Virus Software Recommendations

[gerryr]

I used Norton for years until I could no longer stand all the system overhead. Then I tried McAfee and it was just as bad. I've been using PC-Cillin for the past year and have it update 3 times in one day. Every time it updates, it brings the computer to it's knees. The subscription expires in January, so I'm starting to look for a better one. Any suggestions on one that is not so intrusive and works?

 

[DCBluesman]

I use AVG Free. You can schedule how often and at what time it updates as well as when it performs a scan. I've used it successfully for over 5 years. http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 Did I mention that it's FREE! [8D]

 

[wudnhed]

I'm using the 6 month trial version of F-Force. I don't even know it's there.

 

[smitty]

I have been using avast for over a year, it will update daily. The good thing is it is all free. I like it.

smitty

 

[JTaylor801]

We run Symantec on our systems....I've also used McAfee at the corp level as well. Personally I run McAfee at home on my machines. I may switch to Symantec when the service expires.

The info below is simply my opinion only.
I would never trust something as important as virus protection to a free software application. The old saying of "you get what you pay for" in my opinion applies to free virus software protection. Symantec and McAfee won't stop everything...but they have the resources to quickly create,test and push out updates to fight or clean up the bugs.

I would add one more thing. If you're running a business and sending emails to clients etc. you owe it to your clients to take every precaution to prevent your system becoming infected and infecting others. Any virus software is only as good as it's last update. Make sure your software is updating frequently. McAfee and Symantec may not provide daily updates...but generally you can expect an update once a week at a min.

Last statement. A free virus software is better than no virus software.

Jerry

Jerry

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

I agree with Jerry

http://nod32.softwaresecuritysolutions.com

 

[smoky10]

I also use AVG Free.

 

[GBusardo]

I run McAfee after a run with Norton. McAfee is much easier on my system. I also use a program called NoAdware. Something like that is a MUST if you also have teenagers running around Myspace and God only knows where else. What I have found is if you pay for the program and you have a problem (don't think you have? Run a free spyware scan, you'll be shocked) they will work with you to remove the bug or program. I used to use a free antivirus also, didn't exactly work out for me.

 

[GBusardo]

What I should have added is that if your computer is older, the free programs might be all your computer can handle, but I bet it comes with little programs or some sort that is contributing to crashes. Very few things in life are truely is free.

 

[Fangar]

McAfee is system heavy. It works great. I get a full free subscription every year with my Comcast service. I have a 3 ghz Dual core Pentium D with 2 gigs of ram so I don't know its there either, but I do agree it is heavy on the resources. That being said, I have never had any problems with it and have never received a virus. It has stopped and quarantined many. And I look at tons of porno! [] I mean I do lots of uh, research... uh, nothing. []

Fangar

 

[JTaylor801]

[]

 

[gerryr]

I should clarify, that since there are many antivirus programs around that are less system intensive, less expensive and as good if not better at detection than either Symantec or McAfee, they won't ever make my short list. I'm sort of considering BitDefender, Security Shield and Kaspersky right now, but that can change. Ron just added another one that I need to find out about.

 

[DCBluesman]

Hmmm...well, Grisoft (owners of AVG) have a "pay" version which is full-featured. The free version is a single user version with the sysadm files reduced. They've won tons of awards. All of this being said, you're really better off to protect yourself at the firewall. That offloads the antivirus processing from your computing power.

 

[twoofakind]

My father in law is running Kapersky now and he does not like it. I am running an older version of Norton that does not have all of the newer "hooks". I picked it up from ebay for $3.00 and it comes with the same protection as the newer ones.
Andy

 

[gerryr]

What doesn't he like about it?

 

[bjackman]

Gerry,
I have also been running AVG for several years on several different computers. I like it far better than any "pay" version I've ever tried, and I've tried all the biggies one time or another. It simply works, and works well, free or not. The only issue I ever had with it was that they kindof seemed to "hide" the free version on their site and you had to look a little, through a few pages to find it. Lou just gave you a perfect link, I'd use it. (in fact I've never tried their spyware program that's on the same link and will be right now.)

 

[bob393]

Originally posted by DCBluesman
<br />I use AVG Free. You can schedule how often and at what time it updates as well as when it performs a scan. I've used it successfully for over 5 years. http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 Did I mention that it's FREE! [8D]

You got that right. I use it and I like it.

 

[rfreeouf]

Gerryr,

I would recommend the CA E-Trust Suite. The only thing that I don't use in the suite is the Firewall Software because I am behind a Hardware Firewall. The Pest Patrol Software works great and updates come regular to catch new unwanted spyware. The Anti Spam e-mail works great to fight Spam. The Virus Scan is less resource intensive than McAfee or Norton.

If you are a Time Warne subscriber you can download it and get a free year subscription. It normal retails for around $40-50 depending on where you shop. A lot of time there is a rebate that is offered that ends up making the price around $10 or in some cases free.

I have supported and maintained PC's for a little ove 15 years and the CA Suite is the best I have found. That is only my opinion so take it for what it is worth.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Originally posted by rfreeouf
<br />The only thing that I don't use in the suite is the Firewall Software because I am behind a Hardware Firewall

You should use both.

 

[kiddo]

My vote goes with AVG Free too.

I run this in conjunction with the free ZoneAlarm firewall.

Call me paranoid, but I sit behind a Linux firewall as well (SmoothWall).

