Definitive Best *Paid* Antivirus 2012

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

In the preceding Definitive Best Antivirus 2011 message thread, there were requests to seperate the commercial and free antivirus products. For 2012, I have created two separate polls. This is the poll for the commercial (paid-for) antivirus programs. For free antivirus, please see the Definitive Best Free Antivirus 2012 message thread.

Questions or comments? Post them here in the message thread.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[crawling_nanny]

Avira - Light, fast, efficient

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I'll probably get told to leave or something, but my question is genuine: why do people choose to pay for an antivirus system when there are plenty of free alternatives? In a business environment I can understand the reasoning, but for home use? The free alternatives seem to do just as good a job as the commercial options.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

Sophos - lightweight, not bloated with crap and works great without taking over your system.

@Intrinsica i agree, only used Sophos at home due to getting a copy of it for free.

[HighwayGlider]

Norton 2012 for paid,

MSE for free.

[Princess Katie Pixie]

So what is the best antivirus that you guys are using?

And what are your scanning times of each of your antivirus?

And do you really need an antivirus?

Let the debates begin.

[Reacon]

I doubt I need it, but I keep MSE running, because better safe than sorry. I scan once every few months with spybot, but that's it.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Personally I like Avast Free. I've tried MSE just never really been a fan, always seemed to be CPU hog.

[Flae_qui]

Kaspersky all the way for me

[+kpo6969 Subscriber¹]

MSE for me.

Scan with Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware when I feel it needs it.

[spacer]

avast! free

Using an anti-virus is like locking the doors to your home. Bad things can still happen whether you lock them or not; but, it's harder for such things to happen if you lock up. No anti-virus will keep you 100% safe, but it's easy and painless to use one. So why take an unnecessary risk?

[Rippleman]

for the last 4 years i HAVE tried something that has kept me 100% safe. I sure questionable websites, download tons of warez, keys, codes, cracks, play wow, surf porn etc etc etc and not once in 4 years has a virus brought me down... and i owe my thanks to Malwarebytes Pro (realtime version) and google chrome.

[+Warwagon MVC]

for the last 4 years i HAVE tried something that has kept me 100% safe. I sure questionable websites, download tons of warez, keys, codes, cracks, play wow, surf porn etc etc etc and not once in 4 years has a virus brought me down... and i owe my thanks to Malwarebytes Pro (realtime version) and google chrome.

Yep I also have Malwarebytes Pro. It's a beautiful thing!

[PurpleHaze420]

:shiftyninja: ESET NOD32 Smart Security :shiftyninja:

[Tom]

Best: MSE, Avast, Kaspersky.

Worst: AVG, Norton, McAfee.

[CPressland]

OS X. :D

But on Windows - MSE.

[Seizure1990]

Norton and McAfee are piles of crap. So is Trend Micro.

If you're going to buy AV, then get Kaspersky. I haven't personally seen MBAM in action but I've heard great things about it, and the free manual scanner certainly works well.

As for free, get Avast. The rest are mediocre at best.

Edit: In response to the above post, if OS X is an AV, then that one is crap too. :D

[myxomatosis]

I'v been using Microsoft Security Essential for about 12 months now. Quite happy with this antivirus, since it's free and made by Microsoft. It's light, non intrusive, fast, updated regularly and won't slow down your system

Was using NOD32 before switching to MSE because I won a license, and I was happy with the product too, but it's not free and my license was expired.

Anyway the best antivirus will always be the user and his/her judgement.

[fanel89]

I've been using Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition and currently its successor, Symantec Endpoint Protection. It negatively affects the start-up time of my laptop but once it's up and running, it's fine. Never had problems, I visit questionable sites with malware and it would provide great protection.

[COKid]

So, what does the OP use? Me, I use a combo of MSE and Sandboxie.

[Seizure1990]

I've been using Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition and currently its successor, Symantec Endpoint Protection. It negatively affects the start-up time of my laptop but once it's up and running, it's fine. Never had problems, I visit questionable sites with malware and it would provide great protection.

In truth, this is my FAVORITE AV but I can't really recommend it to the average user, since it's a bit more advanced as far as configuration and maintenance goes.

Having said that, it's a rare occasion for something to get past it.

[mightymightyme]

I keep a locked down VM if I ever need to access anything from an unsavory source, I verify its clean, take out of the VM and reset the VM back to default image. I run MSE on my system just to be sure. Saying you don't run an antivirus and don't have any viruses, is like saying you don't have cancer because you don't feel like you have cancer (at least on Windows anyways).

[satukoro]

I've been using MSE/Defender after Avast. I ran Avast for a few years with no issues whatsoever, but when I installed Windows 8 DP, I found Defender to do the job quite well.

[remixedcat]

Sophos has been outstanding for me. very low profile and not annoying client that's kept me pretty safe.

the worst was macafee and avast. macafee wouldn't be able to catch the crook if he ran down with the murder weapon and the head of the person screaming "I killed her!" right at the police station!!!

and avast and it's annoying setting of screaming in the middle of the night"YOUR VIRUS DEFINITIONS HAVE BEEN UPDATED!!!!" or "THERE IS AN UPDATE FOR YOUR SOFTWARE" seriously... they should have not made it do that by default!!!

[theclueless]

best antivirus: your brain

worst antivirus: your hand

[wahoospa]

1 Dell laptop with SuperAntiSpyware

1 Toshiba laptop with MSE

1 Compaq laptop with MSE

1 HP laptop with MSE

1 HP desktop with MSE

1 Heinz 57 desktop with MSE.