Which Antivirus is best for now

[Rondar]

Just got my laptop a few hours ago and charging the battery up.  I have not even seen if it works yet or not. 

It came with Vista already on it.  yeah I know I know.  So my question is, what is the best software to keep it fairly clean and virus free?  It came with Norton but have heard bad things about it.  I am willing to pay a subscription to an anti virus if needed, I would just like to have the best bang for the buck.

Thanks Guys, you really help us non experts out a lot more than you know

Ron

[Vulcan]

Paid for? Nod32.

[Getback]

That's a can of worms Rondar. 

I think the concensus is Avast for freeware. That's what I use and as I understand it is less obtrusive than others.

[BaldEagl]

I've got 3 machines now.

On my gamer I have the McAfee security suite (which I get for free from Comcast) although I usually shut everything down while gaming.

On my word proccessor/e-mail machine I have Avast (free version) for anti-virus, SpywareBlaster for active anti-spyware protection, Bazooka to detect installed spyware, and a very old version of McAfee firewall.  It works well but a full system scan with Avast is dreadfully slow (an all-nighter).  Everything on this machine is/was free.

On my laptop/web-surfer, I have the same set-up as my word processor but instead of Avast I have AVG (free edition).  I sort of like AVG a little better than Avast as it updates and runs a scan daily in relatively short order.

Regardless of what you use, if your going to game on it and are behind a router turn this stuff off before you log on.

For the most part, if you're behind a router and don't recklessly click executable files or allow acive-x controls to be installed from questionable sites you're probably OK.  For years I've had McAfee but had it totally turned off except once a month when I update it and run scans then shut it back down and I've never had a virus or spyware (well, I have had spyware/adware but it was my own fault and I know where/when I picked it up).

If your machine came with Norton just keep it and don't worry about it but again, shut it down when gaming or when installing programs.  It's also probably worthwhile to turn off the auto-updater and update manually as you see fit.

[NHawk]

If anybody ever figures out how to shut Norton down without getting those annoying security pop-ups please do tell. 

[humble]

Paid for? Nod32.

If your paying for it (which by no means is a bad idea) then NOD32 or Bitdefender are generally considered the best. If your using a free one the most important thing to understand is that none are really a full "suite" (again not al all bad). AVG is as good as almost anything for a defined database "known threat" pure anti virus. Threat fire is a very good "behavior based" program. It'll do a pretty good job of looking for programs that are a threat based on how they act not comparing them to a set definition list. Combine AVG (or similiar) with threatfire and a good firewall (sunbelt Kerio or Komodo are good free options) and a decent malware program and you'll be fine 99.9% of the time. The most important thing to recognize is that nothing is 100% effective and you need good habits and a solid backup system/methodology just in case. My personal opinion  is that AVG/threatfire is equal to or better then norton or Mcafee but not quite up to the top 3-4 commercial products, however much of the stuff out there (like the recent iframe attacks) is predicated on social engineering...you need to "click it" to get "it".

[Vulcan]

Err McAfee is one of the best 'commercial' products out there, just the retail version is crap. The 'commercial' product (Enterprise 8.5i) kicks serious butt (it's done what "Threat Fire" claims to do for a long time), problem is it's difficult to buy in 'one offs'.

[DREDIOCK]

If anybody ever figures out how to shut Norton down without getting those annoying security pop-ups please do tell. 

Start/control panel/Administrative Tools/Services/security center

Double click on security center
Select manual or Disabled for startup type.
Apply
Ok
Then click "stop this service"

[humble]

Err McAfee is one of the best 'commercial' products out there, just the retail version is crap. The 'commercial' product (Enterprise 8.5i) kicks serious butt (it's done what "Threat Fire" claims to do for a long time), problem is it's difficult to buy in 'one offs'.

My only experience with 8.5 is indirect, I had a client of mine (civil engineering firm) that used it (thousands of seats worldwide) and it totally hosed their lotus notes (which was used for some collaboration on distributed projects in addition to email etc). Basically the solution from IBM was to turn off McAfee.....duh...with that many people (certainly not all) bypassing security guess how long it took for a problem of major proportions (to the tune of about $1,000,000 in lost billable hours I was told) occured.

To me 8.5 is a big player in the educational/university market, in the niches I work in nobody would use it if it was free. As it relates to this thread i'm defining the end user as a home user and the programs as the standard ones that target those users. No question that threatfire is the 1st freebie that has any merit as an "intelligent" AV product. It seems to work very very well and it plugs the major hole in most of the free AV products.

8.5 may indeed be a wonderful product, I dont have the personal experience to argue the merits. From my limited exposure it was/is typical "McAfee"...much more interested in being first to market then being best in class...again just my opinion.

[Mustaine]

my own brain.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Use sandboxie for all your browsing and run your e-mail client through it too. 99% of your virus problems are already gone that way.

Make sure you configure the e-mail to keep your mail at the server though if you use sandboxie on it - nothing will be saved on your computer. Well, unless you configure it so but that kinda eats off the effect.

[firbal]

I was thinking when my Norton is up, I might go with Zone Alarm anti-virus. Anybody useing that one?

[humble]

I was thinking when my Norton is up, I might go with Zone Alarm anti-virus. Anybody useing that one?

A bunch of the firewall companies now have intergrated suites as just like the AV firms do. I wouldnt list zone alarm as one of my top 3 firewall programs. I've had the full pay package of zone alarm and while it wasnt bad it wasnt the best firewall and I never felt the AV portion was particularly good. Alot of false positives and alot of "approving" stuff firewall wise. If your behind a good router you dont really need a firewall (although it certainly never hurts). If your going to pay (which is not a bad idea) then I'd go with NOD32 smart security if you want a firewall...

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Free and highly ranked firewall : Comodo personal firewall. Very configurable and has a good defence+ monitor which stops programs from making alterations to your system without your consent.

[Vulcan]

My only experience with 8.5 is indirect, I had a client of mine (civil engineering firm) that used it (thousands of seats worldwide) and it totally hosed their lotus notes (which was used for some collaboration on distributed projects in addition to email etc). Basically the solution from IBM was to turn off McAfee.....duh...with that many people (certainly not all) bypassing security guess how long it took for a problem of major proportions (to the tune of about $1,000,000 in lost billable hours I was told) occured.

To me 8.5 is a big player in the educational/university market, in the niches I work in nobody would use it if it was free. As it relates to this thread i'm defining the end user as a home user and the programs as the standard ones that target those users. No question that threatfire is the 1st freebie that has any merit as an "intelligent" AV product. It seems to work very very well and it plugs the major hole in most of the free AV products.

8.5 may indeed be a wonderful product, I dont have the personal experience to argue the merits. From my limited exposure it was/is typical "McAfee"...much more interested in being first to market then being best in class...again just my opinion.

Has it occured to you the features you so glowingly embrace with threatfire are probably one of the features that caused problems with notes? That said I have a 500 seat site I help out with that runs notes and mcafee 8.5i with no problems (although they are ditching notes for exchange at the moment).

Do you also not find it unusual that IBM simply turned off the AV rather than spend some time finding out if a particular policy was causing an issue? It also astounds me that they did not have a proper DR program in place, their IT provide needs a kick in the pants IMHO.