What AV to use?

[jumpy]

Hey all, my subscription with Norton Antivirus 2005 has just expired.
A friend of mine has been using NOD32 and swears by it in comparison. All I really know about it is that is takes up less and is not as intrusive as NAV, but it is a little more sophisicated.
I've downloaded the 30 day trial to see how it goes. Can you run two seperate programs like this, so long as one of them is not active whilst the other is running, or should I remove NAV first?
Any help or suggestions appreciated. :up:

[Tchocky]

I'm in the process of reviving my parents' old desktop, it was running Norton 2005

Before i removed it, 48 processes were running, now it's down to 23. Get rid of Norton :)

Use Add/Remove programs, then download the removal tool

I'm not sure what to replace it with, Subman knows this stuff well, if I remember.

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool.exe

[jumpy]

What does this removal tool do exactly? [/suspicion] :lol:

[kiwi_2005]

What does this removal tool do exactly? [/suspicion] :lol:

It removes Nortons completly from your PC. Its safe.

I use Nortons 360 AIO (all in one security suite) and very happy with it. I use to be very anti nortons in the past but i would stand by the 360 version, built from the ground up so its new code & not resource hungry like previous nortons

[lesrae]

I always recommend AVG Free for personal use: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/ (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/)

It's free (funnily enough), relatively light on resources, updates regularly and I've never had a virus since I started using it 4 years or so ago. Beware though, this question's a bit like asking 'Which browser should I use?'

[Biggles]

AVG is good.

A good payware program that I'm aware of is F-secure. My pa is having it on his comp, and I don't think he has many problems with viruses, which is quite interesting, since he insists on using Internet Explorer.....:roll:

[Fish]

I use AVAST Free.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

[lesrae]

since he insists on using Internet Explorer.....:roll:

It starts....

;)

[kiwi_2005]

since he insists on using Internet Explorer.....:roll:
It starts....

;)

:yep:

[Skybird]

http://www.free-av.de/

Switch to English in the left upper corner. Get the free version. I use it since years, it never failed me. Fast reaction time, daily updates, sometimes several updates per day.

And I agree with the others above: Norton - worst crap ever. Gave me lots of troubles, and slowed down my system massivly. Don't use it - even if they pay you!

[ASWnut101]

Contrary to Skybird and the others, I'd actually reccomend Norton. The only problem with it that I've encountered is how it slows down the computer during a scan. Never a virus, trojan, spyware/adware, ect. that was missed.



I gladly use it over free products.

[jumpy]

Ok Norton AV 2005 is gone, keys etc purged with the remover tool (I have NAV on CD to reinstall should it be required yet).

NOD32 30 day trial in progress, 'in depth analysis' of my hd's is well under way. :doh:

I have to say, I never really had an issue with NAV 2005. It always seemed to do what I asked of it. I installed NAV 2006 or 2007 (I forget which) on a pc for her mother; I hated the way it had loads of system popups about windows auto update being turned off etc. It was easy enough to suppress them after having a play, but I didn't like it none the less.

2005 semed less intrusive than later versions.
A change is needed to see if there's anything better.

I've got AVG free running on her machine connected to the network and it appears to be fine.
We go through a router firewall anyway, which so far has things pretty well ok, plus running a software firewall at the same time doesn't slow anything down, thouhg it's off at the moment (ZA Pro, also due for update renewal) - I read somewhere that that was a good thing? :-?


I'll post back in a few days with a comparison. As yet I'm undecided what I might actually be prepared to pay for.

[fatty]

I like Kaspersky. I heard it was made by former KGB agents. It seems pretty unintrusive and zippy.

Just check any of the many anti-virus comparison services and pick one of the higher rated ones. You can't go wrong.

EDIT: Of course, the best anti-virus is to not be an idiot by downloading strange files, and also to use a good firewall.

[JSLTIGER]

I use AVAST Free.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Me too...excellent program with higher ratings than AVG.

