AVG 9.0 great anti virus

[JMH]

WHS, I don't have an answer, I'm only saying what I see. As JMH said, it is subjective. On any given day, one A/V can perform better than another or one A/V will catch something another misses. On any given day, an A/V defs can include a f/p that quarantines Windows System files, resulting in an unbootable machine.

Thanks Corrine for the answer. I know there is no guideline hammered in stone. But with all the imponderable elements surrounding the AV area, I would rather rely on the findings of some professional organizations than on the whim of a few people - and granted, those organizations can have an agenda. That's why I read several.
As an example: with all the hype surrounding MSE I got dragged into replacing my NIS with MSE - and caught one trojan and one Browser Highjacker. That never happened with NIS. Maybe it is a coincidence, but it makes you think.

Precisely! One occurrence, for one person, is very important if the person is you. [You can't help but be swayed by your personal experience.]
Having read the available literature & exercising your judgement, you chose to switch AV's.

 

[whs]

whs, has Norton ever blocked anything on your PC(s)? How many times if any?

NIS never blocked anything - apart from the known problems with system restore. That never bothered me because I do not really use it, I do imaging.
But MSE was on the warpath with an innocent little video editing program that I use since years. I had to put the program .exe on the MSE exclusion list.

 

[Corrine]

On my home computers, I've used McAfee Corporate version (when the license the company I worked for included that option), Windows One Care (Beta) ESET, CA Associates, Avira and MSE. I'm currently in the beta programs for ESET and MSE. Of course they are installed on two separate computers. Although I've (knock on wood) never had a malware infection, the only software I had problems with was CA with too many f/p's and crashing my computer. So, is one better than another? In my experience, it would be user preference since I haven't had any malware issues to block or clean.

 

[Dinesh]

Im using Vipre 4 anti virus premium as I had some issues with the new Avira 10.

 

[whs]

Precisely! One occurrence, for one person, is very important if the person is you. [You can't help but be swayed by your personal experience.]
Having read the available literature & exercising your judgement, you chose to switch AV's.

JMH, after 50 years in data processing with most of the years in Operating System development, I have learned to approach these problems in an analytical way. But with the AV area being so dynamic and full of surprises, I am grateful if I can get advice from people like Corrine who know what they are talking about. Especially since I am teaching classes on System Security in my computer club, I do not want to feed these people with incorrect or half true information.
AV is a fascinating subject, but if you do not give it full time attention, you can easily get behind the events.