Which Antivirus do you use at present?

[muckshifter]

I'm NOT looking for anybody to use this thread as a way to 'bash' a particular antivirus program, but I am interested in your thoughts on how well you think yours fairs in the real world.

I would like to hear, good or bad, your experience with your present AV and indeed any you may have tried in the past.

An antivirus program is a "must have" tool in one's arsenal in helping to protect your PC from Internet nasties. Only a fool thinks they are immune.

Please excuse any I miss and I'll try and add them.


At present I use Norton 2004 AV (NAV)
I have been using Norton, off-n-on, since 94 when Dr Norton himself was still in charge. At that time I had great respect for the product, I still do, but with a lesser degree.

Problems arise when particularly upgrading from one version to another ... you really do need to 'clean-out' any references of the old before installing the new. No mean feat to some, and would be nice if the New/Upgraded version would first do the job for you.

I have, in the past, tried MacAfee, FoxProt (both in early DOS days) and AVG Free in a stop gap to when Norton refused to install. I always go back to Norton.


Be as in-depth with your answer as you like, but please, keep on topic and any 'AV Bashing' will result in your post being deleted.

 

[muckshifter]

I've made the poll multi-choice ...

… we can only accommodate 10 listings, unless Ian can add more, so if your AV is not listed please use 'Other' sorry, I tried to pick the most popular I've seen people using.

 

[Ian]

I am currently using AntiVir after my norton subscription ran out and AVG let me down a couple of times.

Is AntiVir good? I'd like to tell you, but I've only had it a couple of months and it hasn't found anything (is that a good thing?!). I used to recommend AVG, and I still think its pretty good, but Norton has most up-to-date definitions I think!

 

[Me__2001]

i currently have NIS on this PC and NAV on my old PC,i've got AVG aswell just to make sure as NAV doesnt always get the pesky things but any program is bound to miss something, might try and run both NIS and Mcafee internet security its probably overkill as SP2 has its own firewall too but its nice to know that your computer is safe

 

[muckshifter]

i currently have NIS on this PC and NAV on my old PC, I’ve got AVG as well just to make sure as NAV doesn’t always get the pesky things but any program is bound to miss something, might try and run both NIS and McAfee internet security its probably overkill as SP2 has its own firewall too but its nice to know that your computer is safe

You will actually do more harm than good running two AV's or two Firewalls ... better to 'trust' one to do its job than risk the potential screw-up that two conflicting AVs will cause. Pick one and stick with it.

Norton has one of the biggest, if not the biggest, virus encyclopaedias in the world. Don’t confuse Virus’s with other know nasties such as Trojans, Worms and or Spyware/Malware.

An AV scanner that detects other nasties is a bonus, but added protection is a “must-have” in order to stem the tide we have to endure off the Internet. Consider using Ad-Aware, SpywareBlaster in conjunction with your AV programme. Using two or even three Malware scanners is a normal procedure as you run the program when needed. AV programs are always running, or they should be, so to use two at once is asking for problems.

 

[Kenny]

I`m using AVG coz a mate recommended it. And its free.. Will prob add Norton AND PC-Cillin when I get a bit of cash. As long as the computer has enough memory there can never be too much AV software running... The SP2 pop-up blocker and the... MSN? one (I think) are pretty good too.

 

[Me__2001]

i've got spybot, and i'll get rid of AVG then

 

[Reefsmoka]

I run Norton 2002, i've tried 2003 and 2004, they just seem to slow me computer down too much.

Then every now and then i will use the free online one from Trend just to make sure. I had 2 virus' successfully removed by trend 2 nights ago, some trojan and a worm :/.

 

[muckshifter]

I`m using AVG coz a mate recommended it. And its free.. Will prob add Norton AND PC-Cillin when I get a bit of cash. As long as the computer has enough memory there can never be too much AV software running... The SP2 pop-up blocker and the... MSN? one (I think) are pretty good too.

Hmmm, I may be reading you post wrongly but, NEVER run TWO AV programs at the same time ... all you will succeed in doing is causing problems for yourself.


Reefer,

I run Norton 2002, I’ve tried 2003 and 2004, and they just seem to slow me computer down too much.

Then every now and then i will use the free online one from Trend just to make sure. I had 2 virus' successfully removed by trend 2 nights ago, some Trojan and a worm :/.

Running Norton can inflict a 'slowdown' especially on an older system & some laptops, it's an unfortunate trait to running anything in the background ... tuning off other unneeded programs can alleviate the problem, after all, why would you need your scanner, printer, camera or any program running in the task bar that is not really required every second. Turn them off and free up time for your AV prog' to do its job.

As for your second comment ... I'm not averse to running an on-line scan, in fact it’s a good idea. However, Trojans and Worms are NOT Viruses per se. If your AV program can detect those little nasties along with its proper job, then a bonus stars to that program. Norton does indeed 'protect and serve' against the more common variants, but it is primarily an AV scanner.

Nothing stopping you investing in a Trojan Scanner, indeed, I can highly recommend A2 ... it’s a trial period run software ... but it does the job and does it well.

 

[Baz63]

I run McAfee in conjunction with Adaware and a Google taskbar with anti pop up software. I have a 1.5 meg bdroadband connection and spend hours on the internet. I do not know how good my security is compared to other systems but I can say I have never had a virus or trojan or spam in the 4 years I've been online, and now the adaware program has been improved I don't even get tracking cookies. While on the subject of security, checkout Gibsons website for a full lowdown on all the security weaknesses of Windows: what a shoddy bit of kit it is.

http://grc.com/freepopular.htm

 

[floppybootstomp]

Four machines here. All with AntiVir personal edition.

