Which is the best?

[Night Hawk]

In the last couple of years you are now starting to see the AV companies incorporate more ingredients being adware/spyware even rootkit detection and removal protections into their products as well as the increase in internet security. Once you have the winning combination of programs that won't clash with each other then you have managed to acquire a multiple layer.

One of the best things however is the methods available for backing things up and imaging drives just in case something does manage to get through. You can always nuke a drive and restore an image if one is already made as well as restore a backup once a clean install is seen. But try to replace the unreplaceable files you might have that got infected?

Backup is that other additional layer!

 

[Petey7]

Backing up your drive to an external one protects against more than just malware. It also protects against hardware failure or theft. If your laptop get stolen and you have an external hard drive at home, at least you didn't lose the only copies of some pictures or documents that mean a lot to you.

 

[Night Hawk]

That's simply one of the side benefits as well as protecting personal and other data from "bugs" or simple file corruption to consider. If you are a student or simply on a tight budget and can't spend on a second drive(internal, external) but have a dvd burner or flash drives those also can save the day.

 

[Borg 386]

Well, the only reason McAfee is on the system is that it came with it along with the 15 month's of "protection".

MSE caught a couple bugs on my FD that McAfee didn't.

The school I'm going to had a virus problem they had a hard time getting rid of...and they were running McAfee.....nuff said

BTW , thanx for the link A Guy for the trojan simulator....I d/l ed it, it waltzed right past McAfee (no surprise there), MSE caught it 2 seconds later (before it was opened).

 

[Night Hawk]

The VIPRE Premium's firewall here won't even allow me to download that one!

Anything that even looks like a bug is simply blocked by the slightly "overprotective" firewall inplace which is good in itself.

As you saw for yourself some programs seem to get the worst reviews for offering the least amount of actual protection while also seeing where no one program alone will stop everything once again confirmed. Even with the firewall here I could never say it will be 100% foolproof despite being highly impressive so far.

Reality check time people! This is why various companies also provide special removers when their own main av and other protection programs are not able to remove or even protect against certain new malwares that come along. Malware writers are always looking for new ways to slip things through.

 

[A Guy]

I doubt any antivirus won't detect the Eicar av test these days, if no other reason than they specifically code them to detect it. Avast wouldn't let the download page load. A Guy

eicar | THE ANTI-VIRUS OR ANTI-MALWARE TEST FILE

A Guy

 

[si8mon]

Trojan Simulator

A Guy

I use Avast and the AV didn't even let me download me it. I also use Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware as on demand scanners.

I don't see why there is so much hype about MSE. I have tried it but i didn't like the lack of control and it doesn't get great scores in the AV comparatives test either. Avast on the other hand gives me loads of control and does relatively well for a Free av in AV comparatives tests. But then its just my opinion since everybody has their own reasons for choosing a particular AV.

 

[codyw]

Borg 386, just out of curiosity, what version of McAfee are you using? 2009 or 2010? 2009 doesn't seem to catch anything!

 

[Borg 386]

Hey codyw,

The McAfee that came with this was the Security Center Suite.

The Security Center is Version 9.15

The Virus Scan is Ver 13.15

The Firewall is 10.15

it's 10...from what I see on the reviews, the rating is "Fair"

 

[Wishmaster]

I tried Dowloading the Trojan Simular.
IE8 was urging me to stop.
Firefox allowed the Download NP.

However, it was a empty folder after unzipped. Not a word from NIS.
But looking in the log ...

I guess it continues to work. It just didnt feel the need to mention it for whatever reason.


Ive been really happy with NIS2010. It has done an excellent job for me, and really dont notice it running (as far as system resources)
It doesnt like tracking cookies either and promptly deletes them.

I also like the fact it doesnt contiuously rescan known good files, unless they change. Unless of course you tell it to scan everything. As well as when I go to play a game in FS, it goes into silent mode as to not interfere.

