Poll

Which antivirus is best?

AVAST (ARRRRRRRRR!)
1 (16.7%)
AVG
0 (0%)
Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free and Ren likes it.
2 (33.3%)
Norton
0 (0%)
McAfee
1 (16.7%)
Avira AntiVir Personal
0 (0%)
Tamiflu (yes, this is the joke option)
1 (16.7%)
Other...
1 (16.7%)

Total Members Voted: 6

Author Topic: Which antivirus is BEST?  (Read 4225 times)

Offline Pugnate

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Which antivirus is BEST?
« on: Sunday, May 09, 2010, 02:01:43 PM »
And please... don't be anti-antivirusist.

Offline scottws

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #1 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 05:12:15 AM »
They're a dime a dozen now.  For awhile, Eset NOD32 was the clear leader boasting high detection rates, low false positives, fast scanning times, and low resource usage.  Nothing was even close.  Now every one of them is about the same though I still lean towards AV and AS products rather than the full-on security suites that bundle firewalls and backups and things like that.

Oh and stay far away from Norton and McAfee.  Symantec's business product, Endpoint Protection, is ok but Norton stuff is terrible bloated crap.  Oh and McAfee is horribly resource intensive and has a pretty poor track record for detection.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #2 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 06:01:01 AM »
I've been using McAfee for about 9 years now, and my second license finally stopped working. It should have a while back but for some reason it lasted longer than it should have.

Anyway... if you choose to install only the most basic feature of McAfee it isn't so bad. It has a lot of bloat (like the firewall stuff, the SPAM guard stuff etc), but you have the option to install only the main virus scan. You can also set the annoyance to a min. etc.

Even then McAfee can still be annoying as fuck, even with the notifications turned off, and the bloat kept to a min.

I am leaning towards giving Security Essentials a shot for now.

Honestly, I feel that if you are smart about your computer usage, you shouldn't have to deal with viruses ever. I feel that malware/spyware and phishing crap etc., are far more dangerous these days.

edit:

Oh, and I totally agree with you on Norton. What a bloated piece of crap that software is. I gave up on it years ago. Strange how it is so popular.



 

Offline ren

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #3 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 06:05:59 AM »
Security Essentials is pretty minimalistic and unintrusive. Moreso than I remember AVG and Avast being but I haven't used either of them in years.

I have no idea about detection but I've never had any antivirus catch anything. I don't think I've ever had a virus though so anything I say is pretty meaningless.

Offline scottws

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #4 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 11:05:04 AM »
I've been using McAfee for about 9 years now, and my second license finally stopped working. It should have a while back but for some reason it lasted longer than it should have.

Anyway... if you choose to install only the most basic feature of McAfee it isn't so bad. It has a lot of bloat (like the firewall stuff, the SPAM guard stuff etc), but you have the option to install only the main virus scan. You can also set the annoyance to a min. etc.

Even then McAfee can still be annoying as fuck, even with the notifications turned off, and the bloat kept to a min.

I am leaning towards giving Security Essentials a shot for now.

Honestly, I feel that if you are smart about your computer usage, you shouldn't have to deal with viruses ever. I feel that malware/spyware and phishing crap etc., are far more dangerous these days.

edit:

Oh, and I totally agree with you on Norton. What a bloated piece of crap that software is. I gave up on it years ago. Strange how it is so popular.

i have several big beefs with McAfee.  Here at work we use ViruScan 8.0, 8.5i, and 8.7i.  All three of these clients occasionally have the realtime scanning engine just break where it won't start anymore and it has to be reinstalled.  Also, sometimes after it is first installed the realtime scanning engine won't start and you have to go into the registry and point McAfee to the full path to the SYS files instead of the relative path it uses.  I can't figure out why this only occurs some of the time.  Lastly, whenever McAfee updates, it slows the machine to a crawl for 15-20 minutes.  I have a pretty good machine here at work.  I can't imagine what it is like for the people that have five year old computers.

I wouldn't even know NOD32 is updating if it didn't tell me when it was done.  Hell, I can barely tell when it is running a full scan.  With McAfee, you might as well just leave for the day because the computer will be useless for hours.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #5 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 11:23:00 AM »
Wow... I never had those issues with McAfee, but I did have similar ones with Norton.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #6 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 01:24:48 PM »
I've had that exact problem with McAfee Enterprise Edition (from my university and office). Every once in a while it would just break and I'd have to reinstall it. If for whatever reason I ever disabled it (for an install or whatever), it would just break as well.

