Community weekly poll: Which antivirus utility protects your computer?
- 2/22/07 1:55 PM
Mac OS-X keeps me virus and adware free!
by grtgrfx - 2/23/07 3:50 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Every time I get a spam-mail that offers to download a .exe file I just laugh. Ha ha ha, won't run on MY computer! Get lost hackers, I've got a Mac.
Changing my mind
by Old Chris - 2/23/07 3:55 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have always used Norton Anti-virus just because...old and established; but I have been thinking of switching to AVG when my subscription runs out and after seeing the results of the poll I will do just that.
Anti virus
by jcm4553 - 2/23/07 3:55 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I've used avg every since we have needed a anti virus program have never been infected.
AVG = Always Very Good!
by Jon McNamara - 2/23/07 4:04 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Used Nortons for years - until the program became so clever and convoluted that my computer spent most of it's waking life trying to check it's files ... so I switched to McAfee as someone said it was brilliant and trouble free - and it was for a year - until trying to upgrade it then it completely devastated my computer and ate all my emails in the process (actually it was probably my fault - but McAfee was the starting point!). So I switched to AVG and love the way my computer runs these days.
The price of AVG is impressive - but the functioning of the program is wonderful - I actually think Nortons and McAfee caused me more time and data loss that a virus would have done! Simple, effective and efficient - that's what I look for in a program - do the job and forget all the bells and whistles ... oh and keep the price reasonable!
Jon
Ditto!
by Robert K - 2/24/07 7:21 AM In reply to: AVG = Always Very Good! by Jon McNamaraI completely agree with you... to the letter.
Kaspersky? Look out
by ronnierealtor - 2/23/07 4:05 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had read great reviews about Kaspersky and it is very impressive and comprehensive when uploaded. BUT! I could no longer get into email, then other websites, then everything slowed by 50%. Tried to fix according to their instructions on Settings but nothing worked. I've uninstalled and will go with AVG as friends suggested.
Norton Internet Security 2007
by fmpdeveloper - 2/23/07 4:06 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Over the past severals years I have used or tried the following: Trend Micro, BitDefender, CA, AVG, and Kaspersky. Then last fall, I decided to give Norton a try after having shied away from them for several years. Much to my surprise, it did its job effectively, smoothly and quietly without any noticeable effects on my computer.
As a software consultant, whenever you find ANY program that does that, you should buy it and hold onto it for dear life. When you find a security program that does that, it is even more rare. And Norton '07 is that program.
Trend is Awesome
by bradmich - 2/23/07 4:06 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I've been using Trend now for 3 years with no virus issues at all. What made me choose Trend is that I was using AVG and I got trojanized, which took me 8 hours to fix. AVG Free - you get what you pay for.... I have also used McAffee, but it took over my machine and was impossible to fully remove when i wanted to use another program. In addition my company uses Trend corporately and Trend has given me 3 user licences for 3 years for the price of one for one.
Agree with Trend
by mbroekemeier - 2/23/07 5:06 PM In reply to: Trend is Awesome by bradmichI was using Norton, but my computer was slow. I asked my local computer independent store what to do to speed up my computer, and one of the things he did was to replace Norton with Trend. That was last year and I have a new fast computer now, and I stayed with Trend and changed over from Norton in the other three computers in our business. I haven't had a single problem with it. It updates fast (which Norton didn't) and doesn't pop up in the middle of something I am doing and knock me out of a program - which Norton did.
F-Prot from F-Risk for me.
by chrisENJUNSc - 2/23/07 4:11 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
For GNU/Linux home users F-Prot comes free.We also use the paid for version at work on Win XP.Fast and thorough scanner and easy to use,cost is low for business use.
I like it so bit of a plug for F-Risk and its worth that.
Best Wishes Chris.
