Poll: Best Antivirus

[Ringo_Plumen]

The best one I've tried is Nod32 to be honest, but as I don't wanna pay I just started using MS security essentials.

I haven't had a virus/malware warning or problem in years though, and I've also gone months at a time after reinstalling my OS without any kind of protection at all, nothing popped up after I did get protective software and did full scans, but I am generally very cautious on the internet, and have apparently been lucky enough to avoid situations where caution wouldn't matter anyway.

 

[lechat]

Used AVG for quite some time and was fairly happy with it. After a point though it started to become bloated and unnecessarily convoluted, so I dropped it and picked up Avast and I've been pleased with it since switching.
I also have MalwareBytes and SpyBot just for active scans.

opposite
used avast for years until it started to bog my system. switched to AVG and never looked back

 

[DoPo]

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?

Define Heavy.... I have it running on my PC as we speak, If you combine Kaspersky and Malwarebytes (Which I use in tandem) it is still taking up only 5MB of RAM..... (Steam and Firefox are taking up the lions share.... its at 32% out of 8 gig)

As far as my processor is concerned..... I have one core at 5% and the other three are fluctuating between 2% and 0%....

So I wouldn't call it a resource hog, considering my PC is 5 years old now....


Granted... When it is doing a full scan it is a REAL hog, but that only takes about 4 hours, and I do it every three days.... It runs while I'm at work, and I don't care how slow my computer is when I am not using it...

Hmm, maybe it's gotten better - I've seen it slow down normal desktop PCs before and a friend of mine finally had to switch to a different AV because of it. I know a couple of other people also had issues with slowdowns but were fine with them, so they didn't move over to anything else.

 

[Lovesfool]

I used to have BitDefender, but I felt it was a bit of a resource hog. Switched to ESET, which is relatively lite and quite reliable.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/avc_sum_201212_en.pdf

Bitdefender is by objective scientific metrics; measuring: file detection abilities, anti-phishing, heuristics, computer performance, ect.

 

[devotedsniper]

I always use the free version of Avast and I've never had an issue, granted I'm an IT professional so maybe it's not as good as I think but the only other AV I rate is kaspersky but when I used that it was a lot more resource intensive.

As for Norton and Mcafee I wouldn't touch them with a barge poll.

 

[Fayathon]

I run a cocktail of COMODO, Malwarebytes and Spybot on top of adblock (not here, I PubClub here) alongside NoScript. I refuse to use anything that requires payment as I can do a little more legwork and get the same performance or better for free.

As for Norton and Mcafee I wouldn't touch them with a barge poll.

Same, even if they're getting better about the resources that they use up they've still got a shitton of catch-up to play before I'll ever consider them for my machines. Like having a decent free version.

 

[Talaris]

During my 4 years in IT I've worked for companies that have used NOD32, Sophos, and Kaspersky as business solutions. Sophos in my experience was pretty terrible with prevention, NOD32 was good with resource efficiency, and Kaspersky which I'm using in my current job has the most advanced features in terms of computer management, but is resource heavy.

At home I've always stuck to AVAST for many years, never had a single infection with it installed. The silent option and resource efficiency is also great for gaming.

 

[jklinders]

I'm using AVG right now as it's free. My preference however is ESET Nod32. Lightweight, fast and pretty darn thorough. I'm too cash strapped to renew the license each year right now though. It's big selling point for me was that it did it's job without constantly feeling this needy need to tell it was and it stayed the fuck out of my way.

the best antivirus though is not being a blithering idiot in your web habits though. First defense is always user diligence.

 

[DSK-]

Avast and Kaspersky. I used AVG for many years previously until they got bought out and turned to shit, but Avast actually hurt PC performance when playing online and stuff.

I also use MBAM & Spybot.

 

[itsthesheppy]

I answered "Other" because you didn't list 'Prevention'.

The best antivirus is not to get a virus. Be careful out there folks.

 

[DanielBrown]

I've had AVG for several years and it hasn't found a single virus yet.
I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Anti-virus?

