Recommendations for Anti Virus software?

M**rosoft is a an abomination and a curse, that's why it's censored.

Kaspersky or AVG, though AVG can be picky if it finds even the slightest trace of another antivirus on your drive.


Edited by winging it

AVG 9.0 free is about the best of the free ones at the moment. Zonealarm Free is not getting very reviews for the free firewall at present though the Pro version is still very good. Comodo is probably top of the free firewalls with PC Tools not far behind and a lot less fussy.

Sophos is great but only if you work for a company that can pass on the free licence deal. Mine used to but doesn't anymore.

The M**rosoft Security Essentials seems to pick most things up but doesn't scan e-mails or have heuristic scanning like AVG.

Wouldn't bother using Norton or McAfee as they both used to be resource hungry, though by all accounts they have got better in recent years.

Oh by the way for the person that set up the word filtering on this forum, the M**rosoft word exchange thing is very petty, they exist and will still do so for a very long time, so get over it and deal with them. Oh and for the record Apple and Google ain't saints either, and I use Mint Linux on my laptop before you have a go at me for being a M**rosoft fanboy

Edited by maxibuddah

Comodo is worth a look for a free firewall, unobtrusive,
small and it works.

I use AVG for my anti virus, but im probably going to
uninstall it and go back to using common sense.

Another thing to consider about on AV program finding a
virus that another does, is that some are guilty of making
up viruses to make it look like they work better. Dont
know if Sophos is one of those, but its worth thinking
about.

By all accounts don't be fooled into the free antivirus that ships with Comodo though. While the firewall is very good apparently the AV isn't. It is included in the download with the firewall, you just have to make sure that you don't allow it to install it in by clicking in the right boxes. Also the same goes for those very annoying "toolbars" that they bundle with free software these days.

I've used several, and for some years. I currently use Kaspersky, having switched from McAfee. I did ask some of our PC geeks at work about what they recommended, and was mainly met with "Whatever you can get free, or the cheapest" Not much help, then!

I was put off (old) Norton, as I kept on hearing about it being resource hungry - the "new" Norton isn't, and now has positive reviews. One of my colleagues uses it and says it just scans very quietly in the background (on an old laptop). I would certainly consider Norton now.

McAfee: Resource hungry and seems to throw up regular compatiblity issues with Windows and Adobe. I struggled for about a year with a Vista incompatibility problem before (I think) M**rosoft forced McAfee to rectify the problem that they had previously ignored. I can't recommend McAfee due to this and the fact that it is bundled with loads of off the shelf PCs. People are invariably lazy and just use what their PC comes with, usually paying the subscription when required.

Kaspersky: It's good and does the job very well (picked up 2 trojans on an eBay page before the page fully loaded). Kaspersky is also a refreshing change in the AV world as it's "labs" are based in Moscow! I'd say with the amount of malware that pours forth from Eastern Europe, they are in a pretty good position to be at the front line, rather than waiting for something nasty to hit American servers and sort it out from there. Kaspersky updates very regularly, and these many but small updates slow things right down. They are a pain, but I can live with about 3mins of slowness every hour or so.

Personally, I'd go with the newest Norton, or Kaspersky.

To be honest, I'd not bother with "my new antivirus found a virus that my old one missed" - All AV programs vary in their effectiveness, and if you beleive the conspiracies, then each AV company employs their own "virus writer" who writes something quite product specific, with the aim of devaluing a competitors AV product.