Antivirus. Which to choose?

[Intsu]

Hey guys,

Today I thought that, what is the best AV software for my computer. What you guys think?
Fastest AV?
Best AV?
The most secure AV?
Much more.. Please, don't send me any statistic's I want YOUR's advice
I expect someone to give me a nice overview of AV's

Thanks,
Intsu

 

[Anthony]

I did use Avast for a while but it seems to be getting a bit heavy with system resources, have now switched to Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Unfortunately it's like asking what your preferred alcoholic beverage is, you'll get a ton of different answers. I use Trend Micro Titanium and Malwarebytes. By the way I'm a red wine, margarita and single malt man myself ! lol

 

[PaulSoebekti]

MSE for me.

 

[OldMX]

Avast! this round.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The most commonly recommended programs on this forum are probably Microsoft Security Essentials and Avast, with Malware Bytes often recommended as a complementary application.

The most recent versions of Norton have a pretty good reputation if you prefer to pay.

McAfee is the one most often NOT recommended.

There are dozens of threads on this topic in the Security section, available via a search.

 

[Intsu]

haha, nice linnemeyer For me i think i don't use any AV's because I'm not downloading crapp. no.. Windows firewall for me, lol

 

[Alejandro85]

For fastest, Avast is a good choice, I'm using it at work, but gives way too many false positives, and is full of advertisements.
The best I know is Kaspersky, I use it at my desktop at home and goes really well, but is quite slow and a resource hog, however it catches may viruses and has a good detection ratio.
MSE is nice because it doesn't has any ads (because it's the only I know that doesn't has a paid version), but lacks in many aspects and is not something I would recommend to anyone. Quite fast too.

Personally, I would choose Kaspersky if you want to afford some money for it. Otherwise stick with the free Avast or Avira.

 

[Skylais]

Avast put into silent/gaming mode

 

[Layback Bear]

haha, nice linnemeyer For me i think i don't use any AV's because I'm not downloading crapp. no.. Windows firewall for me, lol

With millions up on millions using a anti virus and firewall what do you know the other millions don't know. Please share so we all can learn.

 

[Alejandro85]

haha, nice linnemeyer For me i think i don't use any AV's because I'm not downloading crapp. no.. Windows firewall for me, lol

With millions up on millions using a anti virus and firewall what do you know the other millions don't know. Please share so we all can learn.

Maybe common sense? It's THE best protection and for sure does a much better job. But anyway, specially in Windows, I would really want to have an AV just in case, at the very least MSE to begin with.

 

[Layback Bear]

Alejandro85
You are correct, common sense is a very big part in security.
1. Anti virus
2. Firewall
3. Router
4. Common sense, (keeping the operator of the computer updated)
------------------
Four layers of protection.
I got 6 layers of protection. The Internet can be mean and nasty.
I don't want new users of computers and the Internet to get the idea protection is not needed.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I did use Avast for a while but it seems to be getting a bit heavy with system resources, have now switched to Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows

Same here. Many of the new features in Avast free were redundant or not really needed.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The most commonly recommended programs on this forum are probably Microsoft Security Essentials and Avast, with Malware Bytes often recommended as a complementary application.

The most recent versions of Norton have a pretty good reputation if you prefer to pay.

McAfee is the one most often NOT recommended.

There are dozens of threads on this topic in the Security section, available via a search.

Earlier versions of Norton were resource heavy and would throttle a computer. That's when I switched to the freebies. They were lighter on both my computers and my budget. I've actually have had fewer problems with nasties getting through than I did with Norton.

 

[M1GU31]

I suggest Avast,i've had the most luck with that one. Has a good web shield that works in the browser and a good detection rate and updates everyday automatically through the cloud. The other option I would say is MSE. Of the two I would say go with avast and if you don't like that then mse. Then along with avast use the windows firewall that is already in windows and have something on the side like malwarebytes on side and do manual scans when ever you feel like it and sometimes malwarbytes will find and remove stuff the anti virus doesn't catch. It's all free unless you pay to have the pro versions of both programs but the free ones are really good and pretty much do everything all ready to protect your pc.

