The Definitive "BEST ANTIVIRUS" thread

[MxxCon]

i'm so sick of these threads poping up every single week. so here's the one and only thread you should need untill the end of your life. moderator can modify poll entries to update.

BEST ANTIVIRUS

[Spyder Veteran]

I think the opposite about McAfee VS8.

I don't like it as much as 7.  Granted 8 looks better but in VS8 we lost whitelisting of scripts, exclusions, scheduled scanning options, logging, ability to completely turn of alerts for true silent operation, and gained the security center(plug for software you don't own), a buggy activeX base, and the program is tied to an email address(not that big of a deal).

So while 7 wasn't pretty I think it was better.

i'm pretty sure v8 has logging..i've seen log files? I know you can schedule a scan. As for the rest, I couldn't honestly say. I haven't had issue with any crashes or any bugs.. and the only activex component i've noticed it wanting to install is if you try to manually update the program. i just canceled that and let it autoupdate itself.

i've tried mcafee versions prior to 8 and there was always a noticible slowdown on my computer with vshield running in the background. For the first time ever (for me), with v8, the virus protection running in the background doesn't make my pc slow down. I honestly can't notice a difference. No virus software has done that before.

I dunno .. i like v8. its light, works well and has no noticible impact on my systems performance. I also like the little virus alerts and notifications it pops up.. the little windows slide up out of the tray like the little msn messenger windows do. i hated all previous mcafee versions, but since they junked all their old code and went with their new subscription based code, this one has impressed me.

/edit.. just wanted to add, to each their own. everyone's pc runs things differently and everyone has different likes and dislikes, so everyone will have their own "best antivirus". i'm just talking about my own personal experiences here, not that one way is right or wrong :)

[mAcOdIn Veteran]

McAfee VS 8 has no logging features, I defy you to show me where they are.

As for the scheduled scanning options, you can set a scheduled scan, what I'm saying is that the scheduled scan lost options. For instance you can't tell VS8 to attempt to clean-up first then quarentine or delete if clean-up isn't possible. It just runs. They took those options away.

But I run VS8 right now, it's fine I just want some of those options back. Why they decided to make it use activeX is beyond me, as I consider having activeX enabled is a risk in itself, and now even though I use mozilla I still have to allow internet explorer to use ActiveX and I hate that but it's a minor issue.

[coresx]

yes that's right and very fast too; but it's not very known as norton. I use nod, it has a simple and a very advanced mode ;)

I am currently looking for a new anti virus software but my computer is not that fast and only has 256MB of ram so I need a anit virus program which won't be a resource hog so that's Norton out the window.

How is Nod32 on system resources and does it slow windows start up ?

cheers

[Spyder Veteran]

McAfee VS 8 has no logging features, I defy you to show me where they are.

i'll try my best when i get home. i'm sure i saw a log file that it made. it was a txt file.

i understand now what you meant about the scheduling stuff. i guess if you used that previously, it would suck to see it gone.

anywho .. i'll look into that log file thing when i get home tonite :)

[memNOC]

I thought NOD32 was the best virus scanner out right now by a long way.

exactly.. 25/3 VB100 record (the highest ever), compared to Symantec's 23/6.. not to mention the extreme speed (my whole 120gb HD takes about 10min to scan completely), low memory footprint (from 5 to 10mb), and very small definition updates (to get the whole program up to date, you need to download 1.5mb.. after that it automatically updates itself with 10-20Kb on an hourly basis)..

i was extremely surprised of NOD32's performance.. you really never notice its there, thoroughly scanning every file that enters memory.. on my PIII-700 / 240mb SDRAM PC-133 / GF4MX420 PCI / 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7,200 having NOD32 on is like leaving foobar2000 playing.. the performance hit isn't noticeable.. all the contrary to when i had Norton 2K2/2K3/2k4 installed, when it literally brought my machine to its knees with its bloatware protection..

Norton isn't bad, but NOD32 is better.. proven fact.. and N32 being completely stripped of useless bloatware, straight to the point, inobtrusive, while still having eye-candy for a GUI (:cool:), are just extra features..

i hate to be cliche and geeky, but NOD32 > * . :yes:

[ramian]

Nod32 is very light on resources. When I was trying it out, I barely noticed it was there. Although I didn't get to try it out for long, I know it's very light on system resources. Very tempted to actually start subscribing to it instead of what I'm using now.

[coresx]

Cool, I think I'll give NOD a try later tonight.

Thanks for the impressions :)

[mAcOdIn Veteran]

anywho .. i'll look into that log file thing when i get home tonite :)

Good luck :)

I agree though it's still a great scanner.

[Spyder Veteran]

Good luck :)

lol thanks. i don't doubt you for one second that theres no scan logging in the program, but i could swear i've seen a txt file somewhere once before. maybe i'm dreaming

[Stingray]

Check out this one, free and with frequent updates:

http://www.free-av.com/

[devnulllore]

I just started using Avast! Anit-Virus and so far I am very happy with it. It updates every 6 hours or so and is very small. It uses very little resources but is as powerfull as most of the big ones.

