Iria

Although it isn’t possible to fully protect your computer from a huge array of viral, spyware, and other malware threats, a good anti-virus application goes a long way to securing your PC. Now that most computers are permanently connected to the internet, it is more important than ever to ensure you have an up-to-date and reliable anti-virus package on your computer. Some people still don’t have any installed, thinking that because they are careful what they download, they will be safe. Others don’t like the thought of losing even the slightest amount of performance from their PC. However, the importance of getting a good virus scanner cannot be underestimated – and this lesson is often only learned after a virus infection.
__________________
Source: Velocity Reviews

IvanV

I'd like to hear from other people with experience with these programs. Is Avira that good? Also, AVG always seemed lighter compared to Avast to me. I'm not so sure about memory usage, but with Avast, my system seems slightly less responsive. Still, that may be because I still haven't switched to AVG 8.0.

__________________
If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Tipstaff

Honestly, lighter is not good. If you do all your email via a web client I would suggest using AntiVir, and if you are using a mail client I would use Avast!.

AVG just doesn't cut it anymore. I used to install AVG on every machine I sold at my store up until, and including, version 7. I haven't installed 8 yet, but frankly I'm not going to. I just don't trust it anymore. I stopped using AVG simply because it didn't stop jack, or didn't warn me about jack until AFTER the machine was thoroughly infected. By that time it was all over, and a reformat was then in that computers future.

__________________

IvanV

Thanks. So far, both AVG and Avast have kept me clean and detected everything my sister brought from college (not her fault really, their computers are crawling with all sorts of bad stuff), except on one occasion when I set too loose rules for a p2p app and AVG detected the problem after the infection already took place, so I do trust Avast a little more. Plus it's modular, so when I'm not using other people's CDs and USBs, I can pause the standard shied, but keep other components on. And anyway, I too consider a heavier footprint for better protection a good tradeoff.

__________________
If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Just Learnin'

Hmmm, so far no infections while using AVG 8 free other than a few false positives which they corrected fairly quickly.

Judas

about 3 days ago... i had a machine come in with avast that was loaded to the nuts with viruses....

my confidence in anti-viruses remains zero...

__________________

Tipstaff

I have to admit, though, that no single AV software is perfect, and that all of them can be ineffective at catching specific viruses, or ways in which they infect. Even the best of them have bad days.

As Judas suggests, don't rely on AV software. You can do your best by being careful on how you surf the net, and by also incorporating other things like active malware scanners such as Comodo BOClean which is free, having a startup monitor running like Spybot S&Ds Tea Timer or Startup Monitor (which can help detect crap trying to install, and thus allows you to stop it in it's tracks sooner rather than later when your screwed), and running scans with software like SUPERAnitSpyware, Ad-Aware, or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (all 3 have active scanners in their paid versions btw) on a routine basis.

__________________

Vehicon

AVG 8 is what i have been using. I used NOD32 and Avast, i think NOD worked pretty good, but i wasn't to impressed with Avast.

__________________

Just Learnin'

Another good "keep them out" is SpywareBlaster: SpywareBlaster

Vikingod

I've been using Avast for longer than I can remember. I can't imagine using anything but, honestly. I've not run into any major problems in those years, it seems to detect very accurately.

UBT - Terry

I'm with Judas on this one Avast isn't as good as it used to be I also had someone come to me as pc going mad and was full of nasties 163 of them to be exact.
I personally like AVG 8 along with adaware 2008.
Never had any problems using these, but as someone else already said being careful what you look at online helps more

Zardon

been using avast pro for 3 years, never had a single virus in that time frame. If judas dislikes it, that probably means its awesome. Most other anti virus clients affect performance and I wont tolerate that, in my extensive testing Avast was one of the few which affected performance by 0%.

Obviously if all you do is surf porn, key gen and other dodgy sites something will get past, no matter how good the software is. Sensible surfing is always necessary.

zerodamage

I have a fairly fool proof way to keeping my user's machines clean. Keep in mind that my users all have local admin privelages and each machine directly connected to the internet.

