Security - Antivirus specifically

My McAfee just expired on this computer and I am now getting a bunch of intrusive "buy me" pop-ups. I have never thought McAfee to be top of the line when it comes to Anti-Virus, but the question is, is anybody really stopping viri these days?

I have started to get smarter about Security. I went to RSA in 2016, and I bought a book on Exploits. This is very very hardcode book, and I have not managed to get through it all yet. It requires Assembler and C programming, and teaches you how hackers actually exploit code. I think once I finish this it will be awesome knowledge, and I am about halfway through it. I got pulled off of this due to the longer hours at work playing with virtualization and orchestration.

So - I am not current on malware. So I spent some time looking around this morning, reading anti-virus reviews.

It does not appear that there is much out there in the way of OpenSource AV. ClamAV looks like the only thing actively maintained. This is a bit of a surprise.

There are some free packages out there, but I am sure they probably nag you incessantly to buy or upgrade. The big question is this: Can you really trust FREE?

I also see some interesting Cloud-based packages out there that are working from outside your network. This would have been an absolute no-no for me in earlier times, but considering the danger of today's malware, maybe this kind of approach is worth re-examining, is good results are coming from it. One such company is Crystal Security.

I see some products like VoodooShield. And some new ones I had not previously encountered like GlarySoft Malware Hunter.

Of course, Kaspersky, ESET - these guys always get good reviews.

It is probably good to stay up to speed on this stuff. To take an  hour here and there and stay current.