 

[DirtRider]

Personally, I would choose Kaspersky if you want to afford some money for it. Otherwise stick with the free Avast or Avira.

I must agree for me this is the only one that I will go with. I have tried a host of the other free and paid ones but always seemed to end up with something getting through them.

For those using Avast do yourself a favour and also do a scan with Kaspersky house call or online scan and see what results you get back

 

[pincushion]

The most commonly recommended programs on this forum are probably Microsoft Security Essentials and Avast, with Malware Bytes often recommended as a complementary application.

The most recent versions of Norton have a pretty good reputation if you prefer to pay.

McAfee is the one most often NOT recommended.

There are dozens of threads on this topic in the Security section, available via a search.

Earlier versions of Norton were resource heavy and would throttle a computer. That's when I switched to the freebies. They were lighter on both my computers and my budget. I've actually have had fewer problems with nasties getting through than I did with Norton.

Over a decade of using Norton with not a single piece of malware and running as admin so perhaps it was you that let the malware through?

:huh:

 

[Francis93]

There is NO perfect antivirus. An antivirus may provide ample or sufficient protection but may degrade computer performance and vice versa. So it's best that you add extra layers of protection aside from your AV as primary protection: a firewall with proactive malware defense, backup (secondary) scanners, a sandboxing program, system tweaks and a backup-restore program. In choosing such programs, you have to look at its features first before doing a comparison and review. In selecting a firewall for example, you have to first look at its features whether it includes automatic (one-way/two-way) blocking, filtering and etc. This way, you will know how much protection can such software cater your needs. For secondary/supplementary scanners, you can have as many as you want to augment your AV detection rate for as long as you are capable of managing extensive updates and nags/warnings. You should also bear in mind that not all of the software you deploy are compatible with each other. One program may not work properly with the other. I suggest that whenever you install security software, you have to monitor its performance first. If it doesn't perform well then better uninstall and use software B. A sandboxing program allows you to run programs on a sandbox without affecting system integrity. I use it myself to protect my PC from viruses. You can know more about sandboxing here. Another way of adding protection is through system tweaks. Tweaks like UAC password, no autorun, etc. are very useful.

If you have the fear of losing your PC due to zero day malware attacks, then be sure to have a backup or image of its clean state for you to restore in case of an irrecoverable attack. Lastly, the best defense you have is your COMMON SENSE. It strictly implies that you must be careful especially when downloading software. The Internet is a vast place where we can have fun but we are limited from crossing to dangerous sections because of viruses in the wild. We should claim responsibility for the actions we take and not really put all the blame to our security layers.

Hope this helps.

 

[M1GU31]

That's some great advice Francis,another thing I would add is setting up your router firewall and setting it to be in wpa2 and set that you can't be pinged. Also in services you can disable remote registry so they can't modify your registry from another location.Also don't trust anyone trying to sell you services that seem suspicious like requiring you to install programs like Team viewer to scam you and give them access to your computer if you give them the code to connect through team view. If they are unknown then don't install this and give them the code because they will have access to your desktop and they will be in total control.

Don't trust anyone like that unless you know for sure who they are but you shouldn't have to install software like that to get a issue solved or anything else. Though team viewer is not a malicious program,it has been used by scammers who try to scam people who don't know any better unfortunately. The more you know about security in windows and able to see signs of infections,scams and are careful user when browsing the net not randomly clicking on ads or unknown sites ect. You should be safe if you take all these things into account.

Only you can make sure your pc is clean and cleaned when infected. Doing a scan with a anti virus,malwarebytes and tds killer for root kits once every 1-2 weeks doesn't hurt.Also checking task manger when you think something might be lurking in your pc can give away a unknown process and can help you find the malicious exe if the virus didn't disable task manger. There is also ways to get it back if a virus disables task manger or the registry so you can kill the process if you google enough. This article shows you how to enable them back if a virus disables them Enable Task Manager disabled by Administrator or Virus in Windows

 

[Intsu]

But, What do you think about AVG.. Like internet security 2011?