Best anti virus software?

[warren sinden]

I was running bit defender anti virus but found that it was blocking me from getting into a lot of my websites.
I then changed to the pc package that my isp provides which is Mcaffee small business solutions, I had a few problem with my isp & cancelled I am now looking for a new antivirus for my computer.
I have searched the forum & found the latest post is in 2004 which it looks like avg would be my best choice.
Is there any new input or a better choice that anyone has come up with since then.?

[Stupendous Man]

I'm using AVG Free Edition, and it seems to be pretty good. Not too bloated and doesn't seem to hog resources. Give it a try.

[tkingdoll]

Avira AntiVir. It's free, or you can pay for a few additional bits but I use the free version and highly recommend it.

And it's not a resource hog like Norton or those other expensive options.

[Rat]

I would recommend AVG, depending on how savvy you are. ClamWin is about the least resource-sucking one around, in that it doesn't do on-access scanning. But unless you know what you're doing, that may not be for you. McAfee (just the AV part, not the full suite) is fine. I use it at work, and have used it here. Norton is evil.

[volatile]

Eset's Nod32, without doubt.

[Kaylee]

I generally renew my annual anti-virus subscription in January. I usually see what cnet.com has to say about the various choices. The last time around I went with Zone Alarm Security Suite, which includes anti-virus protection. It seems OK, although when it does the weekly scan it is a little resource heavy -- but then I only have 512 GB of RAM (on an XP Pro platform). Also, in the beginning it does take a little time to set up because you have to manually set up what programs can automatically access the Internet or your PC. Some people hate that feature and as a result gave ZA a low rating, but that feature didn't bother me.

In the past I also used Trend Micro PC-cillian. The first year (2005) I thought it was great. Unfortunately the following year's version was very inferior. The GUI had changed and it became quite time consuming to manually quarantine all the problem files. I don't know if they took care of that problem in their 2007 version, but that was the main reason I switched earlier this year.

[Blue Monk]

You might want to look into Avast. It seem to be highly rated (from the reviews I've read) and it's home version is totally free. We use the commercial version at work.

My new PC came with Norton(ugh) and I couldn't wait to get rid of it. It was impossible to configure, wanted to block everything even when you tried to specifically allow it, and would show a pop-up every ten minutes if you so much a scratched your butt.

Avast on the other had installed easily and is very unobtrusive. I've managed to get it to do whatever I wanted easily and without spending hours looking through documentation.

My needs are modest however. I do program at home and always had to just turn norton off when I need to access my local server or mysql database. Never could explain it to Norton to just chill out, I know what I'm doing, hehe.

[Bikewer]

I've been using AVG (free) for about 5 years now with only one tiny problem, it interfered briefly with Red Orchestra. That only lasted a couple of months though.

[Wowbagger]

Three letters: AVG.

But, the first line of defense, against computer viruses, should be your brain. Don't be stupid with your downloading habbits.

[Rat]

... -- but then I only have 512 GB of RAM (on an XP Pro platform). ...
Is that all?

[catbasket]

Is that all?
I missed that, good spot.

I used AVG Free Edition for approx 4 years, recently switched to Avira Antivir Personal Edition Classic (also free). Norton is, as Rat said, evil.

[Dragon]

Another vote for Avast!
I stopped using Norton (AV and firewall) about 4 years ago as I was fed up with paying for the privilege of getting problems such as Blue Monk mentioned (plus other issues).
Since them I've used Avast (and Zone Alarm firewall) without incident.
Avast downloads new virus definitions quickly and efficiently - program updates are easy too.
I also seem to get fewer ad-ware and spybot stuff to clear out.

[Dan O.]

I suppose that someday an anti-virus may be necessary. But I can't see paying for and running some empty shell of a program whose only effect is to slow down my computer while it looks for some hypothetical virus.

The proper way to protect against viruses is to plug the hole that the virus used to get in. This way you not only stop the known virus but also stop any new variant based on the same vulnerability.

If you leave the holes and rely on the anti-virus software for protection, you will be vulnerable to every new variant that is subsequently written to bypass the known virus signature check. Then you are trapped in the cycle of having to pay for anti-virus updates forever.

[NoZed Avenger]

I would recommend AVG, depending on how savvy you are. ClamWin is about the least resource-sucking one around, in that it doesn't do on-access scanning. But unless you know what you're doing, that may not be for you. McAfee (just the AV part, not the full suite) is fine. I use it at work, and have used it here. Norton is evil.


I have one machine running AVG and another with ClamWin for comparison, and I have been pretty happy with both.

[Kaylee]

The proper way to protect against viruses is to plug the hole that the virus used to get in. This way you not only stop the known virus but also stop any new variant based on the same vulnerability.

If you leave the holes and rely on the anti-virus software for protection, you will be vulnerable to every new variant that is subsequently written to bypass the known virus signature check.

So how do you plug the hole?

I guess one of the easiest things to do is to turn on the option in your e-mail software to only have text e-mail. But what about attached or ftp'ed documents, chat, and internet browsing?

Many years ago I knew someone who had a desktop with swappable drives. Whenever he wanted to use the internet he would use the drive that basically just had a browser on it. It worked for him, but many people would not find that to be a practical solution.

[Kaylee]

but then I only have 512 GB of RAM (on an XP Pro platform).

Is that all?

But I also have a 2.20 GHz processor, and I don't use my PC for video games, unusually large databases or video/audio software.

So 512 GB is usually enough.

[volatile]

But I also have a 2.20 GHz processor, and I don't use my PC for video games, unusually large databases or video/audio software.

So 512 GB is usually enough.

:D

[Dan O.]

So how do you plug the hole?

I start with an OS that doesn't have open holes to begin with and apply system updates when they come out. Then I don't run or even install applications that are susceptible to macro viruses. And nothing else is turned on that can run unrestricted foreign code.

I can run all the formatting options in email (only loading foreign images is turned off to prevent spam tracking). I have no problem opening spam but I won't click anywhere in a spam email until rendering it as raw text.

I usually have java enabled in the browser and don't worry about visiting random sites.

And I haven't run any anti-virus program since about 1997 when Disinfectant was discontinued because there just weren't any new viruses except the macros.

[warren sinden]

Three years ago I was running Mcaffee full suite.
Somewhere along the line I picked up a virus that read something like
"mcaffee/%gob-bloch,delete" or something like that.
It somehow blocked my mcaffee & prevented me from repairing or uninstalling it I eventually managed to remove part of it from my registry but I couldn't remove everything.

[Kaylee]

So 512 GB is usually enough.

Argggh! I meant 512 MB obviously. :p D*mn metric system. :mad: ;)

[Kaylee]

I start with an OS that doesn't have open holes to begin with and apply system updates when they come out.

Which OS do you use?

Then I don't run or even install applications that are susceptible to macro viruses.

I suspect that's not an option for a lot of people...
Its not an option for me -- I often have to open up MS office files from people whom I have no idea if or how often they get viruses. I agree that it's a good idea to disenable the macro option and only turn it on when actually using it.

* goes to check to see if I did that.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

I'm using Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0 and it's doing right by me.

~~ Paul

[Dan O.]

Which OS do you use?

I switched to MacOS back before there was Windows and have been watching the other side try to catch up ever since.