Definitive Best Antivirus 2009

[Barney T. Administrators]

An updated "Best Antivirus" for 2009. Please use this as a reference when researching antivirus utilities. As time goes on, the poll can be updated to add further options.

Happy Voting.

[Setnom]

Just bought Avira Antivir Premium, after one year with NOD32. Looked like the overall winner of all the features I wanted. And it was cheaper (~18 Euros against 27 for a NOD32 renewal).

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Actually, McAfee Associates was selling anti-virus software for a couple of years before Symantec Corporation acquired Peter Norton Computing, Inc. and introduced Norton Anti Virus. At the time, Symantec was working on their own PC-based anti-virus program, "Andromeda," but it was never released, as far as I know.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

I have changed programs many times through the years. If how long you've been using one is a qualifier as being an expert as some think, so they take shots at supposed fan boys, I've used them back when the only thing available was the original Norton and the original PC Tools. McAfee wasn't even thunk of then. Norton su**ed then and always has. I'll never get talked into trying it again. A couple times I fell victim to the, "Fred, it is really good this time" cra* and made the BIG mistake. Through my ISP I can get up to 7 copies of the registered McAfee Suite for free, one for each possible e-mail address, and I tried it and could not get it off fast enough. Again, I was told it was better this time and I tried it again and removed it again.

Right now I use a multi program attack with Avira as the main fighter. Maybe later that will change.

Earlier tonight I removed the ANTIVIRUS 2009 thing from my mother-in-laws laptop. The latest McAfee let it walk right by on to her system. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware cleaned it right up. I trashed McAfee from her system, just a couple hours ago, so my dislike for it is very fresh.

[Guest fruitcake]

Still using NOD32 and doing it's thing.

[Examinus]

I've decided to test NOD32 for the first time but it seems to use a lot of memory (around 40MB). I thought it was supposed to be light? I've also noticed a bit of a slowdown on my system.

I've come from using Avira Free edition, so perhaps I'm used to really light AV software?

[neoAndy]

kaspersky rocks ...\m/

[InPCHell]

NOD32 now has version 4.0.

Question, if I have a 2 year subscription for 3.0 that I purchased some time last year, do I have to purchase another license to use v4.0?

[TEX4S]

Because something is free is not a reason to say its the best --

Your concern should be "why is it free ?"

You think AVG feels sorry for you ? Its because the product sucks.

ESET 2.7 was awesome, now 4.0 is buggy

Kaspersky AV 2009 is the sh*t, forget about the KIS - its just as pointless as all other "internet security" apps

If anyone wants my custom config script - email me.

Norton may have a tiny footprint now, but its still the crap software its always been.

As for where I get my information, myself and a co-worker are constantly testing AV apps, and Kaspersky has been on top for almost a year now.

Best malware remover ? Malware Bytes by a long shot

There isnt 1 product that can do it all - but using a combo of things is the best way to clean an infected system.

Run ccleaner

MalwareBytes

HiJack This & ProcXP @ same time

If that doesnt get it , ERD Commander running ProcXP will show what is running "behind the scenes"

[PermaSt0ne]

Avira AntiVir

usually top in the tests and it's never slowed down my system. only using 744K for memory at the moment :)

[BeeJAyP]

I wouldn't call it definitive, nobody stays at the top forever, but right now Antivir has the top spot in my opinion.

[ZeusII]

NOD32 now has version 4.0.

Question, if I have a 2 year subscription for 3.0 that I purchased some time last year, do I have to purchase another license to use v4.0?

you can update without problems. anyways, I'm holding the 3to4 update as I'm seeing 4.0 has lots of bugs and problems 3.0 didn't have.

just like when 3.0 got released, wait 2-3 months so they can fix the major bugs and then update.

[techbeck]

I am using AVG 8.5 currently and never had a problem cept for updates failing a lot. I tried Antivir and Avast and here is what I think....

Antivir

Also, the popup ads when updating is annoying as hell. Yea, you can disable them but not without screwing around for a little while and "blocking" Antivir from displaying them. No a lot of options for what to scan when scheduling auto scan.

Avast

No scan scheduling at all. (that i saw) Also, I notice a performance decrease when doing a full system scan. This isnt an issue since there is no scheduling and I only run full scheduled scans on my main system.

