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I don’t usually subscribe to conspiracy theories, and the last thing I would ever want to do is create one.
That being said, I have often wondered to myself whether the antivirus software companies could be creating malware and spreading it over the Internet in order to perpetuate the demand for their products.
Question from Jimmy: A few months ago I bought a new laptop that came with McAfee Antivirus pre-installed on it.
I thought it was the real McAfee program but apparently it was just a trial version because this morning I got a notice saying the trial subscription had expired.
I tried to uninstall it so I could install Avira but I can’t get it to uninstall. It gives me an error every time I try to remove it.
My question is would it be safe for me to keep using the McAfee program that’s installed on my laptop even though it’s expired? [Read more…]
I’m often asked if free antivirus apps are as effective at protecting a Windows PC from virus infections as their “paid” counterparts.
And I must say, that’s an excellent question.
Back in the early days of home computing my answer would have been no because the free antivirus programs available at the time were indeed inferior to the commercial programs.
But that has changed over the years…
Question from Darryl: I have always understood Windows’ built-in “Microsoft Defender” antivirus app to be inferior to other antivirus programs.
But yesterday I heard that might no longer be the case.
What’s your opinion about Microsoft Defender?
Is it really just as good as the third-party antivirus programs that are being sold today?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Ellis: My new computer came with the trial version of McAfee Antivirus preinstalled and I ended up not liking it.
I uninstalled it from my computer last night and now I can’t get Microsoft Defender to start up.
Is there something else I need to do besides just uninstalling the McAfee program? [Read more…]