Windows Anti-Virus software needed - or keep what I have?

So my Panda AV license is about to expire after 3 years with them - and I can say that it's OK. I don't think that I've ever been infected, but I also use common sense and don't Dl stuff I shouldn't, and don't open bad mail either.

Panda sent me a renewal notice with a 30% coupon as well as a free upgrade to the 2011 edition because I'm a 'loyal' customer.

Now - I'm not saying PAV is good, it works is all, but I've definitely had my f@ck-ups with it. I'm quite used to it being incompatible with some drivers, being buggy, and needing to be re-installed every 3-4 months because it just does.

With the coupon, the price is decent, and I can easily just get the renewal because it is easy and I know the program and know what to expect. There's also a bit of lazyness with that though, so. . .

If I decide to not renew, what other top AV software is out there that you are satisfied with? I'm happy to pay if it's good, I mean I've paid PAV for the last 3 years so I don't see that as an issue.

Give me some recommendations as well as 1-2 reasons why you think xxxx AV is better, or that I should just renew?

Thanks in advance.

If it matters - Vista 64 ultimate (yes I know, vista)

 

Microsoft Security Essentials. Straightforward and effective. Not had any problems with it so far, I've found it's not resource hungry or intrusive.

Review available here: Techradar

Oh yeah, and it's free. Woop woop!

 

I use Security Essentials at home.

Works fine, doesnt get in the way and does detect threats that AVG misses.

It is only a AV solution, no anti-spam or internet security features but it suits me just fine.

 

MSE isn't bad as far as they go and using it at work, but I find it is a fair bit slower and uses quite a bit more memory than ESET, my preferred paid AV. I'd heartily recommend MSE for free use, or ESET if you want to spend to get a better product.

 

+1 to MSE, its non-invasive, frequent definition updates, and best of all its free.

also try Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware as an on-demand scanner, it seems to pickup the odd thing MSE doesnt find.

 

+1 for MSE. Got it running on both my XP and W7 machine.

 

I've got mcafee internet security OEM which means it was only about £9 including postage from ebuyer, switched back to it after having the 2009 version, then AVG. I've tried norton aswel, but mcafee is my firm faverite.

 

AV comparatives here.

 

I switched back to Norton Internet Security from Eset a couple of years ago, at the time I read that Norton had massively improved their bloated software and it ran lighter than Eset so I tried it out and I have had no problems, it is very user friendly. Also if you have 3 PCs the is a 3 user version available which represents pretty good value for money:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Norton-Internet-Security-2010-Computers/dp/B002M787XG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1276098605&sr=8-1

 

If you look at the below qoute, MSE scores quite well and very high in those charts. ESET is very close to MSE, so if they are almost equal I don't see what would make ESET a 'better' product? Can you explain?

Does anyone else feel that MSE impacts memory usage and is 'slow'?

Thanks for the link!

Do you guys(gals?) who use MSE combine that with a firewall, like Comodo? Or do you use windows defender? Also does MSE have real-time scanning like if I was about to click on a link and it would give me a warning? Or something like that? Or does it rely on you scanning the system and thus deleting viruses?

 

Can't go wrong with ESET NOD32 haven't ever had any problems. Frequent updates, from what I've seen around 5 per day, taking less than a few seconds to update the virus database.

Very easy to use and many features which are customizable.

 

I recommand Kaspersky, i have installed it for my friends and they have not problems with it

 

AVG all the way.

www.avg.com and you can grab a bargain here

 

I use AVG, IO bit Security and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. I also have a Comodo Firewall installed onto my laptop, which is using Vista (Home Premium 32 bit). have found this set up to be great, works well, the applications update themselves well without conflicting.


Best thig is all the AV/Firewall apps I have mentioned are open source meaning free

I have heard good reviews about ESET NOD32 and Kaspersky as well.

I would suggest the Comodo Firewall and AVG Antivirus (unless you want t spend some money in that case ESET NOD32 Antivirus would be a good option)

 

i used to use comodo firewall, but i found it too invasive.

the windows firewall is perfectly adequate tbh

 

Don't get me wrong, MSE is a great product for something that is free of charge and would probably choose it over Avast these days (my previous favourite free AV). I have just noticed it slowing login times occasionally. As far as memory goes, when not scanning MSE seems to use 3-5x the memory of ESET when NOD32 is scanning. Sure RAM should be used, but there is something to be said for efficient, optimised and low footprint programs.
Beyond that, my major gripe with AV software is when it does something I don't want it to, and I can't do jack about it. There is a point where AV software is almost as bad as the malware it is supposed to protect against (e.g. Mcafee & Norton, IMO).
Not the case with ESET. Many many options to fine tune to your liking - increasing performance and/or reducing annoyance. As mentioned, there are frequent updates, all taken care of automatically, and without making a fuss, or bogging anything down (Mcafee issue, not MSE).

I propose this, give MSE a try for a bit, uninstall then swap to ESET for the free 30 day trial. If you notice no difference, or don't need the extras, you have your choice

 

i use AVAST but i had to un-install MSE off a machine the other day cause its a CCTV machine and it eats RAM so the 65-75mb of RAM MSE was using was badly needed.

 

I find comodo firewall to be invasive(used to be alot - not too much now though) as well, however they are various settings which you can change to lower the number of notifications it will show. At first It will show alot of notifications as you know, but when it learns about your usage of the appilcations you use, it will work really well

 

Another MSE user here, it seems to work fine and it is regularly updated.

 

This is pretty solid advice, I'll give that a go when my license expires.

Thanks everyone!