Whats the best anti-virus software?

[manicm]

'Nortons terrible with basic 'windows viruses''

That's news to me, I've been using Norton's for 5 years and never came across this, my guess is those PCs must have pretty old versions.

I really believe plain NAV 2009, not the suite, is a great product.

 

[aliEnRIK]

manicm:

'Nortons terrible with basic 'windows viruses''

That's news to me, I've been using Norton's for 5 years and never came across this, my guess is those PCs must have pretty old versions.

I really believe plain NAV 2009, not the suite, is a great product.

No ~ Norton 360 etc
http://www.av-comparatives.org/
Goto COMPARITES and ONLINE RESULTS and look for norton and 'windows viruses' ~ 57% to Kaspersky 92% and Aviras 91%

 

[Anonymous]

I have used avast for a few years now and never had a problem,updates itself every day,i found norton too intrusive,it got into everything.Glad to be shot of it.

 

[cram]

Anyone here who actually goes commando?

 

[VoodooDoctor]

I use Kaspersky. Not had any problems since installing it nearly a year ago.

 

[kena]

cram:Anyone here who actually goes commando?

If you go online going commando is INSANITY or STUPIDITY or both. Unless of course you relead your PC (format drive etc) constantly dont do banking etc.

 

[Anonymous]

I have used every major antivirus and firewall over the years and i have this conclusion.

Kaspersky is the best as it doesn't mess with your PC too much and the Internet Security version does it all for you, spyware, firewall, everything. You can also pick it up for £13 on Ebay.

"Geeks" are the people who know what they are doing with computers, the same way as mechanics with cars. Trust them.

Comodo firewall is a nuisance, it constantly asks you questions even though you give it the answer and tell it to remember.

AVG is free for a reason, it leaks. Pay for your security it will save you money in the long run. Same for Avast.

I run Kaspersky with PC tune-up and Smart defrag, the last two are free and my PC runs like new every time i turn it on.

 

[cram]

kena: If you go online going commando is INSANITY or STUPIDITY or both. Unless of course you relead your PC (format drive etc) constantly dont do banking etc.

Well it depends on where you are visiting online, keeping your email address discrete, not bothering with attachments, what you are downloading etc. If you are responsible with what you do on the internet you can really minimise the threat from viruses.

Until recently I was responsible for 250 + computers. All had strong AV , anti spyware plus we had good firewalls. Routinely we checked logs to see who's AV was actually getting used (blocking viruses etc.). It was always the same old culprits who got attacked/spammed etc.

I'm not saying people should on on the internet without protection what I am saying though is that the need for that protection diminshes greatly depending on what you are doing.

 

[aliEnRIK]

moomoo2:

I have used every major antivirus and firewall over the years and i have this conclusion.

Kaspersky is the best as it doesn't mess with your PC too much and the Internet Security version does it all for you, spyware, firewall, everything. You can also pick it up for £13 on Ebay.

"Geeks" are the people who know what they are doing with computers, the same way as mechanics with cars. Trust them.

Comodo firewall is a nuisance, it constantly asks you questions even though you give it the answer and tell it to remember.

AVG is free for a reason, it leaks. Pay for your security it will save you money in the long run. Same for Avast.

I run Kaspersky with PC tune-up and Smart defrag, the last two are free and my PC runs like new every time i turn it on.

I dont believe Kaspersky stops website 'scripts' though (Which is the 2nd easiest way of catching a virus/trojan next to dodgy downloading)

For that I use FIREFOX with the NOSCRIPT plugin

Download FIREFOX

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

NOSCRIPT
http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/FT5/intl/en-GB/index.html

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:7

I do agree that Kaspersky is probably the overall best anti virus solution you can get, but it still allows some nasties through (As I had to help clean one up only last week)

 

[Alec]

Spent ages reseqarching this stuff on sites like PC advisor (a free Vs paid for AV argument there is the same as a able debate here), and decided that its very hard to know what tests to trust, and that many dont actually test what they are supposed to. In order to fully understand them you have to be very knowledgeable indeed, which means you need the aptitude and the inclination to educate yourself very thoroughly. Thats not me. If you are like me, therefore, the best i think you can do is get one you liek the price of and find easy to use - you need to be a bit philosophical here and remember that any AV is fallible, and that much is down to user error. Make sure you have a firewall and some anti spyware too of course, aswell as AV, but they may be in the same package depending waht you get.

