Nequa Nequa

What is the best anti-virus software?

What is the best anti-virus software?

I have norton, but from what I hear norton sucks. Does any body know a better anti-virus software?
638,906 views 233 replies
Reply #151 Top

Well I use Kaspersky Internet Security, have absolutely no problem with it, works good for me...

Reply #152 Top

Hey guys,

I use Norton Internet Security 2009 -it is actually quite good. Huge difference when compared to NIS 2008. NIS 2008 had a ton of problems- a couple are as follows:

- Resource hog

- Stuck when running Live update

When I updated to NIS 2009, everything was dandy. Live update was running as expected and resource usage was also decreased. It also ranks highly on several reviews. I believe that Maximum PC gave it a 9 in their reviews.

For anybody who has NIS 2008, please update to NIS 2009 asap. It's a night and day difference.

I've also used AVAST, AVG, and Avira in the past. The newer version of AVG seems to be a resource hog, although it has a nice interface. For free AVG's, AVAST and Avira both work quite well. According to Maximum PC, Avira had one of the best detection rates, if I remember correctly.

 

Reply #153 Top

NOD 32....great software. Actually, if you want the lowdown, ask angus1949 as he has extensive security experience.

Also helluva nice guy who loves to help.

Reply #154 Top

Yeah norton stinks its sooo slow stay far away from it.

On my laptop i use avast but on my desktop i have Trend Micro.

Trend Micro updated recently and is a much smoother program. It also doesnt boot me out of sins when it updates like it used to.

Reply #155 Top

Linux!


Sorry, couldn't resist. :D

Reply #156 Top

Quoting DrJBHL, reply 3
NOD 32....great software. Actually, if you want the lowdown, ask angus1949 as he has extensive security experience.

Also helluva nice guy who loves to help.
End of DrJBHL's quote

NOD is not as effective as it used to be when it comes to catching viruses. There have been quite a number of reports in the past few months on some of the tech forums around the net.

Neowin has an editorial on NIS 2009. which came out this week. A good read.

 http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/02/04/neowin-review-symantec-norton-internet-security-2009

|-)  

Reply #157 Top

Quoting -CU-Raptor, reply 4
Yeah norton stinks its sooo slow stay far away from it.

On my laptop i use avast but on my desktop i have Trend Micro.

Trend Micro updated recently and is a much smoother program. It also doesnt boot me out of sins when it updates like it used to.
End of -CU-Raptor's quote

Have you tried NIS 2009?

Reply #158 Top

Thinking to switch your antivirus program. Ah I get an awesome one - AlfaAntivirus.

Also I got the list of its all 69 family members. So, Beware of them.

And, if you have already installed one of them, its time to move.. :jafo:

Reply #159 Top

Quoting Leo, reply 7

Quoting -CU-Raptor, reply 4Yeah norton stinks its sooo slow stay far away from it.

On my laptop i use avast but on my desktop i have Trend Micro.

Trend Micro updated recently and is a much smoother program. It also doesnt boot me out of sins when it updates like it used to.

Have you tried NIS 2009?
End of Leo's quote

No, he didn't. That's kind of obvious when he says norton is "sooo slow"...

Really, NOONE who has tried norton internet security 2009 can honestly say it's slow... It's the mother of all fast AV-suites...

I'll check....

ccSvcHst.exe (Symantec Service Framework) - 2 processes... ~5500kB memory used.... Goes up to 12000kB when exploring the filesystem.... 0-1% CPU usage...

That's all there is to it... It's not a resource hog anymore. :)

 

(And I dropped trend micro when they released the 2008 version, because it was causing problems with my software, and ate up my resources, NIS 2008 worked ALOT better than trend....)

Reply #160 Top

Well i started off with NAV 07, i must say it is a good one but to come up with FREE ANTIVIRUS, I Advice for Avast 4 Home Edition, Keeping in mind you update it once in a week or so.

Thanks & Regards, Ajji

Reply #161 Top

Just to add my 2 cents to the thread. Ive used quit a lot of different antivirus solutions over the year, from mcafee and norton to avg and kaspersky. No point in listing all of them. The point is dont be stupid, dont go to suspect sites, dont open email or files from unknown sources. And you are 3/4 of a way to having your computer secured against infection. Concerning the actual antivirus soft. If i was to rate 3 best ones:

1. Kaspersky (excellent protection, fairly small footprint, easy to use, no compatibility issues)

2.NOD32 (very good protection, small footprint.)

3. avg/avira (cant honestly decide which one is better from these two so put both of them down as the third. AVG has by far the smallest footprint of them all, Free version slightly lacks on the protection side of things. Avira is a good all rounder.)

If i was getting a new AV i'd choose from the above 4, the guide being my financial situation more then anything. Wouldnt bother with any other AVs out there at all.

Just my 2 cents hope it helps.

Reply #162 Top

I am currently using Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 that help cleanup the viruses, trojans, & worms problem that Norton Internet Security let get through and screwup my computer. It is easy to use with excellent protection!

Remember to always make sure that your computer meets the System Reguirements first, before trying to install any type of software.

