Got the free one month trail job from Kaspersky and it's about to terminate. No problems at all with it but would rather here it from actual real users than listening to gossip and company hype crap.
-Should I stick with this one or go for one of the others?
-What do you use and why?
i've been using norton for about 5 years which seems to come under attack from many members here
currently got the 2008 version installed, firewall, anti virus etc all in one package. cost me £12, so hardly expensive.
never had a problem with previous versions either & my machine has always performed quickly & problem free.
i'm sure you will get a mixed bag of suggestions & advice, all of which will be based on personal opinion.
mine is, norton 2008 suits me fine, protects my machine & has a few extra features i like & i see no reason to change things
Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
It changes rapidly and not always easy to get an unbiased review but I spent half a day trawling through the reviews last month and Bitdefender was consistently the best in benchmark tests.
Avoid the all singing all dancing internet security suites.
The best free AV packages were Avast and Antvir, which both came in ahead of many of the traditional favourites. They both have good malware detection built in.
Norton I'm afraid is way down the list but I read an article that stated that Symantec have recognised its bad reputation and have addressed all the problems in the 2009 edition which has just been released. As you will see though the user rating is poor so far.
Symantec has a very large class action suit in progress against them, for terminating licenses prior to expiration once a person purchased a new bit of software. Apparently it's a big deal, in the range of a few million subscribers. They sent a notice to me and "to do nothing..." unless you didn't want to participate. Pete
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
That thread Nereus posted should answer most of your questions as little has changed in 2 months, I have tested nearly all of the current AV products and personally found Avast to be about the best for my needs.
AVG was always a winner but I didn't like their latest, version 8, which followed the likes of Norton, Kasperspy etc and was full of bloatware and NOD32 seemed to miss too many infections.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
prcscct wrote:Symantec has a very large class action suit in progress against them, for terminating licenses prior to expiration once a person purchased a new bit of software. Apparently it's a big deal, in the range of a few million subscribers. They sent a notice to me and "to do nothing..." unless you didn't want to participate. Pete
maybe thats why they gave a free upgrade from 2007 to 2008, which is what i did
whatever the tests, surveys or polls suggest, i'm quite happy with norton so won't be put off by market comparisons.
you have the same questions with the browsers, it's basically down to what the user is most comfortable with
Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
That thread Nereus posted should answer most of your questions as little has changed in 2 months, I have tested nearly all of the current AV products and personally found Avast to be about the best for my needs.
The problem with giving advice on these sort of things is that it depends on what you use your computer for, as well as what its specs are; someone who wants a fast machine to run games or other similar stuff will be annoyed by programs like Norton because they are so unwieldy and intrusive and use memory as well as slowing everything down, whereas someone who surfs the net and visits 'dodgy' sites may find Norton invaluable' someone who wants to do it all will need a machine that can deal with it, but most do not, and many do not need the security that the 'bloatware' (as buksi calls it) provides.
I say, just get a Mac/Linux/anything other than a Windoze machine and as it stands you don't need any of it! Windows (all versions) and Microsoft have been targeted by the hackers, viruses, trojans et al for two reasons - almost everyone has got a Windoze computer, and Microsoft are the equivalent of VHS video when it comes to the quality of what they offer - it isn't as good but their marketing and dominance of the market is way better. Almost everyone has believed the hype... (cue Public Enemy...)
It seems to me that an anti virus is like a pair of finely tailored underpants.
If it feels good, doesn't chafe and gives you pleasure then they are the fellows for you.
I am currently wearing a pair of free AVG ones and the pleasure is very gratifying...
Good points from Wanderlust. One thing to point out here though is that if you need all the power to run games stand alone then all those background tasks should be switched off anyway. I don't play on-line games so I cannot comment.
You are right (WL) about alternative operating systems. So far not many viruses have been written for them and they are more secure anyway.
When choosing a browser or a DVD player, ISO creator etc. it is very much a case of get the one you feel comfortable with. Many of the functions in the better products may not be used so why have them.
This is not the case with AV software. Their job is to work in the background and stop viruses and other malware infecting your system. The more automation the more friendly but you may be making a trade off.
Certain kinds of sites are more likely to dish out viruses than others. The worst are porno, free games and free software sites with technical sites and well known named sites being the safest. If you do visit dodgy sites then that is when you really do need a good sleuthing AV. Also it is a good idea to have a web site blocker installed. These browser add ons can check your request against a blacklist and warn you first. I have one from Google.
Another source of viruses is P2P sharing networks. (Torrents). Viruses are deliberately put out by the software publishers to deter people from trying to obtain and use their programs for free. If you use them always run a scan on them before installing or playing downloaded files.
There are review sites (I posted a URL of one earlier) that give you a breakdown of what the different products do and how effective they are.
Mods. Is it possible to have this thread grafted on to the previous thread referred to by Nereus? I feel this will be ongoing topic.
BTW. The main problem with AVG is the skid marks.
[color=blue][size=134]Care in the community success story.[/size][/color]
I don't see the point of shelling out 4 times the price for identical hardware and a shiny white box in a Mac when you can just download a free anti virus program and let it run unobtrusively in the background.
You need three additional pieces of software to stay safe on a PC: anti-virus, firewall and a spyware/malware scanner, most of which can be found for free.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
The problem with any anti virus software is that it is only as good as the virus definitions available, so there will always be a time lag between a new virus coming out and the protection for your PC, by which time it could be too late, especially if the virus definitions are not updated daily.
buksi,
You conveniently forgot to mention something in your Mac/PC price comparison - the price difference by performance, the most important thing, is hardly anything at all - just because Windows requires so much hardware to run does not mean that OSX does, and there is not a 4 times price difference anyway. However, it is horses for courses, and I would never go back to a Windows machine - not because of looks but because Macs run so much better. I will be happily turning my Mac on and not have to wait while messages and windows pop up at me slowing things down as the AV updates, another Windows fix is downloaded and installed, warning bells and whistles tell me I have to quarantine this or delete that - it would be like having to check your oil, tyres, brakes and water levels every time you want to drive your car! Not for me thanks.
