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Definitive Best *Paid* Antivirus 2012

Asked by goretsky,

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Favorite Paid AV 2012  

231 members have voted

  1. 1. Your Choice? (also see Continued, below)

    • Agnitum Anti Virus/Outpost
      3
    • Alwil Avast! Pro/Internet Security
      10
    • AVG Antivirus PRO/Internet Security
      0
    • Avira Antivirus Premium/Pro/Endpoint
      15
    • Beijing Rising Anti Virus/Internet Security
      1
    • Bullguard Anti Virus/Internet Security
      0
    • CheckPoint Anti Virus/Internet Security
      0
    • Commtouch Command Anti Virus`
      0
    • Comodo Endpoint Security/Internet Security Pro
      2
    • Dr. Web (Dialogue Science) Anti Virus/Security Space
      0
    • Emsisoft Anti-Malware/Internet Security
      2
    • ESET NOD32/Smart Security
      89
    • F-Secure Anti Virus/Internet Security
      1
    • Frisk F-PROT
      0
    • G Data Anti Virus/Interet Security/Total Security
      2
    • GFI (formerly Sunbelt Software) VIPRE Anti Virus
      0
    • ** Not on this list, see below **
      106

  2. 2. Your Choice? [Continued]

    • Hauri ViRobot/Internet Security
      0
    • IKARUS virus.utilities
      0
    • Kaspersky Anti Virus/Internet Security/Pure
      52
    • MalwareBytes Anti Malware PRO
      13
    • McAfee Anti Virus/Internet Security/Total Protection
      4
    • Microsoft Forefront
      8
    • MWTI eScan Anti Virus/Internet Security
      1
    • Norman Anti Virus/Security Suite
      2
    • Panda Anti Virus/Internet Security
      1
    • Softwin BitDefender Anti Virus/Internet Security/Total Security
      7
    • Sophos Endpoint
      3
    • SUPERAntiSpyware
      6
    • Symantec/PC Tools/Norton
      36
    • Total Defense (formerly CA) Anti Virus/Internet Security
      0
    • Trend Micro Anti Virus/Internet Security
      2
    • VirusBlokAda VBA32
      0
    • Other (please specify)
      5
    • ** Not on this list, see above **
      91

Question

Grand Master

goretsky Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

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

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99 answers to this question

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Grand Master

Nick H. Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

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.

  • 0
Grand Master

+InsaneNutter MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

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.

  • 0
Contributor

Princess Katie Pixie

Posted
Posted

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.

  • 0
Grand Master

spacer

Posted
Posted

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?

  • 0
Grand Master

Rippleman

Posted
Posted

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.

  • 0
Grand Master

+Warwagon MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

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!

  • 0
Grand Master

Seizure1990

Posted
Posted

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

  • 0
Mentor

myxomatosis

Posted
Posted

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.

  • 0
Explorer

fanel89

Posted
Posted

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.

  • 0
Grand Master

Seizure1990

Posted
Posted

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.

  • 0
Contributor

mightymightyme

Posted
Posted

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).

  • 0
Grand Master

remixedcat

Posted
Posted

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!!!

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