AntiVirus Software Advice please :)

[KillerHERTZ]

If its free - there must be a reason..

Not when it comes to software, look at Firefox!


Norton is like a virus itself, bloatware, completely takes over your PC and slows it like hell. I wouldnt recommend Norton to anyone.

Each to their own and all that...

 

[Dryce]

I stick to NORTON on all my systems, and friends systems...

We don't touch Norton anymore. Started switching to Bitdefender last year.

If its free - there must be a reason. Symantec invest lots into development and to keep ahead of the game/pounce on anything new out there.

If it's expensive then it's as likely to be because of perception than substance - brand value - you pay them a whole lot for the name and not vey much for the actual software.

My biggest beefs were that Norton wouldn't do a clean uninstall. It seems to get more visibly intrusive with each new edition. And it seemed to be quite half hearted about actually finding/fixing some problems - particularly adware.

 

[rf065]

Kasperski do a 3 licence package and is very good.
I agree with the comments on Norton. It slows your computer down too much & causes strange things to happen. I got it free as part of my BT internet deal & still preferred to buy Kasperski instead.

Russ

 

[DieselE]

I agree with rf065 about Kasperski. I use their Internet Security Suite.

Lots of people (including me ) rave about their favourite software and how they've never had problems with it. Don't forget that the first problem you get with an anti-virus program is when it lets a virus through.

Like most people I get e-mails from banks that I don't have accounts with. Some from "Lloyds TSB" have trojans attached. How do I know? I get a message from Kasperski telling me it has found a trojan and quarantined it.

My personal view of free anti virus software is it's worth exactly what you've paid for it. However, feel free to hold different views.

 

[bigyin1]

Avast user here. We run norton on all PC's through our network at work but i have Avast as it is much more aggressive apparently.

 

[grober]

One aspect of having one of the "big players" like Norton or Macafee is that people will be actively writing stuff to circumvent them- since they are so common. They may not bother with the small fry to the same extent. A bit like hackers exploiting Windows Explorer rather than Firefox used to be - tho this is changing as more folks are using it.
What is more pertinent is the increasing use of "recommended" security packages by online banks. E.g. I believe Barclay's now gives away Kaspersky Internet Security for free to its banking customers for example. Until Kaspersky/Barclays closed the door quite a few "customers" got Kaspersky IS2009 for free that way. How long in the not too distant future after a online banking fraud will a customer be told we are not compensating you for your loss because you were not running our recommended browser/security package and as such do not fullfil our online security recommendations? If you do have an online bank account it might be worth checking which security packages they deem adequate??

 

[BTB 500]

I'm another happy Norton user, never had any problems/issues with it at all (6 years?).

On a second home PC I run Trend, but only because I get a free licence key for that from work.

 

[VB123]

Well, after years of lethargic Nortons I have down loaded avast! as a result of this thread. Computer is now really quick again.....Lets see how it performs. Thanks to whoever suggested/recommended it!

 

[AndyS]

AVG

Ad Aware SE (home use)

Same setup as me. Never had any probs with AVG I'm now on v8

Whenever I have had a PC with Norton on it always seems to be indexing in the the background and slows the PC up noticably especially on start-up

 

[columb]

Never trust free anti-virus software. I dont care what ANYONE says.

Webroot do a good package that includes everything. Anti-virus, antispyware and a very good firewall. And if you buy it over 3 years is good value as well.

Sorry, utter rubbish. I'm working in IT industry for quite some time and I would like you to stop spreading this utter rubbish.
If you don't have a clue what you talking about then please sit quiet.

EDIT:

I can see now more posts which are actually misinforming. Please, people. If you don't have experience why would you give advice?


Thank you
Chris

 

[vijilants]

Another converted Avast user here - after it found trojans not detected by AVG on my daughters laptop.

I ran Avast on my own PC and it found a few undesirable files that whilst not dangerous were still unwanted.

Ive just loaded this to replace my AVG8 and you are right, it did pick up trojan horses that were not noticed by AVG.

I also notices that it is not processor intensive when scanning. AVG can be highly processor intensive.

Gonna stick with Avast !!!

 

[rf065]

Please, people. If you don't have experience why would you give advice?
Thank you
Chris

'Cause it's the internet, isn't that what it's for?

Russ

 

[verytalldave]

Sorry, utter rubbish. I'm working in IT industry for quite some time and I would like you to stop spreading this utter rubbish.
If you don't have a clue what you talking about then please sit quiet.

EDIT:

I can see now more posts which are actually misinforming. Please, people. If you don't have experience why would you give advice?


Thank you
Chris

Remember, its all only ever a personal opinion.

Let me reword my original statement.

All free antivirus software is IN MY OPINION generally not as good or as reliable over a long term as antivirus software which is paid for and has hourly updates and technical back-up if required.
IF that were the case, then nobody would buy it.