1: Extensive Education

2: IPSec standard based firewall (Windows XP Only).

3: Spybot configured to automatically update, immunize, and clean daily and weekly

4: Enforcing the use of Firefox with the Adblock Plus, Adblock Filterset.G Updater, and Forecastbar addons. A good portion of drive-by malware comes from compromised advertisements on websites. People also like to install Weather Bug which owned by a former Spyware vendor so the Forecastbar is an easy alternative.

5: I force my users' systems to update their systems. With you, that should be easy. My wife is a myspace/facebook user and after a year of a similar setup, she hasn't been infected once.

6: I do not surf the web with my Windows machine. My windows machine is a gaming machine only. I surf the web with my Linux machine. Not everyone has two computers, but running a virtual machine with Ubuntu on it is easy. Virtualbox is free and runs very nice. When you are done surfing and want to game, suspend or stop the virtual machine and game.

7: NoScript firefox addons (not for my users but for me) on all of my firefox installs. Rogue scripts on any websites are completely avoided with this addons.

8: OpenDNS. Configure your home network and/or work network to use this. In conjuction with a DD-WRT capable router, you will be in internet heaven. With OpenDNS, you can block sites via content type. There are categories for phishing sites, spyware, and even porn because your little brother is to blame for infecting your computer. DD-WRT or other open source firmware for your routers makes it easy to do Dynamic DNS.


Curious about my IPSec policy or how to configure Spybot effectively to do the scans and automatic immunization, post up or PM me.

Tipstaff

Thanks for mentioning that plugin. Very useful plugin.

__________________

Iria

Noscript is also reportedly the only way to avoid the "clickjacking" flaw that all browsers are vulnerable to ...

Judas

Frankly your attitude is getting quite out of hand considering your position as a site owner and administrator.

It's gone from being short jabs hopefully in jest, to questionable sarcasm to outright stating your wishes in the form of a suggestion or however you wish to put it, to have me not post anything at all (the jist of the suggestion being to just simply have me leave the site or just lerk only...). You've stated that most of reasoning behind this is due to complaints from other users sending you hundreds of PM's or E-mail because "I" am posting either "wrong" information or counter accepted norms. On top of all this you make the clear assumption that anything stated to coutner what i may have posted "will not change your mind" (referring to mine) which is absurdly untrue considering that i would have to say I'm probably the most open to anything on these forums. I've clearly admitted to making mistakes in the past or else proving them otherwise in other cases, Ironically in the cases where i've clearly deminstrated that i was indeed correct, clearly countering the "your a liar" compaigns of other members of the forum INCLUDING that of your staff, the reaction is usually ignoring the results, removeall of the posts, suggestions to take it to PM which initially would have been fine if only there wasn't so much garbage out of the public forums already. Essentially it's alright to discredit, call a member a liar, eventually creating the public acceptance of belittling another member without providing any avenue for that said member to counter it due to be "flamitory" in some way or another. (granted this hasn't ALWAYS happened, but the bigger ones tend to, including the ones that clearly disprove or put a staff member in bad light. A specific case in which i won't name the staff member would be an excellent example).

Orginally on the forums in the past i would make some suggestions based upon my own experience and opinion of the matter without clearly stating it was my own opinion (although in the light of political correctness, suddenly this is seen as nessary) so recently i've make it fairly clear with constantly place the "IMO" in with the post.

Things recently getting hectic with the sudden increase of hostilities specifically singling me out (example quoted above). If i post my opinion, make a statement about the situations from my own point of view, provide plausible solutions that are "not of the norm" or considered nessiary at all, suddenly i'm getting this kind of attitude? Something is wrong here, and of all people i would have thought you yourself would have come to realize it and told some of the people bitching about it to either get a life, take it the way they want and stop bothering you or other staff members.


