School Laptops and anti virus software

[Dujith]

So my daughter is going to secondary school (highschool?, not sure if thats a 1 to 1 translation) and has to get a laptop.

Now the school offers a laptop for rent or i can buy it, now the ones they offer are a bit weak and i'm looking to buy the same model but with better specs.

 

They do however require a non-school laptop to have AV installed. I could try and tell them that normal usage + windows own defenses is fine (Heck her own computer has 0 bad stuff on it for 4 years now  )

But i doubt they would understand, so better to just install an AV and be done with it.....

 

So now for the question, what is the least intrusive AV at the moment? I am completely out the loop regarding this. Besides Norton and Mcafee = Bad.

[jaslion]

You have an antivirus called windows defender on it so that is sorted.

 

If you need something get malwarebytes.

 

What laptop are you looking to buy?

[AbydosOne]

1 minute ago, Dujith said:

They do however require a non-school laptop to have AV installed. I could try and tell them that normal usage + windows own defenses is fine

List Windows Defender as the AV if asked. If questioned about it, question them about why they feel it isn't sufficient (and if they're getting kickbacks from whatever AV they inevitably recommend ).

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Windows defender+Malwarebytes scan once a week is fine.

[Kanna]

Well the requirement is probably there for people that don't think and just click all links but windows defender is fine in most cases but dull sometimes. If you actually need something get malwarebytes it's a good option when paired with windows defender

[SorryBella]

1 minute ago, AbydosOne said:

and if they're getting kickbacks from whatever AV they inevitably recommend

99.99% of the time this is the motive of "smart" schools in 3rd world countries. List antimalwares like malwarebytes as your AV list, and keep malwarebytes real time off and run it occasionally.

[Dujith]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

You have an antivirus called windows defender on it so that is sorted.

I know, you know... But a school IT department? Not so much  

 

3 minutes ago, jaslion said:

What laptop are you looking to buy?

A Dell Latitude 3310. She wants the one everyone else will have.

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Dujith said:

I know, you know... But a school IT department? Not so much

They know very much so. Windows defender is a antivirus by name so they have no say in saying it is not one, If they do say so they are free to contact microsoft and get the answer it is an antivirus.

 

Also that is a almost 4 year old laptop. It sucks.

[Dujith]

4 minutes ago, AbydosOne said:

List Windows Defender as the AV if asked. If questioned about it, question them about why they feel it isn't sufficient (and if they're getting kickbacks from whatever AV they inevitably recommend ).

 

3 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Windows defender+Malwarebytes scan once a week is fine.

I'll try at least, tho i do not have high hopes.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Just now, Dujith said:

 

I'll try at least, tho i do not have high hopes.

Just put Malwarebytes as the one used.

 

 

That or "fuck you you don't own it"

[Dujith]

Just now, jaslion said:

They know very much so. Windows defender is a antivirus by name so they have no say in saying it is not one, If they do say so they are free to contact microsoft and get the answer it is an antivirus.

I say IT department, but its usually 1 person trained by the company renting out the laptops in the first place.

(The Rent Company, yes. Thats their name)

 

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Dujith said:

I say IT department, but its usually 1 person trained by the company renting out the laptops in the first place.

(The Rent Company, yes. Thats their name)

 

Even more reason to give them a big fuck off about it.

 

Also I made an edit to say that laptop is 4 years old and genuinly just bad by now. ESPECIALLY for the price. Like 3 hours of battery life for a new laptop in 2020? Excuse me. For the higher end non garbage model you can get a top of the line hp envy x360 amd laptop that would be infinity nicer. Or any other thing.

 

That rent agency is 100% reusing old laptops and charging a premium for them. Not surprising I've worked with them in the past for schools and let me say of the 7 I had worked with only one survived because they actually gave decent devices from the current time period and good support. ( like I mean 100€ a year for a fucking core i3 first gen hp laptop in 2018 is not ok as an example of one).