i had avg and zone alarm a while back, and avg stopped updating automatically after an update, so i got shot. Ive had to change back to it now tho, and have only had it on since last night. when i got up today it would not access the net, so i had to update manually agian. this is really irritating, so may have to go for something else again unless i t improves, and could be tempted by kaspersky. however, future upgrades of kaspersky would presumably be obtained via download, so after initially buying the cd, you wouldnt have a useful cd after the initial version upgrade...?

 

[kena]

cram:

kena: If you go online going commando is INSANITY or STUPIDITY or both. Unless of course you relead your PC (format drive etc) constantly dont do banking etc.

Well it depends on where you are visiting online, keeping your email address discrete, not bothering with attachments, what you are downloading etc. If you are responsible with what you do on the internet you can really minimise the threat from viruses.

I'm not saying people should on on the internet without protection what I am saying though is that the need for that protection diminshes greatly depending on what you are doing.

The key word in minimise , but obviously even with protection you need to be careful , thats why in my book any business with multiple PC's should block staff's access to download / load etc. hence keeping the business machine safe and fit for purpose.

 

[Anonymous]

The handy thing about Kaspersky is that it stops you before you get to bad websites and gives you the option to go there or not

Contrary to what you say Kaspersky has a script checker so all pages are filtered before you get to see them.

I don't use noscript anymore and i have not had a single infection of any type in over a year now. The problem with noscript is you are blocking all scripts yourself so you have to have some computer savvy to know what you're doing.

Firefox is the only web browser worth using which i wholeheartedly agree with, I have been with it since the first week and it has always been brilliant and safe, there are so many applications to add you would make an Iphone user cry, you can even add on a app. to let you see Internet Explorer only pages through it, which makes life safer.

 

[Anonymous]

kena:cram:

kena: If you go online going commando is INSANITY or STUPIDITY or both. Unless of course you relead your PC (format drive etc) constantly dont do banking etc.

Well it depends on where you are visiting online, keeping your email address discrete, not bothering with attachments, what you are downloading etc. If you are responsible with what you do on the internet you can really minimise the threat from viruses.

I'm not saying people should on on the internet without protection what I am saying though is that the need for that protection diminshes greatly depending on what you are doing.

The key word in minimise , but obviously even with protection you need to be careful , thats why in my book any business with multiple PC's should block staff's access to download / load etc. hence keeping the business machine safe and fit for purpose.

I had the problem when i did Network admin in a college, downloaders and dodgy site browsers were messing the whole network up and radio streamers were killing the bandwidth. We denied access to anything other that web browser which was blocked for everything even slightly dodgy, didn't give them any access to the actual computer files other than their documents which were on the server and throttled the bandwidth, all email attachments scanned too. Infections dropped dramatically.

At home you don't have that option and no-one is going to check your computer every day for you, so just use the safest antivirus, firewall, rootkit and spyware scanner and web browser you can. £40 for all that is alot better than a repair bill or your credit card being emptied by a guy in Russia.

 

[aliEnRIK]

al7478:

i had avg and zone alarm a while back, and avg stopped updating automatically after an update, so i got shot. Ive had to change back to it now tho, and have only had it on since last night. when i got up today it would not access the net, so i had to update manually agian. this is really irritating, so may have to go for something else again unless i t improves, and could be tempted by kaspersky. however, future upgrades of kaspersky would presumably be obtained via download, so after initially buying the cd, you wouldnt have a useful cd after the initial version upgrade...?

Both AVG8 and zonealarm have had a multitude of problems this last year. I wouldnt recommend them to anyone.

Thousands (Including myself) have had the same auto update problem youve had

 

[Anonymous]

I've got AVG 7.5. My mate recently put it on when he rebuilt my 'puter.

Is it any good ?

