Which is the best anti-virus?

[Buzz_Fledderjohn 0]

IMO, Kaspersky. Yes, it's not free but not very expensive either. You get two or three licenses for one copy. It's easy to use and doesn't get in the way.

I've tried many of the free ones, but they're not that good really. Norton and Comodo were by far the worst. Norton because it runs slow as hell and it slows down your entire PC. Comodo because it's waaaaaaay too paranoid (hundreds of messages like "It looks like you're trying to connect to x, are you sure? Could be dangerous!"). AVG was pretty bad as well, although I forgot for which reasons.

Shell out a bit of money and use a good anti-virus instead, it's worth it, believe me.

Edited June 6, 2010 by Buzz_Fledderjohn

[echo1 0]

Shell out a bit of money and use a good anti-virus instead, it's worth it if you download a lot of porn, believe me.

Fixed.

Seriously, no AV is a substitute for having some cop on. A good free AV like MSE is sufficient for piece of mind, but I have ran computers without any AV protection for years and can count on the fingers of one hand the problems I've had, and most of those were due to me being silly (particularly with keygens...)

[jtec 0]

Im with Buzz_Fledderjohn with regards to whats good (Kaspersky) and what indeed is a terrible program (Norton) I think id rather install a virus then install Norton :D

[W0lle 1052]

Im with Buzz_Fledderjohn with regards to whats good (Kaspersky) and what indeed is a terrible program (Norton) I think id rather install a virus then install Norton :D

Kasperky here since many years. Firewall sometimes gets on my nerves but the AV I have nothing to complain about. It's not expensive either if you calculate what you pay per day of protection. I waste more money on other crap. :)

[echo1 0]

I pay nothing per day for protection and still never get infected. Is there something that everyone else does that I don't that causes all this virus risk?

[niall0 10]

Having used McAfee, AVG and most recently avast! I would say for my uses avast! is best.

Light, runs scans effectivly and nice interface. Plus, have a gaming mode.

That said, the Gremlin on AVG when you get a virus is nice.

[maruk 80]

A bit off-topic even for off-topic topic but I found it quite interesting that three of the leading anti-virus solutions are from former Czechoslovakia:

AVG and Avast are from the Czech Republic and ESET Nod 32/Smart Security is from Slovakia.

On topic: I am using all three mentioned here on different systems and all of them seem to work very well so I am unable to tell any difference.

[faguss 65]

three of the leading anti-virus solutions are from former Czechoslovakia

Oh. It must be only a coincidence.

All the AV programs are pretty much the same so the best is to choose least annoying one.

[Dwarden 1125]

btw. Alwil (authors of Avast!) renamed in last weeks to AVAST Software so You can't miss them anymore ;)

i personally use Avast! since version v4 (now using also v5) w/o any unfixable problem ...

[Buzz_Fledderjohn 0]

I pay nothing per day for protection and still never get infected. Is there something that everyone else does that I don't that causes all this virus risk?

If you're careful enough, as I am, you probably won't get infected. True. Anti-virus is still necessary though, there's still plenty of nasty stuff out there and I usually scan most of my downloads.

Like I wrote, I've been very disappointed with the free programs. Most of them are rather poor in their own unique way. So I'd rather pay for Kaspersky than have no anti-virus at all.

[Yoma 0]

Sophos is a really good AV (with great active support) for more corporate environments. It's not free, not very cheap but does a great job and has good deployment features. I've fixed plenty of a screwed over windows using it. A lot of them did have antivirusses installed (Avg, Antivir, Norton, Mcaffee), most of those installations had no recent definitions.

I personally like what Microsoft is doing with their "light" approach at the AV thing in Microsoft Security Essentials. The major benefit i see in it is that it's free, integrates with windows update (thus "forcing" people to keep their system updated) and also very lightweight with a very easy gui. It's also very good at "running a full HD scan while you actually work", with great throtteling features etc.

It's more the kind of thing i would install on my grandparents pc and unfortunately a threat to other free solutions.

The big downside with all paying solutions is that licences expire and unexperienced (= most vulnerable) users end up with an AV that has 4 year old definitions installed... Some of the nonpaying solutions require registering and actually suffer the same fate. Hence my liking of something integrated with windows update.

---------- Post added at 08:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 PM ----------

A bit off-topic even for off-topic topic but I found it quite interesting that three of the leading anti-virus solutions are from former Czechoslovakia:

AVG and Avast are from the Czech Republic and ESET Nod 32/Smart Security is from Slovakia.

On topic: I am using all three mentioned here on different systems and all of them seem to work very well so I am unable to tell any difference.

You're good people :)

Edited June 10, 2010 by Yoma

[PogMoThoin 10]

I work in IT and Nod32 is what I'm using on 3 pc's here, its so light You never even notice its there, lots lighter on resources than Kaspersky, Avira, Avast or Avg. Avast gets my vote of the free ones but You can feel it churning away at the hard drive on my Mams laptop.

Norton and McAfee are both worse than any virus, both hogs that slow the shit out of a the pc and aren't anymore effective than the free ones, I actually know people making a living taking them off and giving people their free upgrade :D.

My laptop runs Ubuntu cos it just works, no virus scans, no malware, no slowdowns, no defragging, no cleaning, I wouldn't dream of putting anything else on a laptop, boots to usable in 35seconds

[echo1 0]

no slowdowns

Must be a very different Ubuntu to the one I'm thinking of...

[PogMoThoin 10]

No slowdowns for me, I ran Ubuntu server 8.04 on my home server up until I rebuilt it last week, never slowed down or even rebooted for that matter (ups). I run Ubuntu desktop on my laptop but I do reinstall when a new version appears every 6 months as upgrading to a newer version usually breaks something for me, no slowdowns either.

[echo1 0]

Ubuntu is a good starter Linux, but for serious stuff, it's pretty dire compared with the likes of Arch, or even Debian. I know a lot of people who've been using Linux for longer than I have, and wouldn't touch Ubuntu with a ten-foot stick.

[TechnoTerrorist303 10]

McAfee here. I switched to it a couple of years ago and haven't looked back, I have it on my laptop as well through a handy 6 month free trial from Facebook.

I wouldn't touch Norton with somebody else's bargepole.

[Placebo 29]

Kaspersky for me, the free AV's out there are generally crap (besides MS' Onecare which was excellent). Mcafee/Norton especially are terrible bloatware. I think I paid about £8 for a 1 year Kaspersky license off Ebay.

[fighterman 10]

AVG me. had norton and McAffe there were just bitches though so got AVG.

[anc 0]

Kaspersky, i've been using it for many years. Its really cheap and usually its easy to find some good discount coupons. =D

Best regards.