I used to have microsoft security essentials as my main antivirus software (I also had the free version of MBAM which only has scanning capabilities, not real-time protection). But then in July the computer had some issues and in early August I took it to a computer repair place and they removed a virus. When I got the computer back I noticed that the computer had Avast on it, so I was concerned that it could conflict with microsoft security essentials (MSE) but when I looked for MSE on the computer I couldn't find it. The guy who fixed the computer must've uninstalled MSE and put Avast on my computer.



So which program do you think is better of the two?



It seems to me that Avast has more features than MSE.



Also the Avast I have is the free edition and MSE is free, so when we discuss which one is better I am comparing the free Avast to MSE. I have never used the paying editions of Avast.

 

You don't need two. Microsoft would be the best to run. For even better protection, skip the av all together, run Linux as your primary machine and put Windows in virtual box.

 

Microsoft updates daily. Avast updates several times a day. If you come across something fresh, Avast is more likely to catch it than MS. If you mostly do low-risk things online (reading pre-scanned e-mail, checking hyundaiaftermarket) and don't download games or watch stupid cat videos, MS will be fine.



I use Avast.



When somebody comes up with a flavor of linux that is AS (not nearly as) trouble free as Windows and doesn't confuse grandma with options and frequent use of the shell, which automatically installs Windows in a VM and loads that at startup, come talk about it again. Until then, nearly everyone uses Windows and almost nobody outside a very small subset of the population* is interested in switching to a whole new OS just for better security.



*the people who are paying attention and know what time it is