Antivirus and Retroarch on the PC

godreborn · Sep 13, 2021

is a free antivirus good enough for the pc? I used to use windows defender only and windows firewall, but I'm not sure if I should just go with those or not. my new pc came with a trial of mcafee (not sure how good this is).

I don't know much about retroarch (especially the pc version). can it do goodmerge sets or just no intro in zip or can it do .7z as well? is that the best emulator frontend to use on the pc as well as systems for the most part? I have several standalone emulators like project64 that are a pita to get configured just right as they haven't been updated in years, and they all go through quickplay (qp). if I do no intro sets, aren't those divided into usa, europe, and japan? should I just use clrmame pro and .dat files on the goodmerge sets or should I just download an already done no intro set? if they're already divided, what do I do about games that were never release in the usa like wily wars or final fantasy v? thanks.

chrisrlink · Sep 13, 2021

retroarch should be ok but then again free antiviruses are shit (some even worse than defender) how most cracks wind up flagged is the companies who make the programs/games pay the AV to add the signature to the database unless nintendo does dirty and pays av companies to flag emulators (which in my mind is illegal if the emulator was clean room developed) so to sum it up your emulators incl retroarch will be fine

godreborn · Sep 13, 2021

do you have a suggestion for an antivirus that's not free?

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I thought most people felt it was more a common sense sort of thing where you don't install stuff you have no idea about or something, which is what I was doing with windows defender. only once did I mess up, but I used a disk image to reflash my system.

edit: btw, that was over the span of about 3 years with my old pc.

ILuvGames · Sep 13, 2021

godreborn said:
do you have a suggestion for an antivirus that's not free?

Although it is not possible for any antivirus program to protect against all known viruses and unknown threats, Bitdefender consistantly ranks as the best when it comes to detection rates. Source (AV-Comparatives). You can always try the free version first but I bought a years subscription really cheaply via an online keyseller not Bitdefender themselves.

chrisrlink · Sep 13, 2021

ILuvGames said:
Although it is not possible for any antivirus program to protect against all known viruses and unknown threats, Bitdefender consistantly ranks as the best when it comes to detection rates. Source (AV-Comparatives). You can always try the free version first but I bought a years subscription really cheaply via an online keyseller not Bitdefender themselves.

are keysellers legal (I know some aren't like G2A) then again you need them sometimes to buy delisted games like i bought skyrim legendary edition off ebay (been delisted for years in favor of the special edition which has fewer mods) anyways I'm saying be wary of keysellers (if you can)

Tom Bombadildo · Sep 13, 2021

At this point, Windows Defender, a good adblocker (uBlock Origin), and basic common sense (don't open the obvious scam emails/URLs, don't download "HotSexyBaby.mp4.exe", don't use torrents that aren't from trusted uploaders/seeders) are more than good enough for AV these days, there's really no reason to spend extra PC resources on anything else.

If you absolutely can't trust your own common sense, Kasperky's Security Cloud is probably the best free AV outside of just Windows Defender. Bit Defender's paid AV is pretty decent as mentioned above, but honestly I wouldn't spend the money.

EDIT: Forgot to post the URL: https://www.kaspersky.com/free-cloud-antivirus <

ILuvGames · Sep 13, 2021

chrisrlink said:
are keysellers legal (I know some aren't like G2A) then again you need them sometimes to buy delisted games like i bought skyrim legendary edition off ebay (been delisted for years in favor of the special edition which has fewer mods) anyways I'm saying be wary of keysellers (if you can)

Good advice about being wary of resellers and i'm not sure about the legalities but, I bought a key for Avast and one for Bitdefender. Had no issues activating them or using them. My Avast key lasted the whole year without it being flagged and the Bitdefender key worked fine too for the whole time I used it.

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If you absolutely can't trust your own common sense, Kasperky's Security Cloud is probably the best free AV outside of just Windows Defender.

