Topic: Antivirus/AntiMalware protection

[Slider]

My move to Norton 360 from older versions was a disaster. All data coming in from the internet was slowed to a crawl. So I thought I'd look into alternatives. NOD32 came to mind as the big 3 here in the US seem to avoid comparisons with it like the plague and so far its been a breath of fresh air. I might get a 3 pack and install it on my machines but wanted to get you guys opinions.

I use some of the free stuff to and swear by Spybot but having software that does both seems the way to go.

Opinions?

thanks

Slidey

[Pestalence_XC]

Personally I use AVG Anti-Virus.. it is FREE plus it filters sites when using search engines.. infected sites have a red X next to the link while a safe site has a check mark in green.

Add on top of that Spybot Search and Destroy 1.6 and Ad-Aware 2008.. which I run a daily scan on all 3 components.. plus for rare ocasions of a severe trojan or virus that may penetrate my defenses.. I keep Hijack This on my system as well..

I have not had a virus on my system in 6 years using this combination.. I rarely use a firewall either.. but Firewalls do not stop Virus attacks.. Firewalls stop others from hacking your system.. so that is moot ..

Also, SVG does not slow your system down.. Plus using IE 7 or IE 8 with Cookies set to Manual with First Party Accept, Third Party Block and always allow session cookies.. that seems to work best.. plus having Pop Up blocker on medium as well as the built in phishing filter turned on... Plus I am on Vista, so Windows Defender and UAC keeps track off all programs trying to run and install, so I get instant notification if something tries to hijack my browser or tries to change my system software or start-up entries or tries to add a service...

anyhow AVG will not slow a system down.. also do not have any toolbars added to your browser.. great way to allow Viruses in through the back door.. Now AVG will add a toolbar to the browser which is a search shield.. I do use that .. but stuff like Yahoo or Google can leave vulnerabilities in a browser..

The only slow down I see is a 1 second delay in opening a web page.. and that is because AVG is scanning it so that I won't get his by an infection embedded in the page code.

As for system speed.. it runs just as fast today as when I first put the OS on to it... Norton and McAfee will kill your system performance by 30% off the start and then it invades into your system from 3 locations.. talk about a virus.

[FCM_SFHQ_XC]

Personally I use AVG Anti-Virus.. it is FREE plus it filters sites when using search engines.. infected sites have a red X next to the link while a safe site has a check mark in green.

Add on top of that Spybot Search and Destroy 1.6 and Ad-Aware 2008.. which I run a daily scan on all 3 components.. plus for rare ocasions of a severe trojan or virus that may penetrate my defenses.. I keep Hijack This on my system as well..

I have not had a virus on my system in 6 years using this combination.. I rarely use a firewall either.. but Firewalls do not stop Virus attacks.. Firewalls stop others from hacking your system.. so that is moot ..

Also, SVG does not slow your system down.. Plus using IE 7 or IE 8 with Cookies set to Manual with First Party Accept, Third Party Block and always allow session cookies.. that seems to work best.. plus having Pop Up blocker on medium as well as the built in phishing filter turned on... Plus I am on Vista, so Windows Defender and UAC keeps track off all programs trying to run and install, so I get instant notification if something tries to hijack my browser or tries to change my system software or start-up entries or tries to add a service...

anyhow AVG will not slow a system down.. also do not have any toolbars added to your browser.. great way to allow Viruses in through the back door.. Now AVG will add a toolbar to the browser which is a search shield.. I do use that .. but stuff like Yahoo or Google can leave vulnerabilities in a browser..

The only slow down I see is a 1 second delay in opening a web page.. and that is because AVG is scanning it so that I won't get his by an infection embedded in the page code.

As for system speed.. it runs just as fast today as when I first put the OS on to it... Norton and McAfee will kill your system performance by 30% off the start and then it invades into your system from 3 locations.. talk about a virus.

Agreed..  also, be sure to give your system a couple of good soaking baths... Norton will sometimes not go uninstalled willingly

[Bonk]

Note this recent story:
AVG Fakes User Agent, Floods the Internet

So, to spare all of us running websites, please disable this feature or do not install it. (It is pointless anyway, as discussed on slashdot, a malicious website can sidestep this easily.)

If you have already installed it you can just disable it and tell AVG not to warn you about it (right click the item in the AVG control app).

Some are recommending Avast as an alternative but it forces registration, which I consider to be NOT FREE.

ClamAV is a good solution, but has no on access scanner, but is very flexible at the command line for scheduled or scripted scans, it is more efficient if you use the distribution that includes clamd. (see my post here.)

Note there are significant differences between ClamAV and ClamWin.

[Javora]

All the replies so far have been really good the only thing I would suggest is using A-Squared.  IMHO A-Squared is superior to Spybot Search and Destroy 1.6 or Ad-Aware 2008 but your mileage may very.  Hope this helps.

[Slider]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm running a few of these on machines to see how I like them. The New AVG free seems to need alot of reboots, Ive used AVG and spybot in combination for years now on my gaming machine.

Norton was loaded in my home use machine but I might switch to either ESET NOD32 or Kapersky Antivirus.

[Age]

I hope you used the Norton Uninstaller when uninstalling it or it will leave a ghost of it self on my older machine I still have one.