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Can anyone recommend a decent Anti Virus Programme, I had Norton Internet Security 2006 (it came free) and it killed my resources, i am now trying Kaspersky but it kills my download speed. When i disable it the download rate increases from 3kb/s to 60-70kb/s. i have 3.06mhz processor and 2gb of ram using aol 8mbps.
I've used a few over the last few years and currently use AVG antivirusfirewall. try them at www.grisoft.com - they have a free trial you can download.
I've not noticed any overhead problems so far...
Avg for me too, excellent bit of kit, and free :D
Yep - AVG here too :) Used to use Norton, and wasn't too bad on my machine (!!!) but since our subscription ran out, I thought I'd give the free version of AVG a go.
Seems to work really well - and I can't see why I'd need to upgrade to the version which costs, as I don't need the 24/7 support.
Nod32 or FSecure (comes with spam filters too)
Nod32 or FSecure (comes with spam filters too)
How do they compare with AVG?
What about Avast?
Never had a problem since using the free AVG virus, had loads of problems with everything before that
AVG free, and AVG Anti-spyware free. Both great.
AVG is good, it's very lightweight unlike others so it doesn't slow the machine down.
There is a free version (7.5 at the moment) which is free for personal use (not a trial or anything, it's just free!)
Nod32 is also good but you pay for that one...
If you want good anti-spyware software both
SpyBot Search and destroy and Adaware
are very good and also free :)
grimreaper
25-03-07, 10:40
Can anyone recommend a decent Anti Virus Programme, I had Norton Internet Security 2006 (it came free) and it killed my resources, i am now trying Kaspersky but it kills my download speed. When i disable it the download rate increases from 3kb/s to 60-70kb/s. i have 3.06mhz processor and 2gb of ram using aol 8mbps.
AVG i have used a lot of them but this was the best.:)
Yup, used avg free for years :thumbs: What I like most is the price :D
As mentioned on previous threads, words like, `cheap`, `free` and 'lightweight` arn't always good. Think of it this way, if it were supra parts and someone decribed them this way wouold you fit them to your cherished car!
The problem is, anything cheap or free can only have a limited amount of scope, and ongoing development/resources thrown at it. The ones that cost money get more R&D plus technical back up.
If cheap, free and lightweight were the only criteria to consider then evryone in the world would use them and the threat of getting a virus, spyware or other malicios code whould have gone away a long time ago........but its not!
Dont discount McAfee or Symantec because they cost more.....they cost more for a reason!
I think the problem more often is people inherently don't trust things that are 'free' and 'still better than the rest' - try walking down the street and giving people pound coins - you'd be suprised how many people won't take it!! Because we've all been told that you don't get something for nothing. This is true in a lot of cases but not always, in the case of AVG they hope you'll buy the full version (that has lots of R&D and money thrown at it) because you realise how good the free version is (paid version isn't just for support, it has firewall and stuff as well IIRC).
There's nowt wrong with AVG, everyone I know who uses it has done for years and never had a problem - as long as you have a firewall as well it's cool. Mine's never needed to kill anything because of my firewalls but my missus' laptop caught several viruses because she didn't protect it, I installed AVG and upgraded it and it found them all! :thumbs:
Dont get me wrong, I see nothing bad in AVG offering free software in order to catch a bigger deal. As long as the free software is doing its job and is as compitant at protecting the users PC as the user believes it is!
Poor security is sometimes worse than no security!
Now I am not suggesting AVG is a poor product, but in context, AVG are small organization compared to the billions of dollars turned over by McAfee, Symantec etc. Now again this is not always a good thing, but generally speaking the money spent in R&D in the corporate world filters down into the home user products, making them bigger, better and more secure.
For example, how many banks, MOD sites and corporates trust AVG when compared to McAfee, Symantec, Sophos, CA, Trend etc. Trust me, having worked in the IT security industry for over 7 years I know they do their homework before they spend their money!
Plus, dont be fooled, the same malware that effects a 1000 node corporate network is the same malware you will get on your PC! No one is excluded ;)
I've used AVG for years, it's great.
Avast - I've used it, it's free like AVG, but I didn't like the interface.
Norton/Symantec - Used to be good, but then it got all bloaty and bundled in a load of other old crap so that you can't just have the Anti-virus part any more. Uses far too many system resources with all the dozen different symantec components running. Saying that, the enterprise versions are much better than the home product.
McAfee - Had years of trouble with it falsely reporting things as viruses and McAfee not being bothered to actually do much about it.
Kaspersky is supposed to be good.
Norton is good ... if you have 2gb of ram etc. its way too memory heavy for my liking.
Mcafee also is good, but once my membership ran out, it moidered feck outta me to renew, plus it was a tw*t to get off my system.
Avg any day.
I've used AVG for years, it's great.
Avast - I've used it, it's free like AVG, but I didn't like the interface.
Norton/Symantec - Used to be good, but then it got all bloaty and bundled in a load of other old crap so that you can't just have the Anti-virus part any more. Uses far too many system resources with all the dozen different symantec components running. Saying that, the enterprise versions are much better than the home product.
McAfee - Had years of trouble with it falsely reporting things as viruses and McAfee not being bothered to actually do much about it.
Kaspersky is supposed to be good.
:) I tend to agree in many respects, but its the way of the world now.
Symantec, McAfee etc have had to raise the bar in how they protect their users as the `bad guys` dont bother writing viruses anymore.
Why do something malicious when you can do something financially profitable!
Viruses are on the decline and Spyware, Spam, Phishing attacks and hacking are on the up.
If you only have anti-virus software, your only stopping a small proportion of the bad stuff out there.......and whats worse is you wont even know when you do get infected as the software you have cannot detect it!
Yes, PC security can make it slow and a but clunky...... but thats because its working!!!! ;)
Just get Windows ME then, nobody bothers trying to hack that anymore!
:)
Viruses are on the decline and Spyware, Spam, Phishing attacks and hacking are on the up.
If you only have anti-virus software, your only stopping a small proportion of the bad stuff out there.......and whats worse is you wont even know when you do get infected as the software you have cannot detect it!
Yes, PC security can make it slow and a but clunky...... but thats because its working!!!! ;)
Absolutely....
I suggested AVG as they have free stuff so you can try it, but also have a collection of tools for further protection.
I use their firewall software as it has a nice interface, and costs less per machine than the big boys.
What do people think of the tools on grc.com? 'Shields up' always shows my system as being perfectly stealthed, it's only the 2 ports I use for torrents that sometimes show up as closed. Heard a couple of people say the site is pants though.
I've used AVG for years too - it's never found anything... the sign of good protection or an indication of poor software? ;)
They say a good way of testing realtime virus protection is to type this into notepad and save it as a text file...
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
My AVG doesn't react - does yours?
The Norton 2006 came with my computer and just had some good news i can upgrade to 2007 for free. Anyone with a subscription to 2006 can do it. 2007 isnt killing my performance so i have decided to stick with Norton. Cheers for the input though!
Sophos is very good.
WAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!! We use SOPHOS at my work... Dreadful!!! :p
AVG is pretty good for being free. Has caught a couple of viruses on my home PC, etc. Have not had an issue with it yet.
They say a good way of testing realtime virus protection is to type this into notepad and save it as a text file...
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
I'm scared, should I be doing this at work?
I'm scared, should I be doing this at work?
In theory it will cause a virus alert on your PC - some places have a setup that notifies the IT dept / helpdesk etc when this happens (that's how I have it here) but some don't.
How well do you get on with your IT folks? ;)
(It's only a test BTW, not a an actual virus)
I'm scared, should I be doing this at work?
More of a reason to do it at work!! :d
Auto protect came up straight away and deleted it, so at least work has good anti-virus!
I've used AVG for years too - it's never found anything... the sign of good protection or an indication of poor software? ;)
They say a good way of testing realtime virus protection is to type this into notepad and save it as a text file...
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
My AVG doesn't react - does yours?
Doing this is a bit like the full EICAR test - see http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm
Its benign code that looks like malicious code and prompts a reaction from the software.
For those wishing to test their AV the EICAR test is industry standard, although to be honest all AV products will detect this (if yours does not......panic!!!!!) :p
They say a good way of testing realtime virus protection is to type this into notepad and save it as a text file...
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
My AVG doesn't react - does yours?
I too have been using AVG for years.
I tried the above and it didn't react, but when I renamed it to .exe, it picked it up straight away.
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