need help please

hi i'm worried that my new laptop i bought about 2 months ago that i am obviously on now. . . might have maleware or any other type of suspicious
programs installed, and i dont know how to check and keep my laptop safe. my security is expired witch is mcaffe so idk how else i can check now that it is expired and i kinda dont wanna pay money for mcaffe.
i heard u can check yourself but thats what i dont know how to do any suggestions? i have nothing important on my laptop but i just want it to keep running properly. with no virus or any other type of infections.

 

Antivirus: Avast
Anti-Spyware: MalwareBytes or Spybot

 

thank you !

 

Install Linux mint or Ubuntu, never worry about viruses again. Also never have virus protection using resources on your pc.

 

Where did you buy it from? Either way I would format any computer I bought from anywhere and install my own OS on there, most pre-installed computers some with shitty bloatware anyway.

 

well im renting my laptop from aarons till i pay it off ad it came with mcaffee.

is it a waste of money to buy protection from them? and how often should i check for melware and virsues?

 

I'd honestly just factory reset it and start fresh if you don't have anything important. Then install a better free anti virus like "Avast". If you do want to do a clean out tho I'd recommend uninstall Mcafee and install both Avast and Malwarebytes and do a scan with both of those. Hope you get it all figured out. Good luck

 

Interesting, I never knew this. What's the reason for it?

 

I'm not going to say it's impossible to get a virus while on linux.... but it's impossible to get a virus on linux unless you absolutely -try- to get a virus on linux. The reason behind it being... "linux". 99.999999999999999999999999999999999% of viruses are wrote for windows systems and cannot be executed in linux. Thus the reason to not worry about viruses or to lose performance with a anti-virus. Linux is just an OS, like windows. I find it very stable and reliable. It's great for home use. Not so much for heavy gaming, although most games in steam are being ported to linux because of some interesting surge in ubuntu....

Here's what linux looks like (my laptop right now):

 

MalwareBytes is a really solid program I would recommend using.

 

I personally don't use any AntiVirus, I just have Malwarebytes and scan it twice per day (once in morning and once before I head off).
I also scan a suspicious file before I open it if I'm worried about it.

 

The strongest antivirus is usually a healthy awareness of what you're installing. Often enough when I repartition my drives etc. I forget for a while to put on protection but I haven't had a virus in years. Educate yourself on your processes and you will generally know when there is a problem.