What antivirus program do you use?

mdaudioguy

I have 5 PCs in the house and currently 4 teenagers that click on who knows what... We seem to have been very successful lately avoiding virus issues, and all I've installed on them are either Avast(!) (on 3) or Microsoft Security Essentials (on the other 2). Four of the PCs run W7, while one that I mostly use for storage of backup data runs XP SP3.

I recently worked on a few laptops (belonging to relatives) that turned out to have serious issues due to viruses/malware. Both of them had outdated or expired installations of Norton Antivirus, since replaced by MSE. Also, Microsoft updates were usually hosed on these computers, which likely also contributed to them becoming compromised. Antivirus and Windows updates together seem to be most critical to computer security... just a reminder!

Motzart

I have Time Warner Cable Inet and they provide CA Security Center for FREE.
So far it works great for me!

I run a Pent 4 with HT....2 Gig of Kingston HyperX Ram and XP Home Ed SP3

TNRabbit

Microsoft Security Essentials is what we use at work; it's great.

bobman1235

I would argue that Windows Updates are FAR more important to security than Antivirus programs. I actually read a great article recently (I wish I could find it to post) about the inefficacy of pretty much ALL antivirus programs in real-world situations. Not to discourage people from using them, just sayin'.

mdaudioguy

bobman1235 wrote: »

I would argue that Windows Updates are FAR more important to security than Antivirus programs. I actually read a great article recently (I wish I could find it to post) about the inefficacy of pretty much ALL antivirus programs in real-world situations. Not to discourage people from using them, just sayin'.

+1. Updates patch the holes that malware uses to gain access to your computer. Antivirus programs usually only seek to detect the bad stuff once it's reached your computer.

Outfitter03

I use ESET
http://www.eset.com/
I have the security suite with the firewall.

A little pricey but for 2 years now, works well. Very user friendly not requiring lots of choices and works in the background. Loaded it on my Tech Phobic Parents computer and they have had no issues with operation and are happy.

mdaudioguy

I'm just not into buying much software, when there's so much free stuff out there that satisfies my needs. To each their own, though. IMO, the paid stuff is usually too bloated (resource hoggish), because it has to be "feature packed" in order to justify its expense.

coolsax

I currently use AVG which is a free virus program... seems to work pretty well, will place a checkmark next to links on searches stating if its a safe site.

VR3

Avast, Malware Bytes, Spybot Search and Destroy

vc69

MS Security Essentials and Malwarebytes.

tonyb

I have a pic of my x wife, any virus cruising my computer is automatically scared into retreat.

bruss

coolsax wrote: »

I currently use AVG which is a free virus program... seems to work pretty well, will place a checkmark next to links on searches stating if its a safe site.

+1.. I do updates and scans nightly and keep the kids off my rig.. lol.

heiney9

Vipre............so far it has been the best at catching stuff. The nice thing about Vipre is not only is it powerful, but as it runs in background it uses about 50% less resources than hogs like Norton, MS Security, and all those large programs.

I swear by Vipre. In fact our IT guys at work started using it when the other large leading brand of Virus software wasn't working well.

http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/home-home-office/vipre/

Take a look

H9

nguyendot

I use SEPM and AVG.

NotaSuv

tonyb wrote: »

I have a pic of my x wife, any virus cruising my computer is automatically scared into retreat.

LOL this is one program I need to use too

WilliamM2

I use Avast. But I think it's far more important to make images of your system on a regular basis. Even if a program can clean up a system, do you still trust it with all your personal/banking info after an infection? I don't.

No matter what anti-virus and malware programs people run, something new always seems to get through. With an image, you're back up and running in 5 minutes. Windows 7 has the tools built in, and there are several free options available for other operating systems these days.

I've never personally gotten malware, or a virus, but I deal with the crap everyday at work, and images make life easy. As long as the user saves all work to the servers like they are supposed to...there's always one that needs to learn the hard way though.

