Anti-virus recommendation

Hi all,

This may sound like a weird post from me, but here it is:

I do not need AV. I use it in order to be responsible. Scan files sent back and forth for the sake of others.

This said, I recommend - or used to recommend - AVG Free to friends and family. It used to be light, super-fast and unobtrusive.

Now, version 8 is out and it ... bluntly put - sucks. Bloated, unintuitive, impossible to setup the way you want. Windows Defender style all the way.

So, I ask you for recommendation for AV for friends and family, with the following requirements:

- Super-light
- 0% slowdown in daily usage
- Free

There's Antivir, which is a bit heavy, avast too. So, what would you recommend of the free available choices? Dr.Web? What else?

I don't want to say to my friends - yes, use X it's good. When it sucks. I need to be honest. So I can recommend only something that I would personally use. Again, avast and Antivir are quite ok, but just a hair short of what I can wholeheartedly support and embrace.

Feel free to make your suggestions.

Again, remember, I loathe bloat. Zero-tolerance for speed, performance, memory etc drops.

Mrk

 

ummm you find avira heavy? its easily one of the lightest avs on the market. the 3 processes combined uses less than 10mb.

 

Hi,

Yes, compared to AVG 7.5, its 250% heavier ...

It downloads the entire database every time, and it responds slowly. Remember, it's the matter of perception and needs. BTW, once you go black you can never go back - in other words, when you only use firewall (a superlight at that) and firefox, everything else is slooooooooow.

Mrk

 

Avira is the lightest AV I have tested, followed by NOD32 and Dr. Web. I use all three as I rotate them every few months. All are light.

 

Avast with a custom install to suit the various Clients needs.

 

I 'm with you about the last statement! Unfortunately, i think that the fun is over. I mean, AVG is still one of the lightest around, although heavier than before. Like you, i was keeping AVG only because it was the lightest, not because i needed (or trusted its detection rates for what matters).

You could try Avast with only the standard shield installed. Last time i tried it it was really low on resources. Or use ClamWin on demand maybe?

It's like with the firewalls. You don't find nowdays easily a firewall with the lightness of Kerio 2... You have to adopt to the new reality or not use an AV at all...

OR... if i were you, i 'd run Threatfire instead of an AV. I run the 3.0.14 version and i assure you that it eats considerably less CPU time and ram than AVG 8. Plus, i trust more TF in its detection ability than AVG.

 

Hello,

Not for me. For friends and family. I don't give a damn about AVs. All they ever found were FPs and damaged a few legit programs.

It's like AV vendors are saying - don't use our products. Help spread cacky about by sending files to and fro. You'll be ