Antivirus recommendations?
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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
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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.
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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
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
Stu
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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 -
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. -
Thanks guys!
I'll take a look at that link Remus- looks like a handy source of AV info.
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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.
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On the advice of our computer geeks, we've used NOD32 by Eset for years now, with no problems.
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NOD32
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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.
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Avast + Superantispyware + Glary Utilities = SAFE COMPUTER for free
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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.
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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.
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How about checking it out for yourself?
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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.
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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.
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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,
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personally i cringe at your choice, windows defender has a bad record. There are plenty of other free AV programs out there, a lot of them better than windows defender.
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@remus said:
personally i cringe at your choice, windows defender has a bad record.
What's your source? None of the AV comparison sites I've found have listed MS Defender. -
doen a quick search, and first of, its anti spyware, not anti virus, so thats why you wouldnt have found it on any of the comparison sites.
sources:
http://www.adwarereport.com/mt/archives/000091.html
http://www.download.com/Microsoft-Windows-Defender/3000-12771_4-10353597.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1926597,00.aspadmittedly, it doesnt get as bad reviews as i had previously suspected, but its certainly not the cream of the crop.
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