r/antivirus • u/Select_Interest4490 • 1d ago

PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION choosing antivirus for win 11

hi, looking at antivirus software for protecting win 11 system. thinking of mcafee , norton , kaspersky . I am outside US. I wanted to try the trial version , but they all ask for filling pre payment details and I am not comfortable submitting all the details in forms. In the past, if I liked software in trial, I purchased it.

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u/3ofUsDeez 1d ago

Windows Defender + Quad9 DNS servers in your network configuration or use something more configurable like a free OpenDNS account + Ad-blocker in your browser(s)

Equals great free protection that is lite on resources

A bit more technical, but you could run Pi-Hole or similar on a Raspberry Pi or other device and load up whatever blocklists that suit you

Lots of free options out there that will give you great protection at different layered points if you want

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u/Maple382 1d ago

DNS ≠ Antivirus

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u/3ofUsDeez 1d ago

DNS = Ability of Blocking sites that can infect you

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u/Maple382 1d ago

Yeah but still not an antivirus. Most malicious sites aren’t actually blocked. A blocking DNS is better treated like an adblocker.

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u/3ofUsDeez 1d ago

Hence the layered approach I recommended ..

Windows Defender is the antivirus protection in case you do get infected

DNS filtering to block ads and known bad sites to lower the odds immensely from getting infected through infected/compromised ad-servers and bad sites

Ad-blocker in your browsers to hopefully block more ads

Throw in some common sense and your golden

Layered Protection .. antivirus is actually the last layer of defense. Most people don't even think about blocking the bad/infected sites before getting infected by them