Definitive Best Antivirus 2011

[goretsky Supervisor]

[NB: Quick edit to fix typo in title as pointed out by the eagle-eyed SuperKid! AG]

Hello,

I have not seen a replacement for the Definitive Best Antivirus 2010 message thread, so thought I would create one.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[ViperAFK]

The new avast 6 has some impressive features for a free antivurus.

[mancode20]

I used to swear by Avast. It was amazing and saved me many times. Infact, the only thing that sucked is that it had a terrible media player like interface. That was back in version 4. I upgraded to 5 and loved the new look, but the early versions were causing computers to freeze. I got rid of it and have been using MSE ever since. I'm very happy with MSE, but I'm thinking of switching back to Avast for the simple fact that Microsoft STILL haven't fixed that annoying bug where icons of programs load very slowly within Windows Explorer. Will this bug ever get fixed? If it does, then I'll probably use MSE again. Fix it, Microsoft!!

[ObiWanToby]

What would you guys use for a server, I use Server 2008 R2 from dreamspark for just projects I mess around with for school.

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

I used to swear by Avast. It was amazing and saved me many times. Infact, the only thing that sucked is that it had a terrible media player like interface. That was back in version 4. I upgraded to 5 and loved the new look, but the early versions were causing computers to freeze. I got rid of it and have been using MSE ever since. I'm very happy with MSE, but I'm thinking of switching back to Avast for the simple fact that Microsoft STILL haven't fixed that annoying bug where icons of programs load very slowly within Windows Explorer. Will this bug ever get fixed? If it does, then I'll probably use MSE again. Fix it, Microsoft!!

It's not a bug. It happens because MSE is scanning those files. The icons are embedded in the EXE, so Explorer has to read the EXE file to extract the icon, which causes MSE to scan the file. So in order to "fix this bug", they would have to make the antivirus faster than it already is.

[Starbuck84]

This is just my opinion of course, but there's no best AV out there. It all depends on the type of user. Not only what they use their PC for, but also how they are able to handle all the messages an AV might produce. In layman's terms: it's a personal thing. Every package has its pros or cons. Like mancode20 described, some AV will clog down your explorer as they'll scan every single .exe file every time you reboot your PC. Others don't, they only scan your .exe files if there's been a change in the file itself. Why scan something twice? Others come with a great firewall, while other packages come with a hard to understand / difficult to set up firewall. The latter could be great for someone who wants control, but I know a lot of people who just 'want it to work'. Again, it's personal.

For me, I'm running Norton 360 5.0 at the moment. Got it cheap through work. In all fairness, if my license expires I'd probably go back to MSE. I like them both.

[Viper_Maniac]

Avast 6.

I use to use NOD32. Then a few months ago I bought Norton Internet Security 2011. I liked it alot except the fact it seemed like it was just sucking up memory. I kept getting errors about the OS running out of memory. I got it alot with CounterStrike: Source and also got it once when running FF, explorer and trying to open up Word 2010. Day of Defeat: Source would just crash when I tried to run it. None of the problems I listed would happen if I disabled it. I didn't like the idea of having to disable my AV just to use some of the things on my computer so I dumped it. Installed Avast 6 and couldn't be happier. Even got it on my laptop too.

[Tjcool007]

I've used Avast for a long time and am very happy with it.

Never had it blocking anything that it didn't need to block. :)

[+John. Subscriber¹]

MSE. Definitely.

[kachimasu]

Now using Panda Cloud AV Pro with 6-month free licence :)

[Night Prowler]

These type of threads always end up in silly arguments .... there is no BEST anything, only what works for you!

They are absolutely stupid polls and a waste of bandwidth. The OP should be made to install the antivirus that wins his or hers ridicules poll.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Well, there are numerous polls on similar topics (best backup, etc.) and this particular one, with over 100 replies, does seems to be popular. So, I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree on (1) this poll being stupid; (2) this poll being ridiculous; and (3) my installing the 'winning' product.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky (OP for this message thread)

They are absolutely stupid polls and a waste of bandwidth. The OP should be made to install the antivirus that wins his or hers ridicules poll.

