Best value in AV progs?

[JollyJoe]

I have had NAV for a few years but am fed up of the way that they won't even
answer
a simple question without payment.

I use ZoneAlarm and would have bought their AV if the price were
reasonable - seems to be locked into a package with another prog.

What is the best deal in AV progs at present?

TIA

jj

 

[Guest]

I have had NAV for a few years but am fed up of the way that they won't
even
answer
a simple question without payment.

I use ZoneAlarm and would have bought their AV if the price were
reasonable - seems to be locked into a package with another prog.

What is the best deal in AV progs at present?

Free ones. Use Google.

 

[Ernie B.]

Free ones. Use Google.

IMO Avast! is the best freebie.

 

[Melissa]

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Hash: RIPEMD160

Hi JollyJoe,

What is the best deal in AV progs at present?

I've been very happy with NOD32 for the past four years. In my
experience with it, it's fast, accurate, stable, and it isn't
resource hungry; even on not very fast/powerful computers.

It's not free, but after the initial first year purchase, the annual
license renewals are only about $27 USD.

- --
Melissa

PGP Public Keys: http://www.freewebs.com/kuviahunnihautik/

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[Duane Arnold]

I have had NAV for a few years but am fed up of the way that they
won't even answer
a simple question without payment.

I use ZoneAlarm and would have bought their AV if the price were
reasonable - seems to be locked into a package with another prog.

What is the best deal in AV progs at present?

Hey, I had nothing but problems with NAV and got tired of it back in 2002
after having to reinstalling it to correct itself after a updates. I dumped
NAV and started using NOD32 and have not looked back. I have had no
proplems with NOD32.

Duane

 

[Jari Lehtonen]

It's not free, but after the initial first year purchase, the annual
license renewals are only about $27 USD.

And for students it's only $19.50.
http://www.nod32-av.com/

Jari

 

[Guest]

IMO Avast! is the best freebie.
--
Ernie B.

Communication: The art of moving an idea from one mind to another,
hopefully without distortion.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2005_02.php shows only
90% coverage for Avast. Yeah, it's free, but not great protection
overall. AVG is even worse. Right now I let my Norton AV go when its
subscription ran out. In the meantime and until I make a choice that's
is more permanent, I am using CA's EzAntivirus which is a partner with
Microsoft to provide a 1-year free fully functional version of their AV
program (http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft) so, in a year, I'll have to
make a choice. Unfortunately, AV Comparatives doesn't show coverage by
EzAntiVirus (which used to be InoculateIT). VB
(http://www.virusbulletin.com/vb100/archives/products.xml), which is a
historical list to show pass/fail but does NOT specify actual coverage,
shows 37% failed tests for InoculateIT/eTrust, but then it shows 61%
failed for Avast and 71% failed for AVG. Norton failed 18%, NOD32
failed 9%, and Kasperky failed 33% of the time. How often an AV product
fails to catch a virus really depends on which viruses head your way.

A really crappy AV program (based on coverage against all known viruses)
that happens to detect those viruses that hit you will result in 100%
coverage. The tests are not weighted according to the most prevalent
viruses. Besides looking at the free ones that you can download, you
might check with your ISP. Some ISPs are now offering anti-virus
software for free to their customers. JollyJoe is using Earthlink which
says AV protection is included in their TotalAccess software (but I
don't know whose AV product they incorporate so I don't know its
coverage).

 

[Dick]

A really crappy AV program (based on coverage against all known viruses)
that happens to detect those viruses that hit you will result in 100%
coverage. The tests are not weighted according to the most prevalent
viruses. Besides looking at the free ones that you can download, you
might check with your ISP. Some ISPs are now offering anti-virus
software for free to their customers. JollyJoe is using Earthlink which
says AV protection is included in their TotalAccess software (but I
don't know whose AV product they incorporate so I don't know its
coverage).

My ISP does a great job of filtering out viruses and spam. However,
they don't stop trojans that hit me every day via FTP. Only my Norton
AV is catching them.

 

[Ernie B.]

http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2005_02.php shows only
90% coverage for Avast. Yeah, it's free, but not great protection
overall. AVG is even worse.

Which compares one freebie with another. One would expect better
protection from NOD32, Kaspersky and other top-rated AV software.

