I own a small business and was using McAfee for years but it's just awful (tons of pop-ups and scary looking stats trying to get me to upgrade). What should I use to protect our computers/info? Currently have four in-office users but looking to hire a couple more employees in 2024. TIA!

ETA: Windows, no Macs here

Hello, I am just wondering what you guys would recommend for an antivirus for a business of 20 people? I know most of you will work at companies with far more users, but this is a relatively small business.

On my own personal PCs throughout the years I have used AVG, Avast but more recently I only use Windows Defender with Windows 10. I had thought it did the same job as AVG or Avast.

Do you guys think this is enough for the PCs in my workplace or should I install AVG etc. on them? From what I can see you have to pay for an antivirus, which is fine we don't mind paying, but if Windows defender is good enough I will stick with that.

I have requested a preview of Microsoft for Business which is rolling out this year so I will subscribe to that I think.

" Starting March 1, Microsoft Defender for Business is generally available in the Microsoft 365 Business Premium suite - learn more. Microsoft Defender for Business as a standalone solution is in preview and customers and IT partners can continue to request access to the preview. Learn more about the preview and sign-up process in the Technical documentation."

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/security/business/threat-protection/microsoft-defender-business

So we have had some trouble recently with a few viruses on our Work Pc and we only have some Basic Avira AV installed right now. It seems that somewhere there is a Virus on our Network which has now spread to our Linux CentOS Server and apparently it has locked the files. What can we do to get rid of the Virus and what can we do to protect our Computers from further attacks. I was naïve thinking that a basic home AV could protect a Business and its Server. We have around 10 Computers right now but will probably expand. Since I have no prior experience in this field i´d very much appreciate some advice. Thanks in advance :D

[UPADTE]

Thanks for the Advice and Support :D

So i unplugged the Computers that seemed infected and we contacted a IT Firm. They told us to take the Computers there and they will check them out and find out whats wrong.

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me a little bit. Let me tell you first that I googled and asked a couple of people. Now I was hoping to use the swarm intelligence and ask for options.

We have a small company with 4 people and we write emails a day. Besides emails there is a lot of surfing the web, like hotels, restaurants and other companies websites for prices and offers. Nothing really "dangerous" nor special, I would say.

We have being using Kaspersky for years and years and every year I think it takes more recourses and blocks websites.

Now I it's time to say goodbye to Kaspersky. I know a lot of people suggest Microsofts defender as they main AV tool. And I was wondering how you feel about it? We receive a lot emails and a lot of spam. Would you say defender is enough? Would you suggest another, lighter, AV? Is there something out there specially for emails? Or should we keep Kaspersky.

Thank you very much in advance, let me know if you need some more info. Really curious abouthm the answers. Thank you again. :)

The company I work for swapped to Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection by Teamviewer, and its alright, no big complaints. There are a lot of options available so I was just curious what you guys think.

For context: 100 Endpoints (will increase), 1 Remote Location (soon to be 2), Budget is undecided as of yet.

Also yes EDR.

Dear all, I need your experience with AV solution. I manage the IT for a company with about 40 PC and 10 WinSrv 2019. The old IT guy installed Eset. What do u think about BitDefender GravityZone? Or other solution? Who’s the best in 2024?

We are a small company with less than 40 employees. We have about 25 Windows 11 workstations plus another 15-20 laptops.

We use Office 2019 and Microsoft 365 for email. Most of our computer work involves the Office suite, email, Acrobat, Teams, OneDrive, and Edge/Chrome.

We currently have an antivirus only software which does not scan email or monitor for online threats.

At a minimum we are looking for something that will provided the AV function, check for email threats (including viruses and other malware, as well as phishing and other scams), and protection from online scams such as phishing sites. Ideally it would be something that provides a portal for managing users and devices and monitoring threats.

Hi All

Ive been given the task of finding an Endpoint Protection platform as we are moving away from ESET.

Does anyone have any immediate shouts in terms of recommendations or any ones to avoid?

I'm leaning towards Sophos, but also think I lack experience in AVS to accurately decide for myself what the best solution is, thus asking the community! We also looked at SentinelOne, but. I found the demo incredibly confusing, but that might be a 'me' issue.

500 pcs roughly, all Windows :)

Hello, I have a small company (far from 300 users, just to clarify, haha!). Currently, I have an antivirus for the PCs I use, which is Bitdefender GravityZone. I use it on all PCs and an HP microserver that I use to manage some tasks. I manage everything from the cloud console. Honestly, it seems like a very good antivirus, powerful, and it truly makes me feel protected.

I also have Microsoft 365 in its Basic and Standard versions.

I am analyzing the costs of Bitdefender and Microsoft 365, and the price is similar to that of Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 + Teams. So, if I cancel Bitdefender and migrate my licenses to M365 E3, the cost I pay would be the same. Yes, I will need the features of a better license, Entra ID, etc.

My question is: Is the Microsoft Defender Business version a good option or comparable to Bitdefender GravityZone in terms of protection against ransomware, malware in general, and everything related to antivirus?

