Anti-virus software recomendations

! dwarfchucka

I recently bought a new pc with Norton 2004 loaded onto it.I really liked the functions it delivered, especially the email spam checks and automatic scanning of mails before allowing them to be opened. Unfortunately, the trial period has now ended and theres no way I want to pay for a years extension when theres really good free stuff out there.
I've heard a lot of people raving about AVG but also heard that one called AVAST is even better.
Just wondering if anyone has any views on these two (or other good ones)and what features do they offer that make them so good.

RicardoSmith

Well I think norton is dire. AVG is ok and I use it. Theres better if you are willing to pay for it.

Gone West

viri writers take norton av into account when writing their programs, several popular viri can disable norton, even if it is updated. I use McAfee 8 pro.

By the way look at the old posts there are some other "what antivirus should i use" threads out there.

seanos

Norton home (i.e. 2003/2004 etc) editions are horrible ... slow, memory hogs, bloated badin general

Norton corporate, best I've seen.

deckie27

McAfee 8

! dwarfchucka

FuzzyLogic wrote:

viri writers take norton av into account when writing their programs, several popular viri can disable norton, even if it is updated. I use McAfee 8 pro.

By the way look at the old posts there are some other "what antivirus should i use" threads out there.

Thax a mil. I might use the AVG one unless I hear some more about AVAST. Don't you have to subscribe to McAfee for updates???

D_ranged

Try http://www.free-av.com . I use it and find it to be very good.

Gone West

ethically, legally and morally you have to subscribe to mcafee for updates. But you dont HAVE-HAVE to!

Basq

Kaspersky Anti-Virus is probably the best anti-virus i've used... absolutely nothing will get through it!!

Lump

AVG TBH.


John

PowerHouseDan

AVG is the best free one around

SpooN_9k

iv had no problems with Avast and found its very good...

muffler

Just reading the posts. I need to install something shortly as my free 3 month period with McAfee is up shortly and I dont really want to spend a large sum of money either.

Has anyone got a link for AVG

Probably a stupid question this but can you have more than one anti-virus programme installed

MartMax

SpooN_9k wrote:

iv had no problems with Avast and found its very good...

I second that!

NotMe

muffler wrote:

Just reading the posts. I need to install something shortly as my free 3 month period with McAfee is up shortly and I dont really want to spend a large sum of money either.

Has anyone got a link for AVG

Probably a stupid question this but can you have more than one anti-virus programme installed

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

Yes you can have more than one installed. I've had AVG and Norton installed for months now. I just can't be bothered getting ridding of one. I'm going to keep Norton installed until the subscription runs out and then just keep AVG.

Ruu_Old

AVG of course, without a doubt. When i get machines with Norton on them, i uninstall it right away!

mobile04

can you give me a little more on the reasons why prefered than norton ruu?

a lot of me mates are talking of this software ...i never used it

RicardoSmith

Ruu wrote:

AVG of course, without a doubt. When i get machines with Norton on them, i uninstall it right away!

Me too. It slows down the machines, causes problems with other software, and then doesn't seem to find half the stuff that AVG and other solutions find. Oddly enough all the reviews online seem to rate it reasonable highly, its always in the top 10. But since my experience of it has been so negative I have to doubt the accuacy of such reviews.

Uninstall norton, install AVG, SpyBot, Adware, and scan your machine. You'll find a ton of stuff. Oh and install a firewall like Zone Alarm while you're at it.

Chalk

everyone should get extendia avk
kav and rav all in one sual scanning engine

so good ms licensed it for something......

but seriously i hade norton/panda/avg in the past and nothing works as well as this app

www.extendia.com

maxheadroom

avast! ye mateys and get ye to avast.com for pieces of eight and ye best free antivirus

RicardoSmith

Any time I see any benchmarking of AV products the results seem to vary widely .

CHalk can you explain why that app works better than the others you mention?

sailorboy

downloader agent 3j ten of the fu_ckers it found and im just after stating the scan avg top dogg....
and im running norton.
now if i can just stop this url stop popping up out of nowhere..

http://www.loadingwebsite.com/normal/yyy24.html

this is the url. chalk any ideas how to get rid of this prob?

Chalk

im not a software reviewer so im just going on my own personal experiences

norton -
while taking up to 30 mins to install and then crashing and generally seeming buggy it was slow to respond on a few pcs ive sen it running on. the scans took fairly long aswell.
i also dont like programs doing more than iw ant them to.
nortin has so many script blockers and that kind of thing that i end up turning them all off and feeling like its not worth having on my system

panda
had this for about 18 months
worked well with constant updates etc, ran quietly inthe background and never annoyed me too much, except maybe the odd time it would tell me something was a hacking tool and lock me out of a program, including word and winamp.
youd have to turn the av off and reboot.
major problem then : i heard about the eicar tests while checking my system security, and tried to download the test files.
panda didnt detect them, at all.
emailed there support 3 times and got no answer so off that program came.

