Cow_160483

Hi guys Am just wondering what anti-virus software's both free and the ones that you subscribe and pay for is the best for protecting your PC from those nasty viruses?
coz my Boss who is a really nice guy knows nothing about computers and asked me which software is good and am not really sure, I always thought Norton was the best but recently am having my doubts.

What do you guys think? Here are my most important criteria:
1- Usability: how easy it is to use ?
2- Effectiveness: How effective is it at removing viruses (i mean permanently not just quarantining it)
3- How mush of your system resources does it suck??

There are a lot more but these are the most important to me at the moment.

+ do you agree with this article?: Anti-Virus Software Review 2008

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craig5320

I really like AVG AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security - Real-time protection against viruses, spyware and malicious websites give the trial a whirl

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Cow_160483

Just downloading the trial right now, quick question is it ant thing like the old AVG free edition coz i personally didn't like that 1 much, had a bad experience once lost very important data on my flash due to some glitch or other. That was before i learn't to use cmd prompts to check for viruses on flashes. Its quite easy to do, maybe i will write a little something and post it here on DH on the subject.

Any how i will give it a try, thanks dude!

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temeteus82

How about Avast!

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[hobo]eclipse

i have never used anti virus before, but ran into some questionable occurances on my prior windows install. registered avast for a year(free) and it was a great experiance, very lite on the system with good monitoring options. i havent installed it yet on this install but i wont hesitate to, i noticed no change in system performance while using it, except removing the shitty bits.

Partizan

Free: Avira and AVG
Payable: ESET NOD32 (user friendly, excellent detection rate, low on resources)

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DJ BIG T

i use the avg free version works great for me..

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Judas

AVG Free 8.0

Doesn't matter what anti-virus you have....... it simply doesn't seem to matter as i've seen people come with every conceiveable anti-virus software, some of which have more then 1 or 2 or even 3 of these paid or unpaid or combination of paid and free packages from norton/nod32/avast/kara/avast/mcafee/avg/panda/etc and so forth installed, and they all get infected and the anti-virus software gets subdued into thinking everything is fine one way or another.

It's just plain out and out easier and cheaper, get avg or another free anti-virus, cause even the free ones do as good a job as the paid versions and have just as much problems.

Frankly i personally don't run an anti-virus, i think it's a waist of time, resources, and a pain in the ass. It gives a sense of false safety.

Also worse yet is a number of people get this idea they have a bullet proof vest and can walk into numerous places where the guns are blazing without having to fear at all. But when they get hit, they get royally upset or confused as to why they are infected.


Your best defence ISN'T a software firewall, or any form of firewall, or any form of anti-virus, or any form of any other software, they only are saposed to "help", not 100% prevent.

Your Best defence IS paranoid and extremely cautious browsing and emailing. Say screw it to attachments in email, don't bother visiting websites that could potentially be questionable. Don't download or run anything at all that is suspicious. Even if there are links/attachments, whatever from your closest friends and family, hell even major corporations or your own utility companies.

Viruses are not made so barbaric anymore, they are extremely intelligent, being able to mimic a discussion or question or try to make it seem like a legit email/message, even mimicing a lengthy technical aspect from your own ISP discussing whatever may make sense at the time. All tricks to get you infected.


I don't use email at all aside from specific.. VERY specific business related tasks. I don't accept attachments, i don't go to links unless i requested them. I actually block my family from sending me stuff because chain mail and for lack of a better word, bullshit email in general.

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Zardon

Avast whips them all. affects performance by 0%.

McAfee 3.5 out of 4 in that article? what a lot of cobblers.

Matth

AVG seems to get pretty mixed opinions.

When AOL were giving away a free Kapersky-based AV, that was the bees knees. Now AOL offer McAfee, and it is unclear if you actually need to be on a dialup plan, or simply get an AOL screen name.