If i want to apply a exceptional thin layer of thermal paste to both the cpu and heatsink as an over the top method that clearly does work even if it may or maynot shave off a degree or improve the performance of the sum of all parts, who the hell cares, it's an alternative method, it doesn't need an adminstrator to come in and tell me that it's a waist of time or anyone else, the post was in passing and to sum it up, was a post in reflection to a previous post by another user, i didn't go off topic as i was blamed for by another user.

Now i would expect this post to be deleted right, not on topic? Considering it a clear responce to you as well as others, and one of the first to take a step up rather then sluffing it off like i've done in the past, in fairness it should remain.

Your getting sick of me obviously, why i'm not 100% sure as going by all your posts over the past few years with the growing hostility to me for no REAL reason other then other people bitching.

I'm Sorry, I'm not a robot, i'm not an "in the box only" type of person, i'm not closed minded as you've suggested, i agree i do have a habit of going a little bit further then most people would on my quest for something in which i can never obtain but at least i try, for perfection. I put time into that of which I care for, it seperates me from the other people. I don't just quit at "it's good enough" on the specific things that IS my living.


And as i've stated, above in in relation to the orginal topic, reguardless of the anti-virus in use, 100% confidence in it is "IMO" not good. As i've clearly seen that reguardless of the brand/make/year/whatever version of software you've got, you can quite easily still get infected. And a few people agreed, a few people haven't, some are relying on that which they've used for years, some moved to another due to getting infected once or several times, is it always greener on the otherside in the anti-virus world? Apparently no, why would it be difference, theres bound to be something better out right now and then a meer matter of seconds later even, a virus definition update or update in general could potentially make that one better then the previous best one.

Best solution is safe internet usage, i've "proved" that to myself and to others that even without a anti-virus, you can be virus free. It's no different then sticking to the calm shallow waters of a lake without a life jacket, most people would consider that suicide, but then people get a life jacket and start sailing into the perfect storm expecting to come out without a scratch on them. It isn't nessarily stupid to have a computer on the internet without anti-virus, but it is pretty stupid to have an anti-virus and the go into the most nasty horrible places on the internet that are swarming with infestations and thinking your going to fine because look.. i'm using an antivirus. It'll help, no doubt, but in the end your luck will indeed run out if you keep sailing those waters.

That is my opinion, That is a logical way of looking at it, Nowhere did i say that Avast was a horrible peice of shit and should burn in hell, or that i dislike it specifically. (although i did say that about Java which i still stand by imo). Norton i dislike because it's bloated, Mcafee i dislike because it's also similare in it's bloated, I dislike anti-viruses in general because in the end, most of all the customers still aren't using the internet properly and relying on thier anti-virus to save them. It's not solving the problem, it's actually creating more.

__________________

zaim

Personally, AVAST anti-virus has protected me like no other anti-virus has in the past. So light, clean, easy to use... very good protection.

__________________

Zardon

Yeah its very reliable, never had any issues over the years. I like the very low overhead. I hate the way some applications just take over a CPU core or hog 500 meg of ram!

Zardon

Oh it will remain, as far as im aware nothing of your has been deleted in the past which is quite remarkable considering the amount of nonsense you have posted. You are however from this point on getting no more protection from me and you will be treated like everyone else regardless of your post count or time served here. Nice to get things out in the open right?

Consider this a courtesy.

BlueMak

Judas I think you need a hug.


As for the anti virus, I still think it is a joke to claim that using them doesn't help. Like saying locking the door won't help since any thief can break the lock or a window.

Also I still find it funny that anyone can claim he has no viruses on his connected pc, while not using any antivirus program. Must be some kind of magic or the use of the force that tells him that his pc doesn't have a single virus.


I have used antivir and avg in the past, currently avg8. I liked antivir a lot, but a couple of years ago I was having some issues with it and decided to jump ship.

__________________

The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Judas

how is it funny?

