updates as well. With her data cap, thats not an option.

MS releases update packs for defender separately which can be downloaded and installed, plus Windows 8.1/10 has special options for metered internet connection

 

[Mussels]

MS releases update packs for defender separately which can be downloaded and installed, plus Windows 8.1/10 has special options for metered internet connection

that is an option i'd like to use, but if she turns it off somehow and goes over her cap, its $2 per MB. not exactly cheap.

 

[Drone]

that is an option i'd like to use, but if she turns it off somehow and goes over her cap, its $2 per MB. not exactly cheap.

That's a problem. All software these days get patched really often and Windows 10 updates are getting more and more important so skipping them isn't really a good idea. But MS releases cumulative updates (for Windows and Defender) which you can download elsewhere and then transfer through flash drive and install.

 

[Jetster]

Ransomware is difficult to block. It usually involves an invitation to download. Like free stuff. Education is key. But Kas will catch the java scripts

 

[Mussels]

That's a problem. All software these days get patched really often and Windows 10 updates are getting more and more important so skipping them isn't really a good idea. But MS releases cumulative updates (for Windows and Defender) which you can download elsewhere and then transfer through flash drive and install.

i'll manually update it when i see her, but that could seriously be only twice a year. she gets online for lame parent things like weather reports, gmail, and facebook stalking my kid (her grandson) - and somehow still gets viruses -.-

 

[P4-630]

unfortunately with windows 10, if i want updates to defender i get all the windows updates as well. With her data cap, thats not an option.

Can't you just turn off windows updates and let her update windows defender manually when she turns on the computer, that's pretty simple to do.

 

[Jetster]

Buy her some bandwidth. Get the updates.

 

[Filip Georgievski]

Using defender for quite some time now and i would go with it, especially on W10.
Detects everything, cleans on command, updated frequently and easy to use.

 

[RejZoR]

Best method would be avast! Free with enabled Hardened Mode set to Aggressive. Then lock avast! with a password so no one but administrator can create exclusions. avast! has a massive whitelist database so most common programs run without problems. But it'll block anything that isn't whitelisted, meaning it will provide pretty much 100% protection.

This is how I run 2 laptops, one used by my sister and my laptop only used for browsing. And my mom also uses it here and there so this is the only way to be sure it'll stay clean.

 

[Mussels]

Best method would be avast! Free with enabled Hardened Mode set to Aggressive. Then lock avast! with a password so no one but administrator can create exclusions. avast! has a massive whitelist database so most common programs run without problems. But it'll block anything that isn't whitelisted, meaning it will provide pretty much 100% protection.

This is how I run 2 laptops, one used by my sister and my laptop only used for browsing. And my mom also uses it here and there so this is the only way to be sure it'll stay clean.

this idea, i like. she can know the password, but it'll make her suspicious of them at the same time - she can call me before putting it in.

 

[Jetster]

Another option is to not give her admin privileges so nothing can be installed

 

[RejZoR]

Removing admin rights is annoying because then users can't really install anything. Where Hardened Mode in avast! allows installation of clean verified stuff even by casual users while still restricting anything that isn't verified safe. So you basically get protection of guest account with most freedom of the admin account.

 

[jsfitz54]

I had to reset my friend's mother's PC for ransom ware, W7. It was a was a Dell or HP, can't remember. She had AVAST installed.
When I wiped it, I decided to go with Windows Defender.
Upon a Fresh scan of both C and (D(rescue partition)) Defender picked up problems in the **Rescue Partition** which I Quarantined and Deleted.
She has not had any problems since.
I also installed Malewarebytes FREE as a backup.

 

[revin]

Also you can setup Comodo in Paranoid mode so it will prompt for any write access to the system and has a great whitelist. Also system, registry, and self aware and password protected
I've used it for many years on just safe. just to limit the popup asking so much.
But you can set each rule for remember, Allow, Block, Block and terminate

The HIPS and Sandbox is great so anything new it don't recognize [ie..keen4.exe] either on disk, or installing can be auto sandboxed thus limited access
I visit many sketchy places and it's done extremely awesome.
Also have a running Malewarebytes Anti-Exploit and it's protected me ditty-bingo when some of those screaper's try to pass thru.