Most Reliable AV

[EASTER.2010]

Being the skeptic i am and from suffering thru av limitations over the years i discovered that KAV 6 is up to the task at shielding away almost all leak test i brought to bare on it.

This is the very first AV that i can honestly say satisfies my every expectation from what i seen it do. Is KAV 6 always been this efficient?

There is a lot of hoopla over NOD32 but KAV 6 seems to be iron clad in what should be expected from an antivirus.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or opions?

Mind you, it easily and safely co-exists with these other security shielding programs.

ProcessGuard (free)
System Safety Monitor
Snoopfree
AVG 7.5 (free)
Resists all terminstions from APT
Tiny Watcher
power shadow

Is KAV 6 Suite really that perfect?

And oh yes, i even am running Kerio 2.15 without so much a an issue, you may say i'm runnung (2) firewalls which is always frowned on but are working together without issue.
Id KAV 6 Best of the best?

Thanks

[lodore]

well kis6.0 can not turn on at startup sometimes but thats the bad ram that i need to get replaced and not kaspersky's fault.
but kis6.0 sure does a god job at blocking stuff if anything dangerous trys to stop it.
recently i have seen quite alot of people go ffrom using nod32 for years but switching to kav6.0 due to the fact its as light or even lighter than nod32 but provides better detection
lodore

[egghead]

{QUOTE->

Is KAV 6 Suite really that perfect?

Thanks <-QUOTE}

KAV 6 is not a suite, KIS is;)

Perfection does not exist in this business, but Kaspersky is as close to it as you can get. Kaspersky shines in every department: av, proactive defense, custommer support, signatures updates (every hour if nessecary; what's the use of an AV that updates 1/2 a week? Some names come to mind:P )

Ran KAV 5 for more than a year together with a firewalled router as my only protection. It kept my rig as clean as a churchfloor. I'm running KAV 6 now.

KAV6 + SSM (paid version) + firewalled router= all you need for protection. Less is more !

[yeuxbleus]

{QUOTE-> There is a lot of hoopla over NOD32 but KAV 6 seems to be iron clad in what should be expected from an antivirus. <-QUOTE}

Correct! Especially when you consider the entire package that is KAV!

{QUOTE-> ...Perfection does not exist in this business, but Kaspersky is as close to it as you can get. Kaspersky shines in every department: av, proactive defense, custommer support, signatures updates (every hour if nessecary...)... <-QUOTE}

100% agreed!

[C.S.J]

KAV is as near perfect as you can want from an AV,

but i still think the suite is quite some distance of perfect.

[lodore]

kaspersky is about the closest thing to perfect suite.
its just a shame i havent got a good pc to use it on;D
but if i get a weekend job i will get a dual core pc soon
lodore

[fosius]

{QUOTE->

signatures updates (every hour if nessecary; what's the use of an AV that updates 1/2 a week? Some names come to mind:P )

<-QUOTE}

Well, maybe other AVs have much better heuristics so they don't need to be updated so often..

[trjam]

F Secure, anything else, is just fluff.:P

[EASTER.2010]

Those of you members who offer your opinions on KIS (my bad on kav) i take seriously and even though it's very early on, i find it exceeds my expectations surprisingly. I say that not to pitch Kaspersky into a common class but on the contrary, seems it is the exception to that rule. At least it's my experience with it so far. Most all other AV's have brought attention to issues or conflicts in one form or another "BUT", in all honesty, this is the very first AV where everything has gone very well and up to my own satisfaction.

If this continues, KASPERSKY will have won my utmost respect and admiration for it's development team which for me would be a first.

So thanks for weighing in with your comments.

[Mele20]

Avira is better than KAV. KAV has one major, very scary problem and that is that it messes with chkdsk. And the damage does not go away when you uninstall KAV.

Avira is simpler and that is good because there is less likelihood of serious problems.

[ccsito]

I have read several references to a CHKDSK problem. Is this the same CHKDSK that is related to the DOS command which just lists the hard drive information results?

[rdsu]

{QUOTE-> Well, maybe other AVs have much better heuristics so they don't need to be updated so often.. <-QUOTE}
I think you said almost everything... ;D

[JerryM]

Having trialled FSIS and Avira internet suite, I found Avira did not run well, and FS 2007 did. I have not trialled KIS, but KAV MP2 was buggy on my system.

