Which antivirus to use for my machine? [Archive]

MMhardKy

04-20-2008, 10:25 AM

So after getting some horrible spyware and reformating my drive, I§ve decided to finaly get some good antivirus.

I have actualy never really used an antivirus or firewall, I tried to stay away from cracks etc., but it seems that a lot of my files got infected through time. I need something reliable, but I am a minimalist. I need it to take as little resources as possible, but still be effective.

DO I also need a firewall? I don't have a static ip so I don't know if its necessary.
What alntivirus is mostly used by users who like their performance but are also responsible? Thanks for your suggestions!

YukonTrooper

04-20-2008, 10:35 AM

I like Avira AntiVir. Has the highest detection rate of any AV, very low resources, and is free. I've never had a problem to date.

As for a firewall, I use the NAT on my Linksys router, but I also use COMODO Firewall Pro because I like to monitor outgoing traffic. It's the best free firewall around and it's better than anything I've purchased before. It has a fantastic interface and is updated regularly.

kingzl3y

04-20-2008, 10:40 AM

I'm the exact same as you!
..
Well, I know what to download and know what NOT to download, I download cracks all the time (C'mon, face it, we all do!)..
You've just got to like be really vigilant and watch what you download.

For the past 6-8months i haven't had an Anti-Virus OR firewall installed..
and yet i remained virus-free.
However recently, i've got back into torrents and just to be that little bit safer, i bought a decent firewall (ZoneAlarm).

When it comes to anti-virus software, i don't really use one..
HOWEVER, just to have that piece of mind, I downloaded one..
..But, it's not like the rest, it's a Portable Anti-virus scanner (Freeware)
Link: http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/clamwin_portable
I've chosen a portable one, because i don't really need this "Real-Time" protection BS which slows down everthing..

And if I'm not doing anything, i simply whack in the spare usb pen, do a quick virus check, and then remove it..
Hope that helps.

OH and btw, I use Spybot Search and Destroy as my anti-spyware scanner, and it's pretty darn decent.
:up:

Soulburner

04-20-2008, 08:01 PM

Kaspersky 7.

Serra

04-20-2008, 08:27 PM

Anti-whatty? :p:

Seriously though - a router and practicing safe computing is all you need. No-one talks to you unless you talk to them first, you don't get anything you don't ask for.

[XC] riptide

04-20-2008, 08:52 PM

I use NOD 32. It has misfired once on me. Only problem i ever had.

Zytek_Fan

04-20-2008, 09:06 PM

I use AVG.

zanzabar

04-20-2008, 10:17 PM

i use microsoft 1 care, its symantec licensed through MS (i get it free so u cant beat that), and it lets me send commands and force scans to the computers on my network

virtualrain

04-21-2008, 12:42 AM

Anti-whatty? :p:

Seriously though - a router and practicing safe computing is all you need. No-one talks to you unless you talk to them first, you don't get anything you don't ask for.

QFT... Who needs AV? With IE7 and some basic street smarts, you don't need an AV program to bog down your system.

Basic street smarts:
- Don't open questionable attachments
- Don't allow questionable plugins/activex controls to install
- Don't install warez from questionable sources

theclash

04-21-2008, 01:24 AM

Here's another vote for Nod32. I like it better than any other out there. It doesn't need many resources, virtually invisible, and doesn't conflict with other anti-virus programs.

Nosfer@tu

04-21-2008, 03:02 AM

AVast is free for 40 or 60 days.
If you register you get 14 months free.
It has been awarded many times as the best on the market.
AND it is VERY easy and intuitive to use.

I love it vs AVG

kingzl3y

04-21-2008, 10:40 AM

But are virus scanners actually needed nowadays?
:confused:

Data_

04-21-2008, 11:18 AM

i suggest you to use NOD32.

Linchpin

04-21-2008, 12:41 PM

Avast is good and it's free. As for neseccity of an anti-virus, well it can't hurt can it and if an anti-virus somehow massively bogs down your PC then your PC must be pretty outdated.

Volucris

04-21-2008, 12:52 PM

AntiVir for free and Kapersky for purchase imo.

