Whats the Best Antivirus/ Security Suite??

[dadofyou]

Hi,

I used to swear by Norton till late 2005. I was really impressed how they used to build fixes for a newly found virus within 2 days of reporting it, however now using Norton is a nightmare. A PC is already overloaded with s/w and Norton slows it down further.
My search for a light and effective antivirus ended at BitDefender. It is light and effective and backed up by a support team capable of fixing new viruses found in less tan a day’s time.
I would suggest anyone to go for this.

Regards
Girish Gunjan

 

[dlstorm]

I have Norton security suite on my desktop. On the notebook I'm using LiveOneCare and CA security which is provide by my internet provider, Frontiernet, but will eventually decide on one. My final defence, however, is frequent Ghost backups of both systems on independent HDs. No need to visit a computer shop if I'm invaded.

 

[mike-cow]

Hi,

I used to swear by Norton till late 2005. I was really impressed how they used to build fixes for a newly found virus within 2 days of reporting it, however now using Norton is a nightmare.

It's NOT. Stop spreading misinformation based on 5 year old experiences.

 

[shortmantuff]

I personally don't believe in the "No protection" concept. You should be protected. Unless (and I still wouldn't suggest it after this) you use a Site adviser like McAfee Site Advisor or WOT. Right now I am using Trend Micro Internet Security. I bought a year subscription. I like it, but then again I gave it to my brother and he got a virus and downloaded Avast and Avast detected the virus and Trend didn't. It all depends. After my subscription ends, I'm just going to go back to free virus antivirus software. I think that if you have a antivirus, a spyware detector, and firewall you should be fine. I agree with Clevo on the matter that you should be careful about what you click on, that's why I suggest WOT or McAfee Site Adviser. These programs will tell you if a site isn't legit or not (and they're free!)

Another thing, I know a lot of people like it, but porn sites contain a lot of spyware. Try not to visit these.

 

[william gunkel]

I agree that for us that have limited knowledge on all that it takes to run a computer without any protection it is a good idea to protect yourself with a good anti-virus. Again I am still using AVG Internet Security which has safe search included in the program. Prior to that I was using MaFee Internet Security. Yes windows does have its own firewall and a few other security features but for most of us we still need to rely on a good anti-virus. I prefer the paid version as long as it is a complete program such as AVG, which Is a all in one and just keeps getting better. There free version is all so in my opinion is one of the best for what it offers. I want to thank the members and moderators for all their help.

 

[topac122000]

hi all

i think Kasper sky anti virous is the best

 

[SomeH0w]

I think AVG is sufficient already. Have been using AVG, and never met as manny problems as I had with Norton, but I can say, Norton did improve very much. One thing I like about Norton is that the time taken to scan my whole computer is very short, and I like its quick scan. People who wants to keep it cheap, use AVG. People who wants to scan quick can really try Norton 360/2008. =):D

 

[rive0108]

Well whatever you use (or foolishly dont use), think twice about using Trend Micro.

Trend Micro is a bottom of the barrel Antivirus/Antimlaware program and will at best provide subpar protection.

No Lab certification from either AV-Comparatives, or Virus Bulletin.
There is only the west coast labs certification, which shows a missed Trojan, and ICSA (which doesn’t even test for polymorphic threats-i.e., self replicating/potentially catastrophic malware threats). AV-Comparatives is top notch, and is the best, followed closely by Virus Bulletin’s VB100. Trend Micro failed the last VB100, and has no recent entries at all with AV-Comparatives. It is usually a fair indicator that a Vendor’s product is subpar, when it is not entered into either AV-Comparatives, or the VB100, and/or consistently fails the VB100 whereas NOD32 and Symantec consistently pass year after year.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/produ..._pro_2009.html

“Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2009 Review
Jan 22, 2009 by Erik Larkin, PC World
Trend Micro's suite fails at the most basic task of detecting and blocking malicious software. Not recommended.

Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2009 ($70 for three users as of 12/24/08 ) fails badly at any security suite's most important task: Identifying malware before it can attack your PC. In tests for "Paying for Protection," our 2009 roundup of nine security suites, Trend Micro's newest offering didn't just come in last place in that crucial category--its dismal 69.3 percent detection rate was a full 20 percentage points behind the next worst competitor. In AV-Test.org's tests, which put each suite up against a huge array of bots, password stealers, and other malware, top performers tagged about 99 percent of the 654,914 samples--but Trend Micro's package let three out of every ten pieces of malicious software go by untouched. That just doesn't cut it for security software.
Trend Micro likewise fell flat in heuristic tests using two-week-old signature files to simulate dealing with unknown threats, and at catching annoying adware. It was dead last in both categories.
The company says that it emphasizes proactive protection that attempts to block threats before they can try installing malware (and before the suite would have to recognize it). Trend Micro uses its own Web crawlers, download tests, and user reports to maintain a database of malicious Web sites, and will block those sites from loading on your PC. It's a valid approach--one that could well supplement scanning for malware on your PC--but it can't yet replace that core detection task.
Trend Micro's package did shine when tasked with cleaning up an existing infection. It removed all the files from nine out of ten malware infections, a performance that only BitDefender matched. It was almost as good in dealing with Registry changes, placing second in that test.
The suite offers a few interesting features, such as a scan for missing Windows patches that assigns a risk level for each one. You'll also get a useful Wi-Fi advisor button in a browser toolbar that can warn you if your wireless network lacks encryption--a smart tool placed in a good location.
Trend Micro also did well with its user interface, and clearly took time to provide good descriptions for features and options. Right away we noticed the use of plain English throughout the program.
But the company went too far with its desire to simplify, as we saw no pop-ups or warnings when it blocked our attempted Zango-adware download. We had to dig into the program logs to find out what was going on. It's good to help people make informed decisions to protect their computer, but it's also important to at least give users an idea that something we just tried to do was potentially harmful. Without an alert, a user might think that their browser simply had a problem, and they might then try installing the dangerous software through another browser--or even worse, on another PC. You can change the default setting to display warnings when your PC encounters viruses or spyware, but you shouldn't have to.
Trend Micro's suite has some good points, but there's no getting around the fact that Internet Security Pro 2009 fails at detecting malicious software, and therefore fails as a security program. We cannot recommend buying it.”

