Good Anti-Virus

[Evill_Bob]

Thanks guys, I'll start sorting through and finding a good one. Norton 360 and Norton... err... something or another... can't remember in my buzzed state... just don't work well for me anymore...

Just as soon as I'm sober...

 

[Snaps_Provolone]

I like AVG, it is free and it does seem to work well with Firefox and Outlook.

 

[Hunter]

I've just brought NOD32 for a year, will probably keep going as well after that.

I've just gone up to Vista 64-bit and had enough of AVG and have heard loads of great things about NOD32, hopefully it'll live up to expectations as they even do a 64-bit install

 

[Crowze]

I'm getting a big fed up with AVG myself, it's gone downhill since version 8 which is annoyingly intrusive and has recently stopped updating itself for no apparent reason. The other issue is I'm still using Windows Firewall, which seems good enough but ideally I'd like a little more control - previously I'd been using Sygate (shame they were bought out and shut down by Symantec otherwise I'd still be using it). So, can anyone recommend a decent antivirus/firewall package, or is it still worth buying separately?

 

[IronMan(Erie)]

I was an AVG user for many years and since version 8 came out I've been put off by it. It's still a good AV but too bloated and has more features than I wanted. When it was just an anti-virus it was great, but once it added other built-in protections it got crappy and slowed down the system. I then went in search of another free AV product (my wife uses NOD32 and I recommend it if you want to pay for AV) and I settled on avast! 4.8 Home Edition. Register once a year and forget it's there. Initially the registration thing kept me away from it but now that I've tried the product I like it and it is better than AVG as far as I can tell. I combine avast with ThreatFire. I also use SuperAntiSpyware for scans and a-SquaredFree3.5 as a crosschecker. I am satisfied.

 

[Flak]

I found some pretty good settings for antivir.

Go to Extras in the menu bar and choose "Configuration". Make sure that "Expert Mode" is checked and expand all the categories.

*SCANNER
o Scan: Files = All Files; Scan Process = Uncheck "Allow stopping the scanner" and change priority to low; Additional Settings = All checked in.
+ Action for concerning files: Switch to "Automatic"; Check in "Copy file to quarantine before action", Primary Action = Repair, Secondary Action = Delete.
+ Further actions: You can change the sound if you want, default one is fine.
+ Archives: All check boxed checked in, Recursion depth = 99.
+ Exceptions: Leave as is.
+ Heuristic: Both check boxes should be checked in, change bubble to "High detection level"
o Report: If you needed to change these settings, you would know. Default is fine.
* GUARD
o Scan: Check in the box for "Scan archive", change the recursion depth to 20, change max. number of file to 99, and Max size to 9999; Files = All Files; Scan mode = Scan when reading and writing.
+ Action for concerning files: Leave as is.
+ Exception: Leave as is.
+ Heuristic: Both check boxes should be checked in, change bubble to "High detection level"
o Report: If you needed to change these settings, you would know. Default is fine.
* GENERAL
o Extended threat categories: This section is really up to you. I personally have them all checked in except for "Games". If you are unsure, keep the Default values OR check more in and turn them off if you have undesired results.
o Security: All check boxes checked in.

And don't forget these hacks:

http://www.tipsfor.us/2007/08/15/make-avira-antivir-free-edition-more-usable/

Goodbye forever AVG. (Unless you go back to what you used to be!)

 

[jinotsuh]

.

 

[Kaleena]

Anti-vir is perfectly fine for me, you can trust it, and the ads aren't that annoying imo. I find it much better than avast which I used for about 2 years.

My anti-virus is rarely running anyway, I'm checking my task manager all the time, this is after all one of the best anti-virus D: But I'm not interested in pr0n and barely need a real anti-virus software. I only run it to check my downloads like torrents and stuff.

Oh, and I never used neither needed any firewall, not saying it's useless, but if you're careful of what you do on the internet, it's not really interesting.

 

[[DUF]-Fragger]

ESET Smart Security (from NOD32) is really great, its a all-in-one package Anti-Antivirus, Firewall, Spyware and Spam and very important it runs very light. I've paid about 50 Euro's for a whole year.

http://www.nod32.nl/

Gr Fragger

 

[Raynor.Z]

Another vote for NOD32. I've been using it already over two full years and I have no complaints so far. Nice and stable and invisibly does its work.

 

[Crowze]

Been using the trial of the smart security package for a couple of weeks and I'm liking it a lot - simple and effective.

 

[NeoNite]

I'm going to recommend this program, as it helped me getting rid of the dreadful antivirus xp 2009 crap:

Malwarebytes anti malware

 

[[DUF]-Fragger]

I use this program also, helped me a few times with some malware etcetc, but its not a replacement for a antivirus.

Gr Fragger