I/we now await with baited breathe YOUR in-depth knowledge and advice on this subject and not just critisism.

 

[maddog]

Remember, its all only ever a personal opinion.

Let me reword my original statement.

All free antivirus software is IN MY OPINION generally not as good or as reliable over a long term as antivirus software which is paid for and has hourly updates and technical back-up if required.
IF that were the case, then nobody would buy it.

I/we now await with baited breathe YOUR in-depth knowledge and advice on this subject and not just critisism.

Less and less people are buying anti-virus software and FWIW Avast is only free for home users, for businesses its a paid and very effective service.

I have no doubt home users will need to pay for Avast at some point as they get more and more popular and take away business from the paid services there will come the time when they will charge i'm sure

But in the meantime In recent independant tests it has worked as well as anything you can buy.

I'm not an expert of course and only know what i have tried but the only time i have had viruses on my machine was when i ran Norton and for friends who have had trojans they almost always had macafee which is harder to remove off a machine than any virus

 

[IanA2]

AVG or ZA or Webroot...all make good stuff, paid for stuff is best.

 

[crockers]

Strange reading all this - so here's my experiences

1. I use AOL (sits back and awaits the brickbats) and it hates Norton....so I don't use it.
2. I used to use Mcafee - never had any problems..but being tight didn't want to pay a renewal so
3. Use Avast. Seems ok -- until Barclays told me Kapersky was free - read about it and was impressed so installed it.
4. Kapersky found trojans that avast missed.

SO I recommend Kapersky - so some say Avast found trojan AVG missed - well in my experience Kapsersky did the same to Avast..

To the IT experts - I apologise for not having their indepth knowledge and experience - but I do feel I can comment on my experience.

I agree with Maddog -- Mcafee is a b!tch to remove ....

 

[grober]

For effective Mcaffee and Norton removal you must download and use their own removal tools. Using the Windows Add/Remove software will not remove all entries in the registry for example. Other folks have used utilities like Revo Uniinstaller with varying degrees of success. they don't always make this obvious!

 

[columb]

Guys,

Few things. First of all I have to apologise- I really didn't meant to be rude. Sorry.

What really annoys me is lack of in-depth knowledge and experience in real-world tests on huge scale.
There are few things why some of the recommendations are wrong:

- free (as in beer) software can (and usually is) better than commercial soft.
- Norton, Mcaffee are really resource-hungry and are not really up to the job. Also, special tools are needed (to be downloaded from the websites) to remove this software. Few years ago it was really hard to remove Symantec softwer EVEN with the tool provided by Symantec themselves!
- Norton is seen as worst antivirus on the market (I'm not aware of changes to 2009)
- AVG and AVAST are well recommended - they are free and they will do the job!
- Sometimes some antiviruses will mark some software as malicious EVEN if it isn't the case. For example, on my work Windows laptop Trend would mark half of my tools as malicious (for example Cain, some code-analysis soft, pen tests etc etc) When they are 100% legal, still I need to keep them away from my Trend. Also, it is really hard to create exceptions and I need those tools!


But most of all... DON'T OPEN MALICIOUS SOFTWARE! No, you haven't got free Pamela Anderson pictures (naked) or Angelina Jolie. No, Microsoft IS NOT sending IE8 to be installed right now. No, Symantec is NOT sending patch to keep you up2date as there is new virus in the wild...
Don't open everything what was sent to you and you will be fine
Yes, people must think what they are doing and viruses would be thing of the past!

Now, when people are having routers (NAT, firewall) is really hard to get infected. More- keep your windows updated, create normal user account (so no Administrator for normal day to day tasks) and that would be it

Of course I would recomend safe web browser with No-SCRIPT as well.
One of my local taxi companys was infecting computers with viruses on their web site! Trend was really slow to pick this up!

Hope that helps!
Cheers
Chris

 

[Mark300SL]

Interestingly - for about 3 weeks Avast and AVG have lived quite happily together on my PC ??
I know about not running 2 lots of AV software simulaneously however in this particular case it seems to be working quite well.

Having 2 online scanners working side by side wasnt my intention, I had installed Avast after my daughters recent experience and it found files that AVG missed.
Avast requires a restart to wok in a DOS based mode and I hadn't uninstalled AVG at this point. I always intended to remove AVG but just didnt get around to it and now I am happy to leave it as is until I experience an issue.

I am not suggesting that anyone else should do this - just that I am currently having no problems and possibly even benefitting from the use of 2 independant scan engines to check my PC

 

[HughJarse]

Sophos man here


Anybody with a Barclays bank account can get free antivirus
http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/...efreegroup&value=10662&target=_blank&site=pfs

I run an SME server at work, its ran for years, it has opensource antivirus and I can honeslty say Ive never ever had a bogey get through to anyones email or the server itself, and Im afraid to see its free!