 

[shortmantuff]

Great, I have Trend. But its up in June. I'm switching to freeware.

 

[rive0108]

Great, I have Trend. But its up in June. I'm switching to freeware.

Avira or Avast! are the best, top rated "Free" AV products.

 

[dinesh]

When it comes to antivirus, I liked Rive's advice and i use NOD32.

 

[rive0108]

I think AVG is sufficient already. Have been using AVG, and never met as manny problems as I had with Norton, but I can say, Norton did improve very much. One thing I like about Norton is that the time taken to scan my whole computer is very short, and I like its quick scan. People who wants to keep it cheap, use AVG. People who wants to scan quick can really try Norton 360/2008. =):D

AVG

In recent lab tests AVG has performed poorly. it came close to recieving no certification at all. It was out performed by both Avast! and Avira in detection and removal of viruses and Malware.

 

[shortmantuff]

Yeah. I used Avast before Trend. But while I had Avast I received a virus and it couldn't get rid of it, so when I downloaded Trend Micro for the free 30 day trial, it was able to get rid of it. So i thought I'd try Trend out. It has been fine, but I think Avast is just as good (and I guess maybe better after reading that), so I'll be going back to Avast.

Right now I'm Thinking about using Avast, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Windows Firewall for protection (After my trend subscriptions runs out).

Any other suggestions or replacements to this list?

 

[rive0108]

Yeah. I used Avast before Trend. But while I had Avast I received a virus and it couldn't get rid of it, so when I downloaded Trend Micro for the free 30 day trial, it was able to get rid of it. So i thought I'd try Trend out. It has been fine, but I think Avast is just as good (and I guess maybe better after reading that), so I'll be going back to Avast.

Right now I'm Thinking about using Avast, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Windows Firewall for protection (After my trend subscriptions runs out).

Any other suggestions or replacements to this list?

Personally i use Eset NOD32 4 Antivirus/Antispyware, Windows defender and Windows Firewall, and a hardware router firewall.

 

[shortmantuff]

Yeah, I was going to mention that. I wanted to try NOD32 and it's 40 day trial (I believe). You think Windows defender is fine? Whenever I ran windows defender it never found anything, but when I ran other programs they found things. These were probably just minor things such as cookies though.

 

[rive0108]

Yeah, I was going to mention that. I wanted to try NOD32 and it's 40 day trial (I believe). You think Windows defender is fine? Whenever I ran windows defender it never found anything, but when I ran other programs they found things. These were probably just minor things such as cookies though.

It doesnt scan for cookies, and its primarily for spyware- run it with full scan , not default Quick scan. I use it to suppliment the NOD32 antispyware, and to notify and ask for permission on start/run programs that make changes to the computer.

As for cookies, you can do that with Windows IE. My personal setting is to "block All", and then I just click the eyeball on the bottom of IE when I want to allow certain cookies (then refresh the page). This way, the only cookies are the ones you allow.
An easier way though is just to allow first party cookies, and Block all third party cookies-these are the tracking cookies and worse. Along as you dont delete the "allowed" cookie setting you will only have to set this one time (for each domain's cookie you want to allow-usually its the first listing on the site (top),[note the blocked site cookies on my.msn.com] the rest are tracking/ads)

 

[dinesh]

Yeah, I was going to mention that. I wanted to try NOD32 and it's 40 day trial (I believe). You think Windows defender is fine? Whenever I ran windows defender it never found anything, but when I ran other programs they found things. These were probably just minor things such as cookies though.

Yup windows defender wont find tracking cookies and similar stuffs. NOD32 4 antivirus is a 30 day trial.

 

[rive0108]

Another thing i like about the new NOD32 version 4 is that it has self defense to prevent malware corrupting it, System Inspector Diagnostics that are color coded (green good, red BAD),[similiar to trend's Hijack this!, but way more advanced] you can password protect it, and create a bootable recovery disk. You can also tweak it for full advanced hueristic detection, and then back up the settings for quick re-install with tweaked settings intact. I tweak mine for full scanning of everything, and full advanced Hueristics (these are not set by default).

note- Eset SysInspector is also a free standalone self diagnostic:http://www.eset.com/download/sysinspector.php

It also doesnt hurt that Eset NOD32 has consistantly recieved the Virus Bulletin Labs VB100 Award year after year, ICSA Labs Certification, Westcoast Labs Checkmark Certification, was the best by AV-comparatives Labs in 2006, 2007, and took close second to Avira in 2008, and currently is the only product to recieve 3 star certification in BOTH Hueristic (retroactive) scanning [Nov 2008], and On-demand Scanning [Feb 2009] also by AV-Comparatives.

Source:
http://www.westcoastlabs.org/
http://www.icsalabs.com/icsa/product.php?tid=dfgdf$gdhkkjk-kkkk
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?vendor=VE14
http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse/report20.pdf
http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_report21.pdf

 

[rive0108]

Eset NOD32 Lab Certifications, Awards, and honors
Best Anti Spyware software Awards given to ESET

 

[shortmantuff]

What about Smart Security 4? Is it not necessary to get that rather than NOD32?