[SuperKid]

I use security essentials from Microsoft still :D

Also anyone notice the title of this thread says Antvirus not Antivirus?

[JustGeorge]

Between NOD32, Vipre and Symantec Endpoint Protection, which one is the least taxing on resources? We're running decade old XP machines at work. Dell Optiplexes, 256~512MB RAM, PIII CPUS :(

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Fixed! Thank you very much for catching that.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

I use security essentials from Microsoft still :D

Also anyone notice the title of this thread says Antvirus not Antivirus?

Hello,

That is probably going to be difficult for most people to benchmark, given the availability of those systems, plus whatever legacy or proprietary applications they might be running which could affect the antivirus program's performance. My suggest would be to obtain trial versions of each program to do some testing, and see which one works best in your environment.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Between NOD32, Vipre and Symantec Endpoint Protection, which one is the least taxing on resources? We're running decade old XP machines at work. Dell Optiplexes, 256~512MB RAM, PIII CPUS :(

[Esfirius]

Kaspersky for me, 2 years and no viruses whatsoever :rolleyes:

[joe_banana]

using clamwin uses much much less resource no real-time scanning though.. but my pc boots in just a few sec!

[lalalalalalalala]

I dont think there is a super definitive best antivirus. it depends on the person, taste, if you want to pay money, if you find it cracked somewhere...

i have used, norton, eset nod32, also MSE, ALyac (even its korean only) and some others... but i decided to keep Comodo Internet Security, its free and there isn't like real needed features from the paid version to the free version. they are even giving a paid verion 1 years trial. but i dont need it much, since its most for people who are with wireless and if your comp gets a virus they say they pay for it...

But i like it, it has sandbox, which i like using for anything that isnt a real file i trust, i check in virustotal and even it says its not a virus i like using sandbox. it has a nice firewall and i love to play with it, specially if im with jetcast or something i like seeing whensomeone connets, i like how i can termine connection whenever i want. and maybe their antivirus cant be really called the best. but its free, and you dont need antivirus when you can run files sanboxed and dont get infected. i hate Norton after i installed a MMORPG update and it kept deleting the file because it was new... so i hated sonar. and comodo has something like that BUT at least it doesn't delete you can choose whatever you want to do, of course some people dont like questions... and sometimes it can ask too much. BUT when you have your programs trusted it almost dont ask, only the firewall asks.

so for a free internet security i think its good.

[Valcrist]

Psshh C.A. FTW, although my opinion may have something to do with the fact I work for tigerdirect/compusa.....

[+Elі Subscriber²]

I have used Microsoft Security Essentials for years, and I still install it on all PCs I fix as I believe it's probably the best Free AV out there, in my personal desktop however I have recently started using Norton Internet Security 2011 because I get it for free from Comcast, I didn't any use Norton products for years due to my horrible experiences with them in the past, however I must say that I'm impressed at how light in resources and feature complete this newest interaction of the product is, I might give the new Avast free a try though.

[Lexcyn]

Currently using Norton Internet Security 2012 beta ... it's actually pretty awesome and FASTER than MSE. Very lightweight RAM usage as well. So far I am impressed.

[XMatteX]

Now I'm using McAfee because it was already installed in my Dell laptop with a 15 months licence but, when this licence expire I'll install Avira Antivir free edition. I have used Antivir for 3 years and it was great because i didn't get viruses.

McAfee is good, but i think it's quite expensive. I've also tryed Microsoft Security Essentials one year ago but i didn't like it a lot, because it was a bit slow... but now I've seen it's one of the most used antivirus in the US and maybe I'll try it when my McAfee licence expires.

[Jojo81]

So what would you say is lighter on resources for gaming MSE or Norton AV (not the whole suite)?

[articuno1au]

In my (admittedly casual) tests (I did them about 2 months ago) I found it to be pretty close.

No noteworthy difference in games, but slight differences in benchmarks (3DMark etc). I'm currently using MSSE :)

[guitmz]

best av is urself!

norton detectoin rates are waaaay poor.

use MSE or avira for good free protection and stay alert to files u open

[jackkk1]

My choice - ESET NOD32, not the best in virus detection but lightest on system resources :shifty: Waiting for nod32 v5 final version to see if detection rate is improved.