Virus Protection

[zonianbrat]

Hi all, I seem to remember this discussion before but I think it was about free antivirus. Today I realized that I no longer have virus protection. I in the past have always used Norton I usually buy the whole bundle of stuff. I have noticed that on my past computers it has slowed things down. I have it on my home desktop (the whole bundle) but because I had the cpu built with alot of memory and ram it has not seemed to slow things down. My laptop no longer has anything for protection. My laptop also does not have alot of stuff slowing it down either. It is an IBM thinkpad T42. I just want to know what you IT guys and anybody else that has had good/bad experiences recommends. If I need to go and buy it from the store then it will be a few days. But if I can get it online then I am willing to buy it immediatly. Is there disadvantages to buying software online? Besides not having the disks themselves incase I ever needed to restore or simpy re-install? Like I said in the past I just go to the store buy the Norton bundle or 360 ( I think that is what it's called) Then I just install and go. I have never bought online virus software or even done any research as far as whether Mcafee is any good. So if you would please chime in with some advice I would appreciate it.

[wheel366]

I use and love the Symantec Corp edition. Doesn't have all the crap that the retail versions have. Doesn't slow my system down either. I have been using it since 1999. I've seen all the other brands: AVG, PANDA, Mcafee, etc... and don't like any of them nor do I think they do as good a job as symantec. I believe you can purchase the corp edition for home use. You just have to pay per client.

[94extreme]

avg is way better then symantec or mcafee, imho.

[zonianbrat]

Would you care to itterate on the subject mz? I have always used symantec. It has always worked but on my older computers it seemed to slow things down a bit. I should not have this problem with my new desktop and laptop but I just was wondering if other brands of virus protection are better in any way?

[wheel366]

People like what they like. I have been in IT for years and I find this works the best, for me. As for virus protection, I believe that they all compare and find the exact same stuff. It's not like anti-spyware software. One program will catch one thing while another gets something else the first one didn't catch.

 

I just find the corp edition to be easy to use, takes less resources than the retail products and does a great job at catching viruses. I know that with symantec, it will catch a virus in a file even when the file has not finished downloading yet. It also integrates will into outlook and other mail programs. Aside from that, it can scan 10 levels deep in a compressed file. There is also tamper protection offered now which works well, but can be a pain when some other programs try to scan it like Windows Defender.

[adamzan]

In my experience:

 

AVG Free edition - works great and doesn't slow system down at all, its what im running on my vista laptop now

 

Norton/Symantec - they work great for protection but if your system isn't the latest and greatest, it'll slow it down. The 2008 version is supposedly better though.

 

Mcafee - I used it for like a week, but from what i saw it wasn't bad, and my system didn't slow down that much.

 

Avast - Its free but it uses more resources than AVG

 

I've tried all of these on my toshiba satellite p200, 2ghz centrino/core2 duo with 2 gigs of ram and vista.

 

If you look for antivirus reviews on the internet you'll get a good feel for which is best.

[daftpup]

avg is way better then symantec or mcafee, imho.

ditto. I use the AVG free and it's great. Snortin Norton used to bog me down too much and I nevr tried mcafee. Seems like dialers and hijackers are the far greater scourge today.

[94extreme]

ok.. avg has cought things the other two never did.. i think semantec has gotten better though.. same with mcafee.. avg does bog down my computer some.. it depends what else i run at the time.. it is free and i have used it for a number of years now and have always liked it...

 

overall i'd say that using any viros protection is way better then none.. so use whatever trips your trigger.

[zonianbrat]

Thank you for your opinions everybody I am heading home today and will be going to get something probably tomorrow. If I dont use the free AVG. I guess either way it's free for me because it will be goin on my laptop and I will chalk it up on a company expense since I do use my laptop sometimes for work.

[msavides]

Thank you for your opinions everybody I am heading home today and will be going to get something probably tomorrow. If I dont use the free AVG. I guess either way it's free for me because it will be goin on my laptop and I will chalk it up on a company expense since I do use my laptop sometimes for work.

 

 

Dudes!!

Here is a good place for unbiased reviews

 

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/index

 

 

 

Try NOD32.

 

It is by far the best out there. Has the definitions update almost hourly, Uses the least amount of system resources. And has found viruses that mcafee, symantec,avg has missed.

 

We use Mcafee at work and it dogs down the computers. Uses like 30% system resources and Nod32 uses about 12%. I have been using it for about 4 years now and never had any issues with it

 

http://www.eset.com/products/compare-NOD32...competition.php

 

Try the free trial you will be impressed

www.esset.com

Mark

Edited January 18, 2008 by msavides

[NaturaTek]

As a professional Tech with 15+ yrs experience, listen to my advice.

