I don't use one, I just use malwarebytes to scan every so often, works fine. Would recommend.

MSE works well, and is free. I haven't used one for years, but I pretty much always recommend this if one wants to use an AV software

MSE and Malwarebytes are a good combo against viruses and malware I believe. I been using it for years and no troubles usually.

If paying for an antivirus is not a problem than I recommend Kaspersky.

I'm hopping on the MSE + MBAM train.

is malwarebytes alone good enough for someone who might carelessly download random shit?

As long as you don't download from really sketchy sources, yes. I torrent all the time and it does the job fine.

common sense?

if it was that simple.

I install ESET NOD32 on my family's machines. It's highly rated and fairly unobtrusive.

Edit: It's a paid subscription product.

I switched to Avast! from AVG a few years ago and not had any problems. You have to re-register every year for the free version but it takes about 30 seconds through the application. Just remember to add your steam folders to the exclusion list and enable silent mode - very unobtrusive.

This. Avast has nice boot scan features, is free and if you put it in silent mode its completely unintrusive, i would strongly recommend it for less tech savvy people or anyone else looking for a good anti virus

I love Avast too for the silent mode, and also the quickly accessible "disable shields for X minutes/hours" feature.

Norton Internet Security 2014. This antivirus in its self is a virus that wrecks your computer. Their strategy is, "If you can't use your computer, how can it get a Virus?" 10/10 Recommended to anyone.

comodo is amazing

Microsoft Security Essentials with MalwareBytes is great, but I would recommend ESET nod32 if you don't mind spending money...

However you probably could find a free version online if you do some "research."

Ive been using MSE since I first built my computer and have yet to run into problems with viruses.

Security Essentials + Common Sense.

Also just having a backup plan is good. Like if you have a SSD as your OS disk just keep as little as possible on it so if you ever have to blow it away you don't lose anything too valuable.

av: nod32
extra scanner: clamwin
extensions: noscript, adblock edge, ghostery

Pay: ESET NOD32 as mentioned above. I use this on all my computers.

Free: MSE or Avast

Random scans: clamwin, kaspersky or Malwarebytes

And like mentioned above, firefox with adblock and no script at a minimum.

Anyone that says use ONLY "Common Sense" obviously has none. Always be protected, this isn't sex, people are actively trying to Trojan you, every way they can.

MBAM+MSE
CCleaner just for getting rid of unused shit that will come back in a couple hours
and also its smart to use adblock on sites that you really don't support(on my adblock i only have 3 sites to allow ads, thats twitch tftv and another relatively small gaming forum)

MSE and Malwarebytes

Avast is the best free AV I've ever had. I've also little to no compatibility issues with it since downloading it 2 years ago.

Highly recommend it.

The detection rate of MSE is pretty low now and I found that it is disabled too easily by malware. I wouldn't recommend it anymore. Avast is good with the occasional Malwarebytes scan.

Yeah I actually had set up my brother's laptop with MSE only back in November time. At some point he opened a dodgy email attachment that had disabled various windows services and left his machine totally compromised. He only realised something was up in February when Apple debited £1,200 from his current account for a purchase he never made!

Nod32 all the way. It even has a gamer mode option that when enabled it postpones scheduled tasks, disables notification windows, minimizes cpu usage and all that.

nod32 + malwarebytes for myself, Kaspersky for my mom

recently uninstalled mse, considering switching to avast since i use it on my android phone and i always hear good things about it.