Questions answered

Windows includes Microsoft Defender Antivirus, enabled by default, and it provides real-time scanning without a subscription. A paid product is therefore an addition rather than a replacement, and the question is what it adds that you will use: a password manager, ransomware protection with file rollback, a VPN, support you can contact. If none of those additions matter to you, the honest answer is that the built-in protection is the baseline and you are entitled to stop there.

macOS includes its own protections, described in Apple's platform security documentation, and malicious software targeting macOS exists. Neither fact settles the question by itself. What a third-party product adds on macOS is typically broader detection coverage, web filtering and the bundled extras, within the constraints the platform imposes on what any application may inspect. Compare the macOS feature list specifically rather than the general one, because the platform builds differ.

Android and iOS both isolate applications from each other, so a security app cannot scan other apps the way a desktop scanner scans files. On Android, a security app can inspect applications being installed, files in shared storage and web traffic it is permitted to see. On iOS the capability is narrower still, and a security app is usually web filtering, a VPN and breach notification rather than a scanner. Installing applications only from the official store and keeping the operating system updated does most of the work on both platforms.

It depends entirely on what the free version excludes, which varies and is documented by each vendor. Free tiers commonly include on-access scanning and exclude the bundled extras, and some fund themselves with upgrade prompts. Compare the free tier's feature list against the paid tier's and against what your operating system already provides; if all three overlap completely for your use, the free option is a reasonable answer.

Generally not. Two products with real-time protection active inspect the same files at the same moments, which can cause slowdowns, and each may treat the other's quarantine activity as suspicious. The usual arrangement is one real-time product, with a second used only as an on-demand scanner if you want a second opinion. Windows handles this by stepping Microsoft Defender Antivirus aside when another real-time product registers itself.

It consumes processor time, memory and disk activity, and the effect is most noticeable during a full scan and on older hardware. How much depends on the product and the machine, which is why independent testing laboratories measure performance as a category of its own. AgileBase publishes no such measurements because it runs no tests. Scheduling full scans for a time you are not using the machine removes most of the practical impact.

With real-time protection active, files are already inspected as they are used, so a full scan is a periodic check rather than the main defence. Monthly is a common rhythm, along with a scan after installing a product for the first time, after an incident, or when a machine has been offline for a long period. A quick scan covers the locations that matter most and takes minutes.

The product has judged the file unsafe and moved it somewhere it cannot run, rather than deleting it. Quarantine is reversible, which matters because false positives happen. If a program stopped working immediately after a scan, the quarantine list is the first place to look. A detection reported with a generic name ending in something like .Gen or Suspicious indicates a resemblance rather than an identification.

Most likely by heuristic analysis, which judges a file by its structure rather than by matching something known. Software that is uncommon, compiled from a script, packed, or distributed by a small publisher produces the same signals as malicious software does. The useful responses are to leave it in quarantine, submit it to the vendor for review, and avoid broad exclusions that outlive the reason you added them.

Automatic renewal is switched off in the account you created with the vendor, and the control is usually in a subscription or billing section. Do it before the renewal date rather than after, since the cut-off is set out in the subscription terms. Keep the confirmation. If the control cannot be found, the vendor's support channel is the route, and a written record of the request is worth keeping.

Because they are two different prices, and both are disclosed: an introductory price for the first term and a standard price thereafter, set out in the subscription terms rather than on the sales page. This is the most common source of complaint in the category. Reading the renewal figure before subscribing, and setting your own reminder for the renewal date, removes the surprise.

Consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law apply to products and services supplied to consumers in Australia, and the ACCC publishes guidance on what they cover and on what to do when there is a problem with something you bought. Raise it with the seller first, in writing, keeping a record, and escalate if it is not resolved. Your card issuer's dispute process is separate and has its own time limits. This is a description of where the public guidance sits, not legal advice.

A web page cannot scan your computer. Browsers isolate pages from the rest of the machine, so any page reporting a specific infection count has drawn a picture of a warning dialog rather than performed a scan. Genuine findings from security software appear in that software's own interface. Closing the tab ends it; if the tab resists, close the browser from the operating system. Reports go to Scamwatch.

Scams go to Scamwatch, run by the National Anti-Scam Centre at the ACCC. Cybercrime goes to ReportCyber, operated by the Australian Cyber Security Centre. Privacy complaints about how an organisation handled your personal information go to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, after raising it with the organisation first. If money has moved, contact your bank or card issuer before making any of those reports, because the fastest actions available are theirs.

No. A VPN encrypts your traffic between your device and the provider's server, hiding it from the local network and hiding your address from the site you visit. It does not inspect files and does not detect malicious software. The two are bundled together often enough that the distinction gets lost, but they answer different questions and neither substitutes for the other.