What is the best anti-virus software for me?

Stew · 4th August 2006, 4:10pm

There have been numerous threads on the topic of anti-virus software, so figured it'd be a good idea to have a thread with most of the main options and their benefits and flaws for reference.

First up, apparently everyone's favourite one.

AVG Free Edition

Well, for starters it is free, which is always a good start. It's control centre gui isn't the easiest to get to grips with, but once set up you hardly need to touch it. It can be configured to automatically block certain attachments through e-mail and has a rescue diskette function in case your system is attacked by a trojan and leaves you unable to start windows.

It's not really effective against malware though, so you'll need to get yourself some extra software for that, as you already should have.

Only problem with it as far as I can see is that if you are using the free version you get no technical support.

***

Now on to McAfee VirusScan 2006

This is a pretty easy to use bit of anti-virus software and also doubles as malware protection. Can protect you from malicious e-mail and scripts while browsing. But as always, McAfee tends to be an overly bloated resource hog on your system and has no log of removed problems and has shockingly annoying continual warnings if malware crops up on your system.

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I'm going to ignore Norton 2006 Home Edition, as no-one should ever use it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew

Reasons why Norton Home is shit:

System resource intensive.
Buggy with some well known software such as AOL.
Trojan detection is poor, at the best of times.
Spyware options are a complete waste of time.
Firewall tends to leave ports semi-naked, which is not good.
Inaccurate virus detection and inability to remove because of this.

I'd go on, but seriously shouldn't need to. It's well documented on here and on sites where it's available for purchase which have user recommendations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zooropa

Did you mention that to get new virus definition updates you need to pay an annual subscription?

Zooropa is right here. With Home editions you are required to pay a yearly subscription to pick up the data and definition updates via the supplied update software. Another reason why it's a poorer piece of software compared to the top-notch free alternatives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghostsuit

Whats the difference between Enterprise and Corporate.

Quote:

The AntiVirus Enterprise Edition is a suite that includes the AntiVirus Corporate Edition as well as the following products: Symantec Mail Security for SMTP, Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange, Symantec Mail Security for Domino and Symantec Web Security.

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So next we have avast!

It has a nice UI for people who aren't entirely knowledgeable on anti-virus software and it's real-time scanner is pretty decent and detects files incoming from email, instant messenger programs, newsgroups etc which is a must these days -- also has a neat function in that it can notify you in more than a pop up if a virus is detected.

It can be configured to scan while windows is booting before it loads, but it doesn't let you schedule virus scans and you do need to activate the full report option as it's off by default.

Oh, and it's free!

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Right, the last one for now is Kaspersky Personal Security Suite

This is one of those horrible suites that covers anti-virus, firewall and anti-malware all under one big title. Strangely, though, the three different parts of the software kit aren't integrated -- even going so far as to have different system tray icons.

In short, the anti-virus is not half bad, but the firewall and anti-malware suck. The anti-virus has heuristical analysis like the big boys in this field which allows it to block newer viruses (allegedly..). The anti-malware is pretty poor in general and doesn't even stop most spam from your e-mail account and the firewall rules configuration pop-ups are eye-burningly poor.

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[If anyone else wants to summarise any anti-virus software for this then post below and I'll add it in. I'll likely add more later/tomorrow.]

**PapaZeb** · 4th August 2006, 4:14pm

Quote:

I'm going to ignore Norton 2006, as no-oneshould ever use it.

Not as such.

Norton comes in two different flavours - there's the home edition, which is horrible. It includes all sorts of fancy firewall and anti-spyware junk that at the end of the day combines to give you a slower machine that's a pain to perform daily chores with.

Norton Enterprise, on the other hand, is slim, sleek, affordable, and is quite probably the number 1 paid for antivirus software out there in my opinion.

Boomslang · 5th September 2006, 4:22pm

I find quite conflicting opinions when it comes to anti-virus / firewall apps.

Myself iv always tended to use Norton software. At the moment this is Norton Internet Security 2005 - firewall / antivirus anda few other nick-nacs.
My subscription will be running out soon for this year and il be looking towards other software. On one hand im not sure if I should just stick with Norton since I am now very used to it and I have had few problems int he past with Norton. Would anybody sticking with Norton or recommend something else?

Stew · 5th September 2006, 4:34pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boomslang

I find quite conflicting opinions when it comes to anti-virus / firewall apps.

Myself iv always tended to use Norton software. At the moment this is Norton Internet Security 2005 - firewall / antivirus anda few other nick-nacs.
My subscription will be running out soon for this year and il be looking towards other software. On one hand im not sure if I should just stick with Norton since I am now very used to it and I have had few problems int he past with Norton. Would anybody sticking with Norton or recommend something else?

As Zeb has said above. Norton Enterprise or Corporate are half decent, the home user versions are system resource intensive pieces of junk imo.

I'm using corporate at the moment and never had any problems with it.

**Ghostsuit** · 5th September 2006, 4:44pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapaZeb

Not as such.

Norton comes in two different flavours - there's the home edition, which is horrible. It includes all sorts of fancy firewall and anti-spyware junk that at the end of the day combines to give you a slower machine that's a pain to perform daily chores with.

Norton Enterprise, on the other hand, is slim, sleek, affordable, and is quite probably the number 1 paid for antivirus software out there in my opinion.

Right where would I get this and howmuch will it set me back?

**Ghostsuit** · 5th September 2006, 4:46pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew

I'm going to ignore Norton 2006, as no-one should ever use it.

Oh and that was utterly useless atleast explain why people shouldn't use it.

Boomslang · 5th September 2006, 4:47pm

Think il give the corporate edition of Norton a try this time then depending on price, since I have heard before about the system-intense nature of the home editions.

**Ghostsuit** · 5th September 2006, 4:49pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boomslang

Think il give the corporate edition of Norton a try this time then depending on price, since I have heard before about the system-intense nature of the home editions.

Same my system is creaking under home edition and my system shouldn't even be worried about running a small country.

Dec · 5th September 2006, 4:51pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew

I'm going to ignore Norton 2006, as no-one should ever use it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew

I'm using [Norton] corporate at the moment and never had any problems with it.

Road to Damascus, here.

Boomslang · 5th September 2006, 4:51pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghostsuit

Same my system is creaking under home edition and my system shouldn't even be worried about running a small country.

It must be bad! I just notice some small glitches in it sometimes as well that annoy me.

Im trying to find out pricing for Corp.

Stew · 5th September 2006, 4:56pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghostsuit

Oh and that was utterly useless atleast explain why people shouldn't use it.

Reasons why Norton Home is shit:

System resource intensive.
Buggy with some well known software such as AOL.
Trojan detection is poor, at the best of times.
Spyware options are a complete waste of time.
Firewall tends to leave ports semi-naked, which is not good.
Inaccurate virus detection and inability to remove because of this.

I'd go on, but seriously shouldn't need to. It's well documented on here and on sites where it's available for purchase which have user recommendations.