[lesrae]

EDIT: Of course, the best anti-virus is to not be an idiot by downloading strange files, and also to use a good firewall.

:up:

[TteFAboB]

I use AVAST, but the free version doesn't have the "script blocker", whatever that is.

[bradclark1]

I use AVAST, but the free version doesn't have the "script blocker", whatever that is.
Script blocking stops unknowingly downloaded malicious scripts from executing. It's as important as the AV software itself. I've only been hit about three times by scripts but they've been blocked each time. Those that don't have script blocking and haven't been hit have been lucky, fire wall or not.

[SUBMAN1]

I use AVAST, but the free version doesn't have the "script blocker", whatever that is.
Mine blocks scripts all the time, and I use the free version. Turn on web shield - should fix you problem. The Pro version may be better here though.

My opinion - Best AV program is NOD32 if you plan to pay for an AV program. MS uses it to scan it's update patches prior to public release, and the entire IBM corporation uses it exclusively. It is light, it is fast, and has wonderful hueristics! I installed it on every machine at work. The best part about it - it will scan an entire hard drive in 5 to 10 minutes. All other AV programs take 30 to 40 minutes, or even up to an hour! I personally don't have time for that.

Best free AV program is Avast32 Home. Works fine. I turn off some of its resource hogging features and simply use it as an AV program - namely VRDB generation. I don't want my HD going every time my system is idle. Aside from the annoying VRDB generation (Yes, I know, it can repair a file if it becomes infected and un-cleaneable, but the resident protection should prevent this anyway if it is doing it's job, so this is a worthless feature to me), Avast has a very small and reliable footprint.

http://www.avast.com/

-S

[Skybird]

http://www.avira.com/en/company/awards.html

It is highly popular over here, and many consider it to be the benchmark for AV programs. Combine the free package with a firewall, trojan- and adware scanners, and you are set up very well.

All for free. A fool anyone, who pays money for a virus scanner these days. Simply unneeded, and companies offering these for free, I assure you, have done their calculations. So why be hesitent to save the money?

[jumpy]

On the subject of script blockers and malware/spyware etc I only use NoScript as a firefox plugin http://noscript.net/ I've not had a single result from my spam blocker (ZA PRO) since I have been using it.
I used Spybot & Adaware for ages but got rid of them in the end as they never showed any threats to my system.
How do people rate Window$ firewall (sp2) comopared to the third party versions like ZA?

[SUBMAN1]

On the subject of script blockers and malware/spyware etc I only use NoScript as a firefox plugin http://noscript.net/ I've not had a single result from my spam blocker (ZA PRO) since I have been using it.
I used Spybot & Adaware for ages but got rid of them in the end as they never showed any threats to my system.
How do people rate Window$ firewall (sp2) comopared to the third party versions like ZA?
I run Privoxy with Firefox, so I'm sure I am unknowingly blocking scripts that may otherwise do me harm. http://www.privoxy.org/

I also use AdBlock on Firefox - Its easy to use - just right click any image you don't want and it will block it - good for blocking annoying avatars in forums quickly and easily - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10

-S

[bradclark1]

I use AVAST, but the free version doesn't have the "script blocker", whatever that is.
Mine blocks scripts all the time, and I use the free version. Turn on web shield - should fix you problem. The Pro version may be better here though.

According to the AVAST setup, scriptblocker in on the Pro version, the Home version doesn't say anything script blocking.

[SUBMAN1]

I use AVAST, but the free version doesn't have the "script blocker", whatever that is.
Mine blocks scripts all the time, and I use the free version. Turn on web shield - should fix you problem. The Pro version may be better here though.
According to the AVAST setup, scriptblocker in on the Pro version, the Home version doesn't say anything script blocking.

I guess that depends on what the script is - if it turns out to be a virus, trust me, Avast jumps on it immediately. I've seen this while surfing hacking sites many times.

-S

[STEED]

AVG here, been running it for near on a year and I am happy with it.