MentholMoose

04-21-2008, 12:54 PM

But are virus scanners actually needed nowadays?
:confused:
The OP said his computer is infected, so apparently yes.

Polizei

04-21-2008, 02:28 PM

Since building my computer, I haven't used one until my damn college forced me to in order to connect to their network. Just be careful with what you download.

[XC] riptide

04-21-2008, 05:17 PM

QFT... Who needs AV? With IE7 and some basic street smarts, you don't need an AV program to bog down your system.

Basic street smarts:
- Don't open questionable attachments
- Don't allow questionable plugins/activex controls to install
- Don't install warez from questionable sources

Life can be a little more varied than that.

My GF for example brings in USB mem. key to college. Does her stuff on college PC's. Brings home USB key. Into laptop. Virus detected!

College PC's infected with viruses and admins don't give a damn/care.

Serra

04-21-2008, 10:25 PM

riptide;2936309']Life can be a little more varied than that.

My GF for example brings in USB mem. key to college. Does her stuff on college PC's. Brings home USB key. Into laptop. Virus detected!

College PC's infected with viruses and admins don't give a damn/care.

This kind of reminds me of a similar statement for STD's... a guy goes out, stick his thing in holes where who knows what has been, and then gets gonorrhea. Safe computing starts with safe decisions, like not putting your stick in any random port. If you have no choice, then yeah... be sure to get yourself tested!

Th3MadScientist

04-30-2008, 10:38 AM

who uses AV anymore...use VMWare for all your torrents :up: , for browsing setup a sandbox, you can go on virtually any website, download all the spyware in the universe, and as soon as you close sandbox, it all disappears. It's a great piece of software. Especially handy for all you porn viewers :D
You can also use sandbox to test 3rd party applications.

You dont need anti-spyware or anti-virus if your web savy. I do recommend a firewall though, just to block any unwanted connections and if you do get a form of spyware the firewall blocks the outbound connection and notifies you.

Easiest firewall that I used is Zonealarm, it comes bundled with AV and AS using the Kaspersky engine as an added bonus. UI is great and easily manageable. You can find it for free if you look hard enough.

karateo

04-30-2008, 11:45 AM

BUY the nod32

jbartlett323

04-30-2008, 12:22 PM

Polizei

04-30-2008, 12:25 PM

My antivirus is my right index finger.

I haven't run an antivirus in 2 years since I built this computer and to my knowledge, I don't have any viruses. Just watch what you download. :shrug:

karateo

04-30-2008, 12:31 PM

My antivirus is my right index finger.

I haven't run an antivirus in 2 years since I built this computer and to my knowledge, I don't have any viruses. Just watch what you download. :shrug:

i prefer to use less thinking and risk on what I download -> download anything I might be interested :D
and use instead an antivirus :)

Poly15

04-30-2008, 12:52 PM

Honestly.... the only anti-virus that i would NOT use at ALL is mcafee. Any of the suggestions above would work just fine if you think you need antivirus. I personally use NOD32 when customers of mine ask for anti-virus. I find it to be one of the best for less money then most others. I personally dont use anti-virus :P

Monkey101

04-30-2008, 12:59 PM

Avira AntiVir. Thats my 2 cents.

Bbq

04-30-2008, 03:55 PM

Soulburner

04-30-2008, 04:14 PM

don't mean to highjack the thread but for those of you who don't use an antivirus how do you know you are virus free? i have encountered viruses that i didn't have any clue were on the system untill i ran a scan... so just curious what i would look for to make sure i'm not infected...
it really doesn't matter cause as you all said as long as you have good habits it really doesn't matter... don't think i have had anything but false positives for 2 years now...
Exactly, viruses can be completely invisible. I laugh every time I see someone say they claim to be virus-free yet don't use any antivirus program. Unless you've scanned, you don't know.

Serra

04-30-2008, 04:32 PM

Exactly, viruses can be completely invisible. I laugh every time I see someone say they claim to be virus-free yet don't use any antivirus program. Unless you've scanned, you don't know.

4 ways:

1. No decrease in performance in any way
2. No instability
3. No unusual network activity
... and...
4. If you image as often as I do, you do install an AV after taking an image every so to scan and confirm your backups aren't bad (after which you re-apply the image you just took).

So yeah, #4 is the solid answer, but if a virus doesn't hit on #'s 1-3, it's not a virus at all, it's just an unknown application. Viruses are, by definition, harmful.

I maintain that for a home user it's just about practicing safe web browsing and buying a router. The only computer that need AV are those which have a user who downloads questionable content and/or people who aren't computer savvy.

[XC] riptide

04-30-2008, 04:36 PM

This kind of reminds me of a similar statement for STD's... a guy goes out, stick his thing in holes where who knows what has been, and then gets gonorrhea. Safe computing starts with safe decisions, like not putting your stick in any random port. If you have no choice, then yeah... be sure to get yourself tested!

Are you implying my GF is a slut? Cos if you are, that sweet avatar won't save your ass.:shakes: :D :up:

Th3MadScientist

04-30-2008, 09:53 PM

Exactly, viruses can be completely invisible. I laugh every time I see someone say they claim to be virus-free yet don't use any antivirus program. Unless you've scanned, you don't know.

Why laugh?

You guys really need to step your game up

Go here http://sandboxie.com/ download sandboxie, run any program you want (your browser) and go wild, never need an anti-virus again and this is why
"When you run a program on your computer, data flows from the hard disk to the program via read operations. The data is then processed and displayed, and finally flows back from the progam to the hard disk via write operations. Sandboxie changes the rules such that write operations do not make it back to your hard disk."

So what does this mean, if you run your browser in sandbox, anything you can stumble upon will not be written to your harddrive aka viruses, spyware etc etc, and all you need to do is exit out of sandbox to close it and its all erased from a virtual harddrive space. It's really simple.

Metroid

05-01-2008, 01:15 PM

don't mean to highjack the thread but for those of you who don't use an antivirus how do you know you are virus free? i have encountered viruses that i didn't have any clue were on the system untill i ran a scan... so just curious what i would look for to make sure i'm not infected...
it really doesn't matter cause as you all said as long as you have good habits it really doesn't matter... don't think i have had anything but false positives for 2 years now...

Anyway AVG is the way to go... or i have heard many times NOD32 if you want to pay for it...

There are many ways that I can identify if a virus is actually running in my system. I do not use antivirus because many of them are too heavy and I hate it on my system tray. If someone is looking for a good antivirus go for this one.

FS Secure (http://www.f-secure.com/home_user/)

I used to use it for bank transactions.

Metroid.

jbartlett323

05-01-2008, 01:52 PM

There are many ways that I can identify if a virus is actually running in my system. I do not use antivirus because many of them are too heavy and I hate it on my system tray. If someone is looking for a good antivirus go for this one.

FS Secure (http://www.f-secure.com/home_user/)

I used to use it for bank transactions.

Metroid.

have heard many good things about that one too!! :up:
so what do you do to make sure?
do you constantly watch your processes? but that only works if its something strange... what if it svchost.exe? there are like 5 of them running all the time on a normal install... i suppose if you watch process explorer instead of task manager you might see it?
dont blame you at all for not running one some can be aweful system intensive and the nightly scan does create more drive activity than is necassary...
i'm not trying to manke anyone mad or anything am just truely curious ;)

Logos

05-01-2008, 02:05 PM

avira has many good reviews, mainly based on its high detection rate. High detection rate means high heuristic, means loads of false positive. OK my favorite at the moment is Avast: its webshield makes an excellent job - blocking malware in memory, and not at HDD level, when it's too late. NOD32 does that too.

(I use to run AVG before that, essentially because it's not resource demanding, and has a very well updated database; but even in its latest 8.0 version, it's got an outdated technical interface imo)

iddqd

05-01-2008, 03:52 PM

I don't really use an antivirus on my main machines, common sense and a fully patched XP install are good enough.

On my fileserver, I use Symantec Corporate 10, it's a somewhat less-retarded version of Norton.

RADCOM

05-01-2008, 03:55 PM

In recent tests in PC pro et al Kaspersky and Avira were the two that caught the most threats.Some onf the more well known ones ( as used in big corps hint hint ) were pretty poor. F secure and NOD32 are fair. ZOne alarm now has a big foot print but uses the kaspersky engine but with different oil lol. I guess I'd go with Avira av and Zone alarm firewall for a comprehensive " I'm relatively safe" approach.

Soulburner

05-01-2008, 04:23 PM

Nate P.

05-01-2008, 08:10 PM

I use AVG.
Me too! I use the AVG Free 8.

Metroid

05-02-2008, 02:22 AM

have heard many good things about that one too!! :up:
so what do you do to make sure?
do you constantly watch your processes? but that only works if its something strange... what if it svchost.exe? there are like 5 of them running all the time on a normal install... i suppose if you watch process explorer instead of task manager you might see it?
dont blame you at all for not running one some can be aweful system intensive and the nightly scan does create more drive activity than is necassary...
i'm not trying to manke anyone mad or anything am just truely curious ;)

Well for that I use Data Execution Prevention and allow only the programs that I know.

If I get a virus I will know as some of them multiply and some make the systems unstable and some get data from you, the one that multiply I have to keep an eye to what is consuming the hardware or processes, the one that makes the network or hardware to work slow I check with benchmarks, discs and so on to determine if it is really slow and if something is affecting the system, and the one's that get the data from me I check and block all the ports but not the port 80, the data is encrypted anyway and it has a code that only windows knows to make the processes running. There are worse virus than the one's that I am talking about, for that reason I use a fast scan and not an anti virus called Stinger or Microsoft malicious tool, I just make it run when I'm not doing anything for about 5 minutes, very fast and efficient.

There are many more ways to detect it even if they hijack inside the explorer.exe or any other system file. Hijack programs are good though.

Antivirus are good for normal users, for experienced users no need for that but for bank transactions, money regarding has to be run on systems that have an anti(virus, malware and spyware) as no one would be so naive and trust it for that matter.

Metroid.

jbartlett323

05-02-2008, 06:26 AM

right on that all makes sense thank you for the information! :up:

Th3MadScientist

05-02-2008, 07:08 AM

the only thing that would worry me about bank transactions are keyloggers, everything else is encrypted though SSL. Most banks are really really strict and they record your hardware hash into their database and if someone managed to steal your user/password their hardware hash would not match yours and they would be asked for a code but the only way to get the code is if the bank calls your house.

BlaqMale

05-02-2008, 08:58 PM

Kis

TurboDiv

10-06-2008, 09:56 PM

KIS 2009 is the best protection for the resources it uses.

[XC] riptide

10-07-2008, 06:14 AM

http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

chinaguy

10-07-2008, 06:33 AM

I use Avast on all my home PCs now. The free home version does all you need to protect your PC.

deathman20

10-07-2008, 08:41 AM

Using Avast currently. Haven't run an AV software in years, and figured ah why not try something here to make sure nothing is going out and such. Current Vista install is 3-4 months old, have my other Vista install on another drive that was 1+ Years old. Out of everything, and all of the data I had including backups, had 4 virus's. All minor and non where running. Not bad for just using the router as a main firewall, and MS's firewall as a secondary. In Vista non the less. Total data scanned was ~1.3TB.

Will I install another AV software when i reformat next, not sure, but Avast seems to be light on resources when not in use, but don't know. Oh and started using another blocker recently, Peer Guardian, guy recommended it to me from work, and since well its mainly torrent orientated thought ah I'll give it a shot anyways. I was amazed how many people where hitting my IP address getting through the router and Avast Firewalls. Most interesting was getting hit from Time Warner Cable, which isn't even my Cable provider.

deathman20

10-07-2008, 08:53 AM

Why laugh?

You guys really need to step your game up

Go here http://sandboxie.com/ download sandboxie, run any program you want (your browser) and go wild, never need an anti-virus again and this is why
"When you run a program on your computer, data flows from the hard disk to the program via read operations. The data is then processed and displayed, and finally flows back from the progam to the hard disk via write operations. Sandboxie changes the rules such that write operations do not make it back to your hard disk."

So what does this mean, if you run your browser in sandbox, anything you can stumble upon will not be written to your harddrive aka viruses, spyware etc etc, and all you need to do is exit out of sandbox to close it and its all erased from a virtual harddrive space. It's really simple.

Looks good one problem, Vista 64-bit is basically not compatible with it.