Poll: Best Antivirus
- Thread starter Professor James
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Best how? Kaspersky is quite thorough, but also very heavy duty - I wouldn't want it on my PC because it would take up too much resources. I'm using Avast! at the moment and that's OK, as it's free. If I was going to pay for something, then I would probably go with Nod32. And so on. What criteria are we applying here?
I use Webroot, and it's quite good at picking stuff up, and it doesn't use too many system resources, to boot. It's got a yearly license fee on it, though, so I can see why it might not be for everyone.
Linux...
Anyway, out of those options I'm going to go for Windows Defender (providing you know how to use it). Malware Bytes is also supposed to be pretty good. Looking in the processes in task manager & your appdata is also a fairly good way of getting a general idea about your computer's health.
Anyway, out of those options I'm going to go for Windows Defender (providing you know how to use it). Malware Bytes is also supposed to be pretty good. Looking in the processes in task manager & your appdata is also a fairly good way of getting a general idea about your computer's health.
My bank gives me a free 3 computer license for Kaspersky every year, so I use that. It seems to do the job and as long as you tell it not to scan processes in realtime it doesn't usually affect performance.
This is as loaded a topic as browser wars, console wars, console VS PC, Mac VS PC, and so on. Ergo, there is no right answer.
Kaspersky has never let me down, although it IS a bit of a resource hog. Especially on this laptop. @_@
I use AVG, but this is indeed a loaded question.
All I know is that Norton releases bloatware and charges for something that should honestly be free. Basic protection from something that's as prevalent as potential viral infections, nowadays, should be free.
Not that my personal pick doesn't have its cons. The database is littered with false positives, and there's old games I don't have no choice but to crack that consistently register as virii. This means I have to shut down AVG until the next reboot if I want to be able to start the damn thing.
All I know is that Norton releases bloatware and charges for something that should honestly be free. Basic protection from something that's as prevalent as potential viral infections, nowadays, should be free.
Not that my personal pick doesn't have its cons. The database is littered with false positives, and there's old games I don't have no choice but to crack that consistently register as virii. This means I have to shut down AVG until the next reboot if I want to be able to start the damn thing.
Well that depends on what your criteria is. I like to use Kaspersky, but I wouldn't say it's perfect. Like others have already said it is a bit of a resource hog. However it is quite thorough and keeps my computer clean.
I use Comodo. It's free and it hasn't fucked up in the three years I've been using it. Which is good enough for me.
Currently, I'm happy with Avast. I was using AVG until I got fed up with the constant pestering to upgrade to the paid version. At least Avast has a "silent/gaming" mode that doesn't bother me.
No no, it's not there is no right answer, it's there are many right answers.FalloutJack said:
The best antivirus is the one you will actually tolerate and use. Doesn't matter if it's Panda, with its Scientology links, or Microsoft Security Essentials, with its constant and pathetic lagging behind in detection rates -- the one you actually use is better than the one you get pissed off at and disable because it annoys you, slows you down, or otherwise gets in the way.
Same can be said of browsers (I use Opera despite the occasional compatibility problem!), consoles, operating systems, you name it.
Anything that isn't McAfee, the software itself may be good at detecting viruses, but I could write a novel about all the problems and frustrations I've had with it payment-wise. I bought a 2 year subscription, then it ran out after one year, then when I tried to renew it for another year only to have it run out immediately. And I don't even want to think about what it was like trying to move it from my old laptop to a new one.
McAfee is riddled with glitches that coincidentally always fuck you over.
Right now I'm using Trend Micro Titanium, it seems to work pretty good.
McAfee is riddled with glitches that coincidentally always fuck you over.
Right now I'm using Trend Micro Titanium, it seems to work pretty good.
All right answers? You just made this even more confusing, but since I have no special retort, I'm going to establish some kudos here and move on.evilneko said:
I've been using AVG Free for a while on my desktop, quite lightweight, and reliable, switched from Avast! as it annoyed me.
My new laptop has the MS one on it, just to try it out mainly.
Norton/Symantec stuff is ridiculously resource heavy, and I don't see the point of anything else you have to pay for.
My new laptop has the MS one on it, just to try it out mainly.
Norton/Symantec stuff is ridiculously resource heavy, and I don't see the point of anything else you have to pay for.
Eh, I use AVG because it's rated highest at the moment... but in truth, Windows installations are disposable (to me). If it catches something, I have no qualms with nuking the drive and starting over.
All of the files I'm afraid of losing are on drives I have formatted in ext4. I think when I make a fileserver I'll actually backup with raided drives, but for now I just count on my luck holding. I've only ever had one HDD fail in the past 15 years (and it was a 10000RPM drive that wasn't being cooled properly. Totally my fault).
All of the files I'm afraid of losing are on drives I have formatted in ext4. I think when I make a fileserver I'll actually backup with raided drives, but for now I just count on my luck holding. I've only ever had one HDD fail in the past 15 years (and it was a 10000RPM drive that wasn't being cooled properly. Totally my fault).
Did Zone Alarm start doing AV software? I did use it back in the day but it was only a firewall. It was a bit too picky for me, though - by default it blocked lots of things - including animated GIFs on web pages (I didn't notice that for a while). After an update, it just went haywire and...seemingly lobotomised - I had kept it in learning mode until then and suddenly it remembered nothing at all and started bugging me for every single thing. I moved on at that point, though I assume the issue was fixed in the next patch or so. I've got COMODO Firewall Pro now and I'm happy. Does a good job and has stuff like sandboxing, so it's OK. I combine it with Avast! because I prefer to keep my protections separate to each other.Jasper van Heycop said:
And Windows Firewall is the first thing I turn off when I get a fresh Windows installation. It hinders more than it helps from my experience.
I'm not well-versed in computers despite spending most of my day on one, so for the longest time I was using the pre-installed Norton. After it pissed me off one too many times, I switched to Kaspersky and have been using it ever since. So far it's only let me down once. I got a bug that wouldn't allow me to access the internet anymore without inputting my credit card info (it was disguised as a legit windows security program but I'm not THAT dumb) that I got from funnyjunk, which is why I no longer go to funnyjunk. Still, I have had Super Anti-Spyware and Malwarebytes installed since then for those rare situations where Kaspersky doesn't catch something. It seems to cover all the necessary bases.
My Norton is using 5 MB of memory right now, which is barely on the radar, as far as I'm concerned. Not really resource heavy since the 2009 version revamp, and Norton has saved my hide on more than one occasion.Alfador_VII said:
And this is a recommendation from someone who used to swear Norton was in league with the devil, due to aforementioned resource-use issues.