Do I need an anti-virus?
I get this question from time to time, and the short answer is, no.
If you're running Windows 10 you actually have one already built in. It's called Windows Defender. The program runs in the background and is already actively monitoring for malware or any type of security breaches. It's not something you have to purchase and it actually is updated by Microsoft very frequently.
The fact is by loading on another anti-virus on top of it, you will effectively slow your computer down with little to no benefit. Some anti-virus will disable Defender and this is also a bad idea as it's built into the operating system itself so by disabling it you're pretty much just disabling the security infrastructure that's designed to work with it.
IF you are running older versions of Windows, it is perhaps a good idea, but honestly, Windows 10 has matured and is definitely geared towards modern hardware such as SSD's and utilize the latest chip architectures. So it's a good idea to consider upgrading to it if you haven't already.
Long gone are the days of staying on a previous version of Windows and you hindering the performance of your computer by sticking to an old operating system.
I get this question from time to time, and the short answer is, no.
If you're running Windows 10 you actually have one already built in. It's called Windows Defender. The program runs in the background and is already actively monitoring for malware or any type of security breaches. It's not something you have to purchase and it actually is updated by Microsoft very frequently.
The fact is by loading on another anti-virus on top of it, you will effectively slow your computer down with little to no benefit. Some anti-virus will disable Defender and this is also a bad idea as it's built into the operating system itself so by disabling it you're pretty much just disabling the security infrastructure that's designed to work with it.
IF you are running older versions of Windows, it is perhaps a good idea, but honestly, Windows 10 has matured and is definitely geared towards modern hardware such as SSD's and utilize the latest chip architectures. So it's a good idea to consider upgrading to it if you haven't already.
Long gone are the days of staying on a previous version of Windows and you hindering the performance of your computer by sticking to an old operating system.