avg
i like this program , actually have it runnin on the 3 older pcs here.
but thats how i view it , its a stop-gap solution and a kind of life saver for pcs that cant handle these crap heavy programs these days, see norton above. ive never had a problem with it.
the only reason i dont use it on my modern pcs is that im more concerned for them and like to feel im better protected.

extendia
tbh this is one of the few security based programs ive stuck with
had it for over a year now and love it
runs in the background silently, its av only, no plugins, extras or bloat.
does all the usual stuff an av does and nothing more.
the updates are quick, when ive had a problem [lost key] its been sorted out in a few hrs.
the dual engine thing makes me feel a lot safer , and in tests ive read online, ill dig them up later, avk consistently stopped all threats where programs such as norton where getting 60-70%

RicardoSmith

sailorboy wrote:

downloader agent 3j ten of the fu_ckers it found and im just after stating the scan avg top dogg....
and im running norton.
now if i can just stop this url stop popping up out of nowhere..

http://www.loadingwebsite.com/normal/yyy24.html

this is the url. chalk any ideas how to get rid of this prob?

Adware or Spybot will probably clear that for you. You can run them at the same time. I also use SpyBlaster to block a lot of stuff.

Ruu_Old

mobile04, i never liked norton. For some reason it always seemed more of a problem to me to see norton installed. Its just bulky and awkward to use i think. I used Dr. Solomons for quite a while, then I used to use CAI antivirus i think its what it was called, though i believe thats now Computer Assoctiates..emm McAfee maybe, not sure about that. Now its AVG all the way.

Basq

Did no-one ever use Kaspersky Anti-Virus? It's seriously worth a look!

Read up some reviews of it.. in my opinion, clearly the best anti-virus out there!

EDIT: Some reviews for you all:

WebUser Magazine review
Evolving Enterprise review
Software Buyers review
WinPlanet review
VNUNet review

RicardoSmith

basquille wrote:

Did no-one ever use Kaspersky Anti-Virus? It's seriously worth a look!

Read up some reviews of it.. in my opinion, clearly the best anti-virus out there!

Its pretty much the best. But its not free AFAIK

Whats the difference between the versions
http://www.kaspersky.com/homeuser

Chalk

avk uses kapersky as one of its engines btw

the regular/pro seems to be system change tracking and the like
scanning of files as you open them etc.

Slutmonkey57b

Avast! Me hearties! Yaar!

Works like a dream for me. AVG lacks on-access scanners and the like. Avast is highly recommended.

RicardoSmith

Whats an on access scanner?

Chalk

scans files as you open them without asking you,
rather than doing a system scan or actually scanning a file.

use too much resources imo , an i usually disable them and go for a manual scan before/when it enters my system type setup.

that way i know ive no virii on there.

samo

Am using pandascan and AVG but pandascan has detcted 12 (!) spyware/adware programmes on my PC, I use microsoft beta spyware programme (which is clearly useless!)

Can anyone provide a spybot/adware link that is safe to use...and free...as did a check on google and nothing immediately jumped out at me as being good and dont want to install something dodgy. (Pandascan want €79e to install its platinum product that can xdestroy spyware!)

lomb

pandas very good, i know my pc is infected even though i am running auto updates and etrust anti virus. also have spybot and microsoft anti spy . have tried loads of online scanners. theyve picked up nothing. trying panda as we speak and its picked up one, that nothing else could find inc mcafee, etrust, a2, spybot, ms antispy, and 2 others forget names.

Mantel

Spybot - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

(or just search for spybot on download.com, it's the second on the list after the Yahoo thing.)

Adaware - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

(again a search on download.com will bring it up, first one on the list)

Remember to run the update on each of them!

The house call section of http://www.trendmicro.com/ has helped me a few times when I couldn't just install an anti-virus and the one already on (mcaffee) didn't pick up anything.

Basq

I wouldn't classify Spybot or Adaware as anti-virus software though.

They're more specifically spyware / adware removers.

RicardoSmith

basquille wrote:

I wouldn't classify Spybot or Adaware as anti-virus software though.
They're more specifically spyware / adware removers.

I wouldn't classify Norton as anti-virus software either

Basq

RicardoSmith wrote:

I wouldn't classify Norton as anti-virus software either

Touche!

Slutmonkey57b

It means when a file is accessed, it scans it automatically.
Also includes automatic scanners for p2p programs, email, IM clients, networking, and in the new version, a web shield as well.

AVG lacks all of that (in the free version).

Ruu_Old

wrong, AVG scans all incoming and outgoing mail. The resident shield always picks up viruses, and asks if i want to disable access to it, when im browsing looking for ..... stuff which cannot be mentioned, never failed me.

RicardoSmith

Ruu wrote:

wrong, AVG scans all incoming and outgoing mail. The resident shield always picks up viruses, and asks if i want to disable access to it, when im browsing looking for ..... stuff which cannot be mentioned, never failed me.

That sums it up for me too!