Reply #163 Top

Quoting mickeko, reply 19



Quoting WarlokLord,
reply 18

Not true. StarForce in various forms has slain a number of CD drives, or more commonly degraded the performance of them. DRM that is that perilous *is* malware... the intent is moot versus such effects.



And microwave ovens heat things from the inside out, and cows fly...

Show me a single, documented case where StarForce has been proven to cause hardware failure... You won't find it, because there is none. Hardware break down for a huge lot of reasons, StarForce is not one of them.
End of mickeko's quote

I've gotten several BSOD's on my old machine after installing Starforce enabled games (this was a few years ago, obviously). Starforce utilizes Ring0 access, which is proven to cause absolute chaos. My DVD-RW would also constantly degrade from DMA to PIO mode, with the inability to switch it back, ever. This happened right after installing a game called "Cold War", which used Starforce.  Not only did I come across several odd behaviors with my machine at the time, so did many people I know and trust. I went through 3 DVD-RW drives in a period of 2 years. I'm a big PC Gamer and have little doubt is was anything but Starforce, especially after talking to others in a similar situation.

Also, there's was an ex-employee that worked for Starforce, Russian I believe, that created a website whistleblowing on Starforce. He started it a few years ago, and was sued shortly after. The site was unfortunaltey shutdown, but had all kinds of internal memos on this subject, basically showing that they knew there were major issues and implications with their Ring0 driver. 

Reply #164 Top

Like people say, the best offense is defense

I perfer having no antivirus, if you are smart about what and where you are downloading you won't get a virus.

I personally have BitDefender for complete and total care, cheaper, McAfee uses too much ram and norton, well they keep making you buy protection that you won't even use.

I barely make use of my antivirus, I had McAfee for 3 years, didn't even need it once.

Reply #165 Top

Quoting Mooster, reply 14

I perfer having no antivirus, if you are smart about what and where you are downloading you won't get a virus.
End of Mooster's quote

That's like saying you prefer to drive a car without a seat belt (safety belt if you like...), if you're smart about what and where you are driving you won't have an accident. Very few of all people who use a seat belt ever actually use them.

The problem is that very few people drive ONLY on a huge empty parking lot. And, while it's safer there, it's not 100% safe to drive there either and you could end up in a situation where the seat belt saves your life anyway.

Reply #167 Top

Another bump for iolo from da munkeh.  Still going strong.

Reply #168 Top

If you would have put up the specs of your system with the question, you could have got the best answer for it.

Just visit this site and you will know whats da best antivirus 

Well, as a personal opinion I would always recommend Kaspersky Antivirus 2009

Reply #169 Top

I agree the smaller and the less known companies I found have the best software. I wouldn't even care about Window live care because it is just another microsoft product

Reply #170 Top

I only use 3 things. Nod 32  [anti-virus] Malwarebytes [ for malware ], and CC Cleaner  [ for general cleaning ]

Reply #171 Top

BitDefender and Norton 360 have worked best for me.  Really depends on the apps on your machine as well and compatibility with them against your anti-virus.  Currently, I took off BitDefender Total Security 2009 and installed Norton 360.  I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate (64-Bit) and BitDefender scanning (auto and manual) kept not working.  I reinstalled BitDefender for the 6th time, had the issue again and put Norton 360 on the machine.  I've been running Norton 360 for about 2 months and have loved it.

Differences I've noticed with Norton 360:


It's much more light-weight
Doesn't lag my PC AT ALL during scans
Lot less a pain to configure
Updates more real-time than anything else I've seen.

I'd highly recommend it..  When people ask well "why believe you"..  I'll tell you..  lol

I'm MCITP:EST and MCTS Certified for Windows Vista.  So, if you're using Vista...  Take my word for it and save a lot of time.  I've been there and done that with almost all apps.  First and foremost regardless of what you hear on this site..  Don't get anything free.  It won't help you and you mideswell not have anything in that case.  You get what you pay for.  :)  Good luck!

Reply #172 Top


My group swears by it, including a professional network admin. .
End of quote

 

I would fire your IT guy if he made that recommendation to me.

 

KAV or NOD32 ftw.

Reply #173 Top

i used nod32 from the day vista was released until last week. nod32 is great, in my opinion, but i've found vipre to be a bit better. vipre seems to use a tad bit less memory and also icludes a malware detector. it's pretty darned inexpensive, too. 30 bucks for a year's subscription. i believe it has unlimited subs for 50 bucks a year, making it great for home networks.

Reply #174 Top

Kaspersky is statistically the best AV out there. I was doing research on what AV software i was gonna use for my new gaming system, i found a credited study that found kaspersky to be the most efficient at detecting not yet "known" malware, trojans etc. i believe it was at 36% while the 2nd best was around 24%. I wish i had bookmarked that article. was very informative.

Reply #175 Top

Could have been at av-comparatives.

If you read their first main test of the year, you'll notice that Symantec beats pretty much every other suite. It detects more malware than Kaspersky (incidentally, ESET Nod32 falls behind on pretty much everything too), it does it faster, and with less false positives.

Personally, I call Symantec the overall winner in that test because it's the only suite combining great detection and low amount of false positives with great scanning speed.

It'll be interesting to see the next few tests. ESET beware.. :)