Anti-Virus/Security Software

[Vulcan]

Nod32 for personal computers, seen a few virus's cut through MSE lately. Avast and AVG are crapware.

[gyrene81]

Nod32 for personal computers, seen a few virus's cut through MSE lately. Avast and AVG are crapware.

might want to check that again...nod32 is only rated 86% against all malware and 86% against rootkits...avast is consistently rated above nod32 for free and paid anti-virus programs with an average 94.8% in the wild detection and 80% new infections...panda was better at blocking known in the wild at 99.8%.

vipre(?) and bit defender pro have been top choices 2 years straight...

[Widewing]

PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus....

I've used it for years, and no machine we have it on has ever been infected by a virus or malware.

$40 buys you three licenses for three machines.

Very highly rated in independent tests.

[Vulcan]

might want to check that again...nod32 is only rated 86% against all malware and 86% against rootkits...avast is consistently rated above nod32 for free and paid anti-virus programs with an average 94.8% in the wild detection and 80% new infections...panda was better at blocking known in the wild at 99.8%.

vipre(?) and bit defender pro have been top choices 2 years straight...

Yeah I'm talking real world here, not some trumped up test results from a 'tester' from a magazine who can't score a real IT job.

If you really want the best you can't beat McAfee Virusscan Enterprise. But of course minimum licensing is 25 nodes for that

[The Jekyll]

I run three systems on my computers, both personal and business. MS Security Essentials, Malwarebytes, and Ad-Aware.  Between those three I have either thwarted the nastiest viruses out there, or gotten them removed with relative ease if they did make it in. All offer free versions (or are free), and I breathe easy using them.

[gyrene81]

Yeah I'm talking real world here, not some trumped up test results from a 'tester' from a magazine who can't score a real IT job.

If you really want the best you can't beat McAfee Virusscan Enterprise. But of course minimum licensing is 25 nodes for that

sorry but 3 years of the past 5 real life years killing viruses including basic mouseover malware auto-installers that mcaffee couldn't block, says different. care to talk about the 7 years of running norton enterprise that wouldn't block even the most basic w32 virus 6 months after it was was released into the wild?

if it wasn't against the rules here i'd send you a link to a site that would test your anti-virus in real time...see whether or not it could stop the silent autoinstaller and keep you from having to reload your computer. i wouldn't discount the anti-virus ratings tests, especially if they come from mulitple non-related sources. i've spent a lot of time over the past 11 years obsessively dealing with viruses and malware, to the point of intentionally infecting systems to test anti-virus programs. i don't make my personal choices of anti-virus casually.

[ozrocker]

Avast  





                                                                                                                                                      Oz

[E25280]

If you really want the best you can't beat McAfee Virusscan Enterprise. But of course minimum licensing is 25 nodes for that

Yes, I love that program.  Makes it so my work computer takes 20 minutes just to boot up.  Gives me plenty of time to get a cup of coffee in the morning.   

[Vulcan]

sorry but 3 years of the past 5 real life years killing viruses including basic mouseover malware auto-installers that mcaffee couldn't block, says different. care to talk about the 7 years of running norton enterprise that wouldn't block even the most basic w32 virus 6 months after it was was released into the wild?

if it wasn't against the rules here i'd send you a link to a site that would test your anti-virus in real time...see whether or not it could stop the silent autoinstaller and keep you from having to reload your computer. i wouldn't discount the anti-virus ratings tests, especially if they come from mulitple non-related sources. i've spent a lot of time over the past 11 years obsessively dealing with viruses and malware, to the point of intentionally infecting systems to test anti-virus programs. i don't make my personal choices of anti-virus casually.

Sorry but 8 years specializing in the security field means I know you're full of it Try managing 10's of thousands of PC's and servers AV with users intent on bringing infections in from all quarters. The only product I've ever seen that is effective is as mentioned above, McAfee enterprise. The only thing worse than Avast or Forefront is CA eTrust. Check av-comparatives retrospective tests for some amusing reading.

