Webroot V Bitdefendertotal Security Anti Virus ( Paid Versions)

[derekpara]

I have decided to purchase one of the above anti virus programmes for the extra protection they seem to offer over the free versions.
Would any knowledgeable ABers please take a look at them and give me their opinion, please ?

I use a Windows 7 PC for general home use, with the usual financial activity.

Cheers.

D

[Buenchico]

I wouldn't bother with either of them myself, as there's nothing in them that you can't get for free elsewhere by combining different software. (e.g. Avast Free Antivirus + AdwCleaner + CCleaner, etc).

However if I was forced to go for one of those two, I'd choose Bitdefender as it scores marginally better in PC Magazine's reviews. (PC Magazine is one of the most reliable sources because, instead of relying upon test results from a single lab, it collates results from across several labs):
http://uk.pcmag.com/software/8400/guide/the-best-security-suites-of-2018

[Guilbert53]

I just got Computer Which over the weekend and they do a review of computer security software.

Their top paid-for choice was Bitdefender Internet Security which scored 80%.

Others paid-for scoring high were F-Secure (78%), Norton (75%), Trend (75%), Avast (73%), Avira (73%), Panda (72%).

Note BitDefender FREE scored 75% (against the paid for 80%)

WebRoot was not tested, not sure why.

Note that while many people push the "free" anti virus products they are often basic versions of the products and don't include premium features like phishing protection, safe banking etc.

They are given away free as a sort of "loss leader" hoping that if you use the free product you may then move to the paid for product.

Also note that the "best" security products are changing all the time.

New PC security problems are being found all the time and it depends how quick a company "find" these problems and fix them.

So a particular product may be top dog at the moment, but well down the list in 6 months time.

For example when Which did their last PC security review they put Sophos as their top free anti virus product. It is now bottom of the ones they tested with a score of only 58%.

[derekpara]

Chris and Guilbert, thanks for you really informative answers.

D