How does your AntiVirus stack up?

[Rick Gifford]

A testing lab in Germany has put dozens of antivirus and anti-spyware programs to the test of detecting malware.

www.sunbelt-software.com/ihs/alex/Results_2D2008m3b_US.htm (http://www.sunbelt-software.com/ihs/alex/Results_2D2008m3b_US.htm)

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

I don't use ANY "Anti - Virus" software, since there has NOT been a Virus aimed at the PC@home user, since 2000.

There is malware, spyware.,and adware, but the virus programs cannot try and make a fix, till it's already out there. (Not something they can not do instantly)

I have never had a Virus and my son, who has 5 servers up and runnig 24/7, has never had one, either. A lot of problems start at trying to view adult sites and even worse are music upload(shady ones) and places like MYspace, etc.

Just to keep the spyware and adware off my computer, I go to Trend Micro and do a FREE check and clean. Depending on how much RAM you have will determine the time it takes to do the clean-up. No strings attached!

Just MY experience.

Bruce

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Bruce, What you say is my experience also. But the spyware can be a real pain in that it slows down my computer a lot. Everything just seems to go so slowly until I clean it with SpyBot and/or Adaware. I know I'm not completely clean but it's the best I know how to do. Maybe I'll try the site you mentioned. Oh, I do use Avira Anti Virus but you say it's not needed.

[Dennis Peacock]

I use AV software and since I had a falling out with Symantec, I switched to Microsoft OneCare and have been very pleased with it.

Many times....I've wondered if all the AV software comapnies out there aren't secretly hiring folks to write virus stuff to help promote their products. Know what I'm sayin'?? :confused: :rolleyes:

[Rick Gifford]

Many times....I've wondered if all the AV software comapnies out there aren't secretly hiring folks to write virus stuff to help promote their products. Know what I'm sayin'?? :confused: :rolleyes:

Me thinks so too... at least it wouldn't shock me if it was true.

Avoiding questionable websites is key to minimizing viruses. I do not get them on my computer, I dont visit porn or underground sites. BUT my kids like those daggon music downloads, and unsafe programs like LimeWare etc. My daughter just wont shut off AIM when she leaves the computer.

Result? I have to clean the computers from time to time. Especially hers. Everyone in my house has their own. If they mess it up with garbage I fix it at my leasure... could be weeks. Amazing how that seems to slow down the nonsense.

My computer and my wifes is rock solid. But I do run Nortons AV, as well as some registry cleaners.

Email is a great virus source as well. I like Gmail and Yahoo since they do a great job screening for that. And its free!

[Greg Muller]

Norton on all 3 of my computers. Never had one single problem since.

I used to use another large name system, but it played heck with my tablet PC operating system.

It costs me $39/yr to cover all three. I think it's worth it-others prefer freeware. To each their own.

Greg

[Phil Thien]

Interesting results, I've followed the AV-Test stuff for several years now.

I spend half my day on malware removal and have not found a single magic bullet. We see endless machines that have Norton, McAfee, AVG, Trend, etc., that are infected and which can't be cleaned w/ the already-installed anti-virus software. We typically have to throw 3-4 different security suites at the infected machine to clean it up.

Furthermore, Norton seems to "much" itself more often than any other security package out there. People complaining that their machine is "running incredibly slowly" are often suffering from what I've termed the Norton Virus. It is easy to remedy: Go to add/remove programs and uninstall it. If that doesn't work, get Norton_Removal_Tool.exe.

[John Shuk]

What anti virus? I use a Mac!
To date all is well.

[Randal Stevenson]

Maybe one day, I will get another Windows machine for games, as the motherboard in my last one died, and I have a replacement, but that is way down on the list. (gaming or shop time)
I installed a free one, since I had never installed one on my Samba box, but my old windows box, didn't have hardly any internet access (I had to go through several steps to enable it, for game updates).
Don't really need it for Linux (my machines), and if I have any questionable sites, I will just check them out with a bootable distro, in a machine with the hard drives shut off, so it is all in ram.

[David G Baker]

Rick,
If you watch the evening news and see a story about some new serious enough virus to make the evening news you will find a large number of advertisements for the latest and greatest AV software spread through out most of the media outlets.
I have been wondering about the same thing for years.

[Bryan Rocker]

Me thinks so too... at least it wouldn't shock me if it was true.



While It would be nice to think that I can assure it isn't. I have been in the on-line gaming community for 10 years and have been involved in many competitioins. There is a large community of folks who do nothing but try and cheat in on-line games. They also actively engage in hacking servers, websites and home computers. They are a pesky bunch of folks and they get smarter everyday. As they find one way of doing something they pass it along to all their friends. I personally use AVAST! I was using Nortons for many years but it got to the point it was crashing my computer while I was trying to game and I quit using it.