I was using AVG but AntiVir seems better. I haven't had a virus, in fact, ever since I stopped using Nortons about a year ago.

AntiVir is free and it has actually blocked a couple of viruses for me. It also has the ability to take out Trojans, which it seems AVG doesn't have.

I just don't see the point in paying 30 or 40 quid for a product that is usually bloated and when you can get a perfectly good home edition product for free. And that's 30 or 40 quid a year, it's not just a one off payment, is it?

I used PC Cillin for a while a couple of years back on one machine, it seemed OK.

In addition I run AdAware & Spybot. And SpywareBlaster on my daughter's machine as well.

 

[kristel]

I use Norton personally and it always seems to do what I need it to do

However, one of my friends recently posted this on the AMD forums which got my cynicism going:

--------------------

My subscription to my AV update expired recently and I've only just gotten round to renewing it. But I noticed a little flurry of activity after it expired that has made me very suspicious of the relevant marketing department lol

I had a three month trial to start with, which expired on Dec 1st, and was installed early September. I had a quiet september, but then a steady trickle of email viruses to nonsense addresses at my domain name in october. Hence I decided to turn off global email forwarding. That largely sorted the issue, with only one coming in via span in November.

Then my subscription expired and I was immediately deluged with more "virus alert" emails in those four days than in the whole of the rest of the period:

05/12/2004 15:56:47,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I
04/12/2004 15:10:03,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle.W
03/12/2004 19:32:34,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I
03/12/2004 19:32:31,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I
03/12/2004 11:09:20,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I
03/12/2004 11:09:17,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I
03/12/2004 11:09:11,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I
02/12/2004 23:02:46,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I
02/12/2004 19:46:20,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I
02/12/2004 11:04:48,Virus scanner,W32.Sober.I

<AV expired>

29/11/2004 20:34:03,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle.W

<Turned off global email forwarding on my domain>

31/10/2004 14:40:00,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle
31/10/2004 08:23:56,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle.AW
30/10/2004 22:04:25,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle
09/10/2004 08:18:25,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle.AR
06/10/2004 20:47:14,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle.AR
05/10/2004 21:09:03,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle.AR
04/10/2004 19:08:07,Virus scanner,W32.Beagle.AR

Just out of curiosity, has anyone else had a run of email viruses recently, or is it "marketing"?

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[muckshifter]

Well ... W32.Sober.I / W32.Beagle.W / W32.Beagle ... are all "email worms", not virus. I would be contacting whoever sent me them, that is, if it's not being spammed by some poor sap who does not have any idea what they are doing.

Listen folks, you have to realise that the word "virus" is being taken literally to mean any infecting parasite ... you must realise that the "industry" designed to protect us will not in their best interest knowingly promote such activities.

Lets not start knocking any one AV program, please, this is not the idea of the poll ... start a new thread instead.

Some of the lesser well known AV programs may not be doing the 'job' people think they should be doing. That is, expecting an AV scanner to give 100% protection no matter what you call the nasties is ... well sorry, living in cloud cuckoo land ... get it through you heads that there are, and probably always will be, nasties trying to infect your system. If additional protection is needed, get it.

If you do not like how an AV program is being marketed, use another. I can highly recommend KAV, it’ll knock spots off what some of you lot use, and has a Trojan/Worm/Malware detector built-in. You PAY for what you use one way or another.

 

[muckshifter]

I would greatly appreciate the one voter that is using Kaspersky (KAV) if you wouldn't mind give a quick opinion of how it's doing.

 

[Kenny]

Why is it bad to have more than one AV program running at one time? That was what I was implying... Norton AND PC-Cillin AND AVG. Plus my pop-up blockers. I`ve seen it work well with some of my friends computers.

 

[muckshifter]

Why is it bad to have more than one AV program running at one time? That was what I was implying... Norton AND PC-Cillin AND AVG. Plus my pop-up blockers. I`ve seen it work well with some of my friends computers.

You're fortunate, or are you, they play well together?

A confliction of intrests will occur.

Remind me to "quote you" when you next have a 'problem' ...

 

[floppybootstomp]

You PAY for what you use one way or another.

No you don't.

AntiVir & AVG are genuinely free. As is Adaware, Spybot and Spywareblaster.

These companies make their money by selling to corporate companies and selling enhanced editions to private users. They make money on their goodwill.

That's one of my main bugbears with Nortons. It's got a ton of crap you don't need, so it looks impressive. It has (rightly or wrongly) a good reputation. And the most important point is - if people are paying for it, psychologicaly they instantly feel they have better protection.

Bull***t. Opium for the masses. It's no better than the freebies.

In my opinion

Still, if you like spending money and get off on a fancy GUI, be my guest

 

[wizard1231]

I have used antivir for over a year now. It is free first of all. It also comes out with an update about every 4 days. I think it is great.

 

[Kenny]

Yep, they play well together. Although obviously if 2 of them stop playing nice together, I will no doubt change my tune and deny ever saying I ran >1 AV at any one time. And you`ll be right. Again. Damnit! Does it ever get dull???

 

[Kenny]

Translation: You know more than me, and i`ll prob stick to one at a time before anything goes to the shape of a pear....

I`ll eat the humble pie before its force fed to me. Doesnt taste so bitter that way.