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Which ANTI-VIRUS do you guys suggest??

Not Norton

I purchased Norton a few years back for a Windows XP machine. It was a resource hog and not very user-friendly (it was my parents' PC). So I unistalled it and replaced it with Clam AV (the Windows version of ClamX). I've never had any trouble with that, despite it being free. It seems to have caught every passing virus my parents have encountered.

However, Symantec then took a subscription payment off my credit card, despite me having cancelled. I complained, and asked them to stop contacting me (as I was receiving lots of spam from them). I think I got my money back, but the next year they tried to take another payment. Fortunately, my card had expired, so they failed. I complained again, and threatened them with UK Data Protection legislation, and I haven't heard from them since.

Symantec never replied to a single one of my complaints.
 
Kaviar said:
I agree with most what's been said, but in my own words.

Kaspersky: Awesome software! Best on the market IMHO. I've used it for years and (touch wood) always been fine.

MSE: Does the job if your just pottering around online but it's free and will only offer so much.

AVG: Like MSE it's free so will only ever be so good. Even the full version isn't that cracking.

Norton: Useless, It's an industry joke. If one of my customers asks for Norton I'll do all I can to get them to go for Kaspersky instead.

Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

+1 for Kaspersky. Avira is pretty decent too.

Just please NO Symantec/Norton...ever. They will not find anything and if they do, they will let you know about it but do nothing about it.

The last company I worked for had Symantec Corporate edition and we always had to reimage computers or use unathorized tools for virus removal because Symantec just can't find ****. HORRIBLE software.
 
When I was running XP Pro on my Mac, I used AVG. But after switching to Windows 7, I just use their free virus program that comes in W7. Never a problem.

In any event there is no need to ever purchase virus software IMHO.

As for my Mac side I just run Clamx.
 
I don't use any anti-virus software, but I make a backup every month and reinstall Win 7 once every 9 months. I am using Win 7 for gaming only.
 
MSE is good, even more so if you'll only be booting into Windows part of the time.

More importantly you want to keep Windows, Office, Flash Player etc up to date.
 
Vote for Avira here.
TBH, I wouldn't scour the forums for anti-virus advice. pcworld.com has articles year after year that review free anti-virus programs (they also have one that encompasses paid and free ones too if you'd like to pay) and they do tests to see how good the anti-viruses are in terms of identifying viruses, etc. I'm sure cnet.com has some solid articles/reviews as well.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/1597/free_antivirus_software.html
Here's a link of rated ones (can't seem to the find the detailed reviews though)
 
Hello. I, too, am looking to install some anti-virus on my Windows 7 machine (running via Parallels 6). Is Kaspersky still the #1 vote out there? I see there are so many different choices it's all a bit confusing/overwhelming.

Thanks,
Keith
 
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? Most in this thread are using MSE.
:confused:

B
 
I like Eset Nod32. Sure, it's $40 per year ($59 for a 2-yr subscription), but it is highly effective and it is very efficient at using resources. It operates almost invisibly.
 
balamw said:
FWIW, I'm disappointed with MSE.

I managed to download a trojan and executed it (It was a .txt.exe file and on that machine I had not yet told it to show file extensions.) No UAC, no MSE warnings. It unpacked and ran a couple of other EXEs including a ssh server. I was able to kill the task and contain the damage quickly, but MSE didn't catch it as a threat at all. Very disappointing.

B
Click to expand...

I suppose no anti-virus is perfect.

I would recommend Microsoft Security Essentials because I find it easier to use and much lighter weight compared to AVG. I've installed AVG on my dad's computer, as he trusts it so I'm not going to argue with him, and his PC actually boots SLOWER because of it. Also, I have had MSE catch things on my system that I have downloaded or when I browse to a dodgy websites before it can do harm on my system, so I trust it.

If you're looking for all round protection and are willing to pay for it, I would recommend NOD32.
 
I would certainly recommend that you avoid Norton or McAfee products. I have had bad experiences with those brands of security software, especially with McAfee.
 
Also, I don't understand those people who choose not to have an antivirus installed on the Windows computer. How do you know if you never had a virus if you don't have something to tell you that you're clean? I know there are tell-tale signs of infection but I'm sure there are viruses out there that do not impact the system to give it away.
 
Try the free AVG or MSE before paying for AV

Before you go out and pay for any security suite or AV solution try either AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials first. If you don't like the free versions then you will at least know before spending your $$$.

At work I have McAfee & Norton, but I use either AVG or MSE on my XP/Win 7 virtual machines and greatly prefer the free versions. Like most people have stated common sense will protect you much more than any software solution on the market.
 
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Grannyville7989 said:
balamw said:
FWIW, I'm disappointed with MSE.

I managed to download a trojan and executed it (It was a .txt.exe file and on that machine I had not yet told it to show file extensions.) No UAC, no MSE warnings. It unpacked and ran a couple of other EXEs including a ssh server. I was able to kill the task and contain the damage quickly, but MSE didn't catch it as a threat at all. Very disappointing.

B
Click to expand...

I suppose no anti-virus is perfect.

I would recommend Microsoft Security Essentials because I find it easier to use and much lighter weight compared to AVG. I've installed AVG on my dad's computer, as he trusts it so I'm not going to argue with him, and his PC actually boots SLOWER because of it. Also, I have had MSE catch things on my system that I have downloaded or when I browse to a dodgy websites before it can do harm on my system, so I trust it.

If you're looking for all round protection and are willing to pay for it, I would recommend NOD32.
Click to expand...

Yeah nothing is perfect, but even with my experience with MSE which you quoted I am still using it and am waiting for the next revision patiently.

Of all the AV solutions I've tried it seems the least intrusive.

B
 
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