Antivirus Solutions

[Richard Urban]

Isn't it funny as how the "major" players in the home security field
(Symantec and McAfee) are bitc*ing and moaning about how Microsoft should
get out of the security field and leave security to the "people who know"
and have been doing it so well ( ???? ) for the last few years.

Yet, these big players have not, as of yet, released any program suites ( or
even a basic antivirus program) that work with Vista RC1!

This is one of the reasons I have abandoned the big guys in favor of the
smaller players. They are more nimble and responsive to the changing
operating system as it approaches RTM status.

I will "never" again install anything from either of these two manufacturers
on my computers, or those I build for my customers.

These two companies were the elite in the mid to late 90's. They have taken
a big slide downhill and their attitude sucks!



--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Rock]

Isn't it funny as how the "major" players in the home security field
(Symantec and McAfee) are bitc*ing and moaning about how Microsoft should
get out of the security field and leave security to the "people who know"
and have been doing it so well ( ???? ) for the last few years.

Yet, these big players have not, as of yet, released any program suites
( or even a basic antivirus program) that work with Vista RC1!

This is one of the reasons I have abandoned the big guys in favor of the
smaller players. They are more nimble and responsive to the changing
operating system as it approaches RTM status.

I will "never" again install anything from either of these two
manufacturers on my computers, or those I build for my customers.

These two companies were the elite in the mid to late 90's. They have
taken a big slide downhill and their attitude sucks!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

How true. And Symantec just released their new version, Anti-Virus 2007.
We had the first post about it in windowsxp.general where the OP was so
frustrated. It wouldn't install properly, he said he had 16 on line chats
with Symantec Tech support in which he was repeatedly disconnected or told
to do something that required him to disconnect, none of which worked. He
seemed amenable to the suggestion he seek out an alternative.

 

[Joe Chapman]

I'm running the Beta Refresh III of McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.5i - the
RTM version is released in October, a full month before Vista is released to
businesses

 

[Richard Urban]

Please read my post again. That is not a "home" solution! That is an
enterprise solution.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[BChat]

Well said - I agree

 

[Will Schuitman]

I'm quite happy using trend micro
and I have also had good experiences with AVG running on my xp pro system
And I get the feeling Nortons and Mc Afee and chosen to abandon the home
users in favor of their enterprise customers
Back in the days when windows 98 was released nortons probably had the best
antivirus software. Ever since those days they've gone downhill bigtime.
Just about everyone I know has had huge problems running nortons products on
a XP platform so much so that nortons have even released applications to
uninstall their software anybody that has ever tried to cleanup after a
failed installation will know exactly what I'm talking about

 

[Chris Moore]

The change from antivirus to general overall security tools has lead to
complete bloatware and has made what were good tools into complete garbage.

I have on many occasions fixed clients/friends PCs or given them a huge
performance hike by simply removing the bloat and installing better
individual tools.

The worst in my opinion is Norton which got bundled with everyone's computer
and damn does that suck the life and resources out of a machine!! McAfee is
heading the same way which is disappointing.

Microsoft have done a reasonable job with OneCare which gets the job done in
a very unobtrusive and less resource hogging manner. I hope the other look
at the approach and follow suit. I am interested to see the OneCare beta
for Vista which should be due any time soon.



<DIV>&quot;Richard Urban&quot; &lt;[email protected]&gt;

 

[Will Schuitman]

I've always been a huge fan of the smaller programs like Adaware and spybot
search and destroy along with smaller more basic antivirus solutions
I haven't had any experiences with Onecare yet but if it is as good a they
say it is I'll be happy to use it.
as long as it never goes down the path of nortons and Mc afee

 

[Chris Moore]

OneCare works quite well and the product is evolving with seemingly good
features based on the feedback from the Perpetual beta users. Also you have
the license for 3 machines which is good value for most households with more
than one computer these days! It is aimed more at less experienced users
and lacks the advanced features but these days I am preferring 'set and
forget' rather than 'nuts and bolts' approach to all these things as there
are not enough hours in a day as it is!

I still run other tools like Spybot and Ewido, a multifaceted approach to
spyware is the best approach as no one tool trumps all!

With less elevated priviledges in Vista I hope all the junk/viruses become
less of an issue.

Check the OneCare link in the Vista welcome center to sign up for the soon
to be released Onecare 1.5 Vista beta.



<DIV>&quot;Will Schuitman&quot; &lt;[email protected]&gt; wrote in

 

[Guest]

I've used Norton ever since their first antivirus program but I agree totally
with everything said. Last year with XP installing was a nightmare 'cos of
their pathetic need to creat a 'Cleanup' program. Well things got even worse
2 days ago. I reset the BIOS because I'd failed with an overclocking
experiment. That reset the date back somewhat. I knew my PTBSync program
would correct it within a minute so I didn't worry. Before it did that Norton
went for an update and immediately came back with "Your subscription has
terminated" even though it still has 100+ days to run. 6 emails later and 7
reloads of the program (as instructed by Norton Support) I still am being
told I can't update my virus definitions 'ocs my subscription is terminated,
which makes the program useless. It is totally pathetic and, unless they sort
it out soon, I'll make a complaint against Norton in The Common Market - that
might shake them up a bit. Colin

 

[Chris Moore]

There was a complete roasting of Symantec on Techrepublic.com and Symantec
ended up replying but the general perception of Norton is that it's products
have gone downhill since Symantec bought them up, true for other products in
their range not just AV.



