The article only covers free protection and as I said Windows Defender is insufficient for the kind of threats out there today if you search the web. Just being online alone with a router active and without doing any browsing can be a door for someone trying to access open networks. I see blockage reports all the time. Putting as many barriers between your computer and any unauthorized access is the smart way to go. I mentioned that any one software program will not catch everything and some are better than others for specific needs. Norton is not a good one for preventing cookies from advertisers or unintentional ones from browsing sites while some others are. It only looks for destructive coding and so it doesn't catch things that are a nuisance but are not bad in and of themselves.