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dawgXdenta

This is a rough one coz it depends on what ur lookin for. Simple no hassle symantec client's been workin fine fer me. It doesnt swallow my precious ram for doodle dadling with sercurity like, ahem Norton.
kapersky is an easy to use easy to config for even the dunderhead who wants max sercurity but doesnt know the ins and out of configuring it(thats me)
I've heard good things about bitdefender from my pals in compscie dept. We'll see. I divorced avg when they were slow to react some time ago to those simple a** viruses. Hey maybe they've improved.

Spend ur cash well guys. Dont look4 /make cracks

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Chaos

I have to agree I use it on every system I work on and it run flawless. I hear it gives the odd false positive for trojans if you are grabbing warez but since thats not allowed it should not be an issue

RoyBatty

Avira Antivir. I don't know how it affects performance since I don't have the real-time scanner enabled, but when I use it from time to time it works great.

stalin12

nothing will competative for kaspersky it is the ever best software...and for the good news..is google is also planning to get a new antivirus software

[hobo]eclipse

just installed avast on a p4 2.4 /1gb ddr266 super lite vista install and its working great, etremely user friendly. just install, pick witch filters you wanna run, choose wheather or not to do a complet HDD scan on reboot and your off! you can register for free within 60 days for a year worth of support!

3.65 Kilos

Free:
I like a combination of AVG Free Edition and Spybot Search & Destroy. AVG is fairly adequate as far as free scanners go, but I find that it does give more false positives than other solutions. It's low on resources during real-time scanning and modest-high on resources during a full system scan (depends on your computer specs though, of course). It has probably the most user-friendly interface that I have encountered.

Non-free
Kaspersky Internet Security Suite
1- Usability: Kaspersky is a little more in-depth than other solutions, but I think its superior all around solution makes up for it (it has anti-virus, proactive scanning, "anti-hacker", firewall, ad blocker, email scanner, and more. Plus the settings are very customizable)
2- Effectiveness: Kaspersky is the most effective security suite I have used. It does a great job at removing (not just quarantining) existing malware. The proactive security is good in the sense that it can find things that the virus signature database doesn't contain, but has to be constantly running.
3- Footprint - Kaspersky is low to moderate during real time scanning/normal running, but is a bit heavy in full scan mode (again, depends on your specs).
Final note: Kaspersky suite is a fantastic all-around internet security solution, but it's annoying habits (depends on your settings. Anyone know what I'm talking about when I say "pig squeal"?) and heavier footprint can deter some people. Oh, and it also classifies a lot of security penetration programs (aka "hacker tools") as suspicious programs.

Eset NOD32
1- Usability: Not as user-friendly as AVG, but not as in-depth as Kaspersky.
2- Effectiveness: Well...I'm not to sure, tbh. I didn't have any virus problems the one month that I had NOD32.
3- Footprint: NOD32 has one of the smallest footprints of any security programs I have used/
Final Note: NOD32 is great for an antivirus and general web browsing, but I'm not sure how well it performs when the going gets tough.

Spyware Doctor
1- Usability: Fairly user-friendly.
2- Effectiveness: Spyware Doctor has been the most effective program I have used to remove malware (it was the only thing that could get rid of a Zlob trojan I had).
3- Footprint: EXTREMELY heavy when doing a system scan or when SecurityGuard(? can't remember) is turned on.
Final Note: Very effective at removing more ornery items, but in the end I ended up uninstalling due to the high system demands.

Kaspersky is superb in more hostile environments and is a great overall security solution, but may not be suited for the more "computer illiterate". NOD32 is light, fast, and efficient, but I am unsure of how it actually performs when really needed. Spyware Doctor is fantastic at what it does, but it is just too dang heavy for normal use.

Laptop specs (which the programs were used on. Not my every-day computer in my specs): 1.8Ghz AMD mobile Sempron, 512mb ram.
That should give you some sort of idea when I talked about resource usage.

Also, about that link you posted, it looks pretty accurate, imo. Although I have never tried BitDefender.

Hope this post helped!