Joe08867

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »

Avast, Malware Bytes, Spybot Search and Destroy

I use these too.... Never any problems.:)

heiney9

WilliamM2 wrote: »

I use Avast. But I think it's far more important to make images of your system on a regular basis. Even if a program can clean up a system, do you still trust it with all your personal/banking info after an infection? I don't.

I agree 1000%. Only after being infected with a virus did I start to follow this idea. I now us Acronis True Image software to back up on a weekly basis.

Vipre has been excellent for keeping things clean but nor program is going to be 100% effective.

H9

codyc1ark

I was going to post something about using a Mac... But... I'll leave it alone.

indyhawg

I started using Vipre about a month ago. So far, I really like it.

jflail2

I'm also using Free AVG. Has anyone installed 2011 yet? My machine seems considerably more sluggish since I installed AVG 2011. Pondering trying something else out if the sluggishness continues.

edit: And Bob is spot on. Patch Tuesday is a good day

bobman1235

jflail2 wrote: »

I'm also using Free AVG. Has anyone installed 2011 yet? My machine seems considerably more sluggish since I installed AVG 2011. Pondering trying something else out if the sluggishness continues.

edit: And Bob is spot on. Patch Tuesday is a good day

I installed AVG '11 on my main PC which is pretty peppy so I haven't noticed any slowdown. I haven't installed it on my laptop yet though, and if there's slowdown I'll definitely notice it on that dog. I was kind of hoping the opposite, really

One thing I have noticed is the "free" anti-virus / spyware programs lately have become like malware themselves. I had to uninstall Ad-Aware because I was getting daily stupid popup ads from them. Good thing I have this program installed that's supposed to prevent me from getting popup nonsense, and it's doing itself. I'm worried about AVG going down teh same road. "Want to install this toolbar?" "Want to upgrade to blah blah essentials??"

renowilliams

Personally, I don't use an antivirus but I do have an image of my C: drive backed up to another drive. IMHO its more important to ensure your backed up. Also, all files and downloads go to a drive other than C:. I do scan periodically with malewatebytes but I never leave it installed.

jflail2

I noticed the same thing Bob. "Clean your system up with this additional tool". "enhance your virus protection experience with X".

Hmm, I might have to try new AV software, or worse...I dread a slash and burn, but this might be a good reason to upgrade to Windows 7 and get away from craptacular Vista...

apphd

vc69 wrote: »

MS Security Essentials and Malwarebytes.

+1 that combo works well for me.

bigaudiofanatic

Avg that is all I use or use on customers computers. Works fine and it is free. And malware bytes for malware.

bigaudiofanatic

mdaudioguy wrote: »

I'm just not into buying much software, when there's so much free stuff out there that satisfies my needs. To each their own, though. IMO, the paid stuff is usually too bloated (resource hoggish), because it has to be "feature packed" in order to justify its expense.

You are correct norton is very bloated from what I have uninstalled of it. Sometimes taking up to 10 minutes to uninstall. Aldo mcafee is no better really.

kuntasensei

I read an interesting report where I think it was CNET set up a drive image with like 60 different viruses, spyware and malware, then evaluated each anti-virus program on both the % of stuff it caught and the processing hit that the CPU took. The winner was an AV program called Avira on both counts. It caught and repaired the most and had lower CPU utilization.

The great thing is... for personal use, Avira is free. Go to www.free-av.com to check it out. I've been using it for some time now and have had zero issues, and it didn't seem to slow my computer down (as opposed to Norton and McAfee, which both obviously made my system run slower).

bigaudiofanatic

One or my teachers recommended that avira just have not used it on my own computers.

jinjuku

You aren't cutting the problems at the source here.

Get something like the Linksys RV042 with the TrendMicro Gateway solution. The whole point is keeping people from hitting sites they shouldn't be hitting in the first place.

The thought is by the time you get around to having your AV handle a virus something went wrong much earlier.

This solution also offers email scanning.

Janne

I have been a Norton guy since beginning of time. Never had a virus so why try something else?