You don't have to have anti virus installed all the time to run a single scan out of the blue to find out if you've got some bugs or not.... specially if you use a few different scanners before doing a full backup and wipe only to find everything is safe, OR in some cases, backup and then running a scan on the backup using another machine.

__________________

BlueMak

Not haha funny, more like "OMG this is stupid" funny.

I don't see the point not running any anti virus programs, either one of the free ones. Well, unless you are promoting your own virus that is. :-p

__________________

The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Judas

that's personal opinion...

You call not locking your doors stupid... well that's actualy dependant on where you live. In new york hell yes, in most smaller urban centers, not as big a deal but recommended, in small towns, meh(where i live) and on a farm, who the hell locks doors?

I keep my doors shut with the nessary security. I am a paranoid internet user that simply doesn't go anywhere, doesn't use email at all worth mentioning (i don't deal with attatchments, period). I've got my little typical doorlock on my door, i don't need a vault door or anything.

As i said, depending on the internet weather your going to braving will obviously determine the type of software you should have installed to prevent such.

I have a computer set aside specifically for going into those places if need be, seeing as i can't even trust cd cracks.

__________________

billionairebum

Avast is lighter than AVG most definetly.

Mousey

I use Threatfire, the free version is really good because it does what intelligent scanners do and scans activity rather than specific threats.
It seems to think Steam is a malicious app but i've set an exception and it sits quietle when Steam updates now, nice interface and very user friendly as well.

To be honest i do think the way Judas is being treated somewhat unfairly, fair enough Z it's your site, your rules but i dunno, maybe just lay off Judas a bit?
He's an experienced computing enthusiast, much like most other members of this site and everyone does things differently. Sure one person's way of doing things might seem "voodoo" to someone else but i only use a smidge of thermal paste with my coolers and don't even bother spreading it ("OMG RETARD" i hear you cry).
Why don't we just let all the jabs and jest drop and start new on this one?

__________________

Neshi

I'm using a version of NOD32 and been very happy with it. It doesn't use much of the processing powers, or of the memory, and it's been protecting me well for the past couple of years.
As for Avast and AVG, I heard some nightmare stories about those and didn't bother with them. I guess they have improved over the years, but still.. I like my NOD32.

And I just wanted to say something about Judas too.
I don't see how someones opinion should be better then the opinion of someone else. Take the example of the thermal paste. I've witnessed the thing happening and everyone else takes that example. Z tells us he just uses a little on the cpu, Judas tells us he applies a little on the cpu and on the cooler. What's the big deal here? I don't understand why it has to be said that Judas' way is a waste of time and he shouldn't mentioned it before some little boy without enough brains to scratch his head follows his way of doing things and wastes his precious time.

I think everybody has the right to express his opinion, and his way of doing things (if I recall correctly that was what was asked, the way how you apply your thermal paste).
Everybody knew Judas didn't mean his way was the right way and only good way, just like Z's way isn't the only right and good way. Hell, even my way isn't the only right way to do things. Even if people are complaining about his way of posting things, that is no reason to act that way.

Aren't the posts you make always YOUR opinion and therefore not the ultimate truth of things, no matter how it is stated. If people take your post as the truth and don't use their own common sense or take offence or whatever, isn't that their problem?
I mean, if you take someones opinion and take it for the truth without thinking and hesitation, you can find yourself in an ugly situation and there is no one else to blame but yourself.

This kind of remembers me of the rant SFOSOK once made about people bitching about his way of stating is opinion.

__________________
If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

CDsDontBurn

i've used Norton Corporate Edition AV before. it's not nearly as bloated as end-user Norton, but it works for crap. Afterwards, i moved on to AVG Free, and that works really well. Too well actually. I have some keygens (can i say that here?) that when i scanned my computer detected them as viruses. and whenever i tried to copy them from one folder to another it wouldn't because it was a potential threat. and furthermore, if i tried to run the file, it wouldn't let me - again, because it thought it was a threat.

now, that's some good AV software there. but that's so good, it's annoying

__________________