Good Anti-Virus Recommendations

Looking for an alternative to Norton AV

[MatthewHSE]

I've heard here and other places that Norton Anti-Virus is not as good as some of the other AV programs out there. Supposedly Norton is bluffed and exploited, and is a resource hog. My Norton update subscription runs out in about 25 days now, so this is the logical time for me to consider a switch.

I've been very happy with Norton so far; it's always stopped viruses for me and I've never found anything in my system scans. I have noticed that it seems to slow down my computer somewhat.

So anyway, is there any free, perhaps open-source AV software that is better than Norton? I can't think of any better place to ask than here! So if you have experience with Norton AND some other AV software, I'd love to hear your recommendations!

Thanks,

Matthew

[Leosghost]

NOD 32 is the one that the guys at Redmonds .. European Offices people use so in theory at least they think it keeps IE whatever as safe as it can be ..

It isn't free however ..

First time you run almost anything on your system you are gonna find all the stuff that Norton missed ;)

Also get a registry monitor ...

[AsleepATheWheel]

AVG is excelent.

[MatthewHSE]

Also get a registry monitor ...

Never heard of such a thing, what does it do and what's a good one?

[Receptional Andy]

I run nod32 on my home PC - insanely quick (main reason I chose it) and has always identified any potential problems quickly and effectively.

[bcolflesh]

As mentioned, AVG:

[grisoft.com...]

[Receptional Andy]

AVG has failed a number of people I know who picked up viruses though.

If you're anywhere near mission-critical it just doesn't cut it if you ask me.

[Leosghost]

A registry monitor is a little proggy that runs in the background all the time and if anything tries to make a change or an addition to the registry ( could be you updating something or new software ..but could also be a new as yet unidentified in the wild virus or worm trying to install or some scumware trying to make itself an unwanted BHO or whatever ) the registry monitor wont let it happen ..

it will say ..." whatever " .."has tried to change the registry ..do you accept?" ...unless you accept ..the registry will stay the same and you didn't get the "drive by scumware" ..

if however you were updating your photoshop ..you accept and all is "bunnies and bambi" ...

There used to be a very good small free proggy that does this at [diamondcs.com.au...] called "regprot" ....It was going to become a pay for ..maybe is now ...but there are still some places where you can get the slightly less recent version for free if they got around to charging for the new one ...

[kodaks]

McAfee is my fav. I doesn't slow down your computer as much as Norton does.

[trillianjedi]

Thanks for the headsup on NOD32. £23 is quite reasonable - will go and buy it for my home PC and try it out. My Norton also expires in a few days time and it's let me down on two occasions.

TJ

[piskie]

Fixit 5 is a good general windows tuneup utility which incorporates an excellent AV function. The updates are for the lifespan of the program and not an extra periodic subscription. I used its predesessor Fixit 3 for about 3 years before support ceased. Even then I was able to upgrade to Fixit 5 for only a few dollars instead of the full purchase price.

[AsleepATheWheel]

>AVG has failed a number of people I know who picked up viruses though.

AVG has served myself (I get over 200 viruses a day sent to me), and other people I know very well. I can't find any references online to the problems you mentioned, perhaps you could point me to some?

Paul

[Receptional Andy]

>>any references online

I'm the guy friends ask to fix their PCs when things go wrong ;), and I've come across a few running AVG that still got infected. If you want a free program, I think it's the best out there, but I prefer to spend the £20/$40 for something more reliable. I rarely get viruses, but other people use this PC so I figure it pays to be careful.

If you want tests or anything like that I recommend Virus Bulletin [virusbtn.com]

[vkaryl]

Andy: even with AVG your friends have to be fairly scrupulous about what they DO, y'know?

So far I've been very very happy with AVG. Which fixed ONE thing that norton did that I didn't even know it was doing: interfering with my ability to restore my machine to an earlier point in time.... jeez. WHAT a thing to mess with!

If it gets to the point where AVG becomes problematic for me for some reason, I'll no doubt buy nod32.

[lizard49]

Not free, costs about $40 and worth it, Panda Titanium is great. It updates itself silently when you're connected to the internet. They don't even publicize this, but the program prevents spyware from taking up residence on your machine.

[bill]

Anyone tried avast!?

[RonPK]

I used to run McAfee, which worked quite nice. I removed it some time ago because it definitely slowed down my PC. Been happy & clean ever since. IMHO you're safe as long as you don't open unknown files, and live behind a firewall. Off course it helps a lot not to use Outlook Express or Internet Explorer.

The only thing that slightly worries me are macro viruses inside Word documents. So I'm curently looking for an AV scanner that only runs on command, for instance when I drop a file on its desktop icon.

[Leosghost]

Sorry guys but panda and Macafee are also on the "how would you like to download this for free ..my names Igor I hack stuff " lists ....

they are much too easy to open and infect and go around .

Avg is ok if you're carefull ...but you will fall with it eventually ...

even better idea is to run 2 Av's like Nod 32 and Avg together ..( that way if one is ever the subject of a specific disabler ...the other will be there to block )..

But please get a regmon of some sort ...

For those who really have the money and want to sleep sound try "esafe" ...make sure you're sitting down for the price tag!

But nothing is 100% certain ...except that some avs mentioned here and elswhere are crap ...I spend stupid amounts of time removing stuff from machines that got sold with them installed ..or who's owners bought them of the shelf and "Budget Billy's Computer Kabin" or it's local equivalent....

Even some folks who say " well I thought I was ok cos I got this from a "swap" on kazaa " ...( well Ok, they say it in french but you get the picture!)..

Klutz breed faster than rabbits..

[vkaryl]

Klutz breed faster than rabbits..

