Anti Virus

[HDRIDER]

Hi

What is the best and chepest or free antivirus you can get, thx.

[Mid]

here you go

[cdnvic]

Best free:

Antivir (highest detection rate @ 99%+)

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

Avast (Best mail scanner, decent detection rate of 94%)

http://www.avast.com/

Best Paid:

Nod32 (lightweight, 99%+ detection rate, excellent mail scanner) $39 US

http://www.eset.com/

Kaspersky (99% detection rate, no heuristic abilities) $49 US

http://www.kaspersky.com/

Crappy But Free:

AVG (88-92% detection rate)

Paid and Crappy:

MS OneCare (Terrible 82% detection rate)

Norton/Symantec (Big resource hog but good 99% detection rate)

Note: AVG and MS both have excellent antispyware, but their antiviruses are horrible.

[OlRedEyes]

Cdnvic, my old geezer, I'd be interested in how you rate Mcaffee, av and firewall?

[cdnvic]

McAfee was once my choice of antiviruses but it got too bloated, and intrusive so I ditched it. It's detection rate is decent (95%) and it's well supported. I still won't use it though because for the same money you get Nod32's superior performance.

McAfee Firewall started life as Signal9's Conseal Firewall, one of the earliest software firewalls and brilliant in it's time but I think since it was folded into McAfee it's acquired the bloat and clumsiness of the rest of McAfee's product line. If you're behind a router it's not even needed. The lightweight integrated Windows Firewall is all you need.

If you already are using these there's no urgent need to get rid of them, as they do the job they're designed to do reasonably well. There's just products out there that are a much better value for the money.

[HDRIDER]

Hi

Thx a lot guys.

i have Norton now, pay 100 $ a year, dont know if thats ok.

[cdnvic]

Hi

Thx a lot guys.

i have Norton now, pay 100 $ a year, dont know if thats ok.

Norton does a good job at finding viruses, but it uses a lot of system resources and can be a bit (very) invasive. I think you can get a three year Nod32 license for $100.

[Gary A]

Hi

Thx a lot guys.

i have Norton now, pay 100 $ a year, dont know if thats ok.

Norton does a good job at finding viruses, but it uses a lot of system resources and can be a bit (very) invasive. I think you can get a three year Nod32 license for $100.

I use BitDefender Plus V10. That version includes a firewall. I paid $54.90 for two years license for two computers. It updates every hour and if not for the little icon at the bottom of my screen I wouldn't know it was there. I also use Spy Sweeper. I have had absolutely NO problems since I have been using BitDefender.

[higgy88]

Here is another free anti virus for the consideration and review of all of the computer gurus here on TV. It is from our friends(?) at AOL, but it is free to everyone as long as you allow them to send junk to your email address. Active Virus Shield?

I am not a big fan of AOL, but I decided to give it a try. I have been using it for a couple of months now and I like it. I gave them a special junk email address, but have not seen any noticeable increase in junk mail. I found it on this site, which you may want to take a look at. Consumer Search

[OlRedEyes]

McAfee was once my choice of antiviruses but it got too bloated, and intrusive so I ditched it. It's detection rate is decent (95%) and it's well supported. I still won't use it though because for the same money you get Nod32's superior performance.

McAfee Firewall started life as Signal9's Conseal Firewall, one of the earliest software firewalls and brilliant in it's time but I think since it was folded into McAfee it's acquired the bloat and clumsiness of the rest of McAfee's product line. If you're behind a router it's not even needed. The lightweight integrated Windows Firewall is all you need.

If you already are using these there's no urgent need to get rid of them, as they do the job they're designed to do reasonably well. There's just products out there that are a much better value for the money.

Cheers. Yea, it's exactly the bloat and intrusiveness that irks me. Think I'll try one of your recommendations.

[rambling]

I heard good things about Nod32 so trialed it out and unfortunately it wreacked havoc on my machine for some reason. From crashes to hanging to all sorts of error messages. Who knows maybe some unique s/w clash on my machine. Anyways I then wanted to get the Kaspersky but thought it was a bit price. Eventually I went with ZoneAlarm Antivirus since I found out that the recent version had the Kaspersky engine in it and cost just $20. Only have one issue with it and that is when running uTorrent for several hours ZA firewall that comes bundled with the AV locks up (presumably not releasing connections uTorrent opened).

Hi

Thx a lot guys.

i have Norton now, pay 100 $ a year, dont know if thats ok.

Norton does a good job at finding viruses, but it uses a lot of system resources and can be a bit (very) invasive. I think you can get a three year Nod32 license for $100.

[keemble]

free ones:avira,avast

commercial:nod32,kapersky,norton

i use avira

you have to open the port that utorrent is using on the za firewall to accept connections from the outside to achieve faster download rate.

Edited June 21, 2007 by keemble

[Jockstar]

I use AVAST as was recommended on here. My firwall is Zonealarm.

[gavstah]

Free:

Free-AV - www.free-av.com - good, but the upgrade nag screens quickly become tiresome.

ClamWin - www.clamwin.com - ClamAV is the tried and true virus scanner from the linux world - now freely available for windows. No upgrade pressure, just good, free (open source) software.

Paid:

No need - ClamAV does the job for me.

[Flow]

BitDefender is great. Shops buy them in buld and then re-sell to the public for just 150 Baht a copy. It updates hourly. I've had no viruses since I installed it. Wonderful product.

[astral]

I dumped Antivir........

It may be free but I do not like the way it keeps bugging me to buy the paid version.

Currently I am on Avast.