ANTI VIRUS????

[Guest]

I am curious to see what is the best Anti Virus software....
I am wanting to purchase anti virus software...but am unsure what really
works the best to protect my PC...
Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks...
Apeke

 

[Alan Smith]

I am curious to see what is the best Anti Virus software....
I am wanting to purchase anti virus software...but am unsure what really
works the best to protect my PC...
Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks...
Apeke

Read the reviews available on the web. Best is subjective.

 

[j9]

You'll want something that is:

1) cheap/free
2) comes wih regular engine and signature updates, also cheap/free
3) an emergency scanner/sig file that can fit on a floppy or bootable cd
4) something that doesn't slow down your system every time it scans a file
on-demand.

My preferece today is AVG7, using housecall.antivirus.com as an online
backup.

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Forget the 'pay for anti virus software' For preference go for the free
version of AVG anti virus (http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php) I've use it
for years without any problems. Norton's causes more problems than it cures.
Mcafee is somewhat better. But why buy when you can get it for free?
Incidentally AVG also do a professional version which you have to pay for.
It has a few more bells and whistles compared to the free version but, in
the end, it does exactly the same thing.

 

[Guest]

I am curious to see what is the best Anti Virus software....
I am wanting to purchase anti virus software...but am unsure what really
works the best to protect my PC...
Any help would be greatly appreciated...

In my opinion, the best choice is Trend Micro (standalone version, not the
full Internet Security Suite), followed closely by E-Trust. Both will fully
protect you from viruses without any noticeable drop in performance or
stability. Both require minimal time and effort to install, configure, or
maintain. I slightly prefer Trend Micro because it seems to be slightly more
seamless with XP.

Other programs will protect you as well, but you start taking hits in other
areas. For example, Norton will protect you, but your computer will take a
performance hit. Moreover, if you later change your mind, it is much harder
than other programs to uninstall cleanly from your machine.

Ken

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I am curious to see what is the best Anti Virus software....
I am wanting to purchase anti virus software...but am unsure
what
really works the best to protect my PC...
Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Any time you ask the question "what is the best xxxx?"
(regardless of what kind of thing xxxx is), you get opinions, not
answers. It doesn't matter whether you're asking about anti-virus
software, operating systems, computer brands, makes of car, or
refrigerators. And like most opinions, they vary from person to
person. So you never get a real answer, and probably not even a
consensus.

I know that doesn't help you decide what to get, but it's not an
easy task deciding what to get. I can tell you that most MVPs
here advise strongly against both Norton and McAfee (but there's
little consensus, even among them, on what to get instead).

I've been a Norton user for many years, but I expect to be moving
away from it soon. It's still installed on both my desktops, but
I've put AVAST on my laptop, and I'll probably do the same with
both desktops soon,

 

[Jone Doe]

Best? Using what criteria?

How long is a piece of string?

 

[R. McCarty]

I would say Anti-Virus Software purchase criteria would be:
(1.) Effectiveness, Feature Sets
(2.) System Loading
(3.) Cost (Initial Purchase)
(4.) Subscription renewal price
(5.) Support Options
(6.) Technical ease of use.
**Opinions of current or past users

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Ken i agree Avast is an alternative. Having used both Avast and AVG i still
much prefer AVG.
Currently my system has 3 operating system installed. On partition1 I have
XP Home running AVG, on partition2 I have xp Pro running Avast and on
Partition3 i have Server 2003 running Sophos. As you can see not a single
copy of McAfee or Norton to be seen.
I used to use Norton during the early beta of XP but it caused so much
trouble that i threw it away. Judging by the emails i get and posts in the
newsgroups Norton is still causing problems.
As to McAfee, well the only application i use is stinger

 

[peterk]

100 anti virus products
100 answers
here is a website that tested the programs...........you decide
http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2005_02.php
peterk

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Ken i agree Avast is an alternative. Having used both Avast and
AVG i
still much prefer AVG.

Not to disagree with you (I've never personally tried AVG) but
addressing myself to apeke--this is exactly the problem. John
prefers AVG over AVAST, and I'm sure he has good reasons for his
preference. Other MVPs who I respect just as much prefer AVAST to
AVG. Which is better? It's very hard to be sure,

Judging by the emails i get and posts
in the newsgroups Norton is still causing problems.

And almost all MVPs hate Norton. Except me. I'm not convinced
that it's the best product, or worth the money, which I why I
expect to change, but I've never had a problem with it.

 

[Alan Smith]

You would say that, which is fine. But I think what is relevant here is what
is important to the original poster, not you, not me, and not anyone else
here.

 

[Alan Smith]

Thanks for that link- I haven't come across it in the past.

The only thing is that results of such tests are variable, not definitive.
It depends on what they test (using a different set of infections bring
different results) and when they are done- updates may be released at
different times so things missed may not be missed now.
Like all such things it's an indicator of things at the time of the test,
not now.

 

[Peter Foldes]

The best one is the finger that you use for the mouse and in addition AVG

 

[peterk]

Alan
But.....if you look at some of the other tests you will see that certain
anti-virus programs are consistantly
better than others.You can also follow links which explain their test
procedures.
But above all....its still your choice to make that decision without undue
influence from people who like a certain program better than all others.I
mean I like AVG and I use AVG..but...i believe that any of the top five on
that list will do a very good job if you update their definition files
religiously.
peterk

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I am curious to see what is the best Anti Virus software....
I am wanting to purchase anti virus software...but am unsure what really
works the best to protect my PC...
Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks...
Apeke

You'll get nearly as many differing opinions as you will
responses.

I used, and recommended, Norton Antivirus and then Norton Internet
Security, for many years, on Win98, WinNT, Win2K, and WinXP, all
without any significant problems. I had used McAfee prior to that.
But it's been several years since I've been tempted to try McAfee
products. Their quality seemed to take a steep nose-dive after they
were acquired by Network Associates.

However, when my subscription to Symantec's updates for Norton
Internet Security 2002 came up for renewal (at a cost substantially
higher than the preceding year's subscription), I decided to try less
expensive solutions. I downloaded and installed the free version of
GriSoft's AVG (http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php ) and the
free version of Sygate's Personal Firewall
(http://smb.sygate.com/free/default.php ). Both have proven to be
easily installed, easy to use, and quite effective. Additionally, I
was pleasantly surprised to see a small but very noticeable
improvement in my PC's performance, once I'd replaced the Symantec
product.


--

Bruce Chambers

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