Antivirus software: Which one?

[CLAUDE]

Hi,

I've been trying several antivirus software: Norton and Virex which I got rid of quickly.
At the moment, I'm using a freeware called clamXav, which worked fine until a few days ago. It keeps on crashing, god knows why. I also used Zebra Scanner and Virus Barrier.
Am I paranoid? No, I know there are no viruses for Mac, but only for PCs. My problem is that I manage a mailing list of hundreds of subscribers and use my Ibook for work. Obviously, I need to keep my machine clean as it wouldn't be very professional to pass on viruses to my clients.

The real problem is that each of the apps mentioned above (Virus Barrier, Zebra scanner and clamXav) give different results. When one says there is no virus, Zebra Scanner says there are several and another moves part of program in a quarantine folder.

Can anyone give any information on an antivirus software that is reliable at 100%?

Also, for your info, while using Virex, my hard drive started making strange noises to the point where my laptop had to be shipped to the UK for repair. They couldn't find what was wrong. But eventually, they uninstalled Virex and the noise was gone.

anyway, thanks for your help.

Claude

 

[thecow]

If it's giving you this much trouble, just don't use antivirus. There is no real need for it. I haven't had it for almost 4 years and nothing has happened.

 

[mad jew]

I can see why you need antivirus - I've got the same problem in that it would be very uncool of me to pass on viruses to our lesser Windows-using bretheren. I use Norton which seems to work pretty well. Why exactly did you give up on it?

 

[CLAUDE]

best antivirus

Well I gave up on Norton, cause it somehow terribly slowed down my computer once I installed it....Maybe I should give it a second chance.

 

[bubbamac]

Virex is using your hard drive a lot, as it accesses all of the files - the other apps should be doing the same.

If you hard drive is making noise when Virex is running, I'd say it's a hardware problem, not a software problem.

I use Virex, I will NOT run anything Norton on my Mac.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I can see why you need antivirus - I've got the same problem in that it would be very uncool of me to pass on viruses to our lesser Windows-using bretheren. I use Norton which seems to work pretty well. Why exactly did you give up on it?

How do you "pass on viruses" to Windows-users? I don't see how you can do this short of forwarding infected e-mails. And why you want to forward mail with .com, .pif, .src etc. attachments, I just cannot understand... please enlighten me...

 

[wrldwzrd89]

How do you "pass on viruses" to Windows-users? I don't see how you can do this short of forwarding infected e-mails. And why you want to forward mail with .com, .pif, .src etc. attachments, I just cannot understand... please enlighten me...

I'd think that .com, .pif, .scr etc. shouldn't be too worrisome, since you shouldn't be sending those file types as email attachments anyway. It's .exe that I would be concerned about.

Oh, and as far as that weird hard drive noise goes...did it squeak, by any chance? My (old, and no longer in use) PowerBook did this, and it seemed to have nothing to do with Virex.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

It's .exe that I would be concerned about..

.exe and .bat and probably a couple of other should be covered by the etc (not a known file ending) from my former post...

All these will bring mayhem and chaos to any badly protected Windoze box...

 

[MisterMe]

How do you "pass on viruses" to Windows-users? I don't see how you can do this short of forwarding infected e-mails. And why you want to forward mail with .com, .pif, .src etc. attachments, I just cannot understand... please enlighten me...

A substantial percentage of viruses are Office macroviruses. The concern is not so much the .com, .pif, .src, etc.; it is the .doc, .xls, and .ppt file. If a colleague emails you such a file that is infected, there is no way that you will know that it is infected without antiviral software. If you edit the file and send it forward, or if you simply forward the email, you have no way of knowing that you passed on an infected file.

Personal Example: A couple of years ago, some Windows-using colleagues had a laptop failure when they attempted to make a PowerPoint presentation. I sent my PowerBook to their rescue. They loaded their PowerPoint onto my PowerBook, did their presentation, made a snide remark about my Mac, and breathed a sigh of relief. It was not until I installed Norton that I discovered that the PowerPoint file had a fairly common Office macrovirus.

It is the height of arrogance and the depth of folly to believe that you don't "have never had a virus." Without antiviral software, you are not virus-free, you are just ignorant. Despite statements to the contrary, ignorance is not bliss.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

A substantial percentage of viruses are Office macroviruses. [...]
Personal Example: A couple of years ago, [...]

Key words: A couple of years ago...

I haven't heard of any new macro virus threats since 1999. There was some fuzz about weaknesses when Office 2003 was released, but nothing (big) happened, and I've never actually heard anything about of any new macro viruses after that.

Almost all viruses today are spread by email-attachements, IM clients, fileshare networks or the occational port-scanning worm.

 

[mad jew]

Key words: A couple of years ago...

I haven't heard of any new macro virus threats since 1999. There was some fuzz about weaknesses when Office 2003 was released, but nothing (big) happened, and I've never actually heard anything about of any new macro viruses after that.

Almost all viruses today are spread by email-attachements, IM clients, fileshare networks or the occational port-scanning worm.

I run XP Pro as my desktop and often transfer files between my iBook (main computer) and my gaming computer (the one permenantly connected to the printer incidentaly) via filesharing, so email does not apply. As to the fact that Office doesn't get macro viruses anymore, witness the recent patches (last six months) issued by Big Boy Bill. Did they do this for fun?

Anyway, that's slightly off the topic, more to the point, Norton doesn't do much to the speed of my computer but when I get around to doing a full hard disk scan, it's usually a four hour process, during which, my iBook does slow down slightly.

My subscription to Norton only recently expired and I was sorely tempted to not renew it because I have never found a virus on my computer and I to be honest, the viruses don't affect me so why should I buy virus software to protect Windows users? But then a friend of mine who uses a single Windows machine and many Macs at his small business lost a substantial amount of data when one of the Macs accidentally passed on some screwed up file to the Windows box. Fortunately his back up (Mac-based) saved the day. This happenned five weeks ago.