What Virus Scanner to use?

the whole year inn

Not sure how to put a poll in but what does everyone think the best virus scanner is.I am currently using AVG Internet Secuirty 2011(not the free version) and was talking with a friend tonight and he reckons Kaspersky is better.Any how what scanners does everyone use.I uninstalled that Mcafee which was sh!t and a b!tch to remove.

I also have AVG PC Tuneup dont think its that good to behonest.

Kinetic^

Kaspersky/NOD32 if you're paying, Microsoft Security Essentials if you're not....imo anyway.

Overheal

Be warned i've had MSE miss several items/trojans, but it or Avast would be two of your better freeware options.

the whole year inn

OK I am KAspersky now but what are the reasons why its better over AVG?

roast

I can't vouch for Kaspersky. But AVG has slowly been becoming more and more of a resource hog over the past year or so. MSE is the best freeware alternative, as it doesnt use too many system resources.

TheReverend

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Kaspersky/NOD32 if you're paying, Microsoft Security Essentials if you're not....imo anyway.

This

Overheal

gob_smacked wrote: »

OK I am KAspersky now but what are the reasons why its better over AVG?

I havent trusted it since the linkscanner issue, but worse than that its got one pretty low detection rate.

roast

Overheal wrote: »

I havent trusted it since the linkscanner issue, but worse than that its got one pretty low detection rate.

Fact.

Also the debacle about the false positives causing Windows to stop booting was a pretty good reason for me to switch from AVG straight away. That software hasn't been reliable since version 7.

bhickey

gob_smacked wrote: »

Not sure how to put a poll in but what does everyone think the best virus scanner is.

There's a poll here.

noel farrell

i have been using avg paid for years no problems until i installed 2011 i spent more time on their help site than browsing big problems downloading and firewall ok the were good and solved most of my problems but why have this crap i googled it and found lots of people have the same issues the are doing their best to patch it i uninstalled and bought kerpesky polish one a lot better not in the way if you do not not want to part with euros avast free is good you can upgrade later its cheap happy new year all

noel farrell

sorry its kaspersky easy to use and cheap

old_aussie

Using Trend Titanium 2011.

Haven't had any problems with this.

Have used Trend for the last 6 years.

I get Trend free from my previous employer.

My next choice and first choice if I had to pay is NOD32 by ESET

Free Ones...First choice would be Avast and then AVG

desaparecidos

Use the one which is lightest on resources, which appears to be MS Security Essentials.

That and common sense.

Diddy Kong

ZoneAlarm paid for me. have been using over 2 years now and never a problem. For free, I would push MSE.

Kinetic^

Half the battle is keeping your definitions and AV software up to date, after that it's a bit of common sense and knowing not click on things that say you've won a million yoyos!

There is the odd occasion that the software updates will cause harm but it's rare.

Biggins

On one machine I have I use MSE backed up by Malwarebytes Anti-Mlware Full version.

For others, try here: http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-windows-software

Thequite an

AVG or Avast are highly recommended I use McAfee and never had a problem and they have promotions with sometimes half or one third of the price off,I would go for the one I know rather than the one I don't know hence I will be renewing with McAfee,I am sure there will be many advisers on P C security and with the freebies once you watch what you are doing you will be okay God bless

Overheal

Thequite an wrote: »

AVG or Avast are highly recommended I use McAfee and never had a problem and they have promotions with sometimes half or one third of the price off,I would go for the one I know rather than the one I don't know hence I will be renewing with McAfee,I am sure there will be many advisers on P C security and with the freebies once you watch what you are doing you will be okay God bless

To each their own I guess. I have never seen anything useful from McAfee.

My old man is a silly git though and renewed Norton after I allowed it to expire. He paid full price too! I could have got it for waay less. But I took off MSE and put Norton back on because - let's face it, it's overkill, from the Power Eraser/Anti-Rootkit to the Facebook Scanner - but I love it. Also it was free this year :pac:

Dey were Sooted

Nod32 - get a three year license and I promise you will never look back - and try the months free trial first

Overheal

It's just so much is all. I can find norton at the xmas sales for $20 for 3 pcs, even a 1-year nod32 for 1pc is - not that cheap. Even if it does offer you protection from the I, Robot. I'd be comparing it to SS4 anyway, not Nod32

Naikon

You don't need antivirus, just some common sense. By using a non admin account daily and not executing arbitrary scripts and not downloading and running random exe's off the net can save you much hassle.
Oh, and if you are using firefox, noscript is essential. There are plenty of security exploits out there that subvert antivirus on a daily basis. AntiVirus won't protect you in such instances. Common sense is key.

desaparecidos

Naikon wrote: »

Oh, and if you are using firefox, noscript is essential. There are plenty of security exploits out there that subvert antivirus on a daily basis. AntiVirus won't protect you in such instances. Common sense is key.

Disabling JavaScript is not essential when using a decent browser. Most sites are JavaScript heavy these days so disabling it will greatly diminish the user experience of most websites.

I wouldn't consider JavaScript a threat all. Exactly what damage can it do? It's a simple scripting language confined to the boundaries of the web browser.

chin_grin

MSE. Have had no problems since! (Unless like Overheal says it's missing a few, but my machine is running fine.).

the whole year inn

Ok so i got NOD32 4.0,i uninstalled AVG and this is my only virus scanner now.I usually dont really think about this things as AVG was running fine,but since I heard it eats up resorces I decided to change.Only thing is a firewall,would the windows firewall do just fine?

desaparecidos

Install Firewall Control (Free) to turn Windows Firewall into something of a more "proper" firewall application
http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html

Vista and Windows 7 have proper firewalls but the admin interface is crap and you do not get prompted when a new application wants access to the web, Firewall control gives you this functionality.

Overheal

desaparecidos wrote: »

Vista and Windows 7 have proper firewalls but the admin interface is crap and you do not get prompted when a new application wants access to the web, Firewall control gives you this functionality.

What do you call this then

desaparecidos

Overheal wrote: »

What do you call this then

That dialogue rarely ever shows up for me.

With Firewall control every single application or process that needs web access you will get a prompt asking weather to allow access or not (and of course it remembers the setting so you won't get the prompt for that application again.)

You can also quickly block all traffic or enable all traffic by right clicking the Firewall control icon in the system tray.

Kinetic^

Windows Firewall works perfectly fine, just make sure you have it set to prompt you when an exception is required, as per the image Overheal linked to.

ED E

Relying on MSE myself. I've found it a little paranoid myself, but its smooth and clean and doesnt get in my way so pretty happy. That said, if you've had it miss stuff before Overheal I should really double check it with a Kaspersky disk every now and then to be safe.

marco_polo

desaparecidos wrote: »

That dialogue rarely ever shows up for me.

With Firewall control every single application or process that needs web access you will get a prompt asking weather to allow access or not (and of course it remembers the setting so you won't get the prompt for that application again.)

You can also quickly block all traffic or enable all traffic by right clicking the Firewall control icon in the system tray.

If you need that sort of fine grained level of control I would nearly go with Comodo tbh, great firewall but is quite chatty for the first few days at least. Had a Comodo (Firewall + HIPS)/Avira(AV) combination on my last install and I though they complimented each other well, but I have to say I find the Win7 Firewall/MSE combo much less intrusive day to day on my current rig.

dapto1

MSE combined with Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware.

All one needs, in my opinion!

Kinetic^

dapto1 wrote: »

MSE combined with Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware.

All one needs, in my opinion!

I've found SAS to be far superior to MB, just seems to catch a lot more. Just my experience though.