A/V (as in Anti-Virus) recommendation

[Tomorrow]

I've had it up to my eyeballs with Norton Anti-Virus. It constantly is refreshing its definitions, checking for updates, and generally hoarding tons of CPU resources...and that doesn't include all the software conflicts it seems to excel in. The scans are no problem...an hour at midnight on Sunday is great. But it's the other baloney that drives me crazy. My system runs slower and slower with each annual iteration of NAV I put on it.

Does anyone out there have an A-V program they really like? Please elaborate a little. Thanks.

Tomorrow

 

[annunaki]

AVG anti-virus/spyware works quite well for me. Scans take awhile but it is pretty thorough. It is free to boot.

 

[mperfct]

I use bitdefender. It's rated quite highly and works well. It helps when you stay off of sites that end in .cn and .ru.

 

[Matt34]

Stay off all those questionable websites and you won't have virus or mal-ware problems.

I've tried a few but still like AVG, it's light on resources, updates daily and not too intrusive.

 

[phlakvest]

I use avg, and I second annunaki's endorsment.
Avast also works very well. Slightly easier to use (the interface looks like a CD player so audioholics should be familiar with it) but it doesn't have scheduling unless you buy the full version.


Norton, Mcafee, TrendMicro all get the thumbs down from me. Avira free works well but the nag screen is a pain.

 

[DonBattles]

.

make that another vote for AVG, been running it several years, first the free version now I have the full paid version, and have had no issues since it's use. What I like best is that it used very little resource as it runs. When I used Norton I may as well have stepped away from the PC because it would run so slowly. So have a look at the AVG and maybe check out the trial version:

http://www.avg.com/us.download-trial

 

[Rickster71]

FWIW, here is a review of several AV softwares.
http://www.pcantivirusreviews.com/

 

[mperfct]

FWIW, here is a review of several AV softwares.
http://www.pcantivirusreviews.com/

ooo..I feel slighty vindicated.

 

[majorloser]

AVG works quite well.

We use F-Prot at work and it's pretty cheap (why it's used by government).
https://secure.f-prot.com/cgi-bin/buy

I'm using Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite:
http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/promotions/google/buynowA/zass.jsp?&c=W200002&lqr=USA_ISS_antivirus

 

[Midcow2]

Use one of top three AVs, watch for 2 nasty viruses released today

The top ones are Symantec (also Norton), McAfee and Trend Micro.

As more and more spyware and viruses and other mal-ware are being introduced the time need to real-time check and zero day check continues to go up.

If you have an older PC this checking time can cause a significant slow-down. In some cases in our company we were able to overcome with additional memory and in other cases we had to upgrade.

You can also clean-up your PC with some fee spyware and ad-aware cleaners. (be careful there are look-alikes now with similar names) the original Spybot Search and Destroy is very good and is still free. The lavasoft free ad-aware is still very good; however, they try very hard to hawk their porduct that costs. Both of these will clean out your PC pretty good.

The other thing to look at is what other things you have running. Especially look in you "start-up" folder. Most items in there can be cleaned-out, ie. removed with no effect).

Lastly, what ever security software you have, you can tune it to perfrom better. For example, if you are really paranoid you can check every file type whether it is executable or not, it is marginally safer but takes a lot more PC processor resources. Or you can check just executable, much faster and stiil picks up 96-98% of viruses/malware. At minimum you should run the real-time virus/Trojan/malware detection and enable automatic pattern file/virus signature updates.

There are some free anti-virus software products that are pretty good and AVG is one of them. But be aware, sometimes you get what you pay for. In my professional opinion, and actually IT Security is my profession, you should pick one of the top three.

Having said all that there are two very nasty virus that are hitting the Internet email today :

If you receive an email with the subject lines of either: “You've received A Hallmark E-Card!” or “IKEA’s New Planning Software” DO NOT OPEN and please DELETE IMMEDIATELY.

These are so nasty and bad, the only way currently to recover is to reimage the PC. That is reload all software from original instalaltion CDs.

Be Safe,

Security Architect - MidCow2

 

[lsiberian]

I don't run any anti-virus. I think it's a waste of perfectly good resources. But if you really must then use AVG. It's free and that's the only reason I would even use it.

Norton sucks, but if you can get the symantec corporate client it's actually much better.

Still I say the old adage of backup your stuff and wipe when you get hit works best.