The best/most reliable one is the one that runs best on your system. For me that is FSIS 2007 at this particular time. If it had 100% detection rates in all tests, it would not be good if it crashed from time to time.

Best,
Jerry

[btman]

{QUOTE-> Well, maybe other AVs have much better heuristics so they don't need to be updated so often.. <-QUOTE}

Easter I have had the same experience with KIS. When I used malware samples on all my security programs... After I was done I uninstalled NOD32 2.7 (trial was about to die) and installed KIS once again and it found 6 more infections, and I tried to re-download all the malware I had on my computer before that AVG Anti-spyware, A-Squared, Spyware Terminator and NOD32 had removed.... And KIS blocked them all. I have nothing bad to say about it... But heuristics didn't stop all the malware I threw at it, I even used NOD32's deepest scan with advanced heuristics and all those other options which makes it scan a little bit slower/better on.

JerryM Kaspersky has never crashed on me, sorry it has for you. (I'm assuming that "If it had 100% detection rates in all tests, it would not be good if it crashed from time to time." is referring to Kaspersky?

Mele20, I seem to be able to run chkdsk fine. And I'm pretty sure Avira has its own issues with FP from its powerful heuristics and other little things.

[TonyW]

{QUOTE-> Avira is better than KAV. KAV has one major, very scary problem and that is that it messes with chkdsk. And the damage does not go away when you uninstall KAV. <-QUOTE}To be honest, I'd say if anyone is going to use chkdsk or defragging, I'd suggest they turn off the real-time monitoring of the AV anyway while that operation is in process.

[JerryM]

Hi btman,
{QUOTE-> JerryM Kaspersky has never crashed on me, sorry it has for you. (I'm assuming that "If it had 100% detection rates in all tests, it would not be good if it crashed from time to time." is referring to Kaspersky? <-QUOTE}It would apply to any AV. I did not mean it specifically for Kaspersky.

I think that all AVs give problems on some machines, but only for a small percentage. Most will have no problems. Until MP2 KAV 6 has been a great AV for me, and I have returned to that version.

It is small consolation if my system crashes to know that the other 99.9% of folks had no problem.

Best,
Jerry

[EASTER.2010]

{QUOTE-> Avira is better than KAV. KAV has one major, very scary problem and that is that it messes with chkdsk. And the damage does not go away when you uninstall KAV <-QUOTE}

You must be referring either to an earlier version where that issue existed in limited numbers or else SP1 has saved the day for me to keep KIS6 free of conflicts for me. I not experienced anything remotely similar that you suggest of it nor expect any frankly. Remember i not have KAV but the entire KIS6 Suite. I think thats the difference really.

I did have tremendous trouble with Avira even though i really would have liked to keep it, same for Avast & Bit Defender who finds it convenient to load up so many processes at one time.

[Mele20]

{QUOTE-> To be honest, I'd say if anyone is going to use chkdsk or defragging, I'd suggest they turn off the real-time monitoring of the AV anyway while that operation is in process. <-QUOTE}

err...chkdsk runs at boot before anything loads so what are you talking about?

Kaspersky 2006/KIS 2006 CORRUPTS FILES AND THE DAMAGE IS PERMANENT. It doesn't happen on every computer but for those for whom it happens.. . UGH. As far I know, there is no way to tell before installing KAV if you will be a lucky user or an unlucky one. The majority of users don't appear to have a problem. But then the damage didn't appear with chkdsk for me until I had KAV installed for four months and gradually got worse the longer I had KAV. On the computers that have damage, it appears faster if you run full on demand scans which I NEVER did (thank goodness) with KAV so that I think limited the damage, but I now either have to reformat, or live with chkdsk hanging at 6% finished on Stage 2 and again on the last stage and taking a great deal longer to complete than it did before I installed KAV when I had no hangs and chkdsk finished quickly.

[dawgg]

Kaspersky runs great for me, so do alot of other AVs, but i've settled with Kaspersky because I like its ProactiveDefense Module, light on resources, great support and fast update of signatures (and quick replies from VirusLab).
There's allways the odd person who has problems with any AV... Kaspersky works fine for me and my friends though!

