Firewalls, etc.

[dtaai-maai]

Avast keeps trying to sell me things, which is perfectly natural, if slightly irritating. But in this day and age I wonder if there is an advantage in the average user like me in having such things as a firewall, above and beyond the free basic anti-virus protection?

[hhinner]

I think the built-in Windows firewall is perfectly adequate.

[HHTel]

I've used Avast Premium Security and Avast Cleanup Premium for a couple of years or more and I'm very pleased with it, especially the 'Cleanup' which cleans your registry, gets rid of junk, optimises the system to 100% etc etc.

[KhunLA]

If MS Win10's built in, then more than sufficient. I had Trend for years, and realize, basically a waste of money the last few years I had.

[Thailightzone]

If MS Win10's built in, then more than sufficient. I had Trend for years, and realize, basically a waste of money the last few years I had.

Agree. With Win10 you don't need anything these days, unless you are managing a network of systems or you have particularly high security needs.

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

[handdrummer]

I just deleted AVG, unnecessary with Win 10. I downloaded the free CCCleaner to mop up the junk.

[HHTel]

I looked at a comparison between Defender and Avast. Of course you have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of both pieces of software. It does appear that Defender falls short in some areas. Taking the whole analysis, it does appear that you are far better protected using Avast.
I noticed that Defender has no Wi-Fi protection whereas Avast has.

Worth a look:
https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/win ... Advantages

[KhunLA]

I downloaded the free CCCleaner to mop up the junk.

Besides CCleaner, adwcleaner is also a good app that I use, also free:
https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/