Free virus protection program for my CPU?

[RDJ]

pay for avast if you are going to pay. Norton has become a dog ... Mcafee is a dog with fleas

In the market to get some sort of antivirus SW for my dad's laptop. He's fairly computer illiterate and every time I go visit them, it seems like I'm spending 15 minutes cleaning up all the crap he's downloaded from clicking on junk.

I was just checking out the Avast website, is the next step up from the Free version worth the money or am I better off just going to Best Buy and picking up a Norton program? His computer usage really only consists of facebook, googling god knows what, skyping with family in Italy, and checking out his Scottrade accounts.

 

[JasonSnake]

If you have Windows 8.0 or up, you already have Windows Defender. It is disabled when a 3rd party AV program is installed. Remove McAfee, reboot, then go into the control panel > Defender and re-enable. Allow it to download its updates and you should be golden. The only other thing I use is Malwarebytes but I rarely ever need to use it. Just don't go to questionable sites or download a bunch of pirated software. You'll be fine.

 

[Torch10th]

Another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, works well and is non-invasive.

 

[DHG1078]

I use MSE and occasionally Malwarebytes. Only time I have to use malwarebytes is when I am downloading a free software to try out for work stuff and they have bloatware with it. Other than that I just don't go anywhere I don't trust.

 

[4601S/C]

Avast and Malwarebytes. Sometimes I used MSE. All 3 have good reputations.

 

[Gravik]

I use FortiClient on my PC, and nothing on my laptop since I have linux.