So who truly has the BEST 64-bit (vista support) Antivirus Software?

[Andrew LB]

I'm looking for the best and after a few mistakes of umm.... "trying out" a few of the popular ones like 64-bit NOD32 which was great until I didn't notice updates were shut off to me while I was out of town for a week.... resulting in a bunch of crap getting into my PC.

So i'm buying full version this time. And it must be 64-bit and vista 64 compatible.

What do you 64-bit OS guys use for a quality antivirus? I've always heard that NOD32 64-bit is the best around but i'd like to hear some opinions from the XS community since you guys know more than 90% of the self proclaimed experts on various other sites.

Please give me your suggestions for what I should buy and what I should definitely avoid.

Your help is greatly appreciated!!

best regards,
-Andrew

[ultimeus]

Here in europe all the reviews I've seen Gdata antivurs as always been the best, not very know, I don't know if it support 64 bit.

http://www.gdata.de/portal/US/

[Andrew LB]

Oh man.... I never thought I'd see the day come when a publication like PC Mag did a comparison and tests among the most popular Security Suites' for 2008.... AND..... take a look who beats out companies like AVG, NOD32, Panda, Kaspersky, etc... (I noticed that F-Prot isn't in there... perhaps because they're not a bloat-ware suite).

When you see the chart below, please give me your honest opinions on whether this is just complete BS... or should I actually consider checking out some brands of software that I swore long ago never to use again?

I know the new products from Avast!, Grisoft AVG 8.0, McAfee, NOD32 and Norton 360 all are compatible with Vista 64-bit OS and supposedly run very well in that native mode.

http://www.kalionzes.net/randomphotos/pc_mag_security_suite_shootout.jpg


I know some of you 64-bit users have toyed around with some of these applications! I may install a trial of Norton 360 v2 just to see if it actually works. A friends laptop i gotta work on has over 200 viruses. I'm going to remove his notebook HDD and link it to my Dell XPS m1530 notebook to see how well it cleans. (i'm 99% sure i'll have to format it afterward though...

Here is the chart they put up.

[chunkylover77]

I use Nod32 which I got for $19. It has run flawlessly with a very small footprint. I used Kaspersky before that and didn't like it. Seemed to have a much larger footprint than Nod. Just MO though.

[Budwise]

NOD32 for everything...

[ARC1450]

I don't have a "works great" but I will say stay the hell away from McAfee. They've gone downhill since Win95.

[Andrew LB]

Well... after a few hours of trying out the various trial versions of some mainstream antivirus/security packages.... i've come to the following conclusions:

Norton 360: Too big, too slow, takes too much RAM, very difficult to remove completely... AND worst of all, it dumps on you a ton of half-assed features which would be decent if they were actually high quality... but no, Norton just throws together a bunch of unoptimized junk and sells it to you for $89.00.

AVG 8: Far better than Norton 360. Much lighter memory footprint and it doesn't get in the way of everything your trying to do like popping up little windows all the time. Definitely my second favorite.

Avast!: Fast moving program with low memory usage. The pop-ups start to drive you kind of nuts, but to be fair.... i'm sure they are only an issue the first few days. I didn't like the interface too much either.

NOD32: Well.... It seems like I've decided to stay with NOD32 (64-bit edition). It's fast as hell, takes small amounts of memory, updates are at least on a daily basis, and the interface is simple and easy to use. And best of all, it doesn't pack 10 different crappy programs into one box, instead.... they focused on the antivirus program and thats pretty much it. Plus I just saw on their website that I can get TWO licenses which last for two years each for $82.00. So I get a 2 year copy of 64-bit for my desktop rig and a second 2 year copy of the 32-bit vista version for my new Dell XPS M1530. Not a bad deal if you ask me. :)

[Andrew LB]

I don't have a "works great" but I will say stay the hell away from McAfee. They've gone downhill since Win95.

Hehe. Thats what my new Dell XPS M1530 came with. It's getting tossed tomorrow when I order my two licenses from NOD32.

15.4" LED-LCD screen
Core 2 Duo Penryn T8300 @ 2.4ghz
4gb DDR2
160gb 7200rpm SATA HDD w/fall sensor
Vista 32-bit
Geforce 8600m GT 256mb GDDR3
Tuxedo Black
Intel Wireless-N
Slot-Load DVD-RW
HDMI-out
gigabit ethernet
Fingerprint scanner + bluetooth + SB Audigy

http://www.kalionzes.net/xps/xps_m1530_1.jpg

http://www.kalionzes.net/xps/xps_m1530_300.jpg

[Speederlander]

Kaspersky Internet Security bluescreened my extremely stable build. Only program to do that. Avoid it for 64 bit IMO. They have an issue or two to work out. Love Kaspersky for 32 bit but something wasn't working right there. Could have also been Kaspersky not liking my mobo or LAN drivers or some obscure thing but I doubt it. The pure Kaspersky antivirus (not Internet Security) could have been fine. I just installed KIS on my XP machines on VMWare workstation so it wasn't a waste really.

I actually just run Vista 64 without AV anymore. I turn all windows security on max, including UAC and use mostly VMs for internet activity anyway. Nothing so much as squeeks without my permission.

[warmage]

using Kaspersky Internet Security 7 on Vista 64 no problems at all , didn't even have problems when vista first came out

gona upgrade to KIS 2009 and give feedback

Norton 360 is a joke , what a waste of money

[MaxxxRacer]

Running Kaspersky Internet Security 7 on XP64 with no issues. It slows the system down a bit (as all antivir do), but works great.

[Andrew LB]

I actually just run Vista 64 without AV anymore. I turn all windows security on max, including UAC and use mostly VMs for internet activity anyway. Nothing so much as squeeks without my permission.

[/quote]


Be careful doing that. I get calls from at least one client a week who don't run good antivirus but keep every security feature maxed.... and behold! Viruses!

This current virus I caught was the first time I had one in countless years.


Norton 360 is a joke , what a waste of money

Yep! It also causes tons of problems that previously weren't there to begin with.

I ran Norton 360 for three days and kept getting corrupt file messages, tons of pop-ups, and other abnormal things.


Thank god It was only a 15 day trial.... which i cut off after three days.