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Anti-virus software - good options?

Vitnir

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My Symantec anti-virus is up for renewal and at first I was going to buy another years subscription but when I saw the prize I was a bit put off. 44$ for one year is a bit steep I think, I can buy a new copy of Symantec Antivirus 2004 for just a little more.

So what is a viable option? I don't mind paying and I'm a bit suspicious against free antivirus programs (Is there such a thing as a free lunch?) but I guess I can force myself to keep an open mind about it.
 
I've been using the free AVG program for almost two years with no problems. Auto updates and all.

The guys ton Screensavers think highly of it, and point out that both Norton and McAfee recently reported security "holes" that had to be repaired.
 
Has it ever found any viruses? If so, then it's well worth the renewal. If not, then you're probably not 'high risk' and could get by using a free program.

Personally I've found Norton well worth paying for. Also remember though it won't catch many trojans, so you may need additional protection there (I use moosoft's cleaner for that).
 
Well up until a year ago I used to think you could be without a antivirus program as long as you were careful but then came Blaster. Since then I have also been infected by other virus that uses known holes for which there are no patch even. Symantec has worked fine against them and I def. want a good antivirus program since I do my banking online. I'm not OK with paying that much per year though.
 
I work in a computer shop and see many, many PC's coming in with virus infections. No system is 100% efective, but AVG is certainly as good as Norton, and is free. Used with another program to look out for spyware (like Spybot or AdAware - also free) you should be as secure as anyone can reasonably expect to be while using a Windows-based system. Make sure the auto-update feature is enabled on AVG - the default setting is to only update every 14 days, which you should change to every 3 days.
 
For corporate users there is still nothing to beat Symantec/Norton Antivirus Corporate edition. McAfee is OK but it's management features suck big time.

For home use there are 3 free ones to consider (that I know of).

AVG - I have used this for years and found it to be very effective. Their update site is a bit flaky though.

AVAST - Good, highly configurable scanner and regular updates. Very resource hungry though.

Antivir - I've used this a few times and found no problems with it. I have also never found a virus with it which might be coincidence but might be significant.

I second Underemployed's advice about updates and spyware scanners. I would add 2 pieces of advice - don't use Internet Explorer for browsing (use Firefox or Opera) and don't use Outlook or outlook express for email. Use Eudora, Pegasus, Netscape, Evolution, Pocomail etc.
 
Sllightly related- Just checked PC world's site last night, and there's a new version of Spybot available.

I'd just run the old one, so I installed the new version and ran it; found several more "items".

Still free...
 
On my second computer where nothing important was stored, no email programs-just webmail that my wife uses. I dont think she surfs pornsites when I'm not at home but she gets spam of cause. But behold when I got fed up with frequent crashes and I did the "You never know" and used a free scanner and found 300 virus infected files. I bought Symantec 2004 antivirus for that computer right away. I might try and move the license for that computer to the one where the license expires and use a free antivirus on her computer.

Im a bit suprised when you say that Firefox is safer than Explorer, is it because there are features missing from Firefox that Exploder uses?
 
Vitnir said:


Im a bit suprised when you say that Firefox is safer than Explorer, is it because there are features missing from Firefox that Exploder uses?
Click to expand...

Not really. It's safer, IMO, for a couple of reasons.

First, IE is riddled with security holes. To demonstrate this, install a fresh copy of Windows XP on a machine (by default IE6 is installed also). Then visit the windowsupdate site and scan your PC for updates. You will see a multitide of critical updates recommended, of which many relate to IE.
The counter argument to this is that at least MS are trying to fix the security holes and, being the most popular browser in the world, it is targeted much more widely than other browsers.

Second, Firefox and Opera (amongst others) offer easily configurable options for pop-up blocking and offer tabbed browsing (no threat here, I just like tabbed browsing).

The downside to switching browsers is that some sites will behave strangely (the JREF forum site for example) or not work at all if your browser is not IE.
 
I remember still a website designed by a Microsoft-hater. He had an Active-X module on his page and if you clicked yes on the popup your computer would shutdown promtly. He explained it first but maybe it was illegal anyway. He had also obtained a certificate legaly saying that everything was fine with the Active-X module. His point was that Active-X was a very dangerous thing and you should use Netscape instead, and if you used Netscape on his site it worked without risk. This was way back when Netscape was still in the game and was a viable option for browsing.

I have used Firefox for a while now and to me it works just fine. I have got the impression that Explorer is embedded in the system however so it doesnt matter which browser or emailprogram you use, if you dont have protection against script-virus or what they are you are going to be toast anyway.
 
I use McAfee on my home computer because my better half had accidently downloaded Sircam, and McAfee were doing a half-price deal on their Anti-Virus/Firewall combo.

Plus there's something really satisfying about the firewall pop-up which appears every time IE is launched, and asks if I want to allow IE access to the internet ("Nooo! Kill it! Kill it dead!"). Perthaps that's just a personal thing...
 
Originally posted by Oleron

First, IE is riddled with security holes. To demonstrate this, install a fresh copy of Windows XP on a machine (by default IE6 is installed also).
Click to expand...


The reason IE is riddled with security holes is three-fold. a) IE got simultaneously bundled/tied to several other pieces of software. Outlook(/Express), Office, Two separate windows kernels and several versions of each. IIRC, that particular browser was originally written for OS/2 and ported.

This means that any flaw in, say, outlook impacts IE. Any flaw in office impacts IE. Any flaw in IE impacts all of the others.

We see this constantly with virus-flavor-du-jour.

The second reason is that IE was written before the concept of exploiting a "buffer overflow" became known, as well as before the idea of attacking through browsers became popular.

Mozilla and Opera were written when this attack concept (and others) were known, and so defenses were installed by design, not rigged in after the fact.

The third reason is that unlike physical engineering, where experience and maturity in a product tends to make the engineering simpler and more elegant, in programming, it is strictly the opposite.

The more you modify a software product, the harder it gets to modify in the future.

IE was never rewritten. It has only ever been modified and patched.

Mozilla, Opera, and Netscape went through a collaborative from-scratch rewrite, with security and efficiency build into the fresh design.

and, being the most popular browser in the world, it is targeted much more widely than other browsers.
Click to expand...

The best way not to get shot is to not deliberately spend a considerable amount of time downrange of a large number of guns.

Second, Firefox and Opera (amongst others) offer easily configurable options for pop-up blocking and offer tabbed browsing (no threat here, I just like tabbed browsing).
Click to expand...

Security by design.

The downside to switching browsers is that some sites will behave strangely (the JREF forum site for example) or not work at all if your browser is not IE.
Click to expand...

While this is true, I don't know what you mean about the JREF forum behaving strangely. Seems to work just fine for me, both here (Firefox) and at home (An earlier version of Mozilla piped through Webwasher. Upgrades forthcoming, but I suspect I'm about ready for a rebuild at home.)
 
The only weirdness I see with Firefox here is the text window for typing replies. It seems narrow and the cursor is a vertical line that ALMOST gets out of the way of the letter you just typed (but not quite).
 
I run Avast with AVG as a double check. Both seem to provide fairly robust protection in conjunction with a solid personal firewall. Spywareblaster, Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft's Adaware are also invaluable for getting rid of nasties.

Occasionally, I run Symantec's online scanner for added peace of mind although this can be a very lengthy procedure.
 
I think it's a myth that antivirus software that you pay for is more effective. I think that's purely psychological.
 
I run... *nothing*.

I fear no virus.

I maintain backups. Even if my computer was flatlined, I could have it back up and restored as if nothing happened in less than 30 minutes.

Just cleaned the 'blaster' worm off my neighbor's machine, though. I didn't need a whole AV software package to take care of that, either.
 
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