Definitive Best *Paid* Antivirus 2014

[Marshall Veteran]

It's a new year, and a new poll for Definitive Best Antivirus. The 2013 thread can be found here.

This is a poll for best Paid antivirus, there is a separate thread for free antiviruses here.

 

If your choice of Paid Antivirus is not listed, please choose Other and specify in the comments.

[msr714]

F-Secure works well for me.

[djdanster]

Still rocking Eset Smart Security. 

[Luc2k]

This should be renamed to Definitive Most Popular *Paid* Antivirus 2014. No user actually tests all the options in the poll. It's mostly a case of "this works for me so it's the best".

 

This goes for other "Definitive" topics as well.

[Ambroos]

NOD32 by a long shot. I've tried most last year and found that NOD32 gives you very good protection at a minimal system impact.

 

In addition to that it's just nice to use. You get a ton of configuration options and when it detects something it's discrete about it and it still lets you take the action you want. I especially love the PUP-detection, takes out some toolbars and adware in installers that other antivirus software never picked up for me.

[Liana]

This should be renamed to Definitive Most Popular *Paid* Antivirus 2014. No user actually tests all the options in the poll. It's mostly a case of "this works for me so it's the best".

 

This goes for other "Definitive" topics as well.

Agreed. While I've used paid versions of Avast, Kaspersky, BitDefender, Panda, and ESET, that is over many years and I would never be able to compare current versions to one another.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Since Microsoft announced not to simply use MSE any longer I have been using Avast and it always worked out well for me in the past. I have a copy of the Eset Endpoint security I just have not installed it as it is just too large of a package.

[firey]

Using Nod32 here.  Don't download many viruses.. but if I do it catches them.

[Dane]

I bought a computer and it came with 2 years of Norton. It's really not bad. Better then years ago.

On my old PC I used KAV which seemed like it slowed down everything. I ran ESET. it was fantastic. Whenever my norton expires I'll go with ESET. Fantastic software.

[Boo Berry]

When my ESET Smart Security sub ran out, I decided to give Kaspersky Internet Security a try. I quite like it, so that's what I'm using these days.

[Dinggus]

Didn't think I needed one since I use OSX.

[Raa]

I have a copy of the Eset Endpoint security I just have not installed it as it is just too large of a package.

You can install and use a copy of just the Antivirus package using the full license (but not the other way around).

 

 

And this is my recommendation. (Y)

[The Evil Overlord]

Zonealarm here, but have been thinking about (trialling eset)

[vanx]

I am using Norton IS, because it is much better now than it was several years ago. I also get a free yearly subscription via a special deal. When that well dries up, I will evaluate ESET and, if it is better, I will switch to it.

[xrobwx71]

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-8/novdec-2013/

[rafter109]

Didn't think I needed one since I use OSX.

Don't be fooled by old marketing hype. OSX does not have perfect security and is susceptible to viruses. The problem with OSX is that because so many people have been fooled by this security "golden egg" that when virus outbreaks happen, they happen big. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and run something like ESET Cyber Security Pro or Kaspersky. They will offer you a very high level of protection with minimal impact on system performance. I have been doing computer repairs (specializing in virus removal) for over 10 years on PC and Mac and always cringed at the thought of one of my customers being without antivirus or even worse, having the false sense of security that the free products give.

[rafter109]

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-8/novdec-2013/

Glad someone else besides me looks at independent lab tests of AV products. Make sure you aren't making a decision off of just one test though. Often a product will look great in one round of testing but when you dig further, there is no consistancy. What might have protected you well at the moment the test was performed could leave you hanging high and dry when you need it most.

