What's the Best Anti-virus?

UsernameIssues said:

Dallas 7 said:

UsernameIssues said:

I don't see any info from these comparison companies that address my concerns with their reports... but I still read them.

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I find it interesting that out of 23 AV products rated, only one group that I'm aware of has attempted to blame their low score on AV Comparatives' definition of a virus.......MSE.

In AV Comparatives' March 2014 Real World Protection Test, 23 products were tested.
Out of those, 22 scores ranged from over 90% to near 100%.
#23 scored 88.4% and was labeled "Non-competitive".
Number 23 was MSE.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/avc_factsheet2014_03.pdf

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The definition of what files deserve to be flagged matters to the detection rate test (File Detection) because those tests include files not prevalent the wild.

The test that you cited via that PDF is totally different. Those rely heavily on MSE's heuristics - which I've already said is poor. Very poor.

Back to the discussion on MSE's detection rate:

More from John's Book:

Malware is often categorized based on where it's located. Malware is said to be in the wild if it's actively spreading or otherwise functioning on anyone's computer. Malware not in the wild, which only exists in malware collections and anti-virus research labs, is in the zoo. Accurately determining whether malware is actually in the wild requires omniscience in the general case, so an approximation is used. An organization called the WildList Organization. has a worldwide membership of anti-virus experts who verify malware occurrences and report their data, which is combined to form the WildList, a (presumably close) approximation of the malware in the wild at any given time. Malware on the WildList is confusingly referred to as being In the Wild (ItW). As Figure 10.2 shows, this means that malware can be in the wild but not In the Wild, but something In the Wild must be in the wild. Hopefully that clarifies things. An argument can be made, from an engineering point of view, that the only threats that need to be detected are those that are in the wild, since anything in the zoo cannot pose a direct threat. Anti-virus software could potentially be made smaller and faster by only detecting malware in the wild, whose numbers can be several orders of magnitude lower than the total number of threats. From a marketing point of view, however, this would be a bad idea. If company A advertises that they protect against 100,000 threats, and company B's product only guards against 500 threats - even if they're really the only ones that are in the wild - then company B is at a competitive disadvantage.

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MS: "...94 percent of the malware samples not detected during the test didn't impact our customers."

Here is one (of many) responses claiming that the testing companies know best what is in the wild.

Microsoft's market share is #1 in North America & #4 World Wide. This puts them in a position to know what is in the wild. I just wish they would flag more of what they know about... like Conduit.

You are not going to find an AV product the gets along with Windows, drivers and other apps as well as MSE does. That said, it can be claimed this is because MSE does so little

While troubleshooting Windows issues, MSE will still be the recommendation of many here. People can go back to using whatever AV tool makes them happy once their issue is solved.


NoN, any more BSOD issuses?

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Very interesting discuss around here....I quite MSE because on my own opinion they rely too much on the minded end-users and are expecting them to be responsable of their acts and therefore having take upstream wariness to their OS install, though everybody should.....

@UsernameIssues, to answer at your request "any more BSOD issuses?".

No, not a single BSOD related to Bitdefender AV Plus 2014 since i mentioned in my first install five days ago. It seems having settle down quite well on the OS and doesn't bother me too much with popping windows.

I can Quick Scan & Full Scan now quietly. I would recommend before creating an exclusion list, to run a full scan!

I didn't have to apply the recommended Bitdefender support MS hotfix: kb2664888. My system was far more up to date with that file. The Bitdefender Forum have quick solutions to little probs at install.

Sometimes when on websites tagged by their engine, the "SafePay" bitdefender pop window appears. Their very tiny toolbar is hidden most of the time and i haven't bump onto a potential malicious web site as now.

With the "Wallet" that permit you to retain automated credentials, its entirely up to you entering your password at logon start-up, so it doesn't annoy you til' you decide enter in the "wallet" program with your password. That's cool!!

Real Time Protection make itself discrete.