 

1. Get ESET, either the smart security suite or just the stand alone nod32 antivirus. No, you can't get a copy from friends, you need to pay per year for a license that authenticates on their server. There are methods to defeat this, but I won't advocate them, just use google. One of the great things I love about eset, it's the small footprint on system resources and the powerful scanning engine. It will scan for spyware, malware, viruses, adware, etc. Excellent.

 

2. Or Mcafee Antivirus. BUT try to get the 'enterprise' edition. Leaves a much smaller footprint on the pc than the huge noob retail one.

If you get the enterprise, get the antispyware enterprise plugin.

 

3. Kaspersky is also great, in fact using it on this laptop for now. Same deal, you need a license that authenticates on it's server. You might just find one on google. I'm using the suite of Kaspersky and I find the firewall to overprotective at times. You can choose default, learning mode or ask as you go. I disable the firewall aspect of it and just use the antivirus engine. Also scans for all crap like eset.

 

Others that are good multi scanners is TrendMicro and BitDefender.

 

Also you can do free online scans, just google "free online scan", just about every brand will give you free online scan, just make sure they allow 'removal'. TrendOnlinescan is the best.

DO NOT go buy Norton 360 or Norton security etc..UNLESS you have massive amounts of memory 2gb minimum at least. Those of you that installed Norton will know what I'm talking about. Norton sucks up a HUGE amount of system resources dragging your pc nearly to a halt, not great for productivity.

 

People, you must realize, while virus exists, they are not really the threat anymore. The real threats now are spyware, malware, adware, trojans and all those other grayware types. Most antivirus do not scan for this. This pisses me off, when I see products that sell for 40$ that scans for viruses, then you have to pay another 40$ for a antispyware, then a 20-30 for a antitrojan, etc. If you have multitude of products simultaneously scanning, you will feel a drag in your system, taking the fun out of computing.

 

It would make more logical sense to have ONE engine scanning for everything and pay one price. Total effectiveness. Everything on the Net has servers everywhere with antivirus implemented. Example, next time you get that attachment from yahoo or hotmail, you'll see 'attachment scanned by mcafee or norton'. Viruses are real, but not the real threat. Majority of all my clients are 85% spyware infestations.

Use common sense, if you browsing the web and you come across 'CLICK HERE TO VIEW BRITANNY SPEARS PUS*Y" and it asks you to install something free in order to view her skanky ass, don't do it.

 

Any antivirus is better than no antivirus. However choosing the right one makes the difference. By the way, NOTHING is guaranteed to 100% keep you clean, read the fine print on all antivirus products.

 

For antispyware extra, I only recommend 3 products, SpywareDoctor, Spysweeper and all small unknown one called SuperAntiSpyware. I swear by that last one in tough cases. Small simple and efficient, even has built in repairs such as repairing windows policies, restrictions, etc, caused by malicious spywares. I'd say spyware doctor first, superantispyware then spysweeper. I believe PC Tools (makers of spywaredoctor) has now made a All in one. Scans for viruses, spywares, etc etc in one engine. I will install that on another computer to try it out sometime.

 

If you have nothing right now, PM me.

Edited January 29, 2008 by NaturaTek

[Simon]

Another good anti-spyware program (don't laugh) is Windows Defender. It actually does it's job!

 

Another good way to avoid spyware/malware is to use Firefox rather than IE. It seems some poorly coded spyware/malware won't run, or is blocked by Firefox, whereas, it can get past IE's basic security functions.

[Harbinger]

I'm running Norton Corporate on my system. It takes up a LOT less system resources than the other norton products.

 

Then again, I run Norton Ghost, and tend to re-image my system every 2 weeks or so to a clean install of XPP2. So I don't run into a lot of problems.

[Simon]

I'm running Fedora 8 (Linux) on my home machine. Don't really have to worry about those things as much.

[daftpup]

Another good anti-spyware program (don't laugh) is Windows Defender. It actually does it's job!

 

Another good way to avoid spyware/malware is to use Firefox rather than IE. It seems some poorly coded spyware/malware won't run, or is blocked by Firefox, whereas, it can get past IE's basic security functions.

Exactly...with a router!

[NaturaTek]

Windows defender is ok. It is free (if you have a genuine copy of windows), and in fact it is bundled along with Windows Vista CDs.