 

[aliEnRIK]

andyb190:

I've got AVG 7.5. My mate recently put it on when he rebuilt my 'puter.

Is it any good ?

Not now no as there are no longer any updates for it (And spyware wasnt included when they DID do updates for it)

Uninstall it using the removal tool I posted and install AVIRA in its place

 

[Cliff1]

Been reading with interest.I mentioned earlier that i did have McAfee av & firewall,renewal dates were different & are now bundled so i didn't renew.

I use the free Avast av & have noted comments on here.I now only have the Windows firewall & defender which came with Vista os.

Anyone had issues with these.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Cliff1:

Been reading with interest.I mentioned earlier that i did have McAfee av & firewall,renewal dates were different & are now bundled so i didn't renew.

I use the free Avast av & have noted comments on here.I now only have the Windows firewall & defender which came with Vista os.

Anyone had issues with these.

windows defender is next to useless and windows firewall only stops 'incoming' connections (Meaning if you have syware etc on your computer its free to do as it pleases)

 

[Anonymous]

aliEnRIK:andyb190:

I've got AVG 7.5. My mate recently put it on when he rebuilt my 'puter.

Is it any good ?

Not now no as there are no longer any updates for it (And spyware wasnt included when they DID do updates for it)

Uninstall it using the removal tool I posted and install AVIRA in its place

How come it updates every time I log on and it states that the programme is fully updated ?

Does it keep checking against the old updates then ?

 

[aliEnRIK]

andyb190:aliEnRIK:andyb190:

I've got AVG 7.5. My mate recently put it on when he rebuilt my 'puter.

Is it any good ?

Not now no as there are no longer any updates for it (And spyware wasnt included when they DID do updates for it)

Uninstall it using the removal tool I posted and install AVIRA in its place

How come it updates every time I log on and it states that the programme is fully updated ?

Does it keep checking against the old updates then ?

Couldnt tell you, but they were supposed to officially stop all updates for it in December last year

 

[aliEnRIK]

It seems they DO still update

http://free.avg.com/download-update-7

Im going to assume that so many people are upset with AVG 8 that they decided to keep 7.5 updates running

 

[Anonymous]

aliEnRIK:

It seems they DO still update

But is the spyware still ongoing as well then ?

Thanks for the speedy replies by the way.

 

[aliEnRIK]

You also have the 7.5 spyware program? Or do you mean is it consolidated?

As far as im aware it was never consolidated (But it is in AVG 8)

 

[Alec]

weird things happenned when i had avast. it kept reporting a win 32 virus. no other scan i used showed a problem, and my pc was behving normally...

...but then i started having trouble with strange behaviour, and my mouse and keyboard were playing up too. i got some advice online, then posted some scan results on some site that aparently get back to you with waht you should do, after some initial steps. I took these steps (but wasnt really sure what i was doing) and never heard from them again.

Thats when teh crash happenned and i had to go about trouble shooting with dell anyway as the pc was useless pretty much by now (sorry, i seem to be on Chrristopher Nolan time with my story telling).

Only got things up and running again with a memory change, which i assume implies i had no virus and the win32 thing was a faulse positive (i googled it and came up with every opinion from false positive to leave the country now its extremely dangerous and will kill you and your pc in 5,4,3,2...

Mouse and keyboard probs remained so i replaced them. problem solved it seems.

Not really sure of the moral of the story (i think its something like "you do'nt really know wahts up sometimes), but im sure you all enjoyed it

 

[PJPro]

Well, I use AVG Free (v8). I do have the ocassional issue with updates, but, with a bit of encouragement, it does me just fine.

I also use Windows Defender and the software firewall which comes with Vista. I've also got a hardware firewall in my modem/router. I used to use Zone Alarm but it was a bit wobbly on Vista (a while ago now) so I just gave up on it.

If you do use Vista and you're worried about security, I'd recommend that you use the Vista sandbox architecture to your advantage. Create an admin account which you use for admin only. Create other locked down accounts for day to day use. This should help restrict the privileges available to any virus which inadvertantly gets onto your system.

Me? I don't bother too much about it.......but maybe I'll give Zone Alarm another go.