Antivirus recommendations?

Jackson · 29 Jan 2008, 20:05

OK, it's time to kick off a thread about this old chestnut again.

I've been a faithful Norton AV customer for years, despite it's horrendous 5 minute start up time and all the usual criticisms from tech savvy types.... and I'm a sucker for their special annual upgrade rates.

So, I'm finally sick of NAV's crappy sluggish start up, even crappier customer service, monopolistic stranglehold and how insanely complicated the UI has become which has more settings to set up than I will ever need.

So, could anyone who knows about such things please recommend some alternatives? It must do all the important stuff that NAV does; I don't want to have to use 5 different open source freebies, one for trojans, one for spyware (I already use Spybot anyway), one for virus scanning, etc, etc. In other words, it should be a tried and tested all-in-one AV prog.

If anyone can give me a good reason NOT to drop NAV, I'd still be happy to hear your advice: I just want the right tool for the job.

Many thanks in advance,

dylan · 29 Jan 2008, 21:02

I run BitDefender on three computers at home and have done for several years now.
I have always been pleased with it because it runs quietly in the background and has a very user friendly interface.

A few months ago I bought a laptop which has Norton installed. I had to get rid of Norton, I really found it a bit to resource hungry, although im sure it would perform ok.
I decided on trying Kaspersky for the laptop.
It is a joy to run really, although what I dont like is its UI. It is not straight forward to alter things like some other apps are.

alan wood · 29 Jan 2008, 21:16

Hi guys,
Computer Pro magazine rated Kasperskyas top of their list, so I got rid of Norton that day and installed their top recommened product.
cheers
Alan

Jackson · 29 Jan 2008, 21:31

Wow, thanks for the very fast replies guys- this forum really is the best one-stop-shop!

Bruce- I must confess I'd never heard of MS Defender- I had a very quick look at your link, but it doesn't seem to mention anything about being anti-virus or trojan, just anti spyware/"unwanted software"- am I missing something? Your testimony speaks volumes though.

Dylan- so which do you prefer, BitDefender or Kaspersky? you're description of BD sounds perfect to me.

Alan- so what do you actually think of Kaspersky? How does it compare to NAV?

Thanks again, I really value your opinions

remus · 29 Jan 2008, 21:59

i perosnally use zonealarm, its a bit clunky on vista but the XP version is good. As several people have mentioned, kaspersky seems to get good reviews so i probably a safe bet. If you dont feel like forking out theres always the free option of AVG, you can download it here: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/us/frt/0 worth getting both the anti-virus and anti-spyware ones if you do go for AVG.

Stu · 29 Jan 2008, 23:20

Jackson,

I've been runnning Avast Home Edition [free] [and Spybot] for at least 6 months on a couple of computers at home without any problems. Previously I used Norton.

Avast seems to be the best recommended free AV

(www.avast.com)

Stu

alan wood · 30 Jan 2008, 08:28

Hi Jackson
Not had any problems at all with Kaspersky. The reason I bought it was simply because it had the best right up in Computer Pro magazine. They did comment that they felt that Norton was living on past reputations and had been well and truely overtaken by many other programmes.

There was a programme that came second on their list, but unfortunatley cannot recall its name. I'm not a computer wizard so on these matters I have to rely on those with great knowledge than myself.

cheers
Alan

remus · 30 Jan 2008, 09:00

if you feel like doing a bit more research theres a lot of information here: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/120448/kaspersky-antivirus-7.html
if you look in the drop down menun at the top theres a list of the ones theyve got reviews for.

Jackson · 30 Jan 2008, 11:46

Thanks guys!

I'll take a look at that link Remus- looks like a handy source of AV info.

remus · 30 Jan 2008, 12:48

indeed, theres quite a bit there, but it should give you an idea of what to look for if you ever have to take up the search again.

Daniel · 30 Jan 2008, 13:49

On the advice of our computer geeks, we've used NOD32 by Eset for years now, with no problems.

rv1974 · 30 Jan 2008, 14:29

NOD32

thomthom · 30 Jan 2008, 14:33

Avast!
Personal edition is free.

NAV is the most dreadded AV I've every encountered. It even buggered by DHCP service when I installed it. I was good, about a decade ago.

Didier Bur · 30 Jan 2008, 16:33

Avast + Superantispyware + Glary Utilities = SAFE COMPUTER for free

juju · 30 Jan 2008, 20:14

Eset Smart Security (has NOD 32 built in, but with firewall and wotnot else).

I heard that Norton 360 isn't so system intensive as the past products were, I never got around to test it though - went straight for Eset Smart Security.

rsw · 31 Jan 2008, 11:26

Another vote here for Avast! I've used this for a while now and haven't got any viruses (at least as far as I know!)

A while ago Comodo was recommended to me, although I'm yet to try it myself, but may be worth a look.

juju · 31 Jan 2008, 15:51

How about checking it out for yourself?

Jackson · 31 Jan 2008, 17:01

Julian, I think that site is a dummy site (not sure what the tech term is) i.e. doesn't actually contain any information- it just links from Google AV searches to AV sites (presumably for an advertising fee) and their forums had zero replies. Thanks in any case.

eeva · 1 Feb 2008, 09:50

i have been using antivir from avira on many computers for years now, and i can recommend it. it is a german product, they also have an english version. the personal edition is free.

Jackson · 1 Feb 2008, 10:36

Thanks everyone! I was just telling my boss the story of these forums yesterday- how @last created the SU forums 6 years ago and how for some strange reason they quickly became populated by the friendliest, most knowledgeable and helpful people out there...

and how after the Google buyout and demise of the orginal forums the majority of members migrated to Coen's SCForums, bringing their wisdom and spirit of goodwill with them. I can't think of any other forum where I can post almost ANY question and get at least a couple of intelligent answers... and sometimes a riotous debate!

BTW, after all your excellent advice I have plumped for Microsoft Defender cos a) it's my favourite price b) I figure (perhaps naively) that unlike Norton et al, it's actually in MS's best interest to keep my PC virus free rather than Norton's little trick of letting a trojan through once a year so I get scared into upgrading my annual AV subscription! c) the UI is a no brainer and since uninstalling NAV yesterday my system start-up time is 10 times faster and Windows Explorer and prog startup times must be twice as fast. So long Norton!

Cheers,