However same problem in my opinion, it only scans for spyware, etc, not viruses. So you would in fact still need TWO producs running, two different engines. My opinion is to have something using low resources, well coded, and a super scan engine with a reputable source. That is why I vouch for Eset, Mcafee.. They are companies built solely for fighting viruses, and have teams monitoring this kind of activity, including newer variants which go undetected such as rootkits and have better scanning options such as heuristics. Norton is very good in this department, however what kills them is their slow product. The corporate version is small and yet powerful.

 

The goal here is to have one program that is 1. Reputable 2. Small footprint/not a resource hogger and 3. One engine that scans for everything.

 

Linux and Macs are naturally great in repelling these nuisances. There are in fact some antivirus scanners for them, macs already have Norton/mcafee scanners. Every major brand already has a linux antivirus version available. Honestly I think they are overrated. I believe the more and more linux comes into mainstream and more popular, script kiddies will baddies that can infect in some way, just like the recent Linux worm that compromised more than 3,500 machines.

 

One of the points on Linux is that is free and open source. Buying protection is defeating the point. There are few free protection items made readily available to download for it.

[Kittamaru]

SpyBot S&D is a pretty decent anti-spyware considering it's 100% free

 

AVG Free has always served me well, but their virus definition updates lag occasionally.

 

Im' about to give ESET a test *grins* 30 day trial, if it's good... maybe... but that fee is kinda high Consider we have 6 PC's in our house... well, 4 desktops and 2 laptops (used to have a fileserver till the HD went poof due to age)

 

EDIT -

 

Hey, Natura... you scared the piss out of me...

 

installed ESET... and it completely shut down my TCP/IP connection... couldn't get it to reconnect for my life.

 

Uninstalled ESET... rebooted, and it came back on fine.

 

What int he world? It's manually configured to my router, everything is setup the way it should be... just ESET doesn't like me?

 

PS - using the smart security suite free trial

Edited January 30, 2008 by Kittamaru

[adamzan]

Hey, Natura... you scared the piss out of me...

 

installed ESET... and it completely shut down my TCP/IP connection... couldn't get it to reconnect for my life.

 

Uninstalled ESET... rebooted, and it came back on fine.

 

What int he world? It's manually configured to my router, everything is setup the way it should be... just ESET doesn't like me?

 

PS - using the smart security suite free trial

I have it on my desktop right now, the eset smart security, works fine for me it took longer for the wireless to connect the first time it booted up, but I don't think it was the smart security's fault.

[NaturaTek]

Yeah, that's about the drawback for normal users. If you install the suite, it has it's own firewall/proactive defense. It has 'levels' of protection, if you chose 'lockdown', it will not let anything access the net. Has the learning mode , basic, custom and other modes. Leave it at the most noob level. Try just the Antivirus Version alone instead of the suite. Or if installing the suite, just choose the antivirus. Personally I stick with the basic windows firewall and basic router. The only software firewall I ever loved was "sygate professional', damn, I loved it. And what happened, &^%*ing Symantec norton bought the company out and they tell all users to upgrade to Norton, bastards.

 

I bought a motherboard that has a built in hardware firewall that filters the ethernet port, which works cool as I can login into it and change all kinds of settings. Even then, I usually leave it off.

 

Try eset standalone scanner. You can also try out kaspersy and bitdefender. They all have standalone scanner and the suites. If you want Mcafee enterprise antispyware/antivirus.. pm me.

[Kittamaru]

Natura, problem is, it didn't give me any settings like that... the control panel gave me "ON and OFF" as the functions *scratches head* I'm pretty good with computers, and I can diagnose most problems... but that thing had me stumped... *shrugs*

 

I'll give the normal antivirus a try.

[adamzan]

Another one to add if its not in here is Panda Internet security, we have it pre-installed on the XP pro image the school gives us to put on the hdd and caddy they give us that we use to do our labs. It seems to work fairly well, and doesn't complain at me.

 

These are the options for the eset firewall kittamaru, is that what yours looked like?

Edited January 31, 2008 by redfinder

[zonianbrat]

Well I did not get to actively read all the posts in time. I told my boss that I am running Acquire-It occasionally on my cpu and that I did not have any antivirus. That was the day I was done with this well and going home for a couple of days. Day after I got home I got a package in the mail and it was Norton 360. I have since installed it and have not noticed my laptop runnning any slower. It is pretty new so I will just have to see. Besides it was free so I am not complaining. If it sucks then I got a year of slow ass putin ahead of me. When the subscription runs out, If in fact I am not happy with it then I will pull this thread back up and go with something else. Thanks again everybody for you input.