I switched from Norton because of the HUGE mess they made with the 2004 version.

http://www.avast.com

[0sit0]

yea NAV2004 sucks big time and a lot of services running at the same time

[dreamthief]

exactly.. 25/3 VB100 record (the highest ever), compared to Symantec's 23/6.. not to mention the extreme speed (my whole 120gb HD takes about 10min to scan completely), low memory footprint (from 5 to 10mb), and very small definition updates (to get the whole program up to date, you need to download 1.5mb.. after that it automatically updates itself with 10-20Kb on an hourly basis)..

i was extremely surprised of NOD32's performance.. you really never notice its there, thoroughly scanning every file that enters memory.. on my PIII-700 / 240mb SDRAM PC-133 / GF4MX420 PCI / 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7,200 having NOD32 on is like leaving foobar2000 playing.. the performance hit isn't noticeable.. all the contrary to when i had Norton 2K2/2K3/2k4 installed, when it literally brought my machine to its knees with its bloatware protection..

Norton isn't bad, but NOD32 is better.. proven fact.. and N32 being completely stripped of useless bloatware, straight to the point, inobtrusive, while still having eye-candy for a GUI (:cool:), are just extra features..

i hate to be cliche and geeky, but NOD32 > * . :yes:

I agree NOD is GOOD. But i had a terrible experience with NOD32 therefore i ditched it and switched back to Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition.

Here's what happened to me, it was scanning my computer for viruses. Suddenly the virus notification pops out and displays several choices for me to deal with the virus.

Delete, quarantine and cancel (those standard stuff). Whatever i click, the virus notification box keeps appearing in an ENDLESS loop, rendering my computer useless. ENDLESS LOOP, even the buggiest Microsoft products doesn't do that.

I have to take the last resort and forcefully END TASK the process. Letting the virus loose. Restarted the computer and the infamous loop started again.

p/s Take note, NOD32 was at the latest product and virus definition.

I hate NAV 2003 as well. But Symantec Antivirus just does the job well. My University was having some software licensing agreement, bulk license. Students can get it at a cheaper rate. Actually it was nearly the same as getting the license for NAV 2003.

[Spyder Veteran]

@macodin.. just wanted to follow up to say you were right. I couldn't find any sort of logging. I know what I was thinking of now.. when I did a registry clean, I noticed some registry entries that were related to mcafee and logging. I confuzzled myself :)

[iwod]

Well........ Symantec AV is very good. So far i think it is even better and uses the same resources as NOD32.

One thing i remember is that NOD32 was so fast because it doesn't by default scan compressed file ( or something like that )

[UKer]

AVG because it's free and never had any problems with it at all, can't justify paying if this does the job personally.

[neonspyder]

Norton/Symantec hasn't failed me :)

[mcnelson]

AVG because it's free and never had any problems with it at all, can't justify paying if this does the job personally.

Yeah, I used AVG for a couple of years, never ever had any problems at all. Only reason I don't use it anymore is my complimentary McAfee subscription with MSN Premium. Must admit though, I'm finding McAfee buggy as hell right now.

[Andre]

Kaspersky all the way. NAV sucks donkey balls. It's a resource hog and doesn't find viruses in some cases, where KA does.

[metal_termite]

NOD32 :cool:

[LOC Veteran]

NOD32 wins everytime. You can't compare it to any other AV imo.

[Jon]

The results of this poll say a LOT about neowins readership IMO =)

[moeburn]

I work with viruses and security frequently. I watched the development of an extremely malicious trojan called Netdevil, it gained the popularity of Subseven with the power of HDKP. It took Norton Antivirus 3 months to be able to detect it, Kaspersky found it in about a week. And norton STILL doesn't detect it when its compressed with UPX, it hardly detects ANY UPX'd viruses. Kaspersky on the other hand finds them all.

NetDevil is dead now, so no need to worry about it, but there are more malicious ones than that out there, and Norton is never able to see them. Remember that most trojans will be self-extracting compressed in some form, bound to an exe, and silent in the processes. They can sneak past firewalls, and can hide in the startup of the registry (bind to explorer.exe). You aren't safe without Kaspersky.

[ad345zAdZ0d9_]

I work with viruses and security frequently. I watched the development of an extremely malicious trojan called Netdevil, it gained the popularity of Subseven with the power of HDKP. It took Norton Antivirus 3 months to be able to detect it, Kaspersky found it in about a week. And norton STILL doesn't detect it when its compressed with UPX, it hardly detects ANY UPX'd viruses. Kaspersky on the other hand finds them all.

NetDevil is dead now, so no need to worry about it, but there are more malicious ones than that out there, and Norton is never able to see them. Remember that most trojans will be self-extracting compressed in some form, bound to an exe, and silent in the processes. They can sneak past firewalls, and can hide in the startup of the registry (bind to explorer.exe). You aren't safe without Kaspersky.

blimey.... well sold! you should do their commercials :)

[moeburn]

blimey.... well sold! you should do their commercials :)

i like to advertise software i like.

...play infiltration