Anti-virus software options?
 

I've been using Malwarebyes which is reputed to be pretty good.

1). I've liked it thus far despite a rather confusing menu system for adding 'allowed' sites.
Those user limitations are there for our protection but I do find it deliberately limiting in a way.
Some political websites have been blocked. Better to be safe...

2). I have also experienced a lot of random disconnections while gaming.
(Other factors are also suspect: Such as base internet speed, server kicked, software, intrusions, etc)

When I went to renew Malwarebytes, their webpage did not display correctly without googlescript.
Same with Bitdefender.
(I use NoScript and have Google/Facebook/Twitter/etc/etc blocked as much as possible.)

In the past, I was accidentally allowed core access to the FB account of a person on a shared group mailing list. That happened several times. I saw enough to make me a bit cautious of all the cross-linked social networking and automatic "likes" and automatic "Hey Bob likes X,Y,Z" references. Steam allows users to see quite a bit about other people/strangers for instance. I don't like it.
My internet profile is not there for someone else to make money off of without my consent.
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A few clicks of research led me to the following document.
I'd always been under the assumption that A.V. companies share threat data with other companies in consortium, but did not share customer data with 3rd parties.
(Perhaps my spidey senses are tingling a bit too hard and I do not know the industry....)

https://www.malwarebytes.com/pdf/guides/thirdpartylicensesupplement.pdf
Google and its wholly owned subsidiaries may retain and use, subject to the terms of its privacy policy (located at www.google.com/privacy.html), information collected in Your use of the Service. Google will not share Your Customer Data or any Third Party's Customer Data with any third parties unless Google (i) has Your consent for any Customer Data or any Third Party's consent for the Third Party's Customer Data; (ii) concludes that it is required by law or has a good faith belief that access, preservation or disclosure of Customer Data is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Google, its users or the public; or (iii) provides Customer Data in certain limited circumstances to third parties to carry out tasks on Google's behalf (e.g., billing or data storage) with strict restrictions that prevent the data from being used or shared except as directed by Google. When this is done, it is subject to agreements that oblige those parties to process Customer Data only on Google's instructions and in compliance with this Agreement and appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
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So my first question is if Anti-Virus companies are legally allowed to share customer internet usage?

My second question is what are the good ones?

-Avast has freeware they claim to function the same as paid. I don't mind paying reasonably.

-Kaspersky is pricey and 'foreign'. I'd get a free bump up the NSA list. It might stop working at some point.

-There were some other new ones listed on PCMag. Malwarebytes was not listed on some reviews.

I've been curious about how good PC Matic is (USA company) after seeing their current TV ad.

<iframe width="884" height="497" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KTkJ_StslDY" title="PC Matic Commercial (2022)" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

A previous ad:

<iframe width="884" height="497" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WxEZOqT8TlI" title="PC Matic - Antivirus Protection Turbocharger" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

John,
Would you trust Jenny Craig to sell you food and weight loss at the same time?

Assuming you have Windows 10, uninstall any third party antimalware software and use the built-in Windows Defender.

^^^ This

Defender does it all...for free with no constant reminders.

Yes, the geeks here at the helpdesk say Defender is good for Win10 systems, just be sure you got updates, etc. turned on.

Personally, I'd vote for going to a pretty immune system, either Linux or BSD.

No way in hell I'd use that stuff. The commercial is too close to an infomercial for a cheap, sheiße piece of junk product to me.
I switched from Windows 2-3 years ago, but hadn't had an issue with malware or viruses in many years when I switched. For many years, I'd been using Windows Defender or the "Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool". Basically, whatever malware/virus software is free from Microsoft. I got frequent updates (several times a week) and never noticed it being intrusive or causing resource issues on my PCs.

Malwarebytes was recommended to me when out previous PC got infected with some virus and we were hacked. We are still on year 1 of use.

I have Windows 10 and Avast. Does Avast mess up Defender? Can I run both?

No reason to run both. I have used MWB for family that does not practice safe practices on a computer and it is very good at removing stuff. For home we all use defender.

My previous work we used Cylance and it was pretty restrictive but that is what we wanted.

When you install a third party antimalware product, Windows essentially disables Defender.

I've been using free Avast at work for years from my IT guy's recommendations.
Lots of pop ups for upgrades that I ignore.

I did a 2 year stint in consumer AV.

Never used it before that stint and definitely not after.

Windows defender has been a solid product for some time now.

That and common sense is all you need.

The other stuff often causes more problems than it solves.

With Windows Defender....I never get any emails or pop-ups that my computer is in trouble.

Before that...I had MacAfee and every day there would be a notice of trouble and they were protecting me.....BS
Lots of scams out there.

+1 for linux. Mint is very easy to use.