[rdsu]

{QUOTE-> Easter I have had the same experience with KIS. When I used malware samples on all my security programs... After I was done I uninstalled NOD32 2.7 (trial was about to die) and installed KIS once again and it found 6 more infections, and I tried to re-download all the malware I had on my computer before that AVG Anti-spyware, A-Squared, Spyware Terminator and NOD32 had removed.... And KIS blocked them all. I have nothing bad to say about it... But heuristics didn't stop all the malware I threw at it, I even used NOD32's deepest scan with advanced heuristics and all those other options which makes it scan a little bit slower/better on. <-QUOTE}
I have no doubts that the opposite situation can perfectly happen... :)

If you know about an AV that protects 100%... ;)

[lodore]

the only reason kav has crashed on this pc is sometimes its unstable as ive said and ive got to get my stupid dad to buy some new ram;D
lodore

[Escalader]

Hey:

ZA now offers KAV on some basis or other on their suite.

I've been thinking about going over to KAV that way BUT

The possible use by KAV of CHKDSK scares the *&*&^% out of me as I just had big time trouble when CHKDSK was run on my PC! Had to restore PC from image backup.

Is there anybody out there who knows if KAV really messes with CHKDSK and if so why they have the need for that? Maybe all these AV's and ASW's do the same??:-\

[lucas1985]

{QUOTE-> Is there anybody out there who knows if KAV really messes with CHKDSK and if so why they have the need for that? Maybe all these AV's and ASW's do the same??:-\ <-QUOTE}
KAV may mess with chkdisk because it stores checksums in Alternate Data Streams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_%28filesystem%29) in order to imporve scanning times. These ADS cause that the MTF (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntfs/archMFT-c.html) become fragmented and chkdisk struggles to "repair" it under certain conditions.

[jmc777]

KAV/KIS v6 doesn't use ADS.

[C.S.J]

im not sure as i dont use it,

i thought kaspersky use NTFS 'Alternate Data Streams' to hold checksum data about files on the user's system

[egghead]

{QUOTE-> Hey:

Is there anybody out there who knows if KAV really messes with CHKDSK <-QUOTE}

Not on my rig, that's for sure. ;D

Dell Dimension 5000
P4 3,2 Ghz HT technology
1 gig RAM
HD 80 gig
USB Drive 250 Gig

[lodore]

i thought kav5 used alternate data streams and kav6.0 used a better way but i dont know what.
lodore

[JerryM]

I have never encountered a problem with KAV 6 and chkdsk.

Jerry

[lodore]

neither have i.
sure it takes a while to start stage 2 but it stores data where the stage 2 scans so its gonna take longer.
lodore

[Mele20]

{QUOTE-> i thought kav5 used alternate data streams and kav6.0 used a better way but i dont know what.
lodore <-QUOTE}

A problem with chkdsk was first reported with KAV/KIS 2005 and that version did use ADS to store information so that after the first full scan subsequent scans would be much faster.

KAV/KIS 2006 uses different technology, ISwift and IChecker, to speed up scans after the first one. It totally avoids any use of Alternate Data Streams as the problem with that was severe enough that Kaspersky issued a special tool to remove the ADS tags placed by KAV/KIS 2005 on every file, and which were NOT removed when uninstalling KAV/KIS, and developed new technology to take the place of ADS. I personally experienced, on my earlier XP computer, damage from KAV 2005 which I only had for less than a month as a trial. Plus, KAV 2005 fragmented my disk very heavily, and very rapidly, and wrecked havoc on System Restore. The 2006 version was an improvement in that System Restore was left alone and fragmentation was normal and if KAV 2006 was uninstalled there was nothing left behind on all files.

I have read in a recent post here (I have not had time to check the KAV forum to find the original post) that Kaspersky has finally stated that the chkdsk problem is a REAL problem, they can reproduce it, and will fix it in a future service pack. If that is true then I guess that means those of us who uninstalled KAV/KIS 2006 will have to reinstall it to fix the damage. I repeat though that I am paraphrasing a post here at Wilders recently and have not yet checked the KAV forums to see if what I read here is accurate.

