Thread: Which Anti_virus is good?

is windows firewall enough. if not suggest a good free firewall software?

I have symantec antivirus corporate edition 2002. i update it every week. is it enough. if not suggest a good free spyware/antivirus software?
is spyware different from antivirus software? if yes how?

What about bit defender ?? I find it quite good...also NOD 32 and kaspersky.....

I have been using Kaspersky and never had any problems. i m a heavy downloader and Kaspersky has given best results.

bests
firewall-zonealarm
av-avg,avast
as-zonealarm suite, avg

i think AVG 8.0 is the best AV available these days..
good features of AV i like:
auto updates after every 4 hours (very light updates appox 10-20kb only) which dont put any load on your browsing and downloads

web shield and link scanner... which scans all your google results too

Very light AV which never puts load on your processor... when my AV scan runs then also my cpu consumption never exceeds 40%

Kaspersky is good. Iam using it & its blocks every threat. I feel secure abt my PC now.:10: I had bought it from eBay...1 year subcription costs around Rs 350.00.

i use avira antivir... read the latest av-comparatives report.. u'l get the clear picture ... however i have been using it since long before the report.... its been 1.5 yrs now...nevewr been infected ever since! m using premium, but free version is also available.

Originally Posted by jee.ramesh1983

Kaspersky is good. Iam using it & its blocks every threat. I feel secure abt my PC now.:10: I had bought it from eBay...1 year subcription costs around Rs 350.00.

i tried kaspersky about 1 year back and i never found it to be a good option for computer.. and after loading this my xp took more time to boot up and to come to desktop..
before loading kaspersky reboot time for my system was about 31 seconds but after loading this it took about 1minute 10 seconds to reboot and then i uninstalled it and deleted completly (manually) from registry, did system restore then got the same performance back again

I just switched over to Kaspersky from Norton which was taking a lot of memory...I find it pretty good and doesn't take much of memory..it too runs a update once in about 6 hrs.The boot period was ok until i installed zone alarm lately which slowed it.Now it takes about 2-3 mins for complete booting

i also use Avast . being a writer and an avid internet user I am scared about virus
padma

Originally Posted by smoothvibes

i tried kaspersky about 1 year back and i never found it to be a good option for computer.. and after loading this my xp took more time to boot up and to come to desktop..
before loading kaspersky reboot time for my system was about 31 seconds but after loading this it took about 1minute 10 seconds to reboot and then i uninstalled it and deleted completly (manually) from registry, did system restore then got the same performance back again

6 months back when i used Kaspersky, that time my system config was pentium 4 (256 mb ram, 40 gb hd), my system was a bit slow.
Now i upgraded my system to core 2 duo (2gb ram)...now i dont experience any slowness.

Try Panda Antivirus 2008 edition. Its a good Anti-virus with an inbuilt Firewall. I am using it from a quite long time. Try it once.

I have used Norton, Avast, AVG, Kasperasky & Escan ...

Norton was my 1st anti-virus..so I've a special feeling for it... but I must admit that it bogs down ur system... even though symantec has re-engineered its engine...in norton 360... it still suffers a bit...& certainly slows down the system... uninstallin Norton antivirus is another pain in the a**... some files still remain on the system... this isn't expected from a company which boasts of providing security.. Virus detection is good though...

Avast wasn't upto standards in virus detection...

AVG is fast and very light on system... Virus detection is OK... AVG free is a good option for those who don't want to spend on antivirus softwares...

Kasperasky - Probably the best antivirus around... I used it for 1 year... And never had a problem in my system... Its virus detection is best... Light on resources... Interface is good too... It effectively blocks malicious programs from automatically infecting your system while you are browsing innocently on some very bad sites..lol... and in India its price is also very low... I got a 3 machines license of 1 yr for just Rs. 800.. Best feature is that it has hourly updates... Its very nice thing in 21st century... Basically it does what its meant to do...

Escan- I'm currently using Escan, which belongs to an Indian company, Microworld. Just thought to give it a try... As it was using engine of Kasperasky.. So it also has a good virus scanner which runs deep without slowing down your system... Not surprisingly, its virus detection is on par with many international brands... We Indians do have brain... Its weakness lies in the Interface.. Which needs a major upliftment... An average user might take time to use it properly... Another thing which annoyed me was the price tag... It costs Rs. 1800 a year for a single user license... With piracy of softwares rampant in India and International Brands like Kasperasky lowering there prices especially for Indian market... Microworld should sell it cheap too... Considering the fact that they spend peanuts on their marketing campaigns...

