The free anti-virus software isn't updated as much and doesn't protect your computer as well as what is generally believed. Programs like NOD32 go above and beyond what is required to keep your computer safe. With a program like NOD32 you are only going to get screwed by a virus if you want to get screwed by one. The people who make it are constantly updating it, almost daily because that is what is required. There are new viruses created everyday, so the yearly price is required to keep up with the huge demand.
Best anti-virus program now?
- Thread starter The Dopefish
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But for the average users is that worth it? I think I have only every gotten about 3 viruses/virii to my knowledge and they were all found and deleted. No virus has every just maliciously destroyed my PC, and even so if you backup your data like you are supposed to, then if that 1 day in 5 years you get a bad one, then you can reinstall since it's probably time after 5 years anyway. 
Either I am just lucky to have never been hit with these so called viruses that pwn your whole computer and make it inoperable, or they are not as big of a threat as people make them seem (AOL commercials)
Either I am just lucky to have never been hit with these so called viruses that pwn your whole computer and make it inoperable, or they are not as big of a threat as people make them seem (AOL commercials)
Since we're on the topic of free security-type programs, how about best free personal firewall program also?
Hyrulian Hero said:
Well judging by where the antivirus took us, out of popularity, all you are going to get from this forum on that subject is probably ZoneAlarm.
My spyware killers of choice are AdAware and A-Squared Free (never rely on just one spyware killer, because one can often catch what the other can't and vice versa). My software firewall is Kerio.
I agree with ThirtySixBelow that paying for an anti-virus program is silly. Daily updates and a supposedly better AV engine (how can you prove that beyond the marketing blurb?) won't guarantee that a commercial program will perform any better than a well-known free program. AVG Free has never let a virus through in the time I've used it, yet it's updated about once every three or four days.
I agree with ThirtySixBelow that paying for an anti-virus program is silly. Daily updates and a supposedly better AV engine (how can you prove that beyond the marketing blurb?) won't guarantee that a commercial program will perform any better than a well-known free program. AVG Free has never let a virus through in the time I've used it, yet it's updated about once every three or four days.
I use:
CCleaner
Ad-Aware SE Professional
Microsoft Antispyware
Spybot - Search & Destroy
SpywareBlaster
IE-SPYAD
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm
SafeXP
http://www.theorica.net/safexp.htm
McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i + McAfee Anti Spyware Enterprise v8.0
Hostsman
http://hostsman.abelhadigital.com/
PAC File
http://www.schooner.com/~loverso/no-ads/
And the above two with Blackhole Proxy
http://s91363763.onlinehome.us/BlackHoleProxy/
SP2 Firewall
I think that's it.
CCleaner
Ad-Aware SE Professional
Microsoft Antispyware
Spybot - Search & Destroy
SpywareBlaster
IE-SPYAD
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm
SafeXP
http://www.theorica.net/safexp.htm
McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i + McAfee Anti Spyware Enterprise v8.0
Hostsman
http://hostsman.abelhadigital.com/
PAC File
http://www.schooner.com/~loverso/no-ads/
And the above two with Blackhole Proxy
http://s91363763.onlinehome.us/BlackHoleProxy/
SP2 Firewall
I think that's it.
Would I need the IE-Spyad or the .pac files if I use Firefox?
*EDIT: Oh, speaking of da fox, NoScript and Anonymouser and two good extensions for safer browsing.
*EDIT: Oh, speaking of da fox, NoScript and Anonymouser and two good extensions for safer browsing.
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IE-Spyad is only for, well, IE. The PAC files can be used with firefox though there might be some other things that can be used that are equivalent to it.
:tup: to thatZaccix said:
Incidentally, I seem to get updates to AVG almost every weekday; it seems like there's only one weekday out of the five each week where there is no update available...
SimplyCosmic
ERGO. VIS A VIS. CONCORDANTLY.
ThirtySixBelow said:
Yeah, what the hell?!
How dare those bastages think they should be able to charge for near-daily updates to combat new malicious software threats?!
What are they talking about when they mention that they still have to pay for a development infrastructure to receive and process incoming new virus reports and developers to create detection routines to accurately identify those new threats?!
How DARE they demand to be paid for that work!?!
SimplyCosmic
ERGO. VIS A VIS. CONCORDANTLY.
Zaccix said:
On the flip side, we see at least one machine a week coming in with infected with malicious software that got past AVG and Avast.
That's not to say that the free programs are horrible or that the paid-for antivirus programs are automatically better.
McAfee and Norton are system resource wasters that are just as likely to destabilize your system as they are to protect it. AVG and Avast tend to only protect against the more well-known threats and aren't updated enough against the less newsworthy threats that tend to act as open doors to bigger infections for my tastes.
I'm firmly in the NOD32, Kaspersky and PC-Cilin camp myself, though even there, you will always have at least one example of a machine getting compromised by something that slipped by due to whatever reason.
Those of you that are AVG fans should know that it failed the Virus Bulletin 100% award test in the last comparative. Avast! does much better. nod32 passed...again, so it still holds the record for the most "pass" scores.
A friend of mine turned me onto antivir is it really worth a crap or not. I get tired of having to update it everyday.
Most good antivirus programs can automatically update themselves, so you won't have to worry about it at all. Check your program to see if it has an auto-update capability.Condemnedhumanity said: