Which Anti-virus Is Better In 2005?

[nasibi]

Please express your experiences and opinions.

[britmaveric]

Norton - never caught a virus yet. Catches even the rubbish off of p2p.

[nullx8]

Norton - never caught a virus yet. Catches even the rubbish off of p2p.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if you dont want your system get controlled by norton then better use a real scaningengine without maximum "cklickicklicki" features ;-)

best ever is macafee netshield

generaly just need alittle: ambition and consequence

and switch off Pollyannish ... then no need to pay for on demand-scanner ;-)

Edited August 22, 2005 by altf4

[Thomas_Merton]

I have used all of the anti-virus programs at various times and on different systems.

And while any anti-virus program is better than none, there are some that have caused unnecessary problems.

One of the most popular uses enormous recourses and is often accused of taking over the machine. Another has destabilised several of my machines causing unwanted crashes or reboots. A third has proved almost impossible to un-install, retaining a hidden routine that prevents installation of another type of anti-virus program. Some have been later than others in keeping the virus definitions up-to-date.

Only one has proved to be 100% reliable, using the minimum of resources and offering the maximum of protection whilst it constantly, in the background, holds itself, plus virus definitions, up-to-date. Also it offers a FREE version to home users.

The anti-virus program I recommend is Avast!

avast! 4 Home Edition is a full-featured antivirus package designed exclusively for home users and non-commercial use. Both of these conditions should be met!

It has the following features:

• Antivirus kernel

• Automatic updates

• Simple User Interface

• Virus Chest

• Resident protection

• System integration

• P2P and IM Shields

• Integrated Virus Cleaner

• Network Shield

• Support for 64-bit Windows

• Web Shield

• Internationalization

Edited August 22, 2005 by Thomas_Merton

[monty]

Concur with Thomas...

Avast works for me, with AVG free edition coming in second...

Always had problems with AVG requiring big update downloads, in excess of 4 mb.

No hassle on adsl, but very annoying for somebody on dial-up!

[Highwayman]

Another vote for Avast.

I use Norton on my other computer but wanted something cheaper on this old PC and have found Avast to be pretty good for a free program. It even updates automatically which not many free programs do. When it updates it does so much quicker than Norton ever did.

[withnail]

I use and recommend Pccillin by trend micro they also have a free online scan at www.trendmicro.com

[meelousee]

I use and recommend Pccillin by trend micro they also have a free online scan at www.trendmicro.com

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have used McAfee for 7 or 8 years, never have had a virus problem. I have no experience with Avast, but it wins a few awards and one other feature I like it is free.

McAfee has a limited license for one year and then you must buy a new license which is probably why I will change.

I don’t particularly like the way Norton takes over and controls so much.

[Boatabike]

Norton, bit of a resource hog but only a prob if u haven't got a lot of resource!

[Firefoxx]

Best way to not get virii? Use your computer wisely.

1. Don't use suspicious programs or open documents before scanning

2. Turn off autoplay (lots of autorun VCDs with virii floating around)

3. Use an alternative browser, use IE only when absolutely necessary

4. Use a firewall... any firewall will do, even the built-in one

5. Install only what is necessary, turn off auto-updates for all programs, kill all auto-loading programs that you don't use, kill helper utilities, turn off unused services, etc etc

[Morbius]

I am just wondering what you expect by asking such a question. Do you really believe that anyone here knows which antivirus software is the best one? At least, if you had asked something like "Let's do a poll! Which antivirus do you guys use now?" I would understand (that is perhaps what you had in mind...).

Anyway, since I choose to answer your thread, here is what I have to say. I am now using NOD32, on an experimental basis. I was previously using Norton, and felt like trying something else. The past experience I had with Norton was rather good. I must however state that, in some occasions, Norton failed to detect some virii although it had the latest virus definitions update, and my system got subsequently infected. But I would not blame Symantec for that, I think this could happen with any antivirus software.

