Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
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…]
Question from Hailley: Hi, Rick. I’ve been reading your blog for a good while now and I love your tips!
I’ve noticed that you often recommend using free antivirus software instead of one of the expensive paid programs.
I really like the idea of using free software whenever possible, but I want to make sure my laptop is protected from all the nasty viruses that are out there these days.
My question: Are the free antivirus programs really just as good as the ones you pay for? [Read more…]
As I explained in this post, both Windows 10 and Windows 11 have a built-in antivirus engine called Microsoft Defender.
And truth be told, it actually does a pretty good job at keeping your PC virus-free.
But like all other antivirus apps, Microsoft Defender isn’t perfect. It’s always possible that a digital nasty will slip through and infect your system. [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 a huge 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 Ramie: I downloaded a photo last night from one of the free photo websites that I use.
While I was retrieving the photo from the Downloads folder I noticed there was a file named setup.exe in there.
I haven’t downloaded a software program in well over a year so I don’t know how that file got in there.
Do you think it might be a virus?