Tipstaff

Of the ones I've used at my store over the years I've always found that ones like AVG, Norton, and McAfee don't do what they are supposed to do, and that is to catch viruses. Over and over again I see machines come into the store infected with some sort of virus, and a lot of times they will have one of those AV software on their systems. Yes, they do detect viruses, but that is after the fact, after the virus has gotten itself routed so deep into the system that there's no choice but to reformat. WTF use is that?

My "current" top choices:

Free:
Avast! Home Edition
Avira AntiVir Personal (the only thing with this one is the free version doesn't have email scanning, and no anti spam/phishing/spyware protection)

Paid:
Kaspersky (paranoid is the best way to describe this one, which is probably why it works so well)
ESET NOD32 3.0 (I sell the OEM of this one, and use the Business Edition on every system I own, including my server)

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Tyrsonswood

The last 6 months or so I've been using the free PC Tools AV and Firewall (with ThreatFire) both. Easy setup and pretty seamless as far as I can tell. I don't surf into virus filled areas much but they have caught a few bugs here and there. I run Spy Bot about once a month and rarely find much but a few tracking cookies...... so it's working for me. Before this I tried AVG and it didn't like my home network at all and Norton before that which was total crapola.

I'm hoping PC Tools stays PC Tools because I read that Norton bought them out..... probably to get the "ThreatFire" technology.

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Cow_160483

Thanks again guys for all the input. So far the top three are: 1-Avasta 2- Avira 3-Kaspersky
This is actually not as far from what i was expecting, however the clear absence of Norton bodes me to ask the question why?? isn't it supposed to be the best?

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Zardon

norton home antirvirus clients are very resource hogging applications, and as Tipstaff said they tend to not always do the job. Part of the problem is that they are so high profile (with mcafee) that the virus and trojan makers work out ways to target their weaknesses.

Symantec corporate was a good app, havent used it in years so im not sure how it fares now. I went through a phase for months of trying all the applications out there and I ended up purchasing Avast Pro which i use on all my machines several of which are on 24/7. Havent had a problem for several years, thats the highest recommendation I can give. I also did extensive testing and it was also one of the few which doesnt affect performance at all, particularly in gaming.

Cow_160483

I have finally decided to go with Avast! 4 professional edition for the office and have placed an order thanks guys for all the help!!

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dawgXdenta

Windows server definately i'd use kapersky. If I really want to monitor what the hell is goin in and out of my pc. Apparently avast MMhh? maybe i should get rid of symantec. My temporary IDE is kak slow. Its def gonna affetc my performance. AAAHHHHH I hate this anyone want to hand me an 80gig they dont use.

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Today's world is of public opinion and the fates of nations are determined through its pressure. Once the tools for building public opinion are obtained, everything that you asked for can be done. --- Osama bin Laden when relating how global media has the minds of the masses.
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OmegaRED

I haven't tried Avast but of all the many antivirus programs I've run Nod32 has been hands down the best.

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Cow_160483

This has got me thinking about my own security situation at home am running "Symantec AntiVirus 10.1 Corporate Edition Client" I have been using it for a while now and am thinking of trying one of the others that i read about here particularly Kaspersky. I wonder how the experience will be?

Ps: do these programs have 64bit and 32bit versions? coz am running XP X64!

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charm_quark

well kaspersky will do well, as long as configured well, viruses have a pattern of infection i.e registry, boot.ini windows services. so if you configure it properly it will prevent infection, even if your AV is not updated.

Tipstaff

NOD32 has x64 support, as does avast, for both XP and Vista.

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BabylenTatarsky

AVG Free has too many false-positives, in my opinion.

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sushrukh

It's Kaspersky Internet Security 7 for me.All in one in a small & useful package.

Salty85

I have used symantec endpoint protection and never saw a performance hit. Works great, but the retail versions work like crap.

raiden

use Avast, very light on system does not cut the RAM, and very user friendly....and cracks are available easily...detects viruses , spyware, etc etc....regards