<DIV>&quot;Spirefm&quot; &lt;[email protected]&gt; wrote in
message I've used Norton ever since their first antivirus program but I agree
totally

 

[Jane C]

Agree completely. I recommend Avast to everyone now for antivirus. The
price is good too....free ;-)

 

[Rock]

"Chris Moore"wrote

The change from antivirus to general overall security tools has lead to
complete bloatware and has made what were good tools into complete
garbage.

I have on many occasions fixed clients/friends PCs or given them a huge
performance hike by simply removing the bloat and installing better
individual tools.

The worst in my opinion is Norton which got bundled with everyone's
computer and damn does that suck the life and resources out of a machine!!
McAfee is heading the same way which is disappointing.

Microsoft have done a reasonable job with OneCare which gets the job done
in a very unobtrusive and less resource hogging manner. I hope the other
look at the approach and follow suit. I am interested to see the OneCare
beta for Vista which should be due any time soon.

<snip>

There are some nice features in OneCare, especially for the user who is not
very knowledgeable, and it has been evolving. The backup is rudimentary,
last time I checked. The main problem is that the AV engine has poor
detection rates compared to other AV programs.

 

[Rock]

I'm quite happy using trend micro
and I have also had good experiences with AVG running on my xp pro system
And I get the feeling Nortons and Mc Afee and chosen to abandon the home
users in favor of their enterprise customers
Back in the days when windows 98 was released nortons probably had the
best antivirus software. Ever since those days they've gone downhill
bigtime.
Just about everyone I know has had huge problems running nortons products
on a XP platform so much so that nortons have even released applications
to uninstall their software anybody that has ever tried to cleanup after a
failed installation will know exactly what I'm talking about

Symantec is a software house, not a software developer as Norton was. They
take technology from other companies, repackage it, then add features and
bloat to appeal to those people who want everything in one package so they
don't have to think about it or learn about what's under the hood. Many
posts come through windowsxp.general related to Symantec problems, and there
is not much you can do about it. Trying to uninstall one of their products
is horrendous. One of their recent sad forays was the purchase of
PowerQuest, the creators of Drive Image and Partition Magic. The Drive
Image Technology was incorporated in Norton Ghost 10 which is one of their
better running programs. And fortunately they haven't destroyed Partition
Magic - at least yet.

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

Agree completely. I recommend Avast to everyone now for antivirus. The
price is good too....free ;-)

My only concern is that I have always believed that "You get what you pay
for."

In other words, just because an application installs, especially when
discussing an AV solution, as it proper to assume that it is providing
proper protection?

 

[Jane C]

We have a virus test folder here, Avast picks up everything in it. Its
standard shield is extremely sensitive, and will pick up the slightest thing
in any temp folder/file, well before anything can 'infect' you. It has
never let us down. Unlike certain paid solutions in the past.

 

[MICHAEL]

My only concern is that I have always believed that "You get what you pay for."

In other words, just because an application installs, especially when discussing an AV
solution, as it proper to assume that it is providing proper protection?

Spot on. Avast does score much better than AVG in the VB tests.
I am patiently waiting on NOD32 to finish their Vista version- they
are the best.

Currently using Trend's Vista beta on a laptop and Avast on a
Vista desktop.


-Michael

 

[Bill]

Spot on. Avast does score much better than AVG in the VB tests.

Just curious, how does one score better than 100%?

 

[Jeff]

interesting; never looked at tests;but 100% huh?
LOL-Shouldn't give virus writers any encouragement !!! LOL
Jeff

 

[MICHAEL]

Just curious, how does one score better than 100%?

It's about more than one or two tests. An AV company can
achieve the 100% award once and display that for many months
even though they may not put themselves up to be tested
again for a year.

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=vendors

VB100% Results Overview: Grisoft (AVG)
13 Success / 21 Failure / 13 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: Trend Micro
14 Success / 7 Failure / 26 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: Alwil (Avast)
18 Success / 19 Failure / 10 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: F-Secure
23 Success / 12 Failure / 12 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: Computer Associates (eTrust/InoculateIT)
24 Success / 11 Failure / 12 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: McAfee
27 Success / 18 Failure / 2 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: Symantec
33 Success / 6 Failure / 8 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: Sophos
33 Success / 12 Failure / 2 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: Kaspersky
34 Success / 13 Failure / 0 No Entry

VB100% Results Overview: Eset (NOD32)
39 Success / 3 Failure / 5 No Entry
*23 Success in a row- the longest streak of any AV.*