Buying advice
Do you actually need to pay for antivirus?
Somebody sold you an antivirus subscription with your computer, it renews every year, and you are not sure whether you need it.
Here is the honest position.
The short answer
If you use Windows 10 or 11: no, you probably do not need to pay for anything.
Windows includes Microsoft Defender, which is built in, on by default, updates automatically, and performs comparably to the paid products in independent testing. It has been genuinely good for years now, which is a change from its early reputation.
If you use a Mac: also no. macOS has protections built in and the threat landscape is smaller, though not zero.
If you use an iPhone or iPad: definitely not. Antivirus apps in the App Store cannot do what they imply, because the system does not permit apps to inspect each other. They are, at best, a browser filter with an alarming name.
Android is the one case with a genuine argument, mainly if you install apps from outside the Play Store. If you stick to the Play Store, the built-in Play Protect is adequate.
Why the paid products are pushed so hard
Antivirus was genuinely essential twenty years ago. Windows had almost no built-in protection and the threats were rampant.
That changed. Microsoft built protection into the operating system and made it good. The companies selling antivirus did not stop selling it, and the marketing kept the memory of the old situation alive.
Computer shops also earn commission on those subscriptions, which is why one is so often attached to a new machine.
The genuine downsides of the paid ones
This is the part that surprises people: paid antivirus is often actively worse than doing nothing extra.
They slow the computer down. Frequently they are the single largest cause of a new machine feeling sluggish.
They nag constantly. Pop-ups warning your protection is expiring, offering to scan, selling you the next tier. This is exhausting and, worse, it trains people to click through warnings without reading them, which is a genuine security problem.
Some bundle unwanted extras, including browser toolbars, “optimisers” and VPNs you did not ask for.
One large antivirus company was caught collecting and selling users’ browsing data. The product bought for privacy was the thing recording it.
Two of them fighting is worse than none. If a subscription came with the computer and you also installed something else, they interfere with each other. Have exactly one.
What to do with the one you already have
If a subscription came with the machine and you never chose it:
- Let it expire. Do not renew.
- Uninstall it properly, from Settings, Apps. Most vendors also publish a dedicated removal tool, because their software does not always uninstall cleanly.
- Check Defender turned back on. Open Windows Security and confirm it says protection is active. Windows disables Defender while another product is installed and normally re-enables it afterwards, but it is worth checking.
- Cancel the auto-renewal in your account with the vendor, not just on the computer. This is the step people miss and it is why the charge appears again a year later.
What actually protects you
This is the important part, because the software is not where most of the risk sits.
Keep everything updated. Windows, your browser, your phone. The overwhelming majority of successful attacks exploit something that was fixed months ago in an update nobody installed. This matters more than any antivirus product.
Use different passwords. Most accounts are broken into with a password stolen from somewhere else, and no antivirus can help with that.
Turn on two-factor authentication.
Be careful with attachments and links. The most common infection route is a person opening something. Learning to spot a scam is worth more than any subscription.
Have a backup you have tested. This is the one that saves you from ransomware, which is the threat that actually ruins people. If your files exist somewhere else, an encrypted computer is a bad week rather than a catastrophe.
Updates, unique passwords, two-factor and a tested backup will protect you far more than any paid product. They are all free.
When paying is reasonable
Businesses, where you need central management, reporting and support. That is a genuinely different product.
A household where somebody clicks everything. If you support a relative who has been caught before, a product with stronger web filtering can add a useful layer. Choose a reputable one and accept the performance cost knowingly.
If you genuinely feel safer. That is a real benefit and I am not going to argue with it. Just choose deliberately rather than by inertia.
The free ones
If you want something beyond Defender without paying, Malwarebytes Free is worth having. It does not run constantly; you run it manually when something feels wrong. That is the ideal arrangement: a second opinion available on demand with no performance cost and no nagging.
If you are not sure what is on your machine
It is very common to find two or three security products fighting each other, one of them expired, all of them nagging, and the built-in protection switched off.
Sorting that out takes about twenty minutes and usually makes the computer noticeably faster. It is a standard part of a session for adults or seniors, and it frequently saves a hundred dollars a year in subscriptions nobody wanted.