I have now been experimenting NOD32 for some 3 months, and I am quite happy so far. It seems faster that Norton as for its virus definitions update and virus scan (especially for incoming e-mail) functions. I also like its ability to notify for possible phishing threats when analyzing incoming e-mail (it happened twice, so far), not sure all antivirus apps can do it.

That's all I can say and I hope it helped a little.

[coldcrush]

BitDefender.... http://www.bitdefender.com/site/Buy/products/

[cdnvic]

Was a Norton user until the mid 90s when I switched to Mcafee, which I dumped last year after trialing half a dozen and choosing Avast with Bitdefender coming in second. The thing I like about Avast is how you can pause selected parts of it. This allows you to shut down your web shield if you are just on site that pose no danger, thereby saving resorces. On my older pc that comes in handy. With faster processors though you won't need to worry about that. Never had a virus get through Avast.

cv

[chonabot]

Sophos works for me.

[francois]

hi'

I guess that I tried most of them ...

I thought Kapersky was efficient, not 100%

I thought same about mcafee ..

and many more .. like the heavy one that leaves traces everywhere in the registry ...

then I tried Bitdefender 8(home edition), never turned back

but I see that a lot of you use Avast, which has a good reputation.

only one thing, Avast edited an update cause of a failure last month, I hope that all of you have updated their version

I might give it a try on another machine

francois

Edited August 23, 2005 by francois

[terdsak_12]

AVG Easy!!!!

[stats]

Avast is good and its free

[Thetyim]

AVG works for me and I have found the opposite to Monty , the updates only take about 30 seconds to download

I have never tried Avast

[stats]

You should ...Avast is also good...Lots of feautures....it saves my computer alot

[Crushdepth]

Used to use Norton, but got fed up with the amount of clicking required to dispose of a virus - up to 4 clicks, ###### annoying. And registration expiring all the time...pain in the ar$e.

I started using Avast based on a previous recommendation in this forum. Now our whole office uses it. It's good.

[RDN]

I used to use Norton until a couple of years ago (it became too much of a resource hog), then switched to AVG. I might try the others recommended on this thread, but until now, I haven't h

a d any promp

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[Thomas_Merton]

I used to use Norton until a couple of years ago (it became too much of a resource hog), then switched to AVG. I might try the others recommended on this thread, but until now, I haven't h

a                            d any promp

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m

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<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Marmite,

its when you begin to write in perfect English, we begin to look for the hidden cause.

Otherwise we just assume - lack of toast.

[OxfordWill]

AVG free edition. No competition.

[bkk_mike]

AVG free edition. No competition.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same here - have had no issues with AVG.

[johng]

AVG free edition for me too....but don't forget the other important things like updating your OS using programs like spybot, adaware and most importantly using a firewall !!!!!

You can also stop lots of nasties by using a host file to stop intentional or accidental browsing to "bad" sites.

http://www.hosts-file.net/phpbb2/ for more info.

[Plus+]

Avast for me, but it doesn't work with ZoneAlarm easily.

I like everything about it, form their business model - free for home users/schools, paid for businesses, to their quiet startup without any flashing screens like McAfee or AVG, to constant database updates in the background. Sweet.

[Plus+]

I had Trend Micro on a notebook once - MAJOR headache. It had firewall built in somewhere which I couldn't find any controls for.

Manuals mentioned something about it but no word on how to control or even disable it. Nothing on the website either.

What can you do if your firewall blocks anything it likes without so much as asking you?

I don't trust Filipinos in the classrooms much, why should I trust them with my computer security?

[terdsak_12]

Zone Alarm and AVG, first thing I download on every computer I buy.

[prallo]

I use Panda Internet Security 2005 Platinum. Firewall and Antivir in 1 program.

Excellent !!!

[Butterfly]

Norton - never caught a virus yet. Catches even the rubbish off of p2p.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's exactly the problem with Norton, it never catches anything even when it's there