What is the best Antivirus solution for a PC? It's obviously not Norton/McAfee

[IronMentality]

These two guys spend more time marketing there products and making them look prettier than actually updating them. What is the best Antivirus solution for a PC, money is not a problem for me here.

[glc]

I disagree with the statement that it's not Norton. I have had no problems with Norton 2003. I do agree with McAfee having problems, as does Norton 2004. There is no "best" or there would be nobody else in business. Pick one and crosscheck it periodically with one of the free online scan facilities. The free AVG is as good as anything in my opinion.

Moved to the appropriate forum to join several other threads discussing the same issue.

[Kubie]

An A/V will only be as good as the most current updates offered for it. In most cases it all depends on the user. Check for updates regularly and run your A/V often or set it up on a schedule.
You would be surprised at the number of people that install an A/V and never get the updates. Then I get it to clean the bad stuff out. :rolleyes:

Carl

[glc]

You would be surprised at the number of people that install an A/V and never get the updates. Then I get it to clean the bad stuff out.

No kidding - "I couldn't possibly have a virus - my computer came from Dell with McAfee installed on it!"

Open it up and the engine and definitions are dated 1998. "You never updated it."

"Oh? Nobody ever told me I had to do that".......................

200 bucks later, the computer is running real nice and smooth.

[kram 2.0]

"Oh? Nobody ever told me I had to do that".......................

200 bucks later, the computer is running real nice and smooth.Seem that way too many times - my uncle's desktop computer had Norton from a while back and never actually updated it since 2000...shocker when he got the bloody blaster virus. Surprised he didn't contract any other viri since.

I agree with glc almost word for word - there is not "best" antivirus. There are some that catch some and others that catch others, and if defining "best" is by the number of viri caught, there is never a stable test. Technology keeps moving and viri makers keep up with it. Fortunately, not many viri makers focus on anything other than mainstream Windows OS - just used a Mac for two weeks and was more than surprised at how immune it is to viri as compared to the ordinary Windows OS...I know it's not completely safe, but safe enough for me.

As for one that I can recommend, <a href="http://www.nod32.com">NOD32</a> does a really good job at keeping stuff up to date and catching stuff. I can tell you that if you get it, the 40 USD you spend on this is well worth it. It runs on low sys resources and updates about every 12 hours.

Norton? Norton's good - as long as it doesn't hog up sys resources as it is known to do. McAfee...there's much to be desired about its...well, almost everything.


Hope that helps,
kram

[Markoman01027]

I use a combination of virus scanners; AVG, Trend Micro online free virus scanner , and System clean.

[Cricket]

Actually, the thing that you should be more concerned about is spyware and malware that gets installed on your computer from just cruising the web. It's a much bigger problem than viruses.

That said, any antivirus (except McAfee) and common sense should keep you safe.

:) Cricket

[kev7555]

>>>>seen that way too many times<<<

No doubt, GLC is right on the money with this one.

My own sister came up with this same statement about a month ago. I went over to do a quick system check for her (on just a hunch) and found her virus definitions to be four years out of date with no system scan having been run since the installation of the virus program.

"Oh, I thought if it had Norton AntiVirus I was protected".

After installing a newer version of Norton and updating I found 273 infected files.
Two hours and tons of spyware later, her system was running smoothly again.

Ever since that day I have been on a mission to make folks aware of what threats are out there and the procedures necessary to protect one's self from them.


-Kev

[IronMentality]

I know there is no best AntiVirus, but, it's obvious Norton and McAfee products do not perform to the ability of other competitiors out there. There products however, just look the prettiest and are marketed furiously.

Today I saw Norton products for _free_ after Mail-in rebates. I feel sorry for people who use Norton Internet Security because all it did to my system was slow it down, and offer the least amount of protection compared to A/V programs like AVG...

Not to mention mess up handfuls of websites I liked to access.

[kram 2.0]

Actually, I heard from a friend while I was up in Michigan that at one point, his computer was so messed up even with Norton, that Norton 2004 thought that MS Internet Explorer <i>was a virus</i> - how about that.

kram

[arubahounds]

Actually, the thing that you should be more concerned about is spyware and malware that gets installed on your computer from just cruising the web. It's a much bigger problem than viruses.

:) Cricket

Cricket: I used to get it all the time, as you said, just by cruising the web. But since I installed SpywareBlaster and switched from IE to Firefox I don't get spyware anymore. Or at least Adaware and Spybot aren't picking it up.

HT

[Carl Price]

Cricket: I used to get it all the time, as you said, just by cruising the web. But since I installed SpywareBlaster and switched from IE to Firefox I don't get spyware anymore. Or at least Adaware and Spybot aren't picking it up.

HT
There have been some who state that Firefox would have just as many problems if it was as popular as IE. To those I say "thats bunk"(worse expletives come to mind but I won't use them). I have given the matter some serious consideration and I have come to the conclusion that IE has it's problems because it is such an "EASY" target.
The spyware authors pick on IE cause it so blamed "easy" to write junk for. Firefox is not that easy and I believe it will never have 10% of the problems of IE even if it does become as popular. Even if they do find a weakness to exploit, it will be even harder to find one a second time.
This is just my opinion. Yours may vary.

[kev7555]

I just switched from Norton 2002 to NOD32. This one runs entirely in the background, does not seem to slow performanmce like Norton and updates itself hourly.

Give it a try.


-Kev

[glc]

it's obvious Norton and McAfee products do not perform to the ability of other competitiors out there.

It's not obvious to me, and I've seen them all at one time or another. I've even seen systems where McAfee works just fine with no problems, but I've also seen too many machines where it causes a lot of problems.

I feel sorry for people who use Norton Internet Security because all it did to my system was slow it down, and offer the least amount of protection compared to A/V programs like AVG...

Let's compare apples to apples. NIS is not an antivirus, it's a firewall and other stuff. I can't stand it either.

I am simply saying that as a STANDALONE antivirus program, Norton Antivirus is as good as anything. 2004 has too many bells and whistles, but 2003 does a fine job. AVG is excellent, but if a virus DOES get through it, it's pretty rough to figure out how to remove it, and the free version does not update itself as easily as Norton's automatic live update, it looks every 4 hours. It only checks itself once a day at a predetermined time (is your PC on and connected to the Internet at this time?) and only if you change the install default from checking once every 14 days to once a day.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to hype Norton, but I also think it's a bit unfair for you to condemn it too.

[Kov-Ice]

The September 04 issue of Consumer Reports magazine dealt with system security in one section. Best AV program was rated as TrendMicro's PC-cillin 2004. I believe Norton 2003 may have run second. E-trust was at the bottom. Spyware winner was Adaware, btw.

[cah28]

I just fixed a broken installation of Norton 2004, required manual uninstall procedure - tedious and time consuming. Oh yah, and it jacked up the DHCP service, here's the fix (http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/38031/38031.html) to that issue.

Chris