No marketing fluff and no scaremongering. If a question isn't covered below, get in touch and we'll add it.
At its core, antivirus software checks files, programs and network traffic against a continuously updated list of known threats, and it looks for behaviour that resembles known attack patterns. When it finds something, it either blocks it outright or warns you so you can decide. Modern products bundle that with related features like safe browsing, phishing protection and password health checks.
Windows ships with Microsoft Defender, which is genuinely competent. For an average user who keeps the OS up to date and doesn't install unfamiliar software, Defender alone removes a lot of risk. A third-party product is most useful when you want extra coverage for phishing pages, when you share a device with less cautious users, or when you want one dashboard across a household.
They do. macOS includes XProtect, Gatekeeper and System Integrity Protection, and together those cover most traditional malware. The gap on a modern Mac is closer to phishing, malicious browser extensions and password hygiene than to classical viruses. That's the area where a lightweight extra layer tends to be useful.
Older products had a reputation for it, and the reputation wasn't always unfair. Modern engines do most of their work in the background and use only a small fraction of CPU. Stay Secure typically uses under 1% CPU during idle scanning and only spikes briefly during full-disk scans, which are scheduled for when the device is idle anyway.
It shouldn't. Stay Secure detects when a full-screen application is running and pauses background scans and notifications until you're done. Real-time protection stays on, but it won't pop a message in the middle of a meeting or a match.
Several times a day, in the background. You don't need to do anything to receive updates — they happen automatically as long as your subscription is active and the device has an internet connection.
Real-time scanning and automatic updates stop receiving new threat data, so your protection becomes progressively less current. Your existing settings, saved devices and dashboard remain available so that you can resume where you left off after renewing.
Yes — every plan above Solo covers multiple devices, in any mix of Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. You manage them all from a single dashboard tied to your account.
It means that when you click a link, Stay Secure checks the destination against a regularly updated list of phishing sites, fake login pages, malware hosts and known scam patterns. If the link matches, the page is blocked with a clear explanation before it loads.
No. Stay Secure inspects the network behaviour of pages your browser loads and the files that arrive on your device. It does not read the contents of your emails, your chats or your documents.
You can cancel from your account dashboard at any time. Your subscription stays active until the end of the period you've already paid for, and there are no exit fees.
Yes. After installing, run a full system scan from the dashboard. The scan will identify and quarantine threats it recognises and walk you through anything that needs your input. If something appears to be beyond automatic remediation, support can guide you through next steps from your account.