Everyone certainly has thier own opinion on whats "best". NIS would be my choice hands down. It hasnt let me down yet.

 

[Night Hawk]

I don't think you can actually find an actual "What's best" but only what works best in certain things for you that is. Just because one program has worked out well for one doesn't mean it will be the one best suited for someone else's own needs.

Another thing to note is how well the support is for each. A review can show one program leading and the following month a new definition for another program sees that excell past the previously best rated. And then something new comes along and catches everybody offguard! :mad2: "rotten bug!"

 

[A Guy]

Keeping with what Night Hawk mentioned..."something new comes along...". And it does, everyday. How often, and quickly your AV updates is important, as the bad guys are ahead of the curve. Much is written for those with little, or outdated protection, because that is the easy pickings. But there are still those out there coming up with new exploits every day.

Some kind of behavior protection is wise, as it doesn't need to be told this is something new, and bad, but rather it see's what is being done and says, "that is suspicious behavior, I will alert you to that". Takes some interaction on your part, but a good program will only alert on things that could at least BE dangerous. A Guy

 

[Borg 386]

What you all said pretty much sums it up.

It's impossible for any AV to catch everything, simply because of the factors, such as when a new bug is released, it takes time for the AV companies to respond with a fix.

Then you have the "minor" bugs, the ones out in the wild that aren't widespread, but still doing damage. They might get attention after the big hitters are taken care of first.

It depends on how fast your AV is going to work on the problem & release a fix.

For the most part, I think it's common sense that prevails. If you notice strange behavior, investigate it. And keep your defs up to date.

I have seen it, several times, where people have AV's set up on their PC's and they say "How did I get a virus with this running?", then when I check the AV Defs, I find they are a month or 2 out of date.

 

[codyw]

Borg 386,
I think that might be the 2009 version. Verizon gives that to their internet customers but I had back luck with it so I cancelled my subscription with it and am using Norton. Norton seems to watch the system more closely than McAfee did for me.

 

[Borg 386]

Hey codyw,

This came from Dell (the McAfee) so it might be 10 (At least according to the Virus Scan Version). Not that it seems to make much difference.

I basically did this to myself, because when I was selecting the PC, it came with the option of McAfee or Norton. I know Norton gets decent reviews and I used it in the past, but I heard and noticed from experience with it was bloatware (apparently they've trimmed it down a bit).

Unfortunately, I opted for McAfee because several reviews said it was improved and didn't consume as many sys resources. But reviews change month to month.

I regret my choice now. I'm thankful MSE plays well with it. I'll more then likely leave it in or if Staples has a special on Norton I might snag that & throw it on. I have the McAfee disk in case I should want to put it in.

Note: The install disk for McAfee says copyright 2008, so it probably is 9

 

[Borg 386]

Hey, while we're at it, I'm curious if anyone knows a firewall test site.

I've been to Shields Up, it says all good.

But I'd like a second opinion.

Thanx

 

[Night Hawk]

Hey, while we're at it, I'm curious if anyone knows a firewall test site.

I've been to Shields Up, it says all good.

But I'd like a second opinion.

Thanx

I know someone who runs security checks on web sites that may know of a good site for this. I'll make an inquiry on it.

Here's one site for home pc firewall testing found at http://www.firewallguide.com/test.htm

 

[Petey7]

I just tried on of the firewall test mentioned in the article. Right now I'm just using windows built in firewall and MSE. I felt like I should share the results. Note that I covered up my IP address, but normally it is shown to you.



EDIT: wanted to add that that site has many different test, but all are the same. Everything is in "stealth mode" according to the tests.

 

[Night Hawk]

I took a chance at the Sheilds Up site out of curiousity to see what it would show there and ended seeing precisely the same results. I can see why Borg 386 is looking for another independent test site.

 

[Petey7]

It's hard to find one that doesn't want a your e-mail address, for you to download something, or that actually works (the McAfee one only causes a error message, just like anything else by them).