Suggest the antivirus for 2010

[Intervenient]

OS X




Yes I am aware that OS X is susceptible to viruses.

 

[aileenroger1]

I would suggest you to use Norton Antivirus. It has a firewall between two walls and protects your PC against rootkits, by which the system can detect unwanted files. This will block all sites infected with viruses and also do all suspicious or unauthorized changes to your applications.

 

[google123]

I've been using MS Security Essentials for a while now. No problems whatsoever. Also run a Malwarebyte's scan on a weekly basis.

 

[Landrew]

Most of my useful experience, for what it's worth was derived from my negative experiences with computer security software more than positive. This is because most positive experiences seem to be based on absence of evidence. There's really no way to be sure whether a good security application is doing it's job, or just reassuring you all the way along.

When I read testimonials about such products, and most of the positive comments are based on: "nothing happened, so I feel safe," that's pretty much worthless to me, because its based on absence of evidence. Most of the negative comments are based on real experiences. If security software is truly doing battle with malware, there should be more evidence than "potential issue blocked," but some actual dialog about the specific threat, and how it was stopped.

Since it's only the really sloppy and bad malware that shows its presence, the good ones reside on your system unnoticed, waiting for a chance to steal your personal information, a second-rate security app merely has to look like its doing its job, and keep reassuring you that "all is well." You never really know how well it works until your computer is locking up, your bank account has been compromised, or all your friends got sent a link to a website in Libya.

 

[Landrew]

After problems with Norton I changed to BitDefender 2 years ago. I've found it excellent and my desktop has been running fine since. I've just had a new PC delivered today so when I get home tonight then first thing I need to do is add on anti virus. 2 months free Norton is offered, and I'm tempted to give it another shot however if I do am I going to have to spend hours removing all the guff it dumps in your system??

I dumped Bit Defender a few years ago and went to Kaspersky because I was disgusted with the way Bit Defender was always finding issues, and declaring "no action possible" and then referring me to a website where I could "read about it." I was not happy with this.

I'm having second thoughts about Bit Defender nowadays, because it's possible that Bit Defender was actually tackling issues that other security apps were just ignoring. It's too easy for a security app to ignore issues it can't fix, and to constantly reassure the user that "all is well." I'm starting to believe that this is the game being played by some of the popular internet security apps.

I think the real benchmarks should be based on how much is caught in the net, not simply whether all seems to be well based on nothing being caught. I would like to see the real stats comparing the effectiveness of all the major internet security apps, based on the number of threats they actually block and deal with.

I'd like to know where I could find such information.

 

[mikedt]

For those who say they don't need AV because they watch what they download have probably not ever seen a virus enter through a browser exploit.

I run Windows 7 without any AV. But then I'm not surfing with it and only use Windows when I absolutely have to, such as to run Samsung's Kies software for my Galaxy S phone.

the antivirus i use is called "Linux Mint"

works great

I approve.

 

[momoceio]

OS X




Yes I am aware that OS X is susceptible to viruses.

FYI - There are OS X viruses...virus protection is still recommended.

 

[mbell75]

Mac....no antivirus needed

 

[mbell75]

FYI - There are OS X viruses...virus protection is still recommended.

There are? Link please? Last known OSx virus was years ago.

 

[mikedt]

There are? Link please? Last known OSx virus was years ago.

There is the warez iWork 09 trojan..
How to remove the iWork ’09 trojan - MAC.BLORGE

Thats about the only serious out in the wild (not proof of concept) malware threat to OS X that I know of. If one does not do illegal warez, then IMO one is totally safe using OS X without any AV.