THANK YOU. You made my day! *laughing*

[1milehgh80210]

Free AVG has never let me down, but ironically, I finally had to Pay for a spyware, adware remover.
Spybot, adaware and hijackthis were'nt cutting the mustard..

[shape]

[kaspersky.com...]

[Leosghost]

Again a top five member of the "I'm Igor ..I hacked this list "..
Please use real Av's and save the rest of us having to cope with all the junkmail,Virii and trojans etc sent out by your unknowingly compromised computers ..

Had free AVG or any other AV been doing its job and had you had a regmonitor in place you would have had no need to use any product such as adware remover, Spybot, adaware and hijackthis ..

[mat]

Back up there, Kaspersky works. Has let zero through in 5 plus years. May not be that well known, but it regularly collects accolades for its efficacy.

[Leosghost]

I stand by what I say ..I have 13.10 CET ..I have received 4 emails in the last hour that link to kaspersky..each contaminated with attached virii ...

take a visit here ( with lynx or firefox..patched as of today if you have version .9 up ) not IE ...Zone-h.org ( the url is not written as link deliberately so as to avoid inadvertant visits by those who wouldn't know how to clean up ) ..you want other places where you can get hacked kaspersky and instructions on how to ...there are many such places ..this one is quite mild :)

[mat]

But we're talking about the quality of AV software, not the quality of what you might end up with if you choose to head off into kiddie land as opposed to pay for something, no?

You're damning a piece of software because it's linked to in some cruddy email? Client-side AV stuff aside, the bulk of this crud can easily be dealt with by a few recipes on the server, sod downloading to deal with it in the first place.

[MatthewHSE]

Well, I believe I'll be sticking with a paid AV program. Maybe I'll add AVG to it as well. Not sure though if I should stay with Norton or switch to Nod32; Norton has done great for me so far, but the version I have is about three years out of date . . .

Thanks for all the advice folks!

[Leosghost]

I'm damning it because I and anyone armed with an old copy of wdasm can take it apart ..
..many have ..
..many now know how it guards ..
..what it looks for and how to get past it ...

We are here talking about both the "paid fors" and the "cracked" "patched" and "regkeyed" etcs..this is not the only peice of Av software by any means that has this problem and it is better than most in it's range ..
However it is compromised ..
There is no point buying expensive and large locks for your doors if every kid who walks by your house can pick up duplicate keys for those locks at any street corner downtown
..
opening down loaded emails is the least of your worries ..There are many pages on the net and not all are benign in their code ...if you go in with this software ..you run a higher risk of becoming a victim than with the first ones I mentioned ...

others are far far worse ..such as Norton and macafee..

I personally use no AV ..I have one small regmon on this machine ..I can fix what may happen ...I do not recommend this to others ..

as to your server ..do you really know enough about server security to know if your server AV is as effective as you think ....

I am not trying to argue with you here ..I do security as a side business where I am as as result of seeing a good friend nearly go broke because their machine got hit and they couldn't afford to replace it...turned out they were the first of many ...I used to do this stuff for free all the time ..now it's free some of the time..depends on the circumstances ...

I don't get paid by and have no aff status or whatever with the stuff that I recommend ..I know that some AV's etc are currently much more sure than others ..the situation is dynamic ..my recommendations may well change ...and nothing is 100% sure anyway ...but some are better than others ...for now ..

The site ( which I doubt you have had time to visit ) is not primarily a vendor or warez site ..

It is one of the safer ( for non security pros ) areas where you can read , eavesdrop on hackers and DOS writers , crash teams etc ...most of what is visible is well beyond the understanding of most people ..some maybe usefull to read to try to safeguard against attacks ,virii etc ( these are not "kiddies" although some are surprisingly young considering their talents in coding ..the 12 year old from Urkutsk is not just an urban myth unfortunately ) ...

Perhaps you personally are capable of repairing your machine if something gets by your AV as a result of your mail or surfing or free with whatever magazine CD or contaminated flash card or memory stick or ..the list is way longer than you think ...

However the original questioner was not so confident ...if your experience ( from both sides of the tracks ) in security is greater than mine I will be happy to hear ..as I'm sure will the rest of the readers of this thread ...

this is not about ego ..or who has the best AV on the market ...from my point of view this is about impartial informed advice ..

[mat]

Ok. Sure, there are levels that most people don't ever reach or attain too. Most people are happy to pay up to a certain level for a perceived level of security - beyond that they, usually justly, assume that they don't need to go.

I could spend the time to get up to speed, but I'd get no work done. Ditto most people. Hourses for courses, and my wazoo is pretty hard to find for most probers. I'm far from a security expert, very far, but I think my level of awareness is appropriate for my level of exposure. And that's the point, I feel - realistically, most people have time for little more than wacking on a firewall and sticking on the best AV that their peers can recommend. I take this thread to be precisely about that.

But thanks for the reminder about NOD - anything that pitches itself on using low system resources is fine by me. And that's another good reason for not using Norton.

[henry0]

Now I am really surprise
why no one but me :) mention PCC
Trend Micro PC-Cillin is an outstanding AV
in my opinion and in many purely PC tech boards thread about AV

Norton does well and behave well

Mc Affee; wish that you will never need to fully remove it
then install some new utility and became insane due to MC Affee left overs clashing with the new clap

the web is full of sad stories regarding a full removal of Mac Affee

[Dudermont]

PCC was recommended to me by a friend and I did use it for about 6 months. It caught 1 virus. When I build my next computer I got norton and a little while later I grapped one of my backups from my old computer, when I was getting stuff from it norton found a virus. So just out of curiousity I scanned the cd and it found 1 more.

After that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.