Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Denholm on June 12, 2013, 05:46:53 PM

Title: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Denholm on June 12, 2013, 05:46:53 PM
Good afternoon everyone,

While I personally am not searching for an AV / Security Suite solution, I have some people occasionally ask me which is the best. I used to recommend ESET products heavily. However, I feel their quality has recently dwindled and become more obtrusive. As such, does anyone (such as llama) have any suggestions for a great AV / security suite package? Obviously I'm looking for a combination of low price, superb security, superb scanning, superb cleaning, with minimal bloat and impact on computer resources.

Thanks for the suggestions! :aok
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: gyrene81 on June 12, 2013, 07:52:02 PM
it tends to be a round robin thing that changes every year or two. right now quick search is showing bitdefender plus 2013 is leading the way as far as protection. for people that don't game on their systems, internet security suites are a good choice...otherwise, just an effective anti-virus and some common sense is more than adequate.

av-test is a good place to start looking...

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/ (http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/)
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Randy1 on June 12, 2013, 09:25:21 PM
A lot of problems can be avoided by avoiding gambling/poker sites, Na, double k by God ed sites. and don't open attachments you are not expecting.   :)
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: BaldEagl on June 12, 2013, 09:50:11 PM
I dumped McAfee a couple of years ago and now I use MS Security Essentials.  It's free and seems to work well and doesn't hog nearly the resources McAfee did but then again I've never had a virus or trojan.
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: numb1 on June 13, 2013, 01:19:17 AM
I run AVG Free AV and Zonealarm free firewall on my computer and i have never had any issues..
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on June 13, 2013, 02:03:35 AM
Where is Vulcan now with his 100% proof antivirus?  :D
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Vulcan on June 13, 2013, 10:53:46 PM
Where is Vulcan now with his 100% proof antivirus?  :D

AH BBS can not afford my hourly rate ;)
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on June 14, 2013, 12:15:19 AM
See Rule #4
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Brooke on June 14, 2013, 07:17:33 PM
I like Avast (which is what I use at home -- it's free and good), and MS Security Essentials is what we use at work (because Avast isn't free for business).
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Mano on June 15, 2013, 01:40:35 AM
I use Avast (free version) on my home 'puter and have never experienced ant problems. I used to use the paid version at work before we subscribed to sonicwall.

I use the windows defender to scan for malware.

 :aok

Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Denholm on June 16, 2013, 09:11:02 AM
it tends to be a round robin thing that changes every year or two. right now quick search is showing bitdefender plus 2013 is leading the way as far as protection. for people that don't game on their systems, internet security suites are a good choice...otherwise, just an effective anti-virus and some common sense is more than adequate.

av-test is a good place to start looking...

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/ (http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/)

Thank you. I found the same information, just wanted to know if anyone had a difference of opinion.
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: steely07 on June 16, 2013, 09:41:33 PM
Agree with you about eset, the later versions (from 6) have an issue where they will randomly kill all network connections, and not even disabling the firewall will get it going again (you have to issue some netsh commands)
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Slate on June 19, 2013, 09:45:50 AM
I dumped McAfee a couple of years ago and now I use MS Security Essentials.  It's free and seems to work well and doesn't hog nearly the resources McAfee did but then again I've never had a virus or trojan.

  Ditto ^^^^^

  Does work well it has stopped a trojan my Computer had but had to use another program to totally erase it.
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: deadstikmac on June 20, 2013, 03:16:57 PM
Comodo in my humble option is the light weight powerhouse of that world. Soo many options and such a small lightweight program. It also has a system boost too turn your antivirus into a "gaming" setup without having another program to disable the antivirus. Built in firewall means I can disable everything that is eating up resources... IE anything Microsoft.

No Microsoft firewall. No Microsoft anything for system protection had a big impact on my older computers.
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Masherbrum on June 21, 2013, 08:05:43 AM
I use ESET Smart Security 6 and encounter no problems.....
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Denholm on June 23, 2013, 09:07:14 AM
Agree with you about eset, the later versions (from 6) have an issue where they will randomly kill all network connections, and not even disabling the firewall will get it going again (you have to issue some netsh commands)

Never encountered that issue with ESET Smart Security 6. I've simply noticed during the program's subsequent versions it started becoming more resource intensive and obtrusive. I used to be able to stop ESET's services and processes if I wanted to. Now it's not that easy. It also hasn't been appearing in reviews for having great scanning, detection, and removal ratings. Therefore, I'd say it's safe to say the program isn't as robust and powerful as it once was.

I still like ESET, However, I don't feel recommending it to inquiring customers is such a great idea if it's not a great tool with minimum resource impact.
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Bizman on June 23, 2013, 01:05:55 PM
some people occasionally ask me which is the best [antivirus].
We're in the same boat. My advice has crystallized to something like: "The best antivirus is any program/brand you can understand. The most important safety component is between the keyboard and the back rest."

That said, I heavily dislike All-in-One monsters like Norton360, nagging about everything as "critical". Cookies don't for the most part spy and backups aren't crucial if you only use browser based services such as banking or tubing. If a customer likes some brand, I'd recommend him to get the simplest version of that one, doing only the antivirus thing. For home users, the free versions may counteract their job as advertising the paid programs, because in their simplicity they suit best for the computer illiterate.
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Denholm on June 23, 2013, 03:21:58 PM
Quite true. Great way of bringing across a point.
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Vulcan on June 27, 2013, 03:07:26 AM
Never encountered that issue with ESET Smart Security 6. I've simply noticed during the program's subsequent versions it started becoming more resource intensive and obtrusive.

that is common across most AV products. The threat landscape has changed, old school was purely signature based, then we added heuristics, then we added behavioral, next step is moving towards reputational. Some are also slowly adding enterprise management features (which historically made mcafee and symantec 'fatter') plus client enforcement capabilities (firewall, web filtering, app whitelisting etc).
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: bj229r on June 30, 2013, 11:16:55 AM
I use only Malware Bytes, small footprint, seems to catch any naughty bits that try to get in
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Bizman on June 30, 2013, 11:49:39 AM
I use only Malware Bytes, small footprint, seems to catch any naughty bits that try to get in
Actually MalwareBytes isn't an antivirus program, although it can find and delete many trojans. I suppose you're having the paid version, which is on all the time. The on-demand only free version is a good cleaning tool, but if you only rely on that, the naughty bits may have done who knows what before you run a scan.
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: bj229r on June 30, 2013, 12:24:00 PM
yeah, I got the pro version a couple years ago
Title: Re: Antivirus / Security Suite Suggestions
Post by: Bizman on June 30, 2013, 01:09:11 PM
So you seem to be pretty safe concerning crapware. The three newest versions of Windows also have Defender installed, in Windows 8 it actually is the same as the free Microsoft Security Essentials. In that case you might have the whole field covered. A check with an online scanner every now and then wouldn't hurt, though, just for getting another doctor's opinion. Eset Online scanner (http://download.eset.com/special/eos/esetsmartinstaller_enu.exe) has proved quite capable in finding all sorts of nasties lately, download link for the browser independent version included. If you run it, checking the advanced features for ticking the unwanted couple would be a good option at least the first time for a thorough scan.