No A/V catches em all.

And stop using IE(it's nearly a virus itself)

 

[evilkat]

I use Avast (free as well)...but have heard good things about Kaspersky. I think Norton is considered the 'Bose' of the AV world

 

[Midcow2]

Pretty lame approach to A/V

I don't run any anti-virus. I think it's a waste of perfectly good resources. But if you really must then use AVG. It's free and that's the only reason I would even use it.

Norton sucks, but if you can get the symantec corporate client it's actually much better.

Still I say the old adage of backup your stuff and wipe when you get hit works best.

No A/V catches em all.

And stop using IE(it's nearly a virus itself)

Not running an anti-virus system in these days and times is very,very dangerous. That is unless you disable acitve-X XML, HTTP, Java and Javascript and only view email in TXT mode.

"Norton sucks" not avery objective statement. It all depends of how you have it installed and what you want to achieve and what options you have turned on. Yes, Symanatec is good especially Symtatec End User Protection; but again, it is how you have it installed ..ever heard an HT system that wasn't claibrated and tuned ?

Backup is good! But it requires a large amount of discipline and is a lot of work. Do you periodically retest your back ups?

True no A/V catches them all ,but most virus attacks are caused by older proven viruses. Hackers, go for the low hanging fruits like people who don't run A/V at all. Also algorithms and heuristics can detect malicious type activity ahead of time an stop may zero-day viruses.

IE is not the best browser but Mozilla and FoxFire have problems also. It is just they are less popular and you are safe, but obsurity only.

Good luck because you really need it!

MidCow2

 

[Phil Taylor]

Another vote here for AVG - been using it for years and wouldn't use anything else. Also tried Trend, Norton, Symantec and McAfee in the past and love AVG's functionality and speed compared to them and it's free so you can't beat the price.

The only thing I don't like about AVG is the link scanner in the latest version - it slows page loads on some forums (depending on what board software they're running) with a lot of links so I disabled that function and it works great otherwise.

 

[CaliHwyPatrol]

Avast!

I've been using it since forever with 0 issues.

 

[GlocksRock]

I can't say enough good stuff about Kaspersky, I'm very surprised nobody has already mentioned it. It auto updates itself several times a day, and can clean any virus out there.

 

[Alex2507]

Stay off all those questionable websites.

I just can't.

 

[lsiberian]

Backup is good! But it requires a large amount of discipline and is a lot of work. Do you periodically retest your back ups?

IE is not the best browser but Mozilla and FoxFire have problems also. It is just they are less popular and you are safe, but obsurity only.

MidCow2

Anti-virus takes up considerable resources. I have seen tests where 15% of the resources of a computer went to the anti-viruses auto protection feature. McAfee once told me explorer.exe was a virus and then crashed my computer to were I couldn't access windows. Their firewalls cause numerous problems for people's computers that I have fixed. Norton is the number 2 resource hog, but a much better anti-virus IMO but still takes a lot of resources.

Backing up can actually be automated and now Windows actually has a recovery feature built in which can be used to actually eliminate some stuff.

IE is a major security hole because it ties deeply into the lower levels of Windows. To translate for those who don't understand that means by using certain exploits in IE you can actually gain access to things in the OS where you can cause all kinds of nasty problems.

Firefox doesn't benefit from this kind of access therefore it will not have the same security issues in regards to Operating System exploits.

I have had like one virus in 5 years so I'm not too concerned. And I removed that without having to wipe. I actually run AVG scans every so often. I just don't use the auto protection features

I don't need luck I have skills

Norton isn't the Bose of Anti-virus though. Many of the problems are a result of Windows not Norton. Which isn't as bad as the 95 days

 

[jostenmeat]

I can't say enough good stuff about Kaspersky, I'm very surprised nobody has already mentioned it. It auto updates itself several times a day, and can clean any virus out there.

I know I've put my plug in for Kaspersky before, and so I plugged it into the search forum here. Instead of pasting that exact thread, here are the search results.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/search.php?searchid=2858199

 

[Missionman]

i have two A/V's on my computer,
AVG 8 full package and, Avast.

The reason why i run two is due to virus database updates.
If one hasnt been updated already prior to use, the other one would of been as 1 database is more set than the other. so either one will work. AVG is best though. very thorough. love it. would always reccoment it. xx