I like their UI and it reminds me the AI Suite II mid & dark-grey colors kind of and MSE Green color either. Both melted is quite enjoyable to eyes!!

Well, will see further in time!

Hey NoN, interesting report on Bitdefender. It's a good product, Good luck.

andrew129260 said:

UsernameIssues said:

You are not going to find an AV product the gets along with Windows, drivers and other apps as well as MSE does. That said, it can be claimed this is because MSE does so little

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That right there ladies and gentlemen,

defines MSE.

Any questions?
I don't know why I asked....

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Nope, no questions.

andrew129260 said:

Some interesting information on what antivirus companies send info back to them from your machines:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/avc_datasending_2014_en.pdf

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That's kind of a freaky deal. :shock:

The US seems dead set on weakening AV suites, I wonder about other countries doing the same?
Strikes, fouls aplenty in 2014 RSA Conference boycott, MLB HoF vote

TrustyCon: Hypponen warns of government malware, loss of vendor trust

These "which is the best AV?" threads always end up going nowhere.

If a person once had a virus on their machine they'll never support the AV program they had at that time again, while if safe surfing practices have resulted in them never having had a virus they'll back their AV program to the hilt.

Then there's the wholly subjective angle. People have a favourite program for all manner of reasons, including the colour of the UI and how it operates. Look at all the arguments over the new MBAM, most of the complaints aren't about the extra time it takes to scan, or the BSODs, they're about the appearance of the UI !

It's like the old chestnut - AMD or Nvidia - all over again !

Seffrid said:

These "which is the best AV?" threads always end up going nowhere.

If a person once had a virus on their machine they'll never support the AV program they had at that time again, while if safe surfing practices have resulted in them never having had a virus they'll back their AV program to the hilt.

Then there's the wholly subjective angle. People have a favourite program for all manner of reasons, including the colour of the UI and how it operates. Look at all the arguments over the new MBAM, most of the complaints aren't about the extra time it takes to scan, or the BSODs, they're about the appearance of the UI !

It's like the old chestnut - AMD or Nvidia - all over again !

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My thoughts exactly. But people still re-hash the subject. :sarc:

Dallas 7 said:

Hey NoN, interesting report on Bitdefender. It's a good product, Good luck.

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Thank you...yes, they do have such good results in AV tests.

Britton30 said:

Seffrid said:

These "which is the best AV?" threads always end up going nowhere.

If a person once had a virus on their machine they'll never support the AV program they had at that time again, while if safe surfing practices have resulted in them never having had a virus they'll back their AV program to the hilt.

Then there's the wholly subjective angle. People have a favourite program for all manner of reasons, including the colour of the UI and how it operates. Look at all the arguments over the new MBAM, most of the complaints aren't about the extra time it takes to scan, or the BSODs, they're about the appearance of the UI !

It's like the old chestnut - AMD or Nvidia - all over again !

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My thoughts exactly. But people still re-hash the subject. :sarc:

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Oh well, better re-hash the subject with the hope its get better along people discussing their AVs...Might feel some better when choosing an AV.

I'm one that consider the UI as important as the functionalities & protection and I got merrily surprised mine match quite well my desktop Apps. I could have go for Norton but i have already used their product once, the same for McAfee (both felt too intrusive for me).

as I said in my last post, I think this category is dead, or at best 'on life support'. someone mentioned above the weakening of "AV Suites". duh. they don't work. Most of them always were spammy and dysfunctional. a few, very few [like 2 or 3] actually had some value, loaded with a lot of other baggage that worked as "interferenceware".

that someone in high position on the inside agrees with me isn't surprising, but considering the source, I'm not very happy about it. Symantec has never been the friend of safe computing in my book
Symantec exec says antivirus is dead - Gizmo's Freeware Forum
paste excerpt:
"Mr. Dye, who has spent more than a decade with Symantec, says it was galling to watch other security companies surge ahead. "It's one thing to sit there and get frustrated," he says. "It's another thing to act on it, go get your act together and go play the game you should have been playing in the first place."

