What is your prefered Anti-virus and why?

With the AVG update problem, I decided to look around for other options for anti-virus. I did this, not because I was unhappy with AVG before the update problem (which I think is fixed now), but because when I did a free scan from Panda I was informed that I had 41 viruses! AVG had been, as far as I know, completely up to date.

Therefore, I decided to look around for other options. I searched Major Geeks for a "best of" vote thread, so that I could see what others have to say about the various programs, but I couldn't find anything (also, there are no MG reviews of anti-viruses). So, I just went out on my own and downloaded all the ones I had seen mentioned at times on other threads. I ended up settling down with one of the downloads, but I'm still curious as to what others think about the different options and I think this would be useful for newbies and oldbies alike!

So, some things to consider when voting and giving recommendations: reliability (I know that the programs offered by MG are all reliable, but still...41 viruses!! ), resource usage (I've heard complaints about norton being a resource hog), user interface (is it easy to figure out where things are like schedulers and quarantines and such) and usability, and maybe appearance (for example, I loved how the Avast! icon moves and looks like it's doing something, while the AVG and Anti-vir icons just sit there and do nothing...and the Norton shield looks like it's doing its job, while the Panda icon just looks like its sitting there munching on bamboo!...I know this sounds kinda dumb, but I think how the program makes you feel, while its doing its job, might be important to some people on a small, subconscious level ) These things to consider are by no means exhaustive; they're just the ones I came up with off the top of my head. So, if you have some other issues that are important, please mention them!

And one last thing...I limited the vote to the ones I tried (except for PC-cillin and McAfee...I forgot to try those), so if there's an anti-virus program out there that you think deserves mentioning, please do!

Now, release the houuunds!

 

Panda.

Much more reliable than any AV I've ever used.

 

And at a good price too Adryn

 

Yeah that too, but that was after I bought it LOL.

 

Just installed Panda on my parents machine, comes with firewall too so hopefully it should be good! I started not liking AVG after it let several viruses through. Panda seems like its got the clout you need to get rid of latest viruses. But we shall see.

 

I've been using Avast for a while now. It seems to work okay. Haven't had any viruses, yet. And it only uses about 15 megs of memory. Updates can be automatic. No popups unless there is a virus detected or it lets you know when its been updated.

Can't ask for more, especially when it's free.

 

When was the "Panda Free Giveaway"?

I would have liked to get a bit of that. As it now stands, I'm using Avast! and it seems to be working just fine.

 

http://majorgeeks.com/vb/showthread.php?t=29036

 

I use (and voted for) Avast. It has it's quirks, but so far nothing has gotten past it. For my non-geek friends I usually recommend AVG.

I did download and register the Panda Platinum promotion-giveaway-thingy and will be evaluating it shortly. I won't hesitate to switch if I like what I find.

 

I chose none of the Antivirus' in the poll as I use and love KAV (Kaspersky AntiVirus). Absolutely nothing can beat it with the Extended/X-File bases updates....JMHO .

Regards,
Jade.

 

...I provided that link a very long time ago in this thread.


Yes, thanks xflat.

 

LOL, no need to apologize!


I just wanted to give you a hard time while I pass the time before Sopranos start

 

Yeah, but...

That's prolly the most telling stat right there. Doesn't matter if it's 25 voters or 2500, people that are informed are going to choose a product that gets the job done, free or paid. Norton and McAfee might make the most money, but they do the worst job. They'd tank if it weren't for name recognition, good marketing, and general public ignorance.

 

Choosing between Avast & AVG

It sounds like Avast is not as USER FRIENDLY for people who aren't "senior geeks"? Is that right?

Is AVG a little more user friendly then if one had to choose between just those two? Do I look up AVG -- Or does that stand for something else?

 

I'm in agreement with X.. set it and forget it.

 

So, I moseyed onto MG and saw a poll..."what's your prefered Anti-virus and why?"...and I think, hmm, sounds interesting. I like polls like this, even though they're all over the place on this board and often very subjective

And I look at tha author...hmmm, mdowns. that sounds familiar. hey, wait a second!

Seriously though, pegg, I second xflat. Avast is very user friendly and a great program. When my year's subscription to Panda runs out (yeah, I'm cheap!) on my main computer, I'm definitely switching back. I already have it running on my ancient laptop with no problems at all. It's great.

 

Thanks for your replies...very helpful

 

AVG

it is free.
seems ok to me.

allthough i do run the antivirus you can run from symantic's web site every now and then just to be sure.

 

AVG for me. Avast won't work with my AOL..Baz

 

More than 1 antivirus program...conflicts?

I already have Nortons. Went to download Avast but Avast warned there could be conflicts with Norton. I thought it was common practice and OK to run more than one antivirus program.. Yah, No?

Bitzy

 

I kinda went off AVG after i found it caught one virus in about 40 on my friends machine, after getting Stinger (yes, the program to remove only specific viruse) on it to find at least 6 different varients of many different viruses all on the machine.

Im using Panda right now, it seems good! it keeps nabbing Netsky from my inbox (though im not actually infected, it scans the files that contain my inbox, and DISINFECTS. yes thats right it actually repairs the files, not just delete them). But when my free period runs out, im gunna go for something else, maybe Avast, maybe another product. I hope another "AV test" is going to be put on the net at some point soon, as I'd like to see how well all the AVs are doing right now.

Bitzy : Norton seems to conflict with EVERYTHING. according to them youre not allowed to run any other security program appart from theirs. I used to have 2 AV program installed, _BUT_ I only had one doing "acitve monitoring". The other i saved to scan once a month or so to make sure nothing slipped through my permenant protection. But somtimes one AV can detect another AV's sig files and thing that they are a virus and try to disinfect them, making them useless.

 

Avast vs. Nortons

Thanks! My Nortons on this machine is a prepackaged trial vers and ends very soon... Guess I'll uninstall the nortons and run avast instead. But.. I don't want to be caught short betwixt the between. I'll get the avast installed.. update it, and THEN remove Nortons.. ... .... hopefully without any hiccups.

Bitzy