Antivirus subscription

Hi Solomon, and welcome to the forum.

There is no "best" security vendor. McAfee is a reputable vendor. Symantec also offers a good product. There are also many free security programs that I can recommend (see the link in my sig).

If you are happy with McAfee, I see no problem with sticking with it. Changing your AV is not a trivial process.
See this: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/virus-spyware/f/3522/t/19345810.aspx

All that said, I will give you my personal opinion. I have used many paid and free AVs, but have finally settled with Micorsoft's Security Essentials (MSE). It is free, is smple, and has tested well at independent sites. You can download it here: http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx

You can add another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials from me. :emotion-1:

I will also mention these pages for:

FREE SECURITY SOFTWARE  

FREE SECURITY SOFTWARE

Dear BB, thanks for your vote for MSE. I shall be thankful to you as well if you could add your inpts to the question i posted to JOE. I see you are very active regarding AVs. Your inputs will be helpful.

Thanks

Solomon

I'll take the liberty of starting the discussion on Free vs. Paid...

1) Many of the free anti-virus programs (such as Avast!) stipulate that they are free for HOME use, in a non-commercial setting. That means that corporate/business users cannot legally download/install/run the free version of avast.   It also means that if a home user  is self-employed, running their own business, they likewise cannot legally use avast in that capacity.

2) The main advantage of paid programs is that they usually come with some level of (professional) tech support.   Free versions either have no support whatsoever, or else, a "user-to-user" forum (such as this one at Dell).   Being user-to-user, there's no way to guarantee you'll get a prompt response, or for that matter, ANY response.   Moreover, there's no guarantee that the response you get is correct (officially sanctioned, or corporate monitored) --- it can simply be the opinion of an individual, who may or may not know what (s)he's talking about.    Businesses can't afford to take such chances, which is why businesses will insist on paying for a professional version of their programs.

3) Paid versions offer enhanced features ("bells and whistles").  for example, a free version may automatically update itself only once a day... whereas the paid version will check for updates several times a day.   Paid versions may offer things like "spam protection".  If you want these extras, then you need to go for the paid version.   [but if you can live without them, the free version often suffices.]

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As far as quality, there are quality programs both among the free and the paid.   Avira's antivir, which offers a free version [as well as a paid version], typically ranks high (even compared to paid programs) when it comes to detection rates of viruses/malware.   On the other hand, it reportedly generates more "false positives" than several of the other anti-virus programs [which is one of the reasons why it's not a clear-cut choice].    This was just an example... EACH program (antivir, avast, MSE, &etc) has its pros and cons.

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One other point you need to consider:    McAfee's Security Center presumably offered you a complete "suite" of protection --- anti-virus, anti-malware, firewall, and perhaps other "bells & whistles".   Should you decide, as Joe/BB recommended, to replace it with MSE, please stress that MSE offers you anti-virus (and anti-malware) protection... but it does NOT include the firewall.   for that, you have to be sure to enable Windows Firewall (or if you feel the need, obtain a "third-party" firewall).

I haven't used a single paid security product for years, thanks to the knowledgeable people on these forums. I am very well pleased with protection I get. For AV I have Avast 5 on both my machines. I tried MSE and liked it but there was an issue where it wouldn't update for several days, and more recently the icons disappeared from the tray and desktop even though the program was installed...not sure what caused it . I'm pretty sure all that has been corrected. Apparently others here did not have this happen.

Anyway, I like Avast's new interface and ease of use. It also auto updates as soon as you connect to the Net and periodically (every 4 hours I think) throughout the day.  If you check the paid versus free features on most of these products you will find that, as ky331 states, it  mostly amounts to bells and whistles.

You are most welcome, Solomon.

I use a paid AV for my XP workhorse desktop because I'm self employed and use it for work, and wanted the very best protection and technical support, and because MSE was not available at the time I purchased it. I have continued using it because it worked very well, but will likely change to MSE when it comes time to renew the subscription.

With a more recent netbook purchase, I chose MSE and the Windows firewall, because unlike the free versions of Avast and AntiVir, MSE can be used for professional work. I love its simplicity, its small footprint, and of course, you can't beat the price! It eliminates the need to run another anti-malware in real-time (since Windows Defender is included in MSE). It has been trouble-free for me with Windows 7.

As to why MS offers it for free, I've no idea. I'm just glad they do.