With AVG I get more control on the auto updates and the scheduled scans. It also does not bog down my system when doing a full scan and is popup free. I have also been using AVG for a few years with no viruses at all. So AVG has helped continue my 10 year virus free streak. :)

[bbfc_uk]

I use Norton 2009 and I LOVE it! Its by far the lighest AV suite available and it constanlty comes top or near-top on AV Tests.

[fix-this!]

its a tie between nod32 version 4 or antivir premium.

[trevor18]

using F-Prot at the moment, seems to be doing well.

Used NOD32 before and i got annoyed with it

[Nthn./]

These are the best AV , and my favourite is BitDefender.

These people are the first AV developers who finds DownaUp/Conficker.

My list:

1. Bit Defender

2. Kaspersky

3. NOD32

[duneworld]

I've never seriously used anything other than Norton (mostly because that is what came on the first laptop that was my own). The two versions I've used are 2005 and 2009, 2009 is tons better than 2005. My sister tried NIS2009 on her laptop which is seriously old and took an age to start up and was really slow, apparently it is much quicker now since installing that. I havent compared them myself yet so don't know how true that is.

To those ppl who say that your brain is the best antivirus, can I ask you how you avoid the risks from things that occur on the internet without your knowledge. If I wasn't paranoid about ppl hacking my computer via the internet (or similiar) I would probably be able to keep myself reasonably safe on the net and therefore wouldn't need an anti-virus nor internet security.

[Mostly Corporial]

Avira AntiVir Premium does the job for me.

[techbeck]

I've never seriously used anything other than Norton (mostly because that is what came on the first laptop that was my own). The two versions I've used are 2005 and 2009, 2009 is tons better than 2005. My sister tried NIS2009 on her laptop which is seriously old and took an age to start up and was really slow, apparently it is much quicker now since installing that. I havent compared them myself yet so don't know how true that is.

To those ppl who say that your brain is the best antivirus, can I ask you how you avoid the risks from things that occur on the internet without your knowledge. If I wasn't paranoid about ppl hacking my computer via the internet (or similiar) I would probably be able to keep myself reasonably safe on the net and therefore wouldn't need an anti-virus nor internet security.

Using your brain is one way to prevent getting any crap installed on your computer. But even the brain isnt 100% fool proof. I always have protection since there is always someone out there that is smarter than you. So I keep antivirus on and periodically scan for malware...even if I havnt gotten any in several years :)

[jonhapimp]

i use avira antivir on my comp, and i have norton 2009 installed on another comp. norton has come ALONG way from being resource hungry with this version, i want to try out the gaming version. i've never used nod but i might try it since the rating is so high on the poll

[duneworld]

Just wanted to add that I only seem to get problems with Norton every few months or so, either by using up more system resources than it usually does, or complaining that it hasn't had an update in 12 hours or so, even though I quite regularly leave my computer off for that period of time.

[Crimson Behelit]

Looks like Norton patched in the 'Scan Now' context menu option for Vista x64.

[Plarkster]

Using the newly updated Avira Antivir 9 - works great and now with added adware and spyware detection!

[Scott Evo]

NOD32 all the way. :)

[YouAgain87]

Well I've used a lot of those AV's on the list. My personal opinion is if you're going to pay for an AV, go with Norton 2009. I was surprised at how well it performs in terms of detection and its usage of system resources. I've certainly changed my opinion of Symantec.

For free AV's, well I was using AVG 8 (now 8.5) since it was released and it generally worked well until recently when it failed to detect a virus. I almost lost my 12,000 word dissertation because it was corrupted by the virus. Luckily I had a backup. Then after a fresh install it once again failed me when it didn't detect the ise32 virus/trojan despite the new removable drive scan in 8.5.

I've now moved to avast home edition and I am thoroughly pleased. It not only has anti-rootkit protection which AVG free lacked, on both my desktop and laptop, idle memory usage has gone down by 10% with all the modules loaded. On my AVG I would only have the basic package minus the link scanner and email scanners. Plus the simple interface and faster scanning speeds which don't use as much resources are great bonuses.

As for AVG, I do love the nice colours and the interface in general, and it has served me well, but two major failures in a space of a week has undone several years of good service.

[+Warwagon MVC]

I recently switched from Nod32 which I had til April 14th. To Avast. I just wanted to see if my PC would seem to run better. So far so good.