Answer me this, what version of McAfee enterprise have you used and when?

[Ruah]

webroot is ok.
BlackIce is fantastic

[gyrene81]

Sorry but 8 years specializing in the security field means I know you're full of it Try managing 10's of thousands of PC's and servers AV with users intent on bringing infections in from all quarters. The only product I've ever seen that is effective is as mentioned above, McAfee enterprise. The only thing worse than Avast or Forefront is CA eTrust. Check av-comparatives retrospective tests for some amusing reading.

Answer me this, what version of McAfee enterprise have you used and when?

if you specialty is security, you haven't spent enough time actually dealing with viruses. if centralized management and front end security are your criteria for excellence then you're looking at the wrong components. when it comes to actually stopping or removing viruses and malware from client systems mcafee fails. and the key is to stop the infection at the client before it occurs, regardless of delivery method. versions 7.xi up to 8.5i allowed viruses and malware infections that even symantec stopped. the one component of mcafee enterprise that i will give kudos to is the email scanner, it will strip and remove everything that it's programmed to consider a threat. the only bad side is i.t. personnel can't email useful files to each other within their own department.

i'd love to sit here and compare virtual testicle sizes with you but...like i said before, i've spent a lot of time dealing with viruses and malware at the desktop level, more time than you have been specializing in security, mcafee fell flat on its face. since my company switched to forefront and bit defender 2 years ago, virus infections at the client have dropped ~80% and there have been no network wide spreads, unlike our experiences with mcafee.

[guncrasher]

if you specialty is security, you haven't spent enough time actually dealing with viruses. if centralized management and front end security are your criteria for excellence then you're looking at the wrong components. when it comes to actually stopping or removing viruses and malware from client systems mcafee fails. and the key is to stop the infection at the client before it occurs, regardless of delivery method. versions 7.xi up to 8.5i allowed viruses and malware infections that even symantec stopped. the one component of mcafee enterprise that i will give kudos to is the email scanner, it will strip and remove everything that it's programmed to consider a threat. the only bad side is i.t. personnel can't email useful files to each other within their own department.

i'd love to sit here and compare virtual testicle sizes with you but...like i said before, i've spent a lot of time dealing with viruses and malware at the desktop level, more time than you have been specializing in security, mcafee fell flat on its face. since my company switched to forefront and bit defender 2 years ago, virus infections at the client have dropped ~80% and there have been no network wide spreads, unlike our experiences with mcafee.

I am not an expert, but if there's a problem with infections at your company, then some people need to be fired for being stupid, beginning with the people who set up firewalls and yet allowed employees to bypass it. 


semp

[gyrene81]

I am not an expert, but if there's a problem with infections at your company, then some people need to be fired for being stupid, beginning with the people who set up firewalls and yet allowed employees to bypass it.  

semp

corporate firewalls can stop people from getting out to the internet, which is the only way to stop a majority of infections. but if it's an educational institution, blocking the internet would be considered facist. i work at a university and the rules are different from the corporate world. the firewalls you're thinking about won't block anything that is within the network if it originates from a computer that is used off site or from a disc of some sort. there are a myriad of ways to localize a problem to one system but, nothing short of cutting the connection is 100% effective.

[guncrasher]

corporate firewalls can stop people from getting out to the internet, which is the only way to stop a majority of infections. but if it's an educational institution, blocking the internet would be considered facist. i work at a university and the rules are different from the corporate world. the firewalls you're thinking about won't block anything that is within the network if it originates from a computer that is used off site or from a disc of some sort. there are a myriad of ways to localize a problem to one system but, nothing short of cutting the connection is 100% effective.

jeez then it's not really the av that is at fault, but the people who use it.

semp

[pembquist]

I asked my friend who works for a big game company and he said that they use this http://usa.kaspersky.com/   I bought it from new egg where  a 3 license box was 29.95 and it seems fine to me.  I looked at some reviews and it seemed like it got high marks.