Right now I let my Norton AV go when its
subscription ran out. In the meantime and until I make a choice that's
is more permanent, I am using CA's EzAntivirus which is a partner with
Microsoft to provide a 1-year free fully functional version of their AV
program (http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft) so, in a year, I'll have to
make a choice. Unfortunately, AV Comparatives doesn't show coverage by
EzAntiVirus (which used to be InoculateIT). VB

I hope you have better luck with EZ_AV updates than I did. I used it
for years, beginning with the InoculateIT days, and paid their
renewal fee each year. Last year, 2004, produced two lengthy
failures of their autodownload feature and minimal tech support. The
last straw was their browser hijacking escapade when I was trying to
decide to renew, if and when the latest update failure was resolved.

A really crappy AV program (based on coverage against all known viruses)
that happens to detect those viruses that hit you will result in 100%
coverage. The tests are not weighted according to the most prevalent
viruses. Besides looking at the free ones that you can download, you
might check with your ISP.

An excellent AV program is no substitute for safe hex and a little
knowledge. Even the best AV program will miss once in a while.

Some ISPs are now offering anti-virus
software for free to their customers. JollyJoe is using Earthlink which
says AV protection is included in their TotalAccess software (but I
don't know whose AV product they incorporate so I don't know its
coverage).

Same with AT&T and I don't know either, I think it is only used for
email screening though. I suppose that it works. Avast! alerted on
the virus that someone posted in this group a few weeks ago and dealt
with it in good shape.

 

[Joe Canuck]

I have had NAV for a few years but am fed up of the way that they won't even
answer
a simple question without payment.

I use ZoneAlarm and would have bought their AV if the price were
reasonable - seems to be locked into a package with another prog.

What is the best deal in AV progs at present?

TIA

jj

avast! free. Cannot get much better value than that.

You can always give yourself the warm fuzzies occasionally by checking
up on it by using one of the numerous online scanners available.

 

[JollyJoe]

avast! free. Cannot get much better value than that.

You can always give yourself the warm fuzzies occasionally by checking
up on it by using one of the numerous online scanners available.

Thanks to all for the great discussion.

Now I have enough to chew on for the rest of the week at least

jj

 

[Guest]

Which compares one freebie with another. One would expect better
protection from NOD32, Kaspersky and other top-rated AV software.

Which is borne out by that same comparative test.

I hope you have better luck with EZ_AV updates than I did. I used it
for years, beginning with the InoculateIT days, and paid their
renewal fee each year. Last year, 2004, produced two lengthy
failures of their autodownload feature and minimal tech support.

There is still a recurring problem with their auto-update, but then I've
seen update failures with Norton, too. I've read posts of AVG users
noting problems with updates. So you have to get used to checking for
updates (to see if they got done or do them manually). Pretty much the
same with any security product. Although Prevx Home should check on
bootup, there might be several times when I'm too busy and have to
actually use my computer at that moment and have to push off the update.
I occasionally checked for stalled updating on any AV program that I
use. Ad-Aware, Spybot, MSAS, and others should be checked for updates
(some provide a startup option to check, some don't). CWShredder is
always a manual check. And so on. Maintenance always requires some
time. You can either maintain your car to reduce the chance of
failures, or you can take the catastrophic approach and only fix stuff
when it breaks (and usually at the most inopportune moment).

An excellent AV program is no substitute for safe hex and a little
knowledge. Even the best AV program will miss once in a while.

The final critical element in security is the user. That's why there
continues to exist infections regardless of how much security software
you dump on a system or put upstream of it in a network.

 

[Buffalo]

On Tue, 10 May 2005 16 [snip]

I suppose that it works. Avast! alerted on
the virus that someone posted in this group a few weeks ago and dealt
with it in good shape.

WOW! That really says a lot.

Clueless in Seattle.

 

[John .]

I have had NAV for a few years but am fed up of the way that they won't even
answer
a simple question without payment.

I use ZoneAlarm and would have bought their AV if the price were
reasonable - seems to be locked into a package with another prog.

What is the best deal in AV progs at present?

TIA
jj

The Zone Alarm with AntiVirus is only $24.95, which seems pretty
reasonable to me.

I have ZA combo package that on my laptop and very satisfied!

 

[Don]

AVG7

 

[RH710]

AVG7

--
Cordially,

Donald W. Plezia




I started using ZoneAlarm antivrus with firewall..It works great..not a
system hog either..i am very pleased and it gives you like 10 years of
updates.unbelievable