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what is the best free anti virus to put on my daughters new laptop?im hopeless with this sort of stuff.

I use zonealarm free anti-virus + firewall.

Download is HERE

With all these free products you have to be REALLY careful to get and stay with the free version, they try to sneak you onto the paid versions so stay clear of words like "trial", "free trial", "free upgrade" etc

If your daughter is only young.
some products you can pay for do include parental control.

Personally i dont use free or recommend them, but if you check on ebay, with a seller with good feed back you can get internet security for as little as £12 for 3 devices.

Remember your world is digital, it could be wiped out with one virus.

If its a new laptop, make sure you run off and burn recovery discs. Or you could be charged £60 from the manufacturer in some cases.

I've always used AVG free and it's been OK. I think modern operating systems are much better than they used to be too.

I am suspicious of anti-virus software. There is something of the protection racket about it that puts me off.

"Nice car you got there squire. Pity if it got damaged knowwarrimean. Give us a tenner and I'll keep an eye on it for you..."

If you happen to bank online with Barclays you can get a free copy of Kaspersky Internet Security suite.

http://www.barclays.co.uk/Helpsuppo...warefromKasperskyBarclays/P1242557966961

If it's running Windows 7, 8 or 10 there is no need for a third party virus scanner, Microsoft provide one free. I have been running Microsoft Security Essentials/Windows Defender since it became available for Windows XP in 2009. Less bloatware than the paid for virus scanners and I'd rather have Microsoft protecting my PC than a free third party one with ulterior motives to get you to pay for their full version.
Microsoft Security Essentials

That brings back memories. In the 60's when I was living in London, we used to go to the Prospect of Whitby pub on the river at Wapping and there were always kids offering to "look after your car, Mister". It used to cost a tanner (2 1/2 pence).
The Prospect used to lose a lot of beer mugs: they were handled but not dimpled and weren't seen anywhere else.

Personally i couldnt disagree more.
Microsoft cant even plug there own holes.

Independent review calls it basline protection click me

I used an independent to backup my thoughts to windows own protection, last time i ran a paid for scan on a Windows 8 machine, 97 threats removed.


It boils down to what your prepared to loose.

I know kids that just restore to factory defaults every few months, as there is nothing important apart from a game or two. So yeah windows built in protection would suit.

But my own opinion is that if you have a digital life to protect, then get decent protection with security built in.

Microsoft Defender or Essentials is not going to protect you with an online transaction. Food for thought.


Microsoft also introduced its own software because hackers were turning pc's back at Microsoft and crashing there servers with DDOS attacks. Now with essentials and defender they can limit any ticking time bombs.


Its upto you how many locks you want on your door, but something is most certainly better than nothing.

[Quote: Personally i couldn't disagree more.]
I can only go by my own experience, never had a virus on my home PC, I used third party virus scanners before changing to Essentials/Defender 5/6 years ago. I have experienced a virus on 2 occasions on work PC's with 2 different companies which affected every PC on the network despite all PC's running McAfee anti virus which proves even the "best" anti virus software can only ever be one step behind the latest virus hence the constant updates. Some common sense may have helped me at home like never answering yes to every request that pops up to install something and keeping clear of pirated software. Windows 10 seems to be updating every few days lately with new definition files for Defender.

[Quote:Microsoft Defender or Essentials is not going to protect you with an online transaction. Food for thought].
..and neither are the best virus scanners unless they incorporate endpoint security management in conjunction with your financial institution. My banks and credit card co. insist I use Trusteer Endpoint with my browser which most good banks will provide for free.

I'd agree with Mark, Microsoft products have a flaw in that they have to allow the full functionality of windows including developer use or historical compatibility that a normal user would never need. Some of those functions not only increase the number of malware access points but also can be weaker "gateways" for deeper levels of access to the operating system. This is why I use a non-windows firewall as well as a non-microsoft antivirus.

Kaspersky is the anti-virus that Zonealarm uses which you will find very little criticism of compared to many other products.

Its been many years since McAfee has been a lead product, the same goes for Norton. Both had their moments historically but didn't keep up with their success.

Some antivirus products have certain functionality switched off by default to make them appear quicker.

You can never have too much security on your PC/Laptop..

This is not a virus protection as such but more of an identity protector: Its Natwests Security software.. Rapport

*Shielding your Online Banking details from prying eyes
*Protecting your card details when shopping online
*Protecting your personal details, even if your computer has a virus.

It works for any website you have to login to, Such as WikiWirral, Facebook, Yahoo etc etc....

Once installed into either:

*Microsoft internet explorer
*Mozilla Firefox
*Google Chrome

You will notice an extra icon next to the url line in the guise of a grey arrow (meaning the website is not protected) if you click on the arrow it will then give you the option to protect it!! which will then turn the arrow green! straight forward and simple!!

http://personal.natwest.com/global/security-centre/rapport.html?DCMP=OTC-rapportFURL

Much thanks

Mark