[EASTER.2010]

{QUOTE-> Kaspersky runs great for me, so do alot of other AVs, but i've settled with Kaspersky because I like its ProactiveDefense Module, light on resources, great support and fast update of signatures (and quick replies from VirusLab).
There's allways the odd person who has problems with any AV... Kaspersky works fine for me and my friends though! <-QUOTE}

Neither for me also. KIS6 Suite so far is as flawless as i ever experienced with any AV except maybe Avast. I never really had any trouble with it and their forum is always been very helpful.

That's of emormous comfort for me because given the nature of any Anti-Virus core code, there is always been some issue at some point that made for anxiety and concerns which eventually led to my uninstalling the program entirely and on to hunt for a more "friendlier" one if even an on-demand type.

Untill some serious issue develops KIS6 is the one for me right now and i do hope it stays that way. Too many years in search of a stable, conflict-free AV is reason for this confidence in KIS6 right now.

[Escalader]

"I have read in a recent post here (I have not had time to check the KAV forum to find the original post) that Kaspersky has finally stated that the chkdsk problem is a REAL problem, they can reproduce it, and will fix it in a future service pack. If that is true then I guess that means those of us who uninstalled KAV/KIS 2006 will have to reinstall it to fix the damage. I repeat though that I am paraphrasing a post here at Wilders recently and have not yet checked the KAV forums to see if what I read here is accurate."

Will you guys be checking this out at KAV forums AND the ZA forums? ZA is now going over to KAV and may be unaware of this "CHKDSK" issue?

Thousands of KAV and ZA customers are/could be/ impacted!

We need to know!

[dawgg]

I never do chkdsk, so i cant confirm the apparent Kaspersky+chkdsk problem and am not worried if i have the problem on my PC or not.

[lodore]

my pc has had windows xp installed for just over 2 years and for a while now every so often it wants to run chkdisc to sort things out.
now this has happerned way before i installed kis6.0 and when i was using f-secure.
and the chkdisk gets stuck on stage 2 for a while but it only took in total 13ninutes which is fine with me it hasnt got any longer.
it completes successfully.
it would be nice to stop the delay on stage 2 of chkdisk thou even thou it completes successfully and dont have problems with kis6.0

lodore

[Don Pelotas]

{QUOTE-> "I have read in a recent post here (I have not had time to check the KAV forum to find the original post) that Kaspersky has finally stated that the chkdsk problem is a REAL problem, they can reproduce it, and will fix it in a future service pack. If that is true then I guess that means those of us who uninstalled KAV/KIS 2006 will have to reinstall it to fix the damage. I repeat though that I am paraphrasing a post here at Wilders recently and have not yet checked the KAV forums to see if what I read here is accurate."

Will you guys be checking this out at KAV forums AND the ZA forums? ZA is now going over to KAV and may be unaware of this "CHKDSK" issue?

Thousands of KAV and ZA customers are/could be/ impacted!

We need to know! <-QUOTE}
"Thousands of KAV and ZA customers are/could be/ impacted!"

Wow, could you please try to put a more exiting spin on this statement, it just too toned down! ;)

No post was ever made stating this is reproduceable in the lab................the post was made by the project manager and he asked for logs etc from those that reported the CHKDSK delay (or rather weird happenings some reported) so they could produce it in the lab because they have not been able to reproduce it.

Kaspersky 6.0 has been out for more than 8 months (9 on the 15th) and you would think that if this was really something that could mean "Thousands of KAV and ZA customers are/could be/ impacted!" (i take it you mean in a major negative way?)....that we would have seen lot more threads/posts/users report actual problems beyond a delayed 2 stage of CHKDSK & perhaps a product withdrawn from the shelfs if the tone of some these CHKDSK's threads/posts were an indicator of a major problem.

I have personally used over 100 builds of 6.0, some of these were non-public beta builds which were not completely functioning in all aspects, non of these builds have ever giving any trouble regarding this beyond a delayed 2 stage of CHKDSK. :)

[lucas1985]

Defragmenting the MFT helps to reduce the chkdisk delay, right?

[lodore]

yes it does some people use diskeeper boot defrag or perfectdisk boot time defrag
lodore

[Escalader]

{QUOTE-> "Thousands of KAV and ZA customers are/could be/ impacted!"