Still, McAfee ViruScan Enterprise was my favourite from McAfee for the simple reason that it was the least bloated of all their software.

Kaspersky was pretty good for a while, except for one little problem: it always fucked up m network. I'm not even talking about Kasperskpy Internet Security, just the Antivirus. I installed it and suddenly my internet goes out and my computer is inaccessible to the local network. Checked online for solutions and it seemed to happen to only a few people. The best that could be done was to get the internet back but the LAN was still inaccessible.

Panda was one I kinda liked until they started charging annual subscription fees. I understand the reason for it since updating virus databases is a service but I, like everyone else, would rather go for the simple and free solution.

Norton/Symantec is one suite I have had nothing but trouble with since its creation. Never been a fan of any of their products. Bloatware and system-wide domination, suddenly my PC is "Norton's Computer" and I'm a guest on my own system.

Offline ScaryTooth

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #7 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 01:34:34 PM »
Nod32 is my favorite. Works very well, and detects a lot of stuff.

Offline scottws

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #8 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 02:20:55 PM »
I've had that exact problem with McAfee Enterprise Edition (from my university and office). Every once in a while it would just break and I'd have to reinstall it. If for whatever reason I ever disabled it (for an install or whatever), it would just break as well.

Still, McAfee ViruScan Enterprise was my favourite from McAfee for the simple reason that it was the least bloated of all their software.

Kaspersky was pretty good for a while, except for one little problem: it always fucked up m network. I'm not even talking about Kasperskpy Internet Security, just the Antivirus. I installed it and suddenly my internet goes out and my computer is inaccessible to the local network. Checked online for solutions and it seemed to happen to only a few people. The best that could be done was to get the internet back but the LAN was still inaccessible.

Panda was one I kinda liked until they started charging annual subscription fees. I understand the reason for it since updating virus databases is a service but I, like everyone else, would rather go for the simple and free solution.

Norton/Symantec is one suite I have had nothing but trouble with since its creation. Never been a fan of any of their products. Bloatware and system-wide domination, suddenly my PC is "Norton's Computer" and I'm a guest on my own system.
Yeah we use McAfee ViruScan Enterprise Edition here at work.  Sorry I didn't specify the Enterprise Edition part.

Kaspersky used to be good, mostly because their big trick was to put a hash of each file in an alternate data stream.  Upon the next scan it would generate another hash.  If the new hash and the hash in the alternate data stream were the same, it would assume the file is unmodified and not scan it.  This really did wonders for the scan speed and it worked pretty well.  The downside is all those alternate data streams remained forever.

After awhile, Kaspersky's speed advantage disappeared and they suffered in market share because the interface is pretty weird and the localization isn't great.

I almost bought Panda after reading a few reviews but then I found some other comparison tests where it did very poorly so I kept researching and eventually settled on Eset NOD32.

While I hate anything Norton, I don't hate Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0.  It is pretty good for a corporate network and isn't too intrusive.  It's also not as resource intensive as many past Norton/Symantec efforts.  It's not super great for home users because its strengths are all the sweet things you can do with it in a centralized management environment of multiple clients.  It also doesn't support right-click-scan-this like most other home or corporate AV+AS products do but it has a good scanning engine and is very stable.

Nod32 is my favorite. Works very well, and detects a lot of stuff.
Yep, that's what I use too.  I have had it block several web attacks and virus-ridden downloads for me and it uses resources very efficiently.

I was trying to push the consulting firm I used to work for to resell Eset NOD32 (they came out with a management console and managed client when I was still there), but we were a Symantec partner so we mostly sold Endpoint Protection with the occasional Trend Micro Officescan or Worry-Free Business Security for people who ran for the hills when someone said the word "Symantec".

Offline Raisa

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #9 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 02:32:01 PM »
So far Avira's the best if you haven't had any infections. I've used Kaspersky--i like it.. also good for other things like malware etc. And according to the russian hacks--Kaspersky is hardest to get into.
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Offline scottws

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #10 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 02:39:06 PM »
Oh yeah and by the way I feel like having Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware installed is a must.  I have seen tons of stuff in the last year that only Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware can deal with.  It is usually easier to have it installed and then update it prior to running than try to get it and install it because many viruses attempt to actively block it.  I haven't seen any that can block it after it is installed though, unless it is a really old version that hasn't been updated in forever.