[Dujith]

9 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Also I made an edit to say that laptop is 4 years old and genuinly just bad by now. ESPECIALLY for the price. Like 3 hours of battery life for a new laptop in 2020? Excuse me. For the higher end non garbage model you can get a top of the line hp envy x360 amd laptop that would be infinity nicer. Or any other thing.

Yeah, going through the specs i noticed only older Intel CPU's 

Looking at the HP ENVY x360 13-ay0952nd. While pricier i have a better feeling about this

[jaslion]

7 hours ago, Dujith said:

Yeah, going through the specs i noticed only older Intel CPU's 

Looking at the HP ENVY x360 13-ay0952nd. While pricier i have a better feeling about this

That is an excellent laptop.

It has one weird but easy to fix issue. It can have really bad temperature due to the stupid thing of the feet being too thin. Literally lifting it up half a cm can drop temps by 40c. I stuck 2 taller rubber feet on my x360 15 inch to not have to remember to lift it up :p.

[Akolyte]

10 hours ago, Dujith said:

So my daughter is going to secondary school (highschool?, not sure if thats a 1 to 1 translation) and has to get a laptop.

Now the school offers a laptop for rent or i can buy it, now the ones they offer are a bit weak and i'm looking to buy the same model but with better specs.

 

They do however require a non-school laptop to have AV installed. I could try and tell them that normal usage + windows own defenses is fine (Heck her own computer has 0 bad stuff on it for 4 years now  )

But i doubt they would understand, so better to just install an AV and be done with it.....

 

So now for the question, what is the least intrusive AV at the moment? I am completely out the loop regarding this. Besides Norton and Mcafee = Bad.

Hey mate,

 

While I wish I could agree with the people here and say Windows Defender is suitable (it is technically), I'm sure that your daughter's high school has an IT policy which you may want to get your hands on and read through else your daughter could be subject to having her grades removed or whatever they have on their policies.

 

It's important to read through them so you know what they expect you to do if you BYOD.

 

Organizations like this will have a managed device policy or a BYOD policy or an acceptable use policy.  And normally policies like this will define what you need to actually connect a non-managed device to the network. 

 

The above policies will define things like disk encryption, operating system security standards such as patching, what networks you're allowed to be on, etc.  In some cases organizations even require you to install tracking software or a 'managed agent' which is just a fancy word for a piece of software they use to have complete control over the device.

 

^ In schools a managed agent is usually used so that they can ensure the student isn't cheating in any way - but it is a violation of privacy and security as the agent usually has full access to all data on the computer including webcam, microphone, etc.

 

 

Personally, I would get your hands on the policy, read it - buy your daughter a laptop.  But make sure that once she's done, you wipe the hell out of the thing and put a fresh install on it.

[jaslion]

8 hours ago, Akolyte said:

^ In schools a managed agent is usually used so that they can ensure the student isn't cheating in any way - but it is a violation of privacy and security as the agent usually has full access to all data on the computer including webcam, microphone, etc.

 

 

Personally, I would get your hands on the policy, read it - buy your daughter a laptop.  But make sure that once she's done, you wipe the hell out of the thing and put a fresh install on it.

Yeah had that happen many times before too and thanks to laws here it was as simple as threaten a report (and then doing it anyway) and almost always they give you a go ahead.

 

The wonderful thing about cheating is that someone will ALWAYS find a way :p.

[Dujith]

Had a chat with one of the ITers and turns out i was wrong. While the Rent Company pushes their G-DATA antivirus, extra service and insurance.

The school itself just wants Windows Defender and is fine with just that.

 

No special software is needed, so no tracking or anything like that. Their mindset is that it is the responsibility of the student to keep their laptops in order.

Shows how old i am   other then office installed (which is provided by the school) most things like communication and rosters are done by app on their phones.

 

Old man rant: I had to bicycle to school in scorching heat and snow uphill both ways to just check a tiny CRT for my roster for the day.  and grumble all the way home cuz a teacher was sick and i could have slept 1 hour extra.