For most people, the antivirus you already have is fine — Windows Defender is now genuinely capable, and phones protect themselves. So the question isn't "do I need antivirus?" but "whose do I trust?" Once a company has that much access to your device and traffic, what matters is who they are and which government can compel their data.

That's why the scene is political. Kaspersky got banned in the US and warned against across Europe — not over a proven backdoor, but because a Russian-jurisdiction company can be compelled. And Avast and AVG only feel like scrappy Czech alternatives: both now sit inside US-listed Gen Digital, alongside Norton and Avira.

Bottom line: antivirus isn't something you need anymore — it's something you choose. The most important spec isn't the detection rate, it's the flag on the company that wrote it.