Luckily, it is free.  There is a for-pay version that I presume has a runtime agent and automatic, scheduled updates.

Offline Raisa

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #11 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 02:50:18 PM »
scott, does it work for notorious chinese malware? sounds interesting
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Offline scottws

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #12 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 02:51:49 PM »
I don't know if I've ever come across Chinese malware.  A lot of what I see these days are Vundo infections and those fake anti-virus programs.  Malwarebytes' is the only thing I've seen that can get rid of that crap.

Offline Raisa

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #13 on: Monday, May 10, 2010, 02:54:02 PM »
oh ok.. will check it out.. thanks
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Offline Xessive

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Panda Cloud Antivirus
« Reply #14 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 08:13:09 AM »
Bringing up the antivirus discussion again, has anyone come across Panda's new cloud antivrus?

It's free and available here. I'm very curious about this innovative use of the cloud.

Supposedly, one of its major benefits is a significantly lower footprint on your system resources. Curiouser and curiouser.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #15 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 08:33:05 AM »
Very interesting.  Thanks for the heads up.  I will most likely give this a shot, unless I find something I can't live with beforehand.

Offline scottws

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #16 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 10:11:29 AM »
It doesn't seem to go into too much detail, but that sounds similar to what Trend Micro introduced with OfficeScan 10.  They added a Smart Scan feature that wasn't enabled by default.  If you enabled it, it offloaded something to either the management server or Trend Micro, depending on how you had it configured.  It sped up scans and reduced the load on the individual PCs.

As far as Panda's offering, I'm wary.  I've read some good reviews of Panda's products, but some really bad ones as well.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #17 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 10:25:19 AM »
Funny you should mention Trend Micro.  They've changed their HouseCall service to work from a local applet.  It's a bit cumbersome because I have to tell it where I want to scan every time.  (I can't find a way to persistently point at the "virus scan" folder I created just for this.)  But otherwise, no more weird problems or system hogging with Java.  It does what I want (and nothing else) and they've been trustworthy so far.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #18 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 10:37:12 AM »
I've been using Avast on my desktop, AVG on my laptop, and Microsoft Securities on my desktop XP install.

I have to say Avast is the best of the three.

Microsoft Securities seems to be the least intrusive of the three, but it doesn't actually seem to be doing anything (which could explain why it doesn't feel intrusive).

Someone hacked Aandtech and left an attack script on it, and Avast was the only program that blocked the script, AND let me browse the website. AVG simply blocked access, and MS Securities didn't do anything.

edit:

It was a similar story with another case. So far, Avast seems the most impressive.

Offline beo

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #19 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 11:27:20 AM »
i'd be willing to recommend avast, but one of several russians calls me up every week trying to convince me to sell their products.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #20 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 12:07:20 PM »
... what?

Offline beo

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #21 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 12:13:44 PM »
their product is avast, i do pc repairs. clearer?

i hate the hard sell, so even if it is a superior product, it's off my list.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #22 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 12:37:55 PM »
Yea, but I didn't realize they were based in Russia.

Anyway, the thing is that if you believe it is a good product, and they are giving you a commission to push it for them, then what's the problem? I mean in a similar position, I'd never sell Norton because I hate it. But if it is a product I like, and use myself, I don't see the harm.

Doctors, dentists, and pharmacists do it tons.

Go for it... make more money for women and booze. And if you don't like the product, you can stop selling it.

Offline scottws

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #23 on: Monday, June 07, 2010, 06:52:05 PM »
I really like Avast. It is way less resource-intensive than AVG and I really like the boot-time scan feature.

Offline ren

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #24 on: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 09:28:41 AM »
http://lifehacker.com/5559102/microsoft-security-essentials-finds-unknown-malware-but-avoids-false-positives

Twist!

I had MSE save me twice a few weeks ago by finding viruses on USB keys friends were using on my computer so I feel I should plug it here again.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Which antivirus is BEST?
« Reply #25 on: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 06:41:19 PM »
Nice. That's comforting to know :)