[John.D]

I would use NOD if I had to, but dont. Atm, I'm using the default program on both Win7 and 8.1. Used to use MSE in Win7 but it doubled the boot time, so bye bye to that. Avast, Mcafee, AVG, Symantec/Norton, Bitdender, Kaspersky. Doesnt matter what version you get they're known to crash. Most of the PC's I fixed (that were crashing), had one of these programs on it

 

I wouldn't call Malwarebytes an AV program

[Dinggus]

Don't be fooled by old marketing hype. OSX does not have perfect security and is susceptible to viruses. The problem with OSX is that because so many people have been fooled by this security "golden egg" that when virus outbreaks happen, they happen big. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and run something like ESET Cyber Security Pro or Kaspersky. They will offer you a very high level of protection with minimal impact on system performance. I have been doing computer repairs (specializing in virus removal) for over 10 years on PC and Mac and always cringed at the thought of one of my customers being without antivirus or even worse, having the false sense of security that the free products give.

 

Thanks, luckily I'm pretty safe about what I download or visit.

[rafter109]

Thanks, luckily I'm pretty safe about what I download or visit.

Anymore, it has little to do with how "safe" your online activities are. Just because you don't go to warez or pron sites doesn't mean you aren't open to exposure. Many of the virus infections occurring today are due to OS/browser vulnerabilities being exploited through malformed media files such as jpg, mpg, mov, mp3, etc. Heck, Apple systems have for years given Quicktime either system level or admin access and I have seen easily reproduced exploits involving tricking Quicktime into believing that an Apple Script file is a video, just to name a specific example. Think of the internet as a crowded room of people where most of them are carrying a disease. Stepping into that room without taking preventative measures is asking to get sick. It might not happen right away, and some people have been reported (although very doubtfully) to go for years without AV and 0 infections, eventually it will catch up to you. I have people come into my store on a daily basis with what they believe to be a minor issue where some websites won't open properly and they insist that they don't have a virus but when we check the computer, what do you know, they have quite a few. Many infections show little or no sign, running in the background without your knowledge, harvesting information, perpetrating DDOS attacks, sending spam, etc. These sorts of viruses are designed to be stealthy as to not raise any red flags to an unsuspecting user. While others are so blatant that only complete morons would fall for their tricks such as the ones claiming to be the FBI investigating child porn and if the user doesn't pay a few hundred dollars using a prepaid card (to make it harder to track) that they will be arrested. Its just foolhardy to run any computer without a decent AV program anymore.

[COKid]

Sandboxie. No AV needed.

[Cheryl_27]

This poll definitely has value. As Luc2k pointed out https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1194851-definitive-best-paid-antivirus-2014/#entry596201271,

it probably should be reanamed "Most Popular (Paid) (Free) Antivirus." It also isn't really "definitive." That doesn't mean it's worthless.

[nkumaran]

I am using Norton IS. Best Antivirus.

[ryoohki]

I haven't use one since 5-6 years, I'm the only user on the computer and know my way around the Internet, I scan with malwarebytes each 2 or 3 months just in case

[xrobwx71]

I would use NOD if I had to, but dont. Atm, I'm using the default program on both Win7 and 8.1. Used to use MSE in Win7 but it doubled the boot time, so bye bye to that. Avast, Mcafee, AVG, Symantec/Norton, Bitdender, Kaspersky. Doesnt matter what version you get they're known to crash. Most of the PC's I fixed (that were crashing), had one of these programs on it

 

I wouldn't call Malwarebytes an AV program

And in the event viewer displayed it was always (100%of the time) the AV that caused the crash? The 5 crashes I've had in the last year, according to windows event viewer was caused by Battlefield 4 not the AV.

 

I have used them all (free) and landed on Bitdefender for the paid one. Bitdefender needs major work on their UI. I switched back to Norton Internet Security simply because it's free with Comcast. (I used norton for years and it's always worked well for me.

[John.D]

Yup or a file belong to an AV program. You could usually tell if Mcafee was the cause. It usually crashes network related files, and one stop error that usually comes up is 0x000000d1

 

Previously Kaspersky was known to block webcams from working. Dont know if they've fixed this prob yet. I've never used it myself. The only thing I've used from Kaspersky is tdsskiller

 

I didnt say EVERY crash is caused by AV programs. But I do know that MOST of these do cause bsod's