Symantec pioneered computer security with its antivirus software in the late 1980s. The technology keeps hackers out by checking against a list of malicious code spotted on computers. Think of it as an immune system for machines.

But hackers increasingly use novel bugs. Mr. Dye estimates antivirus now catches just 45% of cyberattacks.

That puts Symantec in a pickle. Antivirus and other products that run on individual devices still account for more than 40% of the company's revenue. Specialized cybersecurity services for businesses account for less than one-fifth of revenue and generate smaller profit margins. It would be impractical, if not impossible, to sell such services to individual consumers."

I don't think that I've seen any original code from Symantec. They purchased IBM AV and several others to get into the field. I'm not a fan of Symantec/Norton, but I have to use it.

Norton/Symantec now owns VeriSign too.

AV detection rates

zapp22 said:

But hackers increasingly use novel bugs. Mr. Dye estimates antivirus now catches just 45% of cyberattacks.

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An interesting point. You might also like to read this article:

Ghost-Hunting With Anti-Virus

I've understood for a long time not to rely on antivirus programs or suites and boost security in other ways!

I was convinced a long time ago not to rely on AV apps too heavily when I started reading about the defcon completions.


..but I still expect the AV apps to be capable of preventing relatively easy to spot registry changes that are going to load a different shell (e.g. some ransomeware).

UNI, what are "defcon completions"? I know the military uses the term DEFCON 1, 2, 3, 4, etc to determine the readiness we are at.

Britton30 said:

UNI, what are "defcon completions"? I know the military uses the term DEFCON 1, 2, 3, 4, etc to determine the readiness we are at.

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See the middle of this post. I mention that same "six hours" story along with two other "non defcon related" links in this post.

I've been following defcon (and other similar conferences) for many years. I find the info fascinating and scary. If you google videos with the terms defcon antivirus, you can watch some rather interesting speakers.

Thanks UNI, the recent Heartbleed discovery points out how unprotected we really are. It was guessed to have been in the wild for 2 years at least.

Panda just started updating everyone to its new version 3.0.0

It looks good, and it definitely has a noticeable speed improvement. Only downside is they are removing their awesome data shield protection for the time being. It will be added in a future update.

I would run their uninstaller first to be sure you have no problems, then download the latest update.

Newest version info:

http://blog.cloudantivirus.com/2014/05/08/pandacloudantivirus30/

The new version includes important improvements in both its FREE & Pro Edition versions:

-Entirely new look and feel. More modern, more intuitive. Easier than ever before.
-Scheduled scans. One of the most demanded features from our Community. And now it’s available in the FREE & Pro versions!
-Rescue Kit. Extremely useful in emergency situations caused by malware infections.
-Automatic USB vaccination. This feature, which was only available to Pro users in previous versions, is now available for free!
-New Wi-Fi Monitor (only available in the Pro Edition). Find out if someone is stealing your Wi-Fi. The new Panda Cloud Antivirus 3.0 incorporates a Wi-Fi monitor that shows a list of all the devices currently connected to your network, helping you find out if there is an intruder on your Wi-Fi network.
-New Panda Account. An exclusive area where you’ll be able to download your products, manage your services, obtain documentation, get technical support through the new Technical Support Forum and, only for Pro users, receive personal VIP support via an online form. Additionally, you will be able to manage all of your Panda Consumer products from this area, as well as your Android devices if they are protected with Panda Mobile Security.
-Performance improvements to make Panda Cloud Antivirus lighter than ever.

Isn't Avast supposed to be the best Free AV? interested to hear everyone thoughts on this.

LOL, see the last 897 posts.

Given that Avast's forums have just been hacked, people may feel a tad wary of having them look after the security of their computer !

Britton30 said:

LOL, see the last 897 posts.

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I know avast forum was hacked but that can happen to any other so... wondering yet
also thanks for the recommended SuperAntiSpyware