What is the best antivirus software at the moment?

[mizzjoey]

Hi everyone.

I was told that Bit Defend is the current champion. Is this true? Currently my workplace uses TrendMicro which has never been able to clean infected files at all. All it does is pop up message windows saying such and such malicious exe file is in the midst, and the most it can do is quarantine the affected files.

What software works best for you?

Thanks in advance,
jo

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Bit Defender and AVG are supposed to be good.

I use AVG free at home and multi-license Panda at work and have very few problems.

 

[GregLocock]

AVG seems to be the least annoying I've tried. Of course it depends if your users are suicidal yes monkeys who open all attachments and run Kazaa all the time.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[IRstuff]

All company employees need to exercise some discipline, as Greg suggests. We use Norton and haven't really had any problems.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[mizzjoey]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies!

AVG is free? I will try it out then.

Actually, IT policy is very, very strictly enforced in my company. We don't have Kazaa, not supposed to even have personal mails sent to our office mails and up till recently, not even allowed to open online bank accounts other than our salary accounts.

Anyway, thanks again!
jo

 

[itsmoked]

I use and like AVAST! Which is somewhat free.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[katmar]

+1 for free version Avast in a home environment. I'm using AVG on my server. No problems at all.

Katmar Software
Engineering & Risk Analysis Software

http://katmarsoftware.com

 

[Pressed]

[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.av-comparatives.org[/URL]

Good info, links and a forum.

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Business Page

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http://www.tailofthedragon.com

 

[PSE]

I think one of the best defences, as GregLocock alludes to is not clicking everything. After that, a firewall helps a lot too (one that alerts you to both inbound and outbound traffic). I have AVAST on a U3 thumb drive, and have had computers with numerous AV programs (in no particular order), McAffee, Norton, Avago Security Gateway, Blink, Sophos. Some could be a bit annoying at times with the frequency of auto-updates or how heavy they bogged down an older system.

In addition to AV software, I utilize a variety of programs to combat or remove spyware/malware. Spywareblaster, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Ad-Aware all have free versions and seem quite useful in concert together. Throw in a registry cleaner like CCleaner and I have been happy with the results.

Regards,

 

[Feric]

Hi there:

I would suggest McAfee, Norton, TrendMicro etc.

Thanks,

G. Feric, PE

http://engware.i-dentity.com

 

[trainguy]

Anything except Trend-Micro, respectfully.

tg

 

[itsmoked]

Anything except Trend-Micro, McAfee, Norton, respectfully...

Trend can be a pain in the rear to use.

The other two have multiple times caused me enough mysterious headaches that I would never ever use them again.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[GregLocock]

NAV is a virus in its own right. I'd say I've spent more time cleaning it out of PCs than I have trying to fix all the virusses I've seen in the past 5 years.

For my next new PC I'm going to specifically request a clean install of windows, with no trial versions of anything.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[itsmoked]

I actually use your method Greg, on all but one computer. No virus checking and occasional spy-ware checks. I just avoid dangerous sites and if I think something is maybe fishy I run Trend's online version. If it finds something, once every few years, I read the various reports on the problem and then manually expel it.

Emails are the big problem. Never open unrecognized emails bearing attachments. I often don't even open emails from people I know if they feel fishy. You know the ones. From relatives who forward a ton of crap daily to you. Interesting stuff created by spammers for email harvesting.

Oh the one thing I do regularily is run a rootkit checker. Very important. That's where they can hurt you. Key logging via a rootkit.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[drawoh]

Linux.



JHG

 

[randwolfe]

I strongly recommend PCcillin from Trend Micro. It is a bit of a burden at times, but a small price to pay for something very effective. In the past, I had a system which was quite virulent and I used an up to date copy of Norton, which left a substantial number of viruses intact...I proceeded to run the free net based version of PCcillin, which in turn removed all the remaining viruses. I was converted and stand by it.

Randall Shelaga C.E.T.

 

[looslib]

I heard from a friend that Kaspersky is the best one out there. It catches more viruses than the others plus has more frequent updates.
My friend looks for viruses in web sites for a living and then sees which AV program catches the virus. She then sends the viruses on to the various AV vendors so they can add the detection of the virus to their next update.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[DarrenO]

Another vote for Avast here - I used to use AVG, but it was somewhat slower to update for new viruses and false positives. And Avast talks to you - that's worth the admission price right there.

 

[teaaddict]

I am Now using AGV,Free for home. I have used Norton which is ok it came with the computort.
I bought a copy of Macafee which crashed the two computors that I loaded it on I ended up reformatting them both!!!.
Macafee support un-helpful.

 

[mizzjoey]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I have tried AVG and it works!

A colleague has also given the thumbs-up for Kaspersky btw.

Jo