Best Antivirus ?

[J Gretch]

So I have a nice fresh install of Win-7 Pro with Mixcraft and all my other programs running like new I've been using AVG Free on all my computers for years with no problem, but lately been getting pop-ups from them trying to sell their other products. Also their program seems to slow things down when I turn it back on after a long recording session.That has just started recently.
Thinking about trying something else and was wondering what some of you guys use.

[JonInc]

Really depends on how much surfing you do with your DAW computer.

If it's minimal, then Windows Defender is probably all you need. But if you do a lot of surfing - especially to sites that throw up a lot of popups - you are much better served getting a commercial product.

Esetnod32 is mentioned a lot by DAW users. Do a search for antivirus and DAW (There are lots of threads) to get a bigger picture and more recommendations.

[J Gretch]

I keep my internet use to a very minimum on the studio computer, just don't want to get bit.

[Starship Krupa]

I'm with JonInc, then. Windows has built-in protection that works pretty well.

Have you had problems in the past?

I am not a big fan of commercial anti-virus products. Long ago I was a desktop IT technician and I still help out friends and family with computers.

In my 35 years of using computers, the problems, frustrations, hassles, interfering with program operation, computer slowdown, pop-up advertising, difficulty removing, all of that, has been worse with anti-virus programs than any virus.

In the situations where I do use anti-virus programs (other than the ones that come with Windows 7 or 10), I only use the ones that do on-demand scanning and removal, never the ones that stay running and monitor my system. Malwarebytes Free is a good one for that.

I use my DAW system heavily for Internet stuff, and the main way I stay virus-free is by not clicking on every link in every piece of email that comes to me, especially ones that my mother forwards me from her AOL account with "Re: Re:Re: Re: Re: Forward Forward Forward You have to see this so funny!!" in the subject. Also Russian girls seeking companionship.

[Rolling Estonian]

I use Panda instead of Windows and Malwarebytes to scan for issues. Panda is cloud based so it's a really lite footprint and MB is one of the best.

M

[davefk]

I've been using Avast with Win 7 and MX 7 and 8 working perfectly... Avast does have the occasional popup trying to tempt you into upgrading from the free version. Just add MX to the exclusions.

[James Klutho]

I've used Sandboxie with Windows Defender with good luck. Very minimalistic. 2 cases in the last couple of years that a virus or malware tried to get into my computer via a web page and was stopped by Sandboxie.