Which Antivirus should I use?

I am finishing up the Read & Run Me Malware Removal procedure. One of the malware removal programs disabled my Symantec and I am unable to reinstall it because it was a free version from the university I used to attend. I looked at the different AV programs available under 'How to Protect yourself from malware!' The page lists Avast! Home Edition, AntiVir Personal Edition, Comodo AntiVirus, PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition and AVG Free Edition. My system is Microsoft XP SP 2. Could someone give me some more pros and cons of the AV programs listed and/or others that are not listed to have a better idea of which one is best for me?

Thanks

 

A lot of security experts are no longer recommending AVG because version 8.0 added the installation of a toolbar (can be unchecked during install), combined anti-virus and anti-spyware, and added a link-scanner. It's not as light-weight as it used to be.
It's still one of the best free AV's though, if you disable the link-scanner and make sure not to install the toolbar.

I dont know much about Comodo AV or PC tools AV, but I personally recommend Avira or Avast to anybody that asks.

Avira Antivir may have the best detection rate in the world right now, and are very resource friendly on the computer.
It's cons are lack of email scanner, primitive update function (it runs in its own window that pops up, instead of in the background), and a nag screen that regularily urges you to buy the premium version (this can be disabled, see here.

Alwil Avast has an email scanner, no nag screen, and an updating function that runs in the background.
It's on-access scanner is a bit more resource hungry, although it still a light weight AV.
It has a slightly lower detection rate than AntiVir, and a few more false positives, according to av-comparatives.com.

Avira and Avast are probably so close in quality right now that it comes down to personal preference. Personally I use the payed version of Avira.

That's my impression. Others will disagree.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I have a few additional questions. So my Symantec AV is down as I previously stated, buy the Symantec Firewall seems to be running fine. Can I just leave the Symantec Firewall and install one of the other AV programs, or should I completely remove Symantec software from my machine and use a different firewall as well?

 

I tried removing the Symantec suite via the add/remove programs menu but I got a fatal error, and I am unable to remove. I also tried the Change option in add/remove and then using the Symantec removal function, but that gave the same error. I have included a screen shot for you reference.

 

Thanks for the link; I started the procedure, but I have a question for Step 2 where it says to remove registry keys such as Defwatch, NAVAP, NAVAPEL, NAVENG etc. in the left pane. I don't see them. I did a search for a few of them, but they come up as files under a folder, so they are only in the right pane. So to delete these should I delete the folder that contains them on the left, or should I only delete the file with the visible name on the right pane? For example, Defwatch doesn't come up in the left pane, but Defwatch.exe comes up in the right pane under a folder with a long alphanumeric name.

 

Hi,

I think I figured out how to find the keys using the find function. I deleted about three NAVENG keys. They were located in different areas. I didn't have the key Norton AntiVirus Client from the list in Step 2. I had no key or values 74BE21DBFDBD3D11EBAE000ACC725290 from Step 14. I also didn't have the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{BD12EB47-DBDF-11D3-BEEA-00A0CC272509} from Step 15

 

False Positives with AVG
I used the onecare clean up program and I successfully installed AVG 8. I used Spybot Search & Destroy during the Read & Run Me procedure which has an Immunize function. According to AVG documentation this can create false positves. What are some common examples of false positives I should watch out for?

Symantec removal question
Also, I had to do a lot of different things in addition to the procedure listed on the Symantec site to remove the corporate edition I had on my machine. Some of the differences are listed below in my previous post. In addition, I eventually did have to use the Add/Remove programs function to remove what was left of Symantec on my machine. Also, I deleted all the NAVENG and NAVEX15 keys from my registry, there were 3 or 4 of each. Is this bad, or was this the right thing to do?

Diskkeeper Lite Defragmentor Error
After finally removing Symantec, and adding AVG 8, I tried running Diskkeeper Lite Defragmentor again on my machine but I got some sort of MMC error. I have included a screenshot. Should I just uninstall and re-install Diskkeeper?

 

I finally got rid of all Symantec software from my machine, and I am running AVG 8 although it seems to be intermittently resource hungry. This is probably a dumb question, but once I have programs installed and running properly, can I just delete the .exe installation file I downloaded? Is there any reason to keep this? Also, what is the list of protection software I should have on my machine? Below I have listed what I gathered from the "How to Protect yourself from malware!" guide and the clean up steps after doing the Read & Run Me malware removal guide. Please add anything I am missing.

List:
1 AntiVirus
1 Firewall
Ccleaner
1 Antispyware real-time blocking tool
Spybot Search&Destroy
Spyware Blaster

Antispyware tools questions:
The clean up steps after doing the Read & Run Me malware removal guide suggest keeping the SuperAntiSpyware and the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. These are free versions. Together, will they be sufficient, or how strongly is it recommended to purchase an Antispyware tool? In the "How to Protect yourself from malware!" guide, are the free and pay, real-time Antispyware tools listed in any particular order?

 

ninjagaiden,I also run Adaware:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html
and Glary:
http://majorgeeks.com/Glary_Utilities_d5870.html
I Love Ccleaner it also has a pretty decent reg cleaner,Glary also has a reg cleaner also.I also am an AVG Antivirus fan.
I believe Browsers are a security issue,I personally recommend Firefox,Ive been using it for a long time and have been real happy with it,I use 2.0, here is 3.0:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Mozilla_Firefox_d2248.html