What's the Best Anti-virus?

[ICIT2LOL]

The BEST AV is the 6" gap between ones ears.
Use it or lose it!
JMHO as usual.

Have said this for years mate and yet the debate goes on I run Kaspersky as most will know and even given it's high ratings it still misses stuff and even though one might be vigilant everyday there is new stuff put out that unless one has ESP or has a mind reading capacity it is impossible to say any one AV suite is the best because pure logic tells me at least - like war if one finds that any certain deterrent to a weapon is devised then you can bank on someone countering that deterrent with a new way of delivering / using it. So in a sense this debate is bordering on to some extent being just an exercise in band aid solutions.

Having said that I will say there are certain AV's I would not use in a fit and in my mind are a total waste of time and effort.

I think if anyone follows A Guy's threads will find that he finds new threats of different complexities just about every day. We are stuck with this problem as long as electrons flow down wires

 

[zapp22]

Ears or not, you're subsceptible.

"Shamir believes that ransomware is an area where the security community failed "in a miserable way," because there are no good products to protect against it. And this is just the beginning, he thinks."

With ransomware on the rise, cryptographers take it personally | InfoWorld
[Dated April 24, 2015..]

one of my best friends is in a very sensitive position in gov't IT and we have this conversation regularly.
As said ad nauseum, the very term "Anti-Virus" marks one as a dinosaur. those days are gone, and the package du jour with them
The current crop of ransomware/crytopware/hostageware has no truly effective defense that is implementable by the 95% of connected users, be they PC, Apple-ware, mobiles, tablets, and soon-to-be appliances. Recent strains of ransomware in the wild are very well-done and in the vast majority of cases, there is no hope of one recovering one's system intact except to pay the extortion fees.

For the few that are really willing to work HARD at defense and/or short-interval recovery, there are a handful of measures that can offer hope, but who will actually stick with the rigor? few.

No one is immunized or immunizable at the moment - not the DOD, not high-security high-risk sites, not terror-target-list sites, certainly not you or I.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Don't know how this merged into ransomware conversation , most know there is not much you can do if you get infected with that .

The overwhelming majority of computer users need an effective AV program , they are much more susceptible to malware of all sorts without it.

Of course it doesn't mean your 100% protected but your a lot more protected than you would be without it. Most helpers on Seven forums run some type of AV but they are considerably smarter than the average PC user which is the biggest reason why they don't get in trouble nearly as much as other others.

They do know , however, that having a good AV is first and foremost in the fight against malware.

 

[ThrashZone]

I personally do not count on my antivirus to stop malware
I expect it to block viruses...
I count on mbam to do the malware blocking

 

[Layback Bear]

Mike I think the clue is in the name. You nailed it.

Anti viruis
Anti malware

Malwarebytes works for me also.

 

[A Guy]

To be honest, if AV programs are only trying to detect viruses, then they are doing things wrong. Most AV also detect other threats, with how much success is the question. I have Avast active, Avira for on demand. Malwarebytes Premium, and Superantispyware Pro active. Malwarebytes Anti Exploit, EMET, Zemana Antilogger. Emsisoft free for on demand. HOSTs file, etc. It takes a village, lol. A Guy

 

[andrew129260]

Jeez a guy your PC must be slow as ****. Lol. I wonder how much ram there all using...

 

[A Guy]

Nope, look at my specs, "only" 4 gigs of (admittedly fast) ram. Usually at least 35% free (it's there to be used). I can scan with multiple scanners, and make backups, etc. and no slowness. I understand all that security may not work for everyone, but it is what I have amassed over time, lol. To be honest, most of those programs do not use much ram when not running a scan. Only Avast is in the top 10 processes. I have never had an infection. I have had both Avast, and MBAM warn of web pages, but never infected. A Guy

 

[jonnyhillow]

A Guy , you use Mbam Pro in real time and Super Anti Spyware in real time? All the others are on demand , i like Emsisoft and Eset Online Scanner as on demand scanners . I have Kaspersky and Mbam Pro as my only two real time programs and surf using Sandboxie .

I also know my AV does a lot more than just deal with virusus , it warns of Phishing attempts, possible bad links etc... I refer to all undesirable things as malware , it's a very broad reaching term.

 

[ThrashZone]

SAS is really a spyware utility but does detect other stuff

A.Guy is a special circumstance not all will be able to know how to control all of the utilities from conflicts.....

I personally only have 3
mse
mbam pro/ premium
SAS Pro
Each of them are excluded from each other and never scan at the same time,
2 are set to manually scan
SAS is the only scheduled scanner I have,
I only scan with mse when it wants/ needs too = the icon will turn orange usually after a large update.

I periodically scan with mbam when I feel it necessary
Cheers.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I also know my AV does a lot more than just deal with virusus , it warns of Phishing attempts, possible bad links etc... I refer to all undesirable things as malware , it's a very broad reaching term

Yep jonny mate I have been using KISS for the last five years and MBAM Pro on the main desktop and free on the other deskies plus the laptops.

What I like about Kaspersky is it is really well rated and I don't know about where you are but here I get a price that equates to $0.035 a day and to me that is as good as free and comes with support.

The SAS I find quite a useful tool though because the KISS doesn't pick up everything and the current version I have has had a few bugs that has been very uncharacteristic.

I also like the other Kaspersky scanners too - TDSS Killer and the rescue disk both excellent tools.

I know I have quoted this site many times but for those who are looking for free stuff it is in my mind the best.
Best Free Antivirus Software They have changed the GUI a bit and it now takes a bit of digging around but a ton of good info and not just AV stuff and this is the AV stuff Free Windows Desktop Software Security List

 

[jonnyhillow]

TZ , i use to use SAS but before it changed it's look , i have not heard as much positive feedback from the newer one . I used to think it was great , had very good detection and often found things others missed , was especially good at detecting Trojans imo.

 

[jonnyhillow]

I also know my AV does a lot more than just deal with virusus , it warns of Phishing attempts, possible bad links etc... I refer to all undesirable things as malware , it's a very broad reaching term

Yep jonny mate I have been using KISS for the last five years and MBAM Pro on the main desktop and free on the other deskies plus the laptops.

What I like about Kaspersky is it is really well rated and I don't know about where you are but here I get a price that equates to $0.035 a day and to me that is as good as free and comes with support.

The SAS I find quite a useful tool though because the KISS doesn't pick up everything and the current version I have has had a few bugs that has been very uncharacteristic.

I also like the other Kaspersky scanners too - TDSS Killer and the rescue disk both excellent tools.

I know I have quoted this site many times but for those who are looking for free stuff it is in my mind the best.


Best Free Antivirus Software They have changed the GUI a bit and it now takes a bit of digging around but a ton of good info and not just AV stuff and this is the AV stuff Free Windows Desktop Software Security List

With you 100% ICIT2LOL, i don't pay full price for Kas , you can usually get it very cheap at certain times of the year. It is also very important to me to have an AV that consistently gets very high ratings and i have found Kasperskys forums and tech support to be very good.

They have a lot of good tools as you said but the main thing to me is i have not been compromised since using it so thats the bottom line.

I didn't check your link yet but is that Gizmo's freeware ? That is one of my favorite all time sites , just fabulous .


Ha ha ha , yes it's Gizmos , that site is amazing .

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep jonny I found Kaspersky at $67 for 3 PC's 2 year licence and I bought up three key cards so I am set now a for a bit LOL!! Plus I cannot think of KISS failing me yet the bugs have been the only issue/s but they get them sorted pretty quick and I find the support site in Melbourne real easy to get on with.

Yes I have often used Gizmo's stuff and I don't think it gets the recognition it gets.

The other two scanners I use from time to time as advice or myself if concerned when fixing for others are ADWCleaner and the Emsisoft Emergency Scanner the latter though I only use the Emergency and Command line scans.

 

[ThrashZone]

Interesting Avast detours downloads to CNet lol
Nice example there = priceless example to show people where to pick up pups.

 

[jonnyhillow]

CNET is atrocious , i would never download from there . From what i hear even ' Sourceforge" isn't safe anymore.

 

[compwiz02]

I don't use Kaspersky anymore, though I kinda miss it. I am using Avast Internet Security with Panda Antivirus Free. But I am stuck on what is the best team to use of to fight off all kinds of spyware, adware, and malware. Lots of different tools out there, Malwarebytes often recommended the most (and I have the free version of it) but I'm not exactly sure how top-notch it is in terms of browser hijacking and whatnot.

 

[jonnyhillow]

I don't use Kaspersky anymore, though I kinda miss it. I am using Avast Internet Security with Panda Antivirus Free. But I am stuck on what is the best team to use of to fight off all kinds of spyware, adware, and malware. Lots of different tools out there, Malwarebytes often recommended the most (and I have the free version of it) but I'm not exactly sure how top-notch it is in terms of browser hijacking and whatnot.

Your using Avast internet security and Panda anti virus ? Are you using one for an on demand scanner or running both in real time?

 

[A Guy]

It is an ever changing Field, but Kaspersky is always right near, or at the top. If one was inclined to pay for AV, it would be a good choice. A Guy

 

[compwiz02]

The latest virus bulletin results shows Avira with the highest RAP percentage score but I'm not really sure what RAP is. Panda has gotten some really good reviews and is supposed to be better than Avast. I got Panda running as an antivirus at the same time as Avast which is my internet security. Avast is pretty good with detecting programs. Like I said, I would always recommend Kaspersky....don't remember why I removed it but I like what I got now.