Bryan

[Larry Browning]

Norton on all 3 of my computers. Never had one single problem since.

I used to use another large name system, but it played heck with my tablet PC operating system.

It costs me $39/yr to cover all three. I think it's worth it-others prefer freeware. To each their own.

Greg
Greg,
to each his own, but my experience with norton has been less than steller. I guess the biggest issue I have with them is the amount of system resources used by norton. At one point I had decided that I needed to buy a new computer due to it running so slow. Then I read somewhere that norton was such a system/memory hog. I switched to AVAST and , I swear my system performance went up by 50-75%. It also reduced my system lockups/crashes to almost never. I also had some subscription renewal issues with them as well. Let's just say I will never give Symantic another penny of my money.
However this is just MY experience.

[Russ Filtz]

Been very happy with NOD32. Only rated a B in a few categories in this study (what is this study, and who paid for it!), but it's been rated #1 over the years several times. Consistently updates itself with new profiles pretty much daily.

[Phil Thien]

One of the things that would be helpful to know when one suggests an anti-virus package is knowing whether they have any kids aged 12-24ish at home (or that visit during school breaks). Without a doubt, teenagers are the worst safety offenders. College-age kids aren't much better. Households w/ kids these ages bring their computers in for cleanup 10x more often than households with younger children, or no children at all.

I have also noticed that kids will infect a family PC with garbage before trying it on their own PC/notebook. When in doubt, they infect someone else's PC first.

[Russ Filtz]

Also in addition to good AV, I would suggest everyone use a good firewall. My firewall finds more questionable stuff than the AV, but both have ID'd stuff pretty regularly. I would not suggest ANYONE go without either while cruising the web. I use Sygate Personal Firewall, not the cheesy Windows one. I do run Windows Defender along with Adaware, Spybot, and others. Another good one to run occasionally is HijackThis! It can find and get rid of a lot of malware the other can't. Be careful with it as it is possible to hose your system. You can post a log in some AV forums and people will guide you through what to get rid of.

[Randal Stevenson]

Greg,
to each his own, but my experience with norton has been less than steller. I guess the biggest issue I have with them is the amount of system resources used by norton. At one point I had decided that I needed to buy a new computer due to it running so slow. Then I read somewhere that norton was such a system/memory hog. I switched to AVAST and , I swear my system performance went up by 50-75%. It also reduced my system lockups/crashes to almost never. I also had some subscription renewal issues with them as well. Let's just say I will never give Symantic another penny of my money.
However this is just MY experience.


Also in addition to good AV, I would suggest everyone use a good firewall. My firewall finds more questionable stuff than the AV, but both have ID'd stuff pretty regularly. I would not suggest ANYONE go without either while cruising the web. I use Sygate Personal Firewall, not the cheesy Windows one. I do run Windows Defender along with Adaware, Spybot, and others. Another good one to run occasionally is HijackThis! It can find and get rid of a lot of malware the other can't. Be careful with it as it is possible to hose your system. You can post a log in some AV forums and people will guide you through what to get rid of.


I have more then a few Windows friends, who recommend NOT putting a virus checker on your system, until you suspect a problem. Then put it on, check it, remove any problems, then remove the virus checker. That keeps it from being a resource hog, and if like me you have had one or fewer actual virus problems (the only one I ever had, targeted the antivirus program), the cure can end up as a problem.
I also recommend a dual step antivirus (double check your systems with something like the free online antivirus checkers).
As for the firewall, I still recommend a dual setup to those that ask me. I don't know about Vista, or know anyone who uses Windows firewall by default, so I don't have experience with that, but I do recommend a NAT box (basic hardware "firewall" for the computer illiterate) and something like the free Zone alarm (DO NOT turn off the outgoing announcements). I don't know what is "new" out there, but ZA was one of the few that actually notified you of OUTGOING connections (can give you a warning sign).

[Russ Filtz]

Sygate does the outgoing announcement, plus you can allow/deny/prompt for each website as need be so you don't constantly get messages. As for the AV, I'd still like to know before it even hits my PC. A lot of malware can be silent and do a lot of damage, steal passwords, etc., before you see any sign. Why risk it? With the relatively cheap cost of RAM, the resource hogging of good AV software should be minimal.

My AV will detect and stop malware from installing itself, so you don't have to wait for it to install and be detected during a later scan. Kills it before it even gets on your machine.