I don’t need features like browsing restriction or filtering, which Bitdefender provides, because I recently acquired a firewall, a SonicWall TZ570 with licensing. That part is now managed from there, so I no longer need it in the antivirus.

What I would like to know is how good Microsoft Defender Business is (not the stock version that comes pre-installed on Windows) compared to a paid antivirus like Bitdefender.

Does anyone have experience to share or a source where I can check an analysis?

Morning All!

I have been using the standard Microsoft Defender without issues for many years but realise that it may not be the most effective but the most affordable.

I have been looking for recommendations and TotalAV popped up as the highest ranking but everywhere I look (with digging) it appears to be a scam - it also requires you to turn off all your protection to install which was a red flag!

What is everyone else using to stay secure for a reasonable cost (preferably as low as possible and not more than £100-120/yr)?

I have done a search in this sub and I can see that Microsoft Defender comes well recommended for small businesses.

We currently use TotalAV for antivirus, the renewal for which I have cancelled (not because of cost, but due to suitability). It seems sensible to now use Windows defender as we are both running Windows 11. We do use VMWare Workstation Pro for a lot of our work and this does have Virtual Machines running OS from Windows XP to Windows 11. No email accounts on there, but if we need to download Windows updates or other software updates we do connect them to the internet (except for the XP and Windows 7) - I mention this in case it has a bearing on the suggestions.

We have the basics in place - backups, two factor authentication and we are both very unlikely to fall for cyber phishing type attacks. We do obviously want to avoid ransomware as it used to target SMBs.

Is there a 'hands off' type solution for this size of business that you can recommend? Or what kind of company I should be looking for to put this in place (a MSSP)? Bonus if it can also help with security on mobile devices (apple).

Edited to add: there are only 2 of us using devices in this business and there is unlikely to be anymore (family business, do not desire to expand).

We currently have AVG Business antivirus paid using what they call cloud console to manage it.

80 endpoints

My main complaint is its a fight to get it working every single time we get a new device. Currently have two laptops sitting on my desk that are totally refusing me. "Install successful" yet nothing is installed.

Hello admins!

What is the preferred antivirus for small businesses nowadays? (Less than 50 windows-devices, not government, health or school)

I don't have any experience with Defender for Endpoint (nor intune) and the small MSP I work for has usually sold ESET Protect that has a dashboard/management for the devices, checking in from time to time to see that things are calm.

Unfortunately I have not been keeping up to date with the solutions and know nothing about "Huntress", "Sentinel", "Crowdstrike" and this "next-generation antivirus" and I feel a bit lost now.

Does anyone have any good tips on what I should take a look at, or if not; should we just stay with selling ESET and their antivirus+management? Feels like we only use like 2 out of 10 different products in the suite.

Thank you!

Pretty straight forward. I used to be really adamant on Kaspersky being some of the best but apparently it’s not safe? Idk. And yeah I know Windows Defender is pretty good by itself, but the question is regarding external ones

Please provide your advice and recommendations!
Kaspersky is most likely a No as they're banned by US and EU Gov.
It has to be secure, private, safe and effective.

Hi all,

Just wondering what antivirus software you’re using on your servers? We’re currently using Sophos but are questioning whether it’s necessary.

Would love any advice or feedback.

Edit: People seem to think I am asking whether to not have any anti virus at all, I know this would be a STUPID idea.

I am asking whether another 3rd party tool is required or would defender be sufficient.

Hello all!

I work as a project manager and developer/engineer for a small business. Because of my background, I also manage the entire IT stack and surveillance for the business.

I recently enabled and subscribed to CyberSecure, an add on for our Ubiquiti UDM-Pro (smart network box), which found network traffic it identified as a crypto mining trojan.

I go and run Windows Defender a handful of times after making sure it is fully up to date and no detections.

Today I research further and figure why not try a quick trial version of Bitdefender or Malwarebytes just to check.

Malwarebytes found 14 detections.

So I assume you all will tell me how terrible of an IT guy I am, and I suppose I deserve that. I've been spending all of my time writing software and designing electronics and I suppose I need to allocate more time to SysAdmin tasks.

I assume it's well established in these communities that Windows Defender alone isn't enough, and I was just unaware?

What solution do you all suggest for around 20 machines?

I see Malwarebytes asks $519.99/yr for "Teams - Small office"

Just wanted to ask the TRUE security experts for their opinion.

Thank you for reading!

I work from home and only use my PC for Google products, web browsing (from known websites) and light gaming. I had Frontiers Secure Pro but it was removed after I downgraded my service.

My pc currently runs smoothly so I don’t want to slow it down or mess it up. Doesn’t have to be free but if it is, even better.

Is Norton and McAfee still the ones to get? TIA

Hi everyone, I'm currently looking for the right antivirus software for a small business with about 20 employees. A key thing we need is solid admin control to make sure antivirus protection is active on all our systems. We really want a solution that notifies us if the software gets turned off or uninstalled, and it would be great if it could automatically fix those problems too. If you guys have any suggestions lmk!