If you just want an AV and control over what your AV does: GData Antivirus
Link- Just an AV, no shredder, no parent control, no wallet, no options that bloat the software with unwanted tools
- Respects your whitelist
- Asks about actions (deleting files, ignore them)
- No system slow downs, runs pretty stable
- Made in Germany
I'm using it for years now. It's one of the few AVs left that let you have control over the actions. BitDefender for example I was never able to exclude my trainers even when I turned everything off it still deletes files and not even put them in quarantine so if I wouldn't have made a backup, I would have lost the files forever.
But I don't think AVs are important nowadays as the way of attacks are changing. Instead of virus and trojans we now have ransomware which encrypts your files or social engineering that steals your information by asking you for it. Nearly all AVs cannot protect you when it comes to that. So sticking to Windows Defender is a solution too if you just need basic (virus/trojan) protection.