Am using Windows Defender myself now because Avast are merging with Norton and I want to see how good any changes they make are before I think about re-subscribing. I tried Kaspersky's Cloud based free solution too. It asks if you want to enable this optional thing or that optional thing instead of just doing only what is needed so I ended up not being at all sure whether I made the right choice enabling or not enabling said optional functions and uninstalled it. At least with a paid for AV suite you know what non-essential/optional addons you are getting/enabled up front.

chrisrlink · Sep 13, 2021

ILuvGames said:
Good advice about being wary of resellers and i'm not sure about the legalities but, I bought a key for Avast and one for Bitdefender. Had no issues activating them or using them. My Avast key lasted the whole year without it being flagged and the Bitdefender key worked fine too for the whole time I used it.

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Am using Windows Defender myself now because Avast are merging with Norton and I want to see how good any changes they make are before I think about re-subscribing. I tried Kaspersky's Cloud based free solution too. It asks if you want to enable this optional thing or that optional thing instead of just doing only what is needed so I ended up not being at all sure whether I made the right choice enabling or not enabling said optional functions and uninstalled it. At least with a paid for AV suite you know what non-essential/optional addons you are getting/enabled up front.

yeah my Skyrim wasn't flagged either (thank god) still have it too

subcon959 · Sep 14, 2021

I wouldn't bother with an AV these days but I do recommend grabbing Medicat USB by @Jayro to scan for malware now and again.

sombrerosonic · Feb 2, 2023

edgyN said:
Sorry for bumping, but I'm looking fora good antivirus. I used only free ones, and now I want to try the paid service. I guess, I'll see the difference. Which one is better to choose? Maybe Avast?

Ive used Avast on a few systems and it seems to do well (However Annoying as all hell). However, Windows Defender with 10 is also pretty good if your on 10 and is well....... Alot less annoying.

Hayato213 · Feb 2, 2023

edgyN said:
Sorry for bumping, but I'm looking fora good antivirus. I used only free ones, and now I want to try the paid service. I guess, I'll see the difference. Which one is better to choose? Maybe Avast?

My workplace use Avast, you can use free one like AVG if you know what you are doing.

sombrerosonic · Feb 2, 2023

Hayato213 said:
My workplace use Avast, you can use free one like AVG if you know what you are doing.

I believe both are free if im correct. or at least very simular

Hayato213 · Feb 2, 2023

sombrerosonic said:
I believe both are free if im correct. or at least very simular

Avast is free to try for like a year or so I believe, these company wants people to pay anyway if they can get people to buy premium version.

sombrerosonic · Feb 2, 2023

Hayato213 said:
Avast is free to try for like a year or so I believe, these company wants people to pay anyway if they can get people to buy premium version.

i got it running for like 3 years. They have a free version

https://www.avast.com/en-us/free-antivirus-download

RedColoredStars · Feb 2, 2023

chrisrlink said:
free antiviruses are shit

Complete nonsense. I'm with Tom Bombadildo on this one. Unless a person is kind of unintelligent, they don't need anything more than what's built in to Windows.

Hayato213 · Feb 2, 2023

sombrerosonic said:
i got it running for like 3 years. They have a free version

https://www.avast.com/en-us/free-antivirus-download

I know there is a guide for activation after 12 months.

sombrerosonic · Feb 2, 2023

Hayato213 said:
I know there is a guide for activation after 12 months.

huh, may try it someday

godreborn · Feb 3, 2023

Well, all I can say is McAfee is shit. They also wouldn't refund my money.

Hayato213 · Feb 3, 2023

godreborn said:
Well, all I can say is McAfee is shit. They also wouldn't refund my money.

Mcaffe come with new computer , never use them lol.

Marc_LFD · Feb 3, 2023

^ Yikes, I've not used that in many, many, many years. lol There's a reason it's fairly unpopular.

Ever since I heard Windows Defender was more than enough I decided to give it a try and I'm happy with it, it does what it should and it's built-in with Windows 10 so I don't have to install another one.

I do have Malwarebytes to do a scan every few months.

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