Probably a stupid question, I'm not very experienced, but what is - in your opinion - the best antivirus that has a lifetime "free" tier, or is open-source and free?

I do not want to use the pay from my job on one since I am underage and do not interact with viruses or potential threats often enough to warrant an expensive antivirus, but I understand the dangers of not having a proper one, even if Windows Defender is "good enough".

Thank you for helping.

I have recently become very concerned about the security of my Microsoft accounts since one of them was deleted by a Russian hacker. Thankfully, only my Minecraft account was on it; none of my personal info was. So I need an anti-virus that is free and capable of these points. Btw I use AVG currently but basically everything is hidden behind a paywall. I want something that's free but also like Bitdefender. Also mods pls don't delete this saying there's stuff in the wiki, Im genuinely really concerned about my account safety.

1. Trackers and viruses Support: Block suspicious hackers, trackers and viruses. Optional: Have a feature like in Bitdefender where it scans a file before opening or smth.

2. Optional: I don't know if this is possible but account security.

3. Scans for finding hidden flaws or something on the PC, this is there in AVG but all that really happens is that they find nothing, but then they want you to pay for some random stuff that might happen.

4. Doesn't randomly have a popup showing to upgrade(optional)

5. I just like all the features of premium BitDefender and premium AVG. But I just want them for free.

This is really important for me. :)