I will second the vote for F-Prot!
by retiredtech - 11/23/07 8:35 PM In reply to: F-Prot from F-Risk for me. by chrisENJUNScI have used Frisk software's F-Prot (from Iceland) since 1989 when it caught one of the viruses that McAfee let roll right on through. I switched over our 800 computers and 11 servers and never have looked back. They also have had a great discount for educational use over the years. Now I am retired and am happy to pay the $29 per year for a very fast and efficient piece of software that is constantly update to run FASTER not slower like some of the major brands.
I've just gone back to McAfee after years with Kaspersky
by kriswa - 2/23/07 4:25 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It was a simple issue -- my Kaspersky license key kept being lost by the program, and that meant I wasn't regularly getting updates, so when it came up to renewing, I have decided to jump ship.
IMO, Kaspersky is one of the fastest and best protection against virii on the market, with the best response times to new virus threats. This ongoing technical problem meant I had to ditch it, for now, and find something else.
I tried dozens of different alternatives, and chose McAfee in the end. It offers the best value for money -- their VirusScanPlus gives you reliable anti-virus, anti-spam/phishing, and firewall in one product for ~$40/yr. It's also very fast for scanning and loading, although can be a resource hungry at boot-time.
A few of the others I tried include:
SymantecNortonAV - one of the oldest programs around, now one of the worst -- the most bloated and slow program, and not effective enough at picking up new threats, for my money.
PandoAV - very easy to use but had installation problems with WinXPsp2, that caused it to crash routinely, even after several unsuccessful installs, I had to ditch it. It offers good value, only IF you can get it to work reliably.
VET - years ago was one of the best products on the market until, like Norton and CA (Computer Associates), the company developing VET was bought out, and now nothing is spent on researching new virus threats. it is now abysmally poor at picking up virii in the wild, you are now better protected with a free product.
AVG - fast to load, not resource hungry at all, until you have to do a disk scan, at which point your PC will become a vegetable until AVG has finished, hours later. you could disable the scheduled scan, but that's not a sensible idea in the real world of broadband. IMO, this has the LEAST user-friendly, MOST ugly interface of any AV product I've tested. It's notably very poor at picking up virus threats in the wild. Their pay-version doesn't compare with the competition, however they do offer a free version if you're really desperate.
Some other free offerings included:
AVG (as above), NOD32, Avast - typically they suffer from poorly designed interfaces, (little surprise when unpaid programmers attempt the job of a graphic designer); don't offer active, real-time scanning, only an on-demand disk scan (this lacking makes a product 99% useless, since they aren't able to protect against any new downloads/removable disks inserted, or any websites you visit); slow to respond new threats in the wild (arguably the most important aspect of any AV product -- there are many websites that test/compare this statistic); in their favour, they are fast and use very little resources (largely since they really aren't actively doing anything) and they're completely FREE (it's for you to decide if, being able to use your PC and keeping all of your data, is worth less than $40/yr).
AVG Anti-virus choice
by hokiebob - 2/23/07 4:26 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use AVG Virus because it's free, reliable, and automatically updates without any effort from me. I used Norton's for many years, but had frequent problems. I gave up on it when the wanted an arm and a leg to update annually on 2 home pc's. The updates cost more than the original sales price that was licensed for both pc's.
Other anti-virus programs
by robinm_530 - 2/23/07 4:31 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I just recently canceled McAfee and started using Avast Home Edition 4.
AVG Anti-Virus
by rhomp2002 - 2/23/07 4:45 PM In reply to: Which antivirus utility protects your computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use a combination of the AVG Anti-Virus with Zone Alarm, Ad-Aware and Spybot. I also run Crap Cleaner once a week.
I found that even after I ran other anti-virus programs, when I ran the AVG Anti-virus, more items were found. When I ran the AVG first, the others found nothing.
Running the combination I do I have had no virus attacks at all. I used to use Norton and McAfee but I did have a couple of virus attacks with them. The current set of programs I use seems to handle it all and also does not seem to take up too many resources while I am using the computer. All in all, this is a win-win situation IMNSHO. The only one I had to pay for was the AVG. The rest were all free.
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