Kiddo

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

I'm gald to see that we can at least agree that a AVS is needed

 

[MesquiteMan]

I guess I am the only one running NOD32? Man is it a GREAT anti-virus with virtually no overhead. Never even know it is running and have NEVER had a virus of any kind get through.

 

[mdburn_em]

Hi Gerry,
I almost made it down to your neck of the woods for thanksgiving but...sigh, I need to catch up on my programming homework.
I would agree with those that state that McAfee and Norton are good. I also agree with you that they are resource hogs.
What has not been mentioned or asked is, what are you using for an email client. If it's one of MS email clients (Outlook, OE), you need
a full security suite. You MUST have something that will filter your email real-time. It needs to be something that updates as often as you check your email. If you use a web-based email client (yahoo etc) the requirements are less stringent, you are slightly safer.
Free is good but it does require more work on your part. If you go with free, you need the AV, a firewall (ZoneAlarm was mentioned and I also highly recommend it.) and a couple of free anti-spyware programs...hopefully one catches what the other might miss.

All of that being said, I use the free version of BitDefender, ZoneAlarm and some of the anti-spyware programs. AVG is a very good free program though. I feel I have more ability to configure BitDefender then I did AVG. This thing checks for updates more often than AVG did when I was using that.

The only thing I really depend on is ZoneAlarm though. I have gone another route completely. I use ZoneAlarm to let me know what programs on my computer are trying to get out. My main security is "DEEPFREEZE". Deepfreeze is a program that freezes your computer. You can do anything you want to it, play with the registry, just screw it up royally...restart and it's back to where it was originally. IF I get a viruse, restart and it's gone (assuming my computer was clean to start with.) I've been playing with this and really like it. I use bitdefender to see if it can find anything, I also use some of the free external scans and they find nothing. The drawback is you have to "THAW" your computer to save any changes you make. You can establish a "Thawed" space if you have a separate drive on your computer or save files to a thumb drive or cd/dvd RW.
Well, I hope this helps some and sorry it's so long. Hope I don't get flamed.

 

[gerryr]

For email I use Outlook. My ISP has spam filters on their end and it catches probably 80-85% of the junk. I can go check what's in quarantine anytime and either have it delivered, delete it or ignore it. If I ignore it, it automatically gets deleted after 7 days.

 

[keithz]

I currently use Norton 2005 on my laptop and have had no problems with it whatsoever. I loaded Norton 2006 on my desktop and it is terrible. I can't wait to get rid of it. Several years ago, when I tried McAfee, I encountered the worst customer service I have ever experienced, so they were out. I am thinking about CA's E-trust Suite or AVG Free when it is time to renew, but have made no decisions.

Bottom line is: based on my experiences, I cannot recommend Norton or McAfee to anyone.

keith

 

[rfreeouf]

Originally posted by Ron in Drums PA
<br />

Originally posted by rfreeouf
<br />The only thing that I don't use in the suite is the Firewall Software because I am behind a Hardware Firewall

You should use both.

My desktop is hardwired into the router. All ports are blocked on the router so I really don't see the need to duplicate the effort. Plus all the important documents on all my PC'S are encrypted. I also maintain good backups for recovery purposes.

My laptop I feel is a different situation. I use a the hardware firewall on the router as well as a software firewall. I feel in a wireless situation both is needed because of the chance someone could bypass the wirelss router and access the wireless network card on the laptop. That is why it is important to have the software firewall iplemented on the laptop. With the desktop they have to go through the router.


I also belive that in taking three basic steps in locking wireless network down. Set a Passkey\Password for accessing the network. Enable Web Encrytioonfor the traffic that will be transmitted on the network (Examples would be WEP, WPA AND WPA2). I recommend WPA2 since WEP has been cracked. Third is to enable MAC Address Filtering whiich only specifies the wireless network cards your want to access your network.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Originally posted by rfreeouf
<br />

Originally posted by Ron in Drums PA
<br />

Originally posted by rfreeouf
<br />The only thing that I don't use in the suite is the Firewall Software because I am behind a Hardware Firewall

You should use both.

My desktop is hardwired into the router. All ports are blocked on the router so I really don't see the need to duplicate the effort. Plus all the important documents on all my PC'S are encrypted. I also maintain good backups for recovery purposes.

My laptop I feel is a different situation. I use a the hardware firewall on the router as well as a software firewall. I feel in a wireless situation both is needed because of the chance someone could bypass the wirelss router and access the wireless network card on the laptop. That is why it is important to have the software firewall iplemented on the laptop. With the desktop they have to go through the router.


I also belive that in taking three basic steps in locking wireless network down. Set a Passkey\Password for accessing the network. Enable Web Encrytioonfor the traffic that will be transmitted on the network (Examples would be WEP, WPA AND WPA2). I recommend WPA2 since WEP has been cracked. Third is to enable MAC Address Filtering whiich only specifies the wireless network cards your want to access your network.

http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/3103431

 

[cozee]

Odd man out here. 3 people in our house online at any given time on any of 3 computers. We've been using PC-Cillin for 3 years and have no complaints. Started with 2002 and been going strong since. Never had it want to update 3 times in one day. About once a week with no problems. I greatly appreciate the frequint updates. I use Spybot to take care of the spy and adware. I have Spider in case something should ever get by PC-cillin but only need to run it to clean out the cobwebs!! LOL!!!

Switching to a server based system sometime after the first of the year. PC-cillin will be used then also. Going to try a few, uh, security, yeah, good name for it, an anti-hacker security program too! But don't tell anyone!![]