I heard that bitdefender antivirus is among best too... That might be my next security guard...

Some tips-

1. Always use antispywares along with your antivirus suite.. Even if your antivirus claims to give you antispyware in its package. I blindly use Spybot with its tea-timer feature on... Tea-timer really protects your registry very nicely. Besides its free...

2. Windows defender should be there too... Its in-built in Vista... But Win XP users can download it from microsoft's site... gives you protection from Spywares and Trojans which sometimes your antivirus can miss... Obviously, who knows the loopholes of Windows better than Microsoft itself...

3. Firewalls such as Zonealarm and Comodo are better options to monitor the traffic and prevent unauthorized access. For, Home users I feel windows firewall is more than enough. So keep it turned on.

4. Keep your security tools updated.

I have used the free version of AVG its pathetic....i will not recommand it to anyone...will give it 3/10.

Have used NOD32 ....its ok...it detects most of it but does not delete all of them ....will give it 5/10.

Have also used Avira free edition ...detects all antivirus and deletes it but also with some system files ! so it ll be 6/10.

Norton is very good ...excellent for lay users ....will give it 8/10

Avast professional edition(not home edition)detects all the antivirus safely deletes all of them ...also scans zipped folders ,cd/DVD images and all types of files by auto opening it....
Has a Boot before XP and scan option for stubborn viruses...Light update files..And an active internet monitor which will abort any auto virus download initiated by certain bad sites...will give it 9/10

Originally Posted by gurusam

I just switched over to Kaspersky from Norton which was taking a lot of memory...I find it pretty good and doesn't take much of memory..it too runs a update once in about 6 hrs.The boot period was ok until i installed zone alarm lately which slowed it.Now it takes about 2-3 mins for complete booting

The problem might be very simple... You might have installed Kasperasky's firewall too while you installed it... You should have made a custom installation and unchecked the firewall feature...Your Kaspersky's firewall is conflicting with your Zone alarm... Disable the firewall of Kasperasky... See if it helps...

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Some tips-

1. Always use antispywares along with your antivirus suite.. Even if your antivirus claims to give you antispyware in its package. I blindly use Spybot with its tea-timer feature on... Tea-timer really protects your registry very nicely. Besides its free...

i use Kaspersky. Do i need to use a seperate antispyware. If yes...which one to use.

From my experiences anti-virus that claim to be light on the memory(ex:NOD32) are not very good at removing some of the advanced viruses...so you risk infection which you may not be aware of until it slows down your computer...

Its an unenviable choice at the end

A memory hogging anti-virus + no virus

or

A light on the memory antivirus + memory hogging virus(which may also uses some of your bandwidth)

Choose wisely ....
preferably try out the trial versions of all the antivirus before choosing one
(Free Software Downloads and Reviews - Download.com)

choose one tat is suited to u (depending on your Ram capacity ,Internet Bandwidth etc)...tats the only way you ll be happy ......

Originally Posted by jee.ramesh1983

i use Kaspersky. Do i need to use a seperate antispyware. If yes...which one to use.

Yes... Its better if u use antispywares like Spybot or Spyware Doctor along with any antivirus... Especially if you do online shopping or internet banking from your PC.. Antispywares also prevent trojan attacks... I prefer spybot.. Cuz its fully functional and free and does the work very efficiently.. Spyware doctor is good only if you have purchased it... Its functions are limited in the trial version... So the choice is yours...
And dont forget to keep Windows defender with Kaspersky and your chosen antispyware... All three will work very well in tandem and give your PC unprecedented security, provided you keep them updated...

One more information... You can only have one anti-virus installed at a time, but many antispyware applications installed.

Originally Posted by Eddy

From my experiences anti-virus that claim to be light on the memory(ex:NOD32) are not very good at removing some of the advanced viruses...so you risk infection which you may not be aware of until it slows down your computer...

