On Spot Techs

By Eric Geier (Our Founder & Owner)

Originally published by Cox Media Group on 5/11/25

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​You should always have antivirus or internet security software on your computers.

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It will hopefully stop any viruses that might try to infect your computer and can help protect you from other dangers like scams.

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However, most of the big name companies, like Norton and McAfee basically take advantage of seniors and the less-tech inclined with scare tactics.

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Stay away from big name antivirus. These big-name antivirus companies keep raising prices and keep trying to push all their new features onto everyone, regardless if they really need it. We see this every single day at my computer and IT shop here in Moraine. Sometimes we even see these features (such as VPNs) create issues, which then in turn causes the user to spend time and money having us troubleshoot.

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Worst of all is seeing the greed by these companies.

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Many times, when we sign into a customer’s antivirus account, it will show multiple subscriptions.

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Each subscription usually covers a handful of devices even though the customer might only have one or two devices.

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These companies do not, but certainly have the power to, inform customers of unused and unneeded subscriptions.

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It’s not uncommon to see a user unknowingly paying more than $300- 600 a year to an antivirus company, when there’s other good options for a fraction of that.

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Most average computer users use these big-name antivirus companies not because they are the best or priced-right, but just because they got a free trial on their computer when it was new, and now that’s what they’re used to. Some of the companies offer some useful features, but most users don’t need to utilize them, or they never even try to utilize them. So, I see most of our customers throwing money away.

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If you’re wanting to get away from an antivirus company, you can usually simply sign into your online account and stop the auto renewals for the subscriptions, so you’re not charged again. However, fully canceling your accounts usually requires a live chat or maybe a phone call so they can attempt their best to keep you as a customer.

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Some of these companies do offer a 30 or 60-day refund policy, but keep in mind some charge you ahead of time before the subscription’s actual renewal date.

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Malwarebytes is a good choice. I’ve always been a fan of Malwarebytes. It’s free to download and manually run scans. But I recommend upgrading to the paid Standard account for all your computers, so it actively protects you and runs scans automatically. You can buy directly online from Malwarebytes, or call a local reseller.

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Malwarebytes not only stops viruses, but other malware and junk most big-name antivirus software ignores. You can even run Malwarebytes along with most other big-name anti-virus programs.

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Or like I suggest: just purchase Malwarebytes and get rid of the expensive big-name antivirus.

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Malwarebytes does provide a few other products/features, like VPN, identity protection, and a computer cleaner program. But I don’t think most users need those. I suggest just sticking to their main product: Malwarebytes Standard.

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