Spoiler: Never heard of it...

In all seriousness I've found most anti-virus software that isn't Norton or McAfee usually does the job. I been using Kaspersky on my windows install for 3 years running with little issue, although it does like to occasionally flag game launchers as malicious software. Before that I used Bit Defender which was serviceable if a bit system intensive.

 

[The White Hunter]

Linux...

You sneaky ninja you. Diving out of the trees and swiping the wind from my sails.

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?

Define Heavy.... I have it running on my PC as we speak, If you combine Kaspersky and Malwarebytes (Which I use in tandem) it is still taking up only 5MB of RAM..... (Steam and Firefox are taking up the lions share.... its at 32% out of 8 gig)

As far as my processor is concerned..... I have one core at 5% and the other three are fluctuating between 2% and 0%....

So I wouldn't call it a resource hog, considering my PC is 5 years old now....


Granted... When it is doing a full scan it is a REAL hog, but that only takes about 4 hours, and I do it every three days.... It runs while I'm at work, and I don't care how slow my computer is when I am not using it...

My PC is about 7 years old (GPU is 4 or 5..) and a dual core so... Yeah kaspersky isn't THAT hungry a beast when it's only idling and noscoping malware scripts as it does. A full scan is a surefire way to make everything run like arse though!

OT: I use kaspersky for my windows time and on Linux I just don't bother because nobody makes viruses for Linux because very few people use Linux.

 

[snave]

Norton and McAfee are bloated pieces of crap these days. And that's before I get into their business models.

IT Managers I've spoken to in the past couple of years have recommended Nod32 or TrendMicro.

In the free stakes for Windows home users, you've got three main players: AVG lopped off a lot of core functionality from its free product some years back. Avast! is still complete as far as I know, but has become really resource intensive and comes with a buggy, bloated client. MSE is lightweight and complete when bundled with Windows Defender, and probably my pick of the bunch.

Back in the pay category, dishonourable mention to AhnLab V3 for being the worst piece of shit rogueware I've ever encountered, yet sadly clocking huge sales globally.

* * *

Of course, prevention is always better than cure. Nothing will ever beat the potent combo of:
a) Not accepting USB drives from deadbeat friends.
b) NoScript.

 

[RyoScar]

I use Microsoft Security Essensials and Advanced System Care, never had an issue, used to use AVG but it kept calling Steam files viruses and nagging me to upgade.

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

So, Linux is indeed nice for avoiding viruses. For now, because it isn't a mainstream OS.

I spend most of my time logged into Windows because most games are for Windows, however. Well, games that make it to the PC.

I don't honestly know what is the best, but I use Avast like pretty much everyone.

 

[snave]

Worth noting that there are 3rd party analyses of the various items on the market out there. This one here seems pretty thorough, and includes the most important thing of all: the false positive test. Note that only MSE/Defender scores a perfect zero here. It's rather poor with zero day attacks, but when it shoots, it never misses. The assessments given all use it as a "default" state. Bearing this in mind, its worth noting that all the products listed hold some potential advantages over MSE in the protection stakes bar two: Ahnlab appears to provide no significant improvement upon MSE/Defender as a "default" state, whilst introucing a horrendous amount of false positives, and Symantec is outright objectively inferior in the March 2013 rankings.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/detection-test/

Note that rankings seem to fluctuate quite seriously between mere months, and between assessors and their respective methodologies, so if you really want a good overview, its best you have a peek through the archives of a few different studies and try to deduce a trend for a) the program you use and b) any product you're considering jumping ship for. Arguably the worst thing you can do though is to install multiple, as they can interefere with each other to the point that neither offers real-time protection (or can even simply crash Windows on startup).

 

[T3hSource]

I'm using the free Avira Personal.
It does it's job, but I now know from where I can get whatever I want and need without the danger of running into malware. That's the best anti-virus anyone could and should have.

 

[Xarathox]

Avast. It's free, unobtrusive and it works.