Its an unenviable choice at the end

A memory hogging anti-virus + no virus

or

A light on the memory antivirus + memory hogging virus(which may also uses some of your bandwidth)

Choose wisely ....
preferably try out the trial versions of all the antivirus before choosing one
(Free Software Downloads and Reviews - Download.com)

choose one tat is suited to u (depending on your Ram capacity ,Internet Bandwidth etc)...tats the only way you ll be happy ......

I don't really agree with your 1st logic... Because memory utilization of an anti-virus depends a lot upon the quality of the engine it uses... By quality of engine I mean good algorithm... Which ensures optimum use of memory while monitoring or scanning your system.... Norton is good in virus detection but there are few antiviruses like kaspersky and bitdefender which score even better in virus detection while using less resources...There are only a handful of engines available in the market... Most of the antiviruses have not still developed their own engines... They simply borrow it from someone else...

I appreciate your second suggestion for wise selection of a product...

I have never tried out bit defender .....But i am not convinced about Kaspersky .....I have used it and i think Norton was way better.....I am aware of the fact that Different algorithms are used for Virus detection....But you should take into account the fact that due to wide spread adoption of Norton(Especially among Corporates) They are able to sink in large amount of finance into research on security services ...

I have had the opportunity of visiting one of their research facilities in the States.....Totally mind blowing.

Originally Posted by Eddy

I have never tried out bit defender .....But i am not convinced about Kaspersky .....I have used it and i think Norton was way better.....I am aware of the fact that Different algorithms are used for Virus detection....But you should take into account the fact that due to wide spread adoption of Norton(Especially among Corporates) They are able to sink in large amount of finance into research on security services ...

I have had the opportunity of visiting one of their research facilities in the States.....Totally mind blowing.

Well Symantec's call center employees are paid better in India than most other call centers too... There is no doubt about their large market share in corporate world... But thats just because Norton was among the very first antiviruses... Its similar to Windows launching before Mac and capturing majority of the market share... Poor Steve Jobs still wonders if he just wouldn't have hired services of Bill Gates in early 80's for his 1st GUI based MAC, Microsoft never had a chance of releasing Windows 1st and creating history...

Anyways, lets not divert from the topic ... And talk bout performance of Antiviruses... I still feel Symantec spends a lot of their money on marketing, support and their other products(some of them like Norton Ghost are really good)... Else people should not have been blaming Norton Antivirus for slowing down their systems...

I've read about bitdefender on various forums... And they say its quite good... One of the key features bitdefender has developed is a virtual machine that runs invisibly in the background on your computer where it tests suspicious code, which is code that looks like a virus but doesn't currently match any of the known virus signatures... In this way, bitdefender can protect your computer from viruses no one has reported yet... And it has hourly updates too... Which is so much of a necessity nowadays...

P.S.- For users interested in knowing the story of Steve n Bill... Watch "Pirates of Silicon Valley"...

Lol......... gr8 coincidence .....I just made a Seminar on that particular topic

Very interesting story ...

Bill Screws Steve .... Larry (Google) Screws Bill .... And now one of Google's own Employee starts a new Search Engine (Cuil)....

Originally Posted by Eddy

Lol......... gr8 coincidence .....I just made a Seminar on that particular topic

Very interesting story ...

Bill Screws Steve .... Larry (Google) Screws Bill .... And now one of Google's own Employee starts a new Search Engine (Cuil)....

Hehehe...That's the reality of life... Everybody wants to be on top... By hook or crook...

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Yes... Its better if u use antispywares like Spybot or Spyware Doctor along with any antivirus... Especially if you do online shopping or internet banking from your PC.. Antispywares also prevent trojan attacks... I prefer spybot.. Cuz its fully functional and free and does the work very efficiently.. Spyware doctor is good only if you have purchased it... Its functions are limited in the trial version... So the choice is yours...
And dont forget to keep Windows defender with Kaspersky and your chosen antispyware... All three will work very well in tandem and give your PC unprecedented security, provided you keep them updated...

One more information... You can only have one anti-virus installed at a time, but many antispyware applications installed.

Thanks man...is it "Spybot - Search & Destroy©® 1.6.0" you are taking about.
I have windows defender installed.

Originally Posted by jee.ramesh1983

Thanks man...is it "Spybot - Search & Destroy©® 1.6.0" you are taking about.
I have windows defender installed.

Its my pleasure dude... Yeah.. it is Spybot - Search & Destroy©® 1.6.0...

Will download & install it today....:rockon: