LebGeeks

Locha

Member

Windows anti-virus recommendations

Good Day everyone,

I used to use Nod32 which used to do a quite good job but seems vulnerable sometimes. What do you advise as an Antivirus? Do you consider Kaspersky as a good antivirus?

Thank you for your opinions.

amkahal

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

MSE + USB Disk Security + little attention

Metalloy

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

I'm using avg at this point.

xerxes

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

how about norton?

Ayman

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

Ditch windows for good. </troll>

Edit: On windows I use Malware Bytes + MSE

Last edited by Ayman (March 19 2013)

geek

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

Microsoft Security Essentials is one of the good (free) choices out there, as already pointed out by @amkahal.

Joe

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

If by "good" you mean "I'll install it once, and never care about security anymore", then no software out there is "good".

I put the blame on the bad naming. I think "Security" should be rebranded as "Defense", because that's what you're actually doing. There will never be one solution to solve your problems and warrant carelessness.

Security/Defense is something you should do constantly, by adopting good reflexes, staying informed and, for the love of God, applying security upgrades as soon as possible.

You can install any Antivirus software you want, they're all more or less equivalent, and don't think that you necessarily need to pay for your solution to be more "safe". My security professor at uni used to joke that the best antivirus softwares were the least popular ones, because virus-makers won't think about testing against them. That being said, I won't single out any one product for recommendation, mainly because I've never used Windows.

Chafic

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

Microsoft security essential is good. I was on AVG and it used too much ram and it detects anything as a virus.

Tarek

Banned

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

MSE can block your pc in case of illegal windows version ( not in all cases )
if is free , light on resources and updated periodically .

you need this defense for what ? internet ? executable viruses ? hacking ? etc

Nabs

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

@Locha, people are going to bite my head off for this, but here goes anyway.

I perform tech support for a number of copy centers, needless to say, those get hundreds of viruses every day, and formatting is not an option, so it's always patch and repair. Lots of the malware, I've gotten used to and know how to repair the system after the malware has been removed. But recently, I ran into a virus that specifically targets the 64bit version of Autocad 2013. I tried most of the commercial editions of the antiviral software out there, and none could detect the issue except Norton 360. Not only did it detect the problem, but it also managed to re-update the damaged registry entries to make them valid again. Talk about magic.

I know when it comes to antivirus, people tend to go subjective on the matter. I haven't heard anyone mention Norton in years, probably because it has no free edition. People seem to hate it, but it's the only one that worked for me, with all due respect to MSE, Bit Defender, AVG, and Avast. Their extra services and support are great as well - fastest email responses.

Downside? Well, 99$ for each computer per year. That is my advice, from someone that a large portion of his work happens to be malware removal.

Locha

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

Thank you for your advice ... Really appreciate it guys !! I know it's very subjective specially if you are used to a specific antivirus for years and years. Just wanted to check what you are using nowadays and your feedbacks.

yasamoka

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

Nabs, that's logical, because almost always Norton was leading the pack in terms of detection rate and defence. The problem with it was that it was very resource-intensive, it seriously slowed computers down.

Now, if Norton 360 isn't too resource-intensive, it'd probably be one of the best out there.

venam

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

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Last edited by venam (July 31 2013)

AvoK95

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

AVG Free has been the best Anti-Virus I have used, It's free, not heavy, always has and always will be easy to use and awesome considering it's a free AV.

Nabs

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

@AvoK95, you only like AVG because your avatar looks like it

AvoK95

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

@AvoK95, you only like AVG because your avatar looks like it

LOL, I have been using AVG Free before LebGeeks was made ;)

Joe

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

LebGeeks dates back to 2004, at least. Are you sure this last bit is correct?

Vartan

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

Avast free or paid are the best comparing to others.. 2nd kaspersky..
by best i mean they catch viruses and not use cpu and ram only :)

Chafic

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

The thing is every anti virus has its advantages and disadvantages. AVG protects you from something, and avast protects you from a different and that thing wont be on AVG, so clearly all the anti viruses are just another subject to argue about and waste time with.

Locha

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

This is a good updated article about the recommendations. I hope it will be fruitful.

http://lifehacker.com/5865356/the-best- … or-windows

AvoK95

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

@rahmu
Yup it was around 2004. They were very early versions. I think I was using version 5 or something. It was on my Dell Inspiron 8500 Pentium 4 laptop.

@Vartan
Kaspersky has a history of being a great security software. I find it to be the best out there. Even better than Avast. Avast has a free version though. The free version of something vs a paid version really doesn't give you anything more, other than extra features.

@Chafic
I don't recommend using all in one software. For example, AVG might be good with viruses and spyware, but it has a crappy firewall. A company might be great in something and might be horrible with something else. I recommend using AVG Free. Windows Defender does a great job as well (Considering you're updating your OS) The Windows Firewall is also great, but some prefer 3rd party software like Comodo Firewall. You might not need such extreme measures when it comes to security. But some people are very picky and tend to get the best of the best. But for the average Joe, any free or payed version of almost any anti virus software will do just fine for them.

People should always be careful when using the web, and most importantly, they shouldn't download or click on stuff they don't know about. Some people don't even use any security as they trust themselves enough..

venam

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

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Last edited by venam (July 31 2013)

AvoK95

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

That's true as well of course. But why would you visit websites you don't trust ?

Fischer

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

the last time i used norton, it maid my pc 100 times slower.
the last time i used bitdefender, i had to format my pc, don't ask me what happened, i don't know and don't care.
I used ESET, it was useless. AVG free wasn't that good..

(that's just me, maybe you guys are satisfied with your antivirus, it's just me)

Now i use AVG internet security on windows, it's not free but i have the serial number, you can get it pretty easily, by googling or on youtube. I don't download cracked software, no torrents no shit, just a serial number, there's even a website where you can find millions of serial numbers for so many software, i can't give you the link, at least not on this forum, good luck finding it on your own.

On mobile, i use avast, which is free.

Note: use google chrome if you can, it alerts you when it finds malware,  pretty basic stuff, i'm sure every browser has this option now but i trust chrome, and use adblocker extension for chrome, firefox or whatever browser you use, get rid of those spammy ads

Opeth

Member

Re: Windows anti-virus recommendations

I Despise norton  I use avast and malware bytes since the database differs a little bit, both are  equally great even though malware bytes is just a scanner.