So my parents (not terribly tech savvy) want to re-purchase their anti-virus software for their Windows 10 computer. Their main concern is the financial banking stuff that they will be doing over the internet. I’ve read a lot that says the windows defender that already comes via windows 10 is solid, but would it protect their financial browsing? Should they pay for a VPN? If so, which is fairly cheap and EASIEST to use?
Thanks
Defender is perfectly fine. I run 200 workstations with it and haven’t had as much as a blip and we are a decent target. We have also passed multiple security inspections from clients as well as holding various security compliances including PCI and HIPPA.
Think about it this way: no company in the world has more interest in keeping your Windows computer safe than Microsoft themselves.
However, there really isn’t any software in the world that can truly prevent everything. Fortinet has a great series of videos on their training site that are designed for the less technical and boost awareness of certain types of attacks.
Integrated windows defender is as barebones as any antivirus software can get, it’s meant to be used as additional line of defense, but never as primary protection. It’s highly recommended to get proper antivirus software, Avast and Kaspersky are pretty much the best ones, and both offer free versions if you don’t want to purchase the licence, and even free versions are leaps ahead of what Windows defender is capable of. Think Avast even comes with its own secure Chrome based server, that offers increased security features.
About VPN, unless your parents are very actively using Internet banking, pretty much just antivirus software should be enough to protect from keyloggers and other malicious client side activity. But, if they really need it, Private Internet Access offer VPN services, and are considered some of the best VPN providers, as well as other services like TunnelBear.
As an alternative, your parents could save some money and use integrated browser VPN, for example in Opera browser. Since all VPN works the same way, Opera VPN should be as secure as stuff from TunnelBear etc, it just won’t come with additional paid features, such as password restoration and such.
I have read that VPNs don’t really provide extra security - e.g. here. Personally, I do use a VPN when I’m doing bank transactions or just using email I’ve someone else’s WiFi (e.g. at a café, airport etc.). Hope someone with expertise here can provide a second opinion.
Malwarebytes Premium prevents websites from loading if they contain malware, so that could be a good form of security for them.
A VPN does NOT offer better security, and this is a common misconception among many.
VPNs only encrypt data between two end points through the infamous tunneling protocol, and none of this functions as a protection against viruses or malware.
As far as security goes, again you’re only encrypting data between 2 endpoints.
That’ important if say you want to access internal corporate resources you don’t want to expose externally.
But again for HOME users routing their PUBLIC INTERNET TRAFFIC through a VPN doesn’t do any of the above. The data is decrypted at the VPN termination point, then routed through the public internet just like it would be without the VPN.
What they’d need to do is…
Info sec and data integrity all rely on common sense, and in most causes, the victim themselves are the reason why their problems exist (PEBKAC).
I used MWB and Windows Defender and a fair bit of common sense… 
you should teach your parents how to use two factor auth for login, but also just go with a/v. vpn isn’t necessary