What's the Best Anti-virus?

ThrashZone · 24 Dec 2013

Imrankhan said:

For me. MSE does all the job without any costs. Its best for me.

Yea I wouldn't rely exclusively on MSE,
Malwarebytes pro is Mandatory,
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
And at least one dedicated spyware utility which can be a freebie version,
Superantispyware free is a good addition.
http://www.superantispyware.com/?tag=SUPERANTISPYWARE
Cheers.

indianacarnie · 24 Dec 2013

zapp22 said:

I have been a big supporter of AVAST for years, since they were the small upstart.
I have caused or performed the installation of many, many, many copies of their 'ware, many of which later turned to paid subscriptions etc.

I am getting to the point where I will NOT USE AVAST NOR RECOMMEND it anymore. Not because the underlying core product is bad, but because of an accumulation of small irritations.
1. They are becoming SPAMMY just like the worst miscreants in the space. Why did we learn to hate some of the "big" names? Because they left their diligence and expertise and began to simply treat the product as a way to cash-in... the product gets to be an unreliable yarnball with less scrutiny, while the marketeering takes over. I don't know of a way to interdict the spamming on AVAST. For an unsophisticated user, the barrage of spam is not merely annoying, but confusing. In the past, the appearance of a "flag" from AVAST could reliably be conveyed to a user to be a matter of importance, and it was easy to learn to sort the messages. That is clearly no longer the case.

2. The underlying product is getting more complicated and less reliable. The recent link-checking routines [Web Shield] deliver MANY false positives and immediately blacklist the link in question, creatting churn for the user. The average user will simply fail to deal with this effectively. Therefore the product is not recommended for average users.
Further, the product quality for install/uninstall is no longer reliable as it once was. Uninstalling AVAST, even using their own uninstall utility, is unreliable, leaves artifacts that are very difficult to root out. The team is not paying attention to development process discipline, apparently. This reminds me of Norton at its worst point, and the trendline is clearly troubling.

AVAST, you're fired.

Yep, me too. been using and recommending it to friends and family for years, but no more and for the reasons you stated. Switched to Bit Defender myself and am happy with it (so far).

Florida Rene · 24 Dec 2013

Imrankhan said:

For me. MSE does all the job without any costs. Its best for me.

MSE does NOT do a good job. I ran MSE just minutes before AVG and Mbam unearthed a major day-old infection that denied me all Internet Access. But MSE reported "no threats" when I sure had threats and spreading virus. You can check this thread for the full, ongoing story:

Virus Deletion Now Makes Internet Access Impossible

Fortunately, Seven Forums folks stepped up to help me dispatch the demons, which has not been an easy task.

But I must caution you to NOT fall into the trap of believing that MSE does a good job. In my mind, it does a totally lousy job. I have deleted it from my machine.

Seffrid · 24 Dec 2013

Florida Rene said:

Imrankhan said:

For me. MSE does all the job without any costs. Its best for me.

MSE does NOT do a good job. I ran MSE just minutes before AVG and Mbam unearthed a major day-old infection that denied me all Internet Access. But MSE reported "no threats" when I sure had threats and spreading virus.

Running MSE with another conflicting AV program is not a proper way of testing its effectiveness. As it happens, some of your problems related to your other AV program in the first place, although again it's unfair to judge that program when it was running in conflict with MSE.

Florida Rene · 24 Dec 2013

Seffrid said:

Florida Rene said:

Imrankhan said:

For me. MSE does all the job without any costs. Its best for me.

MSE does NOT do a good job. I ran MSE just minutes before AVG and Mbam unearthed a major day-old infection that denied me all Internet Access. But MSE reported "no threats" when I sure had threats and spreading virus.

Running MSE with another conflicting AV program is not a proper way of testing its effectiveness. As it happens, some of your problems related to your other AV program in the first place, although again it's unfair to judge that program when it was running in conflict with MSE.

Perhaps...

But I didn't run them at the same time. I got the latest Windows Update definitions for MSE, then ran MSE and waited until MSE was done, then updated and ran AVG, then updated and ran Mbam after AVG was done. So none ran at the same time.

Or, was that a bad procedure? Teach me. I've suffered enough and am wide open for guidance!

Layback Bear · 24 Dec 2013

Well Malwarebytes Anti Malware works with just about anything and that is good.
Having two anti virus programs install at the same time will cause problems. (MSE/AVG)
Just because you scan using one at a time doesn't help.
You must only have one anti virus program installed at one time.
The two anti virus programs will see each other and argue.
Pick one anti virus program of your choice. Then use the other anti virus removal tool to remove the one you don't want.
One anti virus program installed on one computer at one time.

Florida Rene · 24 Dec 2013

Layback Bear said:

Well Malwarebytes Anti Malware works with just about anything and that is good.
Having two anti virus programs install at the same time will cause problems. (MSE/AVG)
Just because you scan using one at a time doesn't help.
You must only have one anti virus program installed at one time.
The two anti virus programs will see each other and argue.
Pick one anti virus program of your choice. Then use the other anti virus removal tool to remove the one you don't want.
One anti virus program installed on one computer at one time.

Thank You!

I've already removed MSE, so I'll stick with AVG until I grow aggravated by all its notices. Thank you, and enjoy your holidays.

COMPUTIAC · 24 Dec 2013

Anyone try Total Defense internet security suite ?
My ISP provides it free for each 'puter.

ICIT2LOL · 24 Dec 2013

Hmm never seen that one Computiac but if I didn't have the paid fro Kaspersky which I still think at $0.13 a day is almost free I would go the Bitdefender free I tested it and apart from a few pop ups from time to time it is really good.
Free Antivirus Software - Download Bitdefender Free Edition

COMPUTIAC · 24 Dec 2013

Here is a brief outline of Total Defense : Cloud-based Internet Security Suite from Total Defense

Thank's for the link to Bitdefender, I've read it is very good.