Anti Virus for a network

jamieh

Hey all,

Could someone recomend good anti-virus software? I'm building a network of about 80 pc's and I'll be putting it on each machine.

I find that Norton uses a lot of resources so I want to stay away from it.....maybe Nod32 or AVG (not the free version)? Any ideas??

aidan_walsh

Are you looking for a managed client, or will you be letting each client update itself?

jamieh

It's not really a big issue....there's a 4mb broadband connection so it doesn't really matter a great deal

aidan_walsh

jamieh wrote:

It's not really a big issue....there's a 4mb broadband connection so it doesn't really matter a great deal

In that case, I would recommend avast! You'll find a link in my sig.

Webmonkey

Aidan,

i've being using AVG for quite sometime now, thinking of changing to avast?
Has it ever left you down yet. I've noticed AVG misses a few things from time to time.

aidan_walsh

Hasn't let me down yet, and I've been using it on two machines for about 18 months.

Rollo Tamasi

I have used both in the last 6 months and i found that although AVG does a quicker scan that Avast did a better scan. And Avast talks to you! Brilliant!

Webmonkey

aidan_walsh wrote:

Hasn't let me down yet, and I've been using it on two machines for about 18 months.

Cool thanks lads. Sorry for sort of hijacking thread OP but at least it is related.

jamieh

No probs webmonkey!!!

Aidan.....how do I go about getting the software?? Do I have to buy online or is there an Irish reseller??

liamo

I've always found Sophos very good.

Regards,

Liam

SouperComputer

If you are looking for something serious for use in a company, use Nod32 from eset. Sophos and Kapersky are decent, but over the years Nod32 has always come out on top for me. It has fantastic detection, hueristics and thankfully enough, very few false-positives, which is where kapersky fails in my experience. Its also very light on system resources, which is a bonus.

Despite having a 4mb line, if you have 80 users updating at the same time it could cause problems. To be honest, the managed systems aren't always much more expensive.

AVG pro is okay, its hueristics are not great which is one reason I would not choose it for anything critical.

Despite having a 4mb line, if you have 80 users updating at the same time it could cause problems.

Have you considered spyware\malware protection either? If you can, grab a copy of ewido. Its the most effective, single application out there. There are a couple of freebies out there that we all know and love, but remember that they cant all be used in companies.

Paddyo

Sophos for me.

Their newest versions also include anti-spyware and anti-malware. I think its called endpoint Security.

Good product and great 24/7 support.

There is a Small Business Suite Sophos product which includes also includes Anti-Spam software running on your email server.

Paddyo

Stephen

Jamieh - avast is free to download for home use but not for commercial use. Where I work we use Symantec 10 - it has built in spyware detection, and we use it in a managed fashion with a number of Symantec servers that deliver updates to clients on their local networks.

Probably disgustingly expensive, but I dunno anything about the money side of it.

aidan_walsh

Stephen wrote:

avast is free to download for home use but not for commercial use.

This is true, but is also true of any SMB or corporate aimed AV. And while free home versions are great, when it comes to a business package a support line can be great.

With avast, 1 year support licenses comes in a ~€15 a workstation, and no more than €30 per machine for a 3 year support option. Which is pretty decent, IMO.

With Symantec, you are locked into buying a set number of licenses (in this case he would be buying 20 more than he needs) at a set (higher) price. Handy if there is a scope for expansion in the future, but otherwise its money down the toilet.

(Biased, moi?)

Anyhow, avast starts out as a 60 day trial version, so he can always change it if he doesn't like it.

CraggyIslander

As indepent IT consultant I've installed and maintained NOD32 on LANs of all sizes. It is very low on resources and has one of the highest detection rates for adware/spyware/phishing mails/etc.

Also their heuristics engine (for detecting unknown malicious programs without signatures) is by far the best.

<plug>If you do decide on NOD32, drop me a PM and I can organise a quote for you <end plug>

SouperComputer

Just as a side note, nearly all of these packages that offer spyware protection as well. They are okay, but they are not a replacement for dedicated software. Yet.

seamus

Your main concern in terms of the managed system isn't so much about how much you have to download, but troubleshooting systems.

How are you going to know if one of those 80 systems fails to download its update from the main server and sits with out-of-date definitions for 3 months?
How do you know that some users won't disable their AV and leave themselves unprotected?

We use McAfee in our place. I couldn't tell you how it costs, but it's useful. The management interface allows you to integrate from Active directory and schedule a refresh however often - when you add a new machine to the domain, you don't need to tell the management interface, it'll just pick it up automatically.
It also has a background refresh of the AV policy - so if a user changes/disables their AV, it'll reset itself a few minutes later. Can be a bit of a pain, if you're troubleshooting, but you can set up individual policies for those occasions.

zilog_jones

We use McAfee Total Protection for Small Business (www.4sure.it) at the place I work at too (also about 80 PCs). You control and manage everything from a website - it's quite magical. You can set group policies so particular PCs have particular settings (e.g. firewall is installed on laptops, more user control on servers, etc.), and there's a few different methods of getting the software installed on the systems (e.g. emailing someone a link, or using this "push install" thing from the website on your PC to install onto others on the LAN). There's loads of different types of reports you can see on the website, and will inform you if any PC has got out-of-date definition files.

It costs a good bit though - think it worked out about €40-45 per PC per year, but it's worth it. Dunno how it compares to stuff like what seamus was on about - which version is that?

Akula

I've worked with various McAfee NAI products and found them to be pretty excellent.