anti virus

[WBENSTOCK]

Hi there I wanted to no if its necessary to have a anti virus installed I have a anit virus scanner on device care app and Google play protect do I need any further protection? I only download apps from play store and galaxy store 

[StuartR]

If you only download apps from genuine sources then no you should not need anti virus.

You also need to be mindful of the websites you're visiting, out dodgy then yes you probably would need some sort of security suite.

[antikythera]

since you download from galaxy store I'd say yes. there's a distinct lack of monitoring and control of what is uploaded to that store. so if you use it for anything other than updating samsung apps you are playing russian roulette with your phone security. not that google play store itself has a perfect record there either but it is the lesser of two evils

[Bigtasty65]

Personally, I never bother with any anti-virus protection apps. They can slow your phone down, whilst draining your battery of power quickly.
The key I think, is to only install apps that you use on a regular basis. By that I mean daily or at least weekly. Always read the app reviews too, they do help.
I also only use the built-in Windows Defender anti-virus program on my laptop. I've never had any trouble with my laptop either.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @WBENSTOCK 

Personally I don't use apk files and only use the Playstore and Galaxy Store for my apps.

I try to make sure I'm visiting secure Internet content. 

I do not have the built in virus scanner activated on my phone's as I feel for me personally I don't require this function and have found this and downloadable scanners to be a resource hungry.

[antikythera]

I use Mcafee and have found it very light on resource usage, there's no great difference in battery life. The only slight annoyance is the interface, they've dumbed it down massively of late so it's more like a story book for kids than a security package when you first open it. The main settings are still accessible though. The VPN function works too well in that if you leave it on, 4od for example won't work even on trusted home wifi. So I have the VPN setup so that it's only active when I want to use it. I got a 5 device McAfee Total Security digital download code off Amazon for £11, it's not set to auto-renew either. Since I have 3 PC running windows as well as linux, a smartphone and a tablet I get full usage from it

[antikythera]

Defender has reasonable detection rates if you mean W10/W11. It's still used as the baseline product by AV-Test and AV-Comparative sites. It's detection rates are usually 99% or above but it falls behind sometimes in resource usage which is surprising. Both sites are independent so there's no bias or influence from the big software houses.