Best antivirus

[Vehtemas]

Age old question/suggestion, lol. Been using Avast for 5 years, never had one bug.

I agree with this guy, I have used Avast for the past year and haven't had a problem.

I don't mean to sound rude, but you'll never get a definitive answer. Best is relative, its all a matter of opinion.

I agree with this guy as well.

I find Avast useful for most things, but I do find the BEST antivirus to be common sense... I do NOT click on a website link that tells me to "Click here and remove the 593447893872432 viruses that just magically appeared on your PC!!!", and if I download a torrent I make sure there are plenty of comments and upvotes for the torrent to verify it is safe.

Common sense in ALL aspects of life is very valuable.

Not to mention I can always remove any infections if needed, or at worst nuke the OS and reinstall everything.

*granted I actually find that entertaining hahahaha*

Woooow, I am a dork haha.

 

[starxpilot]

Assuming for Personal/School/Non-Commie use?

Give overpriced antivirus
the boot

avast! Free Antivirus beats competitors' paid-for products in detection and speed, according to an AV-Comparatives report. Think of avast! Free Antivirus before your credit card gets charged again.

If so, the best things in life are free. I think is crazy to have to pay for protection when your laptop probably won't go anywhere near Corporate/Business areas, where a threat is more likely to happen, besides being reckless at home..

Personally, I've used more than the two, but so far, only they are the ones that provide free, hassle free, less annoying features than some of the 'big leaders'. Had several issues with Macfee, lot o bugs too, I don't even know where to start with Norton, 4 different versions...

Take a peek at the rankings though if you're still unsure, here's PC World's current 2011 rankings..
Top 10 Paid Antivirus Programs for 2011 | PCWorld
Top 5 Free Antivirus for 2011 | PCWorld

Another thing, instead of using No-Script, if you use Mozilla or Chrome, the old fashioned Ad Blocker works wonders for me. But again, that's just my thing.

@ Legacy. If companies found out that I recommend those two programs over something paid when fixing computers, my head would probably be on a stake somewhere...I still have about 10 Keys from Symantec sitting in a pile somewhere in my room..

 

[mikedt]

Best antivirus? GNU/Linux or just don't turn the computer on. Although having said that I use MSE on my Win7 UMPC.

 

[Liaqat]

Use AVG. It FREE, Effective and take less Memory and CPU time

 

[SUroot]

Assuming for Personal/School/Non-Commie use?

Communists have to pay? Thats not fair...

 

[starxpilot]

Communists have to pay? Thats not fair...

YES ITS FAIR, COMMIES AREN'T FREE! In USA, you can find free party, in Soviet Russia, PARTY FIND YOU!

No, I meant Non-Commercial (In compliance with Commercial/Legal Laws, that stuff, plus Payed Avast or Norton can actually be pretty good...FOR SUCKERS IN CORPORATE! *End rant*), my bad to any Soviet Russia residents here...don't kill me now. ME VERY SORRY!

 

[9to5cynic]

I usually stick to noscript in firefox. I used to use AVG, but meh..

Most of my heavy internet-ing is done on one of several various linux distros (fedora currently)

 

[Morat]

Microsoft Security Essentials + routine scans using Malwarebytes. /thread

100% agree. All you need for home use.

 

[Leonne]

My experience: The lack of antivirus is the best antivirus since antiviruses are the worst viruses.

Ever since I stopped using Antiviruse in Windows, I haven't had many problems with my computers. I have had some problems that I doubt were caused by viruses, and certainly my computers have been better ever since I ditched antiviruses altogether.

 

[9to5cynic]

^ Of course, without AV, you may be infected and not know it right away

That being said, I am not using any AV. Just noscript. Any questionable surfing is done via VM, or if I don't completely trust the source.

 

[Leonne]

You have a point but I think it would be evident. Most "viruses" that infected when I used antiviruses slowed down my Windows PC, others executed a bunch of popups, there was one that even changed my desktop background... Haven't suffered anything big since I stopped using antiviruses. I was never the "pr0n" guy to get such nasty viruses anyways... So yeah .

 

[9to5cynic]

Yeah the last viruses I've dealt with have all been very 'obvious', but there are keyloggers and the like still...


Oh, and of course, the best AV is educating the user

 

[alostpacket]

You have a point but I think it would be evident. Most "viruses" that infected when I used antiviruses slowed down my Windows PC, others executed a bunch of popups, there was one that even changed my desktop background... Haven't suffered anything big since I stopped using antiviruses. I was never the "pr0n" guy to get such nasty viruses anyways... So yeah .

You'd be surprised, I have a relative who searches for help with crosswords, and some sites try and poison the Google results. It's a pretty common tactic to poison any search result they can think of.

^ Of course, without AV, you may be infected and not know it right away

That being said, I am not using any AV. Just noscript. Any questionable surfing is done via VM, or if I don't completely trust the source.

Yeah NoScript is fantastic. I've tried to teach even some non tech savy family about it and had some successes (and a few setbacks)

For AV though I used to never use it on a PC but I do find Microsoft Security Essentials to be pretty darn light on resources.

 

[drdoom]

You'd be surprised, I have a relative who searches for help with crosswords, and some sites try and poison the Google results. It's a pretty common tactic to poison any search result they can think of.




Yeah NoScript is fantastic. I've tried to teach even some non tech savy family about it and had some successes (and a few setbacks)

For AV though I used to never use it on a PC but I do find Microsoft Security Essentials to be pretty darn light on resources.

I tried to get my mom using NoScript. She complained about having to temp allow a site based on the source, so I told her I wouldn't fix her computer if she got a virus if I disabled it; she shut right up.

 

[9to5cynic]

^ Tsk tsk tsk. That's your mother!

Though, noscript is pretty easy, and it makes sense (at least, to tech people). I got my ma' using linux, so I'm pretty happy with that

 

[drdoom]

^ Tsk tsk tsk. That's your mother!

Though, noscript is pretty easy, and it makes sense (at least, to tech people). I got my ma' using linux, so I'm pretty happy with that

She seen me using it and wanted to use it in the first place; I'm just making sure she sticks with it. My mom would die if I tried to get her using linux; she barely remembers the shortcuts for copy and paste.

 

[Remeniz]

I've been using Avast! Home Edition for a few years now. Very light on the hardware and had zero intrusions.

 

[drdoom]

I think we have all been trolled; a guy with one post made this thread never to be seen again.

 

[Slug]

I think we have all been trolled

His loss - look at the good and varied advice he's missed out on.

 

[JRich8389]

His loss - look at the good and varied advice he's missed out on.

Agreed!!

 

[starxpilot]

Knowledge is power lads.

I think you people scared him away with the huge replies.

 

[9to5cynic]

Hmmm... his loss. He must have taken the first result and was vanished. *shrug*

 

[TxGoat]

I'll say stay away from Norton and McAfee. While a lot of corporate offices use these two, they're very restrictive. And with some Norton editions you actually have to download a different program to actually remove it completely.

I actually like the paid version of AVG although some people are perfectly fine with the free version. It does its job and doesn't lock down your system so much that you feel like you're completely locked down. I've heard good things from Avast as well, but have no experience with them.

 

[OutofDate1980]

To expand on what SUroot says a little...this may sound elementary and childish, but this is the definition of the flavor of the month club.

These antivirus/security companies leap frog each other on an almost monthly basis these days. Who remembers when it was just Norton and McAfee?? Or when ZoneLabs came out and CNET and PC World could not rave enough about them.

There really is no "long term" definitive answer to this question, it really boils down to "Who's best right now".

Think that is why this thread should be a sticky.