![]() Total AV, among others, requires an upgrade to the paid edition for real-time protection (Image credit: Total AV)Įasy interface design? Sure, if you don't mind a GUI designed primarily to show you what features you're missing by using the free version, not one designed to make it simple to set up your scans. Most paid antiviruses feature real-time protection as a key part of their feature-set, but free versions often restrict it, meaning that no matter how powerful the virus detection engine underneath you'll still have to scan things specifically, or wait for your scheduled scan to find out if you've caught a dreaded bug. Real-time protection? Often a paid option, at least in the long term. We're trying to make some money over here, and you're being bloody awkward about it. Look, there's a limited-time offer on! Buy now and save! Stop working and pay attention to me, you freeloader. ![]() After all, if an antivirus is doing its job properly, you shouldn't really notice it doing anything at all, and companies are of course looking to sell the paid version of their product. Free antiviruses love a pop-up, and it's understandable as to why. Everyone's least favourite thing, next to sexually transmitted diseases and stubbing your toe on a piece of furniture. Let's start off with a big one:Īdvertising pop-up notifications. But for the purposes of brevity, here is the summation of my findings, as every single free AV I tried had at least one of these issues, and some several at once. The results? Every single one I tried was rubbish.Īvira Free, Total AV, Panda, Avast, and AVG all had their individual problems, and I could go into a deep dive on each one. But, putting on my investigative hat for a moment, I took this as an opportunity to try out some of the other popular free antivirus options just to see if any would do the trick. As I understand it the paid version is very good indeed, and I know many people that use the free edition quite happily without experiencing the same bug that I did. Now, this isn't me taking my opportunity to bash Bitdefender in particular. With the antivirus removed my system sprang back to life, with all my issues resolved. The change that came over my machine after uninstalling it was like night and day. ![]() I checked my new components individually in other machines, until eventually I came to an inescapable conclusion: Bitdefender itself was the only thing I hadn't reasonably ruled out. I uninstalled everything I could think of. I scanned and scanned, convinced I must have picked up something that the free AV had missed. The simple act of opening a folder on my NVMe drive would sometimes lead to a good 30-seconds worth of delay, and for the modern PC user that is agony.Ī root cause needed to be determined. Games would run extremely well most of the time, and occasionally hitch for seconds. Occasionally my new system, for no reason in particular, would take several minutes to go from the login screen to the desktop. Things were going rather swimmingly with my new rig, and I'd dutifully installed Bitdefender Free in the hope that it would once again keep the wolves from my digital doors. ![]() That is, until I put together my most recent build. My trusty old Razer Blade Pro 17, virus-free and pictured ruining my partner's jigsaw puzzle (Image credit: Andy Edser)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |