Hey everyone, hoping you can maybe give me some reccomendations for antivirus software? Ive never had a pc that ive really cared about before, but ive recently built a good computer which i dont want exposed to any horrible files which may be thrown its way! im asking here because ive noticed most people on here have some amazing systems, which im sure are held in the highest regards and a therfore protected fully. could anyone on here reccomend antivirus software which; 1. stops all viruses (or as close as!) 2. dosent use too much memory to run? thanks!
Well, I don't use an antivirus, and unless you've got total morons running loose on your machine I don't see the need for one. However, if you do feel like getting one, I'd suggest either a free one like AVG or Avast, which both do a great job, or Nod32, which is a brilliant piece of software for a low price and uses barely any resources. Stay away from the big shiney versions like McAfee or Norton, they suck.
Just read a group test in PC Pro, they recommend Kaspersky for the best paid for antivirus - Im testing this now on the one month free trial (and seems to pretty good ie low on resources etc..) And for the free option they go for Antivir
AVG, its free and great. My sister has Norton on her laptop and it's crap, slow and doesn't get rid of much. I definitely recommend AVG
i put AVG on my parents old laptop, it seems to work well for them. really, though, if you know what you are doing on the computer you have no need for antivirus. it's pretty obvious which sites have bad files. in four years of running without antivirus or anitspy, i have never had a problem.
Nod32 is the best at catching viruses in the wild Norton has the best virus definitions (but its immensely bloated) Best real world antivirus - Nod32
Kaspersky is great. Been using it for a year and no problems so far. However, NOD32 is also pretty good by the looks of things. I recommend you not skimp on AV, you'll live to appreciate that, seriously. Hehehe, I have an issue with the 'Nod32 > *' equation used as proof that Nod32 is superior to other AV. Nod32 is an element in the set *, so I reckon it would be more correct to use 'Nod32 >= *' or 'Nod32 > * - {Nod32}'. /kidding
From past experience with norton products and how they have stopped working then a real arse to repair or remove without destroying the rest of your system, bit like a weed in the garden. So i'd say anything BUT norton should do you well, but would recommend Kaspersky
- AVG cause slow Windows boot-up (when the blue\green bar passes several times). With AVG I see 6-7 bars passing before it loads windows, without AVG, I wait only half a bar. - Norton is just a major resource hog. - Avast is not good, and also it slows your account load up by a lot. Kaspersky is the best I found. Worth the money.
Everything I have read on anti-virus tests and benchmarks has Kaspersky come out on top. My issue is that it is a paid for service (I like my open source stuff). Thankfully You can actually get the full version of Kaspersky for free! AOL (yes yes I know....this is the closest to AOL i'll ever get) do a AOL branded version of Kaspersky and they give it away free. To download it got to http://www.activevirusshield.com EDIT: Ok so acording to AOL they no longer do active virus shield but instead do a free version of McAfee that can be got from here: http://safety.aol.com/isc/BasicSecurity/
Stick with AVG. My parents' computer is an older Dell rig - 2.x pentium 4, 384 megs of RAM - and it definitely is the least resource-hungry AV I've put on there. I'm going to be leaving for college in a couple of weeks, and I have no qualms about leaving my tech-repellent parents alone with this computer. When I go to college, I'm going to install it on my computer (mine isn't connected to the Net at home) along with Comodo's amazing firewall. Three years now, no viruses - and we haven't even had to scan the computer once. Updates are small, fast, and automatic. I have found no reason to use any other service.
Yep I vote AVG too - whether the freeware, or in my case the paid for version with Firewall. BUT don't stop there - make sure you also have Microsoft's free Windows Defender installed AND regularly use MULTIPLE tools to make sure you haven't been trojan'd/zombie'd etc - eg Lavasoft's Ad-Aware and SpyBot Search & Destroy in their LATEST and totally UPTO DATE versions.
