RE: Advice on Webroot SecureAnywhere

Hi,

I was recommended by my father to buy Webroot SecureAnywhere. I use it now on my Windows 10 and it purrs like a kitten. My question is this though-- Is the program a valid antivirus and is another security program necessary on Windows 10 with Windows Security? I have heard yes and then others have said no. What are your thoughts?

Better to know how to avoid malware than be concerned about which antivirus or antimalware program is best. If you have a

history of picking up malware and or adware then you should read the info in link below.

Answers to common security questions - Best Practices - Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware, and Privacy Software

I was not asking which program is best. I was asking if I need an additional antivirus on top of Windows 10's Windows Defender? Sorry for the confusion

 

 

I was asking if I need an additional antivirus on top of Windows 10's Windows Defender? Sorry for the confusion

No! Windows Defender, is all you need, but you can install malwarebytes Free which works with win 10

The most effective strategy to protect yourself from malware and ransomware (crypto malware) is a comprehensive approach to include prevention and backing up data. Make sure you are running an updated anti-virus and anti-malware product, update all vulnerable software, use supplemental security tools with anti-exploitation features capable of stopping (preventing) infection before it can cause any damage, disable VSSAdmin and close Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) if you do not need it. Your best defense against ransomware infection is to routinely BACKUP your data on a regular basis. In addition to encrypting data, criminals are also routinely searching for and destroying backups so they can demand higher ransoms payments as noted here.

• The smartest way to stay unaffected by ransomware? Backup!
• Encrypted by ransomware...Prevention before the fact is the only guaranteed peace of mind
• 3-2-1 Backup Strategy
• The Backup Rule of Three

Backing up data is the most important maintenance task users should perform on a regular basis to protect themselves from ransomware, yet it's still one of the most neglected areas.

Security is all about layers and not depending on any one solution, technology or approach to protect yourself from cyber-criminals. The most important layer is you...the first and last line of defense. No amount of security software is going to defend against today's sophisticated malware writers for those who do not practice safe computing and stay informed. It has been proven time and again that the end user is a more substantial factor (weakest link in the security chain) than the architecture of the operating system or installed protection software.

For more suggestions to protect yourself from malware and ransomware infection, see my comments (Post #14) in this topic.

A tool that I highly recommend and use to pair with Windows Defender is ConfigureDefender. It's a portable program that allows you to configure Defender settings that Windows 10 Home users normally wouldn't be able to set.

BleepingComputer recently wrote an article on the tool:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-defenders-hidden-features-revealed-by-this-free-tool/

Setting the Protection Levels in ConfigureDefender to 'High' is a good baseline and recommended for the majority of users.

You can follow development and/or contact the developer (who is very active) in this thread: https://malwaretips.com/threads/configuredefender-utility-for-windows-10.79039/

Not to scare you away from Webroot, but something to think about:

Among third-party antivirus solutions, Webroot is considered much less thorough than other solutions.

Because of this, Webroot has less of a system performance impact on your computer.

For this reason, several years ago, we decided to deploy Webroot Secure Anywhere to over 250 business clients. We installed it on tens of thousands of machines, at least. Had no problems for years.

Then, one day, I want to say in 2016 or 2017, an Oracle SQL database update got flagged in error as malware by Webroot. All of a sudden, our customers could no longer access their databases.

To their credit, Webroot issued a fix within 24 hours, and we had it largely cleared up within a week. But, we spent the better part of a month explaining to angry clients how our choice of antimalware solution caused them to lose access to their key data and business functions for a while.

It was definitely not my favorite month, and one that I won't soon forget.

At the time that we made the decision, Windows Defender was not as well-developed as it is today.