Right now I just use the free edition of AVG and windows firewall and yesterday I found out that my wife’s and I card someone has got the numbers and made some numerous charges and after disputing with the bank thankfully we got our money back. Anyways back to the topic is it worth spending the money for AVG or any other online security program?
I always get notifications from them about how my IP could be exposed but I’m not sure if that is just a “gimmick” or a way to pressure someone into spending money or not so just looking at options. I’m always curious on what links I check out but I’ll look over and my wife has like 50+ with all of her art stuff and other things she deals with.
Thanks!
You don’t need to spend money on anything. The antivirus that comes with modern Windows is enough. Install uBlock Origin for extra browser security. I would disable notifications too.
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Agreed that the built-in Windows Defender is actually better than most 3rd-party Anti-Virus at this point.
Ironically, most 3rd party Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware programs now themselves tend to adopt malware-style tactics in the way they operate. Pop-ups, fearmongering about threats that aren’t real, constantly trying to scam you into paying for extra services that you don’t need, etc.
The problem is, that in 2024, the biggest security risk is the user. If you don’t know what you are clicking on, or who you are giving your information to, then no Anti-Virus is going to help you at that point.
One example. I recently had an item up for sale on my local Craigslist. I got an email from someone who claimed to be interested, and wanted to call me, so I gave them my phone number. Immediately after that they start talking about how they need me to send them a code in order to verify that I am a real person.
In reality, they were trying to get into my bank account. I have 2FA setup, which sends a code to my phone in order to verify my identity. They were trying to get me to give them that code, at which point they would have had basically full access to my bank account.
Always assume that everyone and everything is trying to scam you. You’ll be right more often than you will be wrong. There are literally armies of people in other countries, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, who do nothing but scam Americans all day long. It’s actually the #1 industry in many countries, as pathetic as that is. You have to be vigilant. The only person who can stop you from becoming a victim is you.
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Thank you for this information! I’ll definitely give Ublock Origin a go as well.
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This.
The days of needing to buy 3rd party software are gone. Have been for a few years now.
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AVG is bloat and CPU and disk drive kill ware these days.
CC fraud could come from anywhere, waiter, RF card scanners, card scanners on gas pumps, someone installing malware on your computer or phone, or getting your financial info fish’d online.
As far as computer security goes, be very very careful clicking on any attachment or installing any .exe’s. You can go a bit further with something like firefox and noscript and block third party cookies and only run Javascript from white listed sources. But that will break most sites and you got to have a pretty good understanding of the online landscape to know what should or needs to be whitelisted.
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As an extra security, I tend to lock my cards until I know I’m going to use them. Reoccuring things like WoW and bills will still go through so I don’t have to worry about unlocking it so my power bill can get paid on-time.
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