Is my virus protection adequate?

OK, I am complete beginner when it comes to virus protection. I have Comcast Security powered by MacAfee (MacAfee Security Center is the tag on the little red M in my system tray). In other words, I get my virus protection free of charge through my internet service provider.

My question is: Am I missing out by not buying my own virus protection? Is Comcast's version of MacAfee as good as the real thing? What else do I need to keep my computer safe?

Now answer my question, don't laugh.

David

 

While I can't say for sure as regards the actual A/V engine, I wouldn't be surprised if you either got the runt of the litter, or if the overall app is a bit more bloated than usual. Also, you're rather closely tied to your ISP - what happens if you decide to change?

You'd almost certainly be better off with one of the free A/V products in the stickied thread at the top of the forum (they appear to rank as well as, if not sometimes better than, for for-pay products). Depending on your usage (i.e., whether or not you surf on the wild side), you might also consider one of the free antispyware apps, along with a firewall.

 

McAfee is pretty bloated, try Avira AntiVir or Avast instead.

 

As Shyster1 and booboo12 said, there are better freeware options out there, there is nothing wrong with using freeware anti-malware either, all of my security software is freeware and malware has found itself in a minefield when it attempts to enter my machine.

Edit: Confused booboo12's name with the OP's, post made at around 2:30 AM.

 

To answer the OP's question: Yes, McAfee is more than adequate to protect your system. Comcast's version of McAfee is the real thing, as I am unaware of a fake McAfee program.

 

So MacAfee is more than adequate? Some of you described MacAfee as "bloated," why? I am a bit leery of trying some of the free anti-virus software or one of the non-major brands. Out of the major brands, how does MacAfee measure up? Is there a way to make it any less "bloated" so it doesn't consume system resources?

Finally, is there some kind of test I can run to determine how good my virus protection is?

 

Disabling useless services, but this could lead to a lower degree of protection, I had McAfee on my first laptop and it was... average, not a too good detection rate.

To test your antivirus, there is nothing like downloading real samples of viruses, but this could be extremely dangerous if you are not experienced with handling malware in enclosed enviroments such as a Virtual Machine, or if you are like me, any virus that tries to infect and spread through my system gets detected immediately, and is nullified.

Anyway, I have been using Avast! along with SpyBot Search And Destroy, SpywareBlaster and Comodo Firewall Professional, and Malware gets caught and exterminated at sharing / downloading / execution time before it can even add itself to the registry keys or modify / add files.

Avast! Home Edition 4.8, Comodo Firewall Professional, SpyBot Search And Destroy, and SpywareBlaster W/O Auto-Updating Are Free To Use.