Poll: What AV do you use?

[Ryuho]

Obviously we have split opinions about which one is better, and half of this subsection is talking about the same thing, "which is best" which is hard to argue. It's easier to find out which one is most used. I'm not sure if it's useful information, but I'm curious.

Oh, and please mention what you are using on post if you are using x64, since I'm looking for a good one to install when I install Vista Home Premium x64.

 

[Axon]

avast! here, on Home Premium x64 too.

It's handy, doesn't take a lot of memory & has great On-access Protection.

 

[rive0108]

I use Vista x64.
I also use NOD32 3.0 as it has the smallest footprint (system resource use), fastest, most accurate, and most thorough scanning and cleaning. It also provides antimalware/antispyware protection. Product Software updates are free upgrades. You can back up config setting if you tweak for maximum protection, and It has also consistently won more VB100 awards, and other Independent testing awards than any other antimalware/antivirus vendor out there. 3.0 is also a native 64-bit program, as opposed to many that are 32-bit running in windows on windows emulation.

For those interested in antivirus security, or If you are just looking for a program that will actually protect your computer(s), you should check out this link.
Most antivirus/antimalware programs are tested periodically by independent (non-biased) security organizations to see how well they perform. testing on the Vista SP1 platform was performed a few months ago by Virus Bulletin who awards the VB100 Award to those antimalware vendors that meet their high standards: (1. It most not miss any "In the wild" malware, 2. It must not give "false Positives", 3. It must do all this in it's default configuration out of the box).
note-"In the wild" means malware currently circulating and infecting systems. "false Positives" is the detecting of malware, that is in effect not malware.



http://www.vistax64.com/system-secu...pril-2008-vista-sp1-test-failures-vendor.html

 

[alvarogd]

Antivir Premium.

 

[jay817]

norton 360
after having one company one go to melt down and not wanting to work
went to norton and was happy

 

[Axon]

avast! just ignored a virus and now my installation was almost gone, I wiped avast! and installed NOD32, which did find the virus and deleted it.

-1 vote avast!
+1 vote NOD32

 

[tonymazz]

Webroot Spysweeper with Antivirus v5.8.1.51 - AV is made by Sophos

 

[rive0108]

Webroot Spysweeper with Antivirus v5.8.1.51 - AV is made by Sophos

FYI-

Webroot, Sophos, and Avast! are some of the antivirus products that failed to detect viruses/malware in recent Vista sp1 testing:eek: Use at your own risk!

 

[Brink]

Hi Rive,

The virus definition database may not have been updated at the time they ran these tests. I'm sure that Avast and the others will catch up when they have their definitions updated. I use the free version of Avast, and have not had one virus yet.

 

[rive0108]

Hmmm, seems foolish for an antivirus vendor hoping to recieve a VB100 Award to submit its program without up-to-date virus definitions.

Also, most of the good antivirus programs use advanced heuristics, and do not solely rely on virus definitions as that is reactive, and means that the program cannot protect against new, and unknown malware threats.

 

[Brink]

I must agree with that though.

 

[rive0108]

Sides Brink,
In the end isn't it the purpose of antimalware programs (whether free or paid) to provide protection when directly exposed to threats? I mean I can have the worst antivirus program, and as long as I stay away from malware I will never get infected. The true measure of any antivirus program is exposing that program to malware and seeing how well it performs, and If it fails, You have to ask yourself: was it really doing its job in the first place- or just giving its user a false sense of security?

Wow, that was deep

 

[tonymazz]

Webroot Spysweeper with Antivirus v5.8.1.51 - AV is made by Sophos

FYI-

Webroot, Sophos, and Avast! are some of the antivirus products that failed to detect viruses/malware in recent Vista sp1 testing:eek: Use at your own risk!

That's why I specified the version....your study is dated information now.

I'd suspect that all have possibilities of being defeated one time or another but tend to lean towards a larger resource / research than the smaller freeware.

We all know about the Vista Antivirus 2008 "freeware"... my choice ....

 

[rive0108]

Webroot Spysweeper with Antivirus v5.8.1.51 - AV is made by Sophos

FYI-

Webroot, Sophos, and Avast! are some of the antivirus products that failed to detect viruses/malware in recent Vista sp1 testing:eek: Use at your own risk!

That's why I specified the version....your study is dated information now.

I'd suspect that all have possibilities of being defeated one time or another but tend to lean towards a larger resource / research than the smaller freeware.

We all know about the Vista Antivirus 2008 "freeware"... my choice ....

Well good luck on that, and I hope that your updated version gives you better protection that the previous one, but as for me I'll stick with NOD32 3.0 x64.

 

[incubus411]

I use nod32 after having used norton - so glad I made the change

 

[Ryuho]

I'm tempted to buy NOD and netlimiter pro... just finished installing vista home premium x64 on my new rig (yay no DOA)

 

[64bits]

I use AVG free and have done so for years without any issues.
In my experience, prevention is better than cure anyway.

If you browse safely and use only trusted software you can stay virus/malware/spyware clear.

So i guess it depends on what your needs are.
If you like to install any 'old software' and spend hours on dodgy websites, then you are instantly opening yourself up to infections. Therefore a higher level of security is needed.

But if you take care with what you access on the net, (like me) then i guess a basic level of security will suffice!!

Just my 2 cents!!D

 

[tonymazz]

Well good luck on that, and I hope that your updated version gives you better protection that the previous one, but as for me I'll stick with NOD32 3.0 x64


Here is Aug data on Webroot....looks like they used v5.5...

 

[Ryuho]

just installed NOD32 3.0 x64 trial version, I like it so far... It has a sleek interface, and it doesn't take up any space (display, RAM or CPU wise)

 

[WildEagle]

Live OneCare 2.5 for me. It's better than Norton.

Live OneCare 2.5, along with having DEP for 32bit IE7 enabled, DEP for the OS, and XD Technology(hardware DEP) enabled in the bios, along with being careful, and staying away from porn and pirate software websites, keeps my system free of malware.

I wait for Version 3.0 of Live OneCare, as it will have RootKit detection capabilities finally. Found this out months ago. I was also a beta tester for Live OneCare 2.0 and Live OneCare 2.5, when they did their public betas.