Windows 7: Help! Antivirus Gurus!

Hello,

I'm currently comparing antiviruses. My number 1 choice is ESET NOD32 and i'm wanting to use another antivirus to scan as a "second opinion", as we would call it if we were seeing doctors in real life, or watever...

Anyway, i was helping a friend with his computer, copied the files he wanted to save to my external, and my ESET caught some things on my external after cutting and pasting his items OFF of my HDD and back on to his (after i reformatted his machine). The virus seemed to have infected several other things i had on the external prior to putting his infected files on it (Such as drivers, and certain executables)

I want to make sure my external is clean and not infecting everything i plug it in to. I want to scan it with ESET NOD, and scan it again within a virtual environment (can't have 2 AV's on a single system, right? =) with a completely different antivirus.

I am doing this because i know one antivirus will catch what another will miss.

The only thing i am concerned about is false-positives. Don't like those.

Scan time, system resource usage, and paid or non-paid is not a concern for me. Which AV will most likely catch what ESET misses??

From google i have found the BitDefender is pretty good, and i know they've been around a long time. Norton i'm guessing will be the second most recommended, but which version? Endpoint? 360?



Thanks for all insight, and i would love to stay on topic on this one. "Which antivirus would be good to use as a secondary scanner and remover with ESET" and please no comments on "the best antivirus is a safe user" or "Don't click on anything you dont trust".

Hi,

Your question will get a lot of opinions based on personal experience/preference. So, in keeping with tradition, my recommendation is to consider using Malwarebytes. The paid version, in addition to the usual features such as being resident and auto-updating malware signatures, also has a good IP blocker that prevents you stumbling across malicious websites, and also provides a flash scanning option which I find useful for removable media.

Having two anti-malware products is not neccesarily a bad thing : it depends entirely on the two products. In my case I have both MSE and Malwarebytes resident, and have never had any problems. You can also add ESET's services to Malwarebytes exclusion list, and probably vice-versa in the case of ESET, to prevent coflicts between the two.

If you do consider using Malwarebytes, take the time to post to their forum (accessible from their website) and ask about any incompatibility between ESET and Malwarebytes : they are very good at answering those questions.

Good luck with whatever choice you make.

Regards,
Golden

Nice fast response. I actually do have malware bytes paid version and i have each program set to exclude the other. Of course, i still wouldn't scan at the same time.

I actually am hoping to get several different opinions from people with different perspectives and experience with different products.

Then i'll be able to easily pluck what i'm looking for out

Most people who respond will have a wide ranging opinions, so expect to see a lot of different answers.

Many people in the forum run Microsoft Security Essentials as their choice.

Malwarebytes is also popular.

You also have the option of going with the paid versions such as Norton. Which paid version of an AV is best, is also a matter of opinion.

False positives are, unfortunately, a part of life. They happen occasionally to any AV/Malware scanner and if you have any questions about a file, Google is your friend. Or the forum for the AV/Malware scanner that you are using might provide answers.

If you look at AV test results, don't be surprised if you find 10 different answers from 10 different tests.

There is no best anti virus except for the one you trust the most and have had good luck with. I use Webroot with Spy Sweeper and the built in Windows 7 firewall. I use many on demand, MAM, SAS, Secunia PSI are just a few.

You might also consider some on-demand scanners. Hitman Pro, Trend Micro HouseCall and Norton Power Eraser have good reputations for finding things other products miss. In the case of NPE, it pays to heed their warning: The tool uses more aggressive techniques, hence there is a risk that it will flag legitimate programs for removal. You should carefully review the scan results page before removing any files.

Hitman Pro 3 - SurfRight

HouseCall - Free Online Virus Scan - Trend Micro USA

Scareware Removal | Norton Power Eraser

People + AV's = A lot of different opinions and theories and bs. But a lot of people have valid points, and i'm always all ears.

I will definitely end up using those links that marsmimar provided. I've only used VirusTotal.com and they limit size and file types, and their definitions are usually out of date i think...

I've heard good things about MSE, and will check in to that as well (Why not?).

As of right now i'm using MalwareBytes (Paid), Eset NOD32, and Comodo Firewall. Within my virtual machine i'm using Avast. Once i get a chance to scan this "iffy" external with all of them i'll try and post something juicy.


Thanks for all the replies. Keep 'em coming. Ya'll are the it. LoL

Hitman Pro has a limit on file size and type. It also does not scan sub-folders.

Emsisoft Emergency Kit does not install and is known for a very high detection rate (and a high false positive rate).

The best free suite is most likely Comodo. The best paid is Norton 2011.