Wow, could you please try to put a more exiting spin on this statement, it just too toned down! :-[ <-QUOTE}You are right! I was a bit over the top there.... to err is human.... etc etc

Anyway, I hope that the issue is non existent as your post seems to say it must be!

I think I'll wait a bit till there is more usage of KAV and ZA before going that way!

I'd hate to be caught on my own over the top statement! That really would be :-[

[Don Pelotas]

{QUOTE-> You are right! I was a bit over the top there.... to err is human.... etc etc

Anyway, I hope that the issue is non existent as your post seems to say it must be!

I think I'll wait a bit till there is more usage of KAV and ZA before going that way!

I'd hate to be caught on my own over the top statement! That really would be :-[ <-QUOTE}
I'm not saying there aren't users without issue's...just that this has been blown a bit out of proportions and looks like a much bigger issue than it is. :)

P.s. Haven't tried the ZA suite with Kav AV included yet, so can't comment on it.

[trjam]

I have to agree with Don. This issue still hasnt been proven to have anything to do with the Kaspersky engine and not the individuals PC and software and/or hardware. I think the chances of any issue is about as small as lodores toenail.::)

[EASTER.2010]

{QUOTE-> P.s. Haven't tried the ZA suite with Kav AV included yet, so can't comment on it. <-QUOTE}

Neither have i but am safely running the old lightweight Keio 2.15 again even with KIS6 Networking Firewall and find nothing out of the ordinary by mixing this combo this way. It's been said time and again not to run two firewalls and i agree totally with that summation given the intricacies and possible conflicts arising but this appears to be an exception to that rule and i couldn't be more pleased with the results so far.

[Kapiti]

{QUOTE-> I have to agree with Don. This issue still hasnt been proven to have anything to do with the Kaspersky engine and not the individuals PC and software and/or hardware. I think the chances of any issue is about as small as lodores toenail.::) <-QUOTE}

I can only speak for myself, but if I uninstall KIS6 I can run checkdisk, if I then install KIS6 I can no longer run checkdisk. I have uninstalled and reinstalled many times with the same result, I also have the delay on stage 2.

Recent email I received from Kaspersky support stated;

"hello!
we should solve the issue in the new version.

Best regards,
Kaspersky Lab Support Team"

So it would appear that Kaspersky is aware of the problem and should have an solution in the next version.
John

[TonyW]

{QUOTE-> err...chkdsk runs at boot before anything loads so what are you talking about?

Kaspersky 2006/KIS 2006 CORRUPTS FILES AND THE DAMAGE IS PERMANENT. <-QUOTE}I thought you meant checking the disk manually as I used to do in the old days of DOS and Windows 98. I can't remember the last time I ran the 'chkdsk' command manually.

As for my system using Windows XP, I can't say I've experienced any corruption of files using KIS. Besides IF chkdsk is run at boot-up on my system, I suspect it does so before KIS starts.

[duke1959]

I'll make this simple. I have a 5 to 6 minute delay at sage two. I have used AOL AVS. (KAV light) If you can run CHKDSK on relatives and friends Computers. (I have) If they are like the ones I ran CHKDSK on, that have never had KAV or AOL AVS installed, there will be no delay. I tried Perfect Disk and surprise it recommended a MFT File defrag. I ran one, but noticed no difference. I am not worried, and believe this can be fixed. However, between the long delay of Kaspersky to acknowledge this, and how Zone Labs never seems to acknowledge any problems they have, need I say more? ZA has "millions" of customers and who knows where this could lead? Again Iam not worried as I no longer have AVS installed, and also because I read somewhere that this may be more of a Microsoft problem having to do with CHKDSK needing to be changed somehow. Hopefully someone can find out more about this and refresh my memory. I will end with this. I liked AVS very much and it motivated me to someday even purchase KAV. I am not an alarmist despite this post, and believe KAV to be one of the best all around software out there. I just wish they would speed up the process of fixing this.

[lodore]

i done a quick Google search the other day and it reveled lots of questions about
getting stuck on certain stages e.g. 2 and 3
but none of them said anything about having kaspersky installed so really its a microsoft problem and not kasperskys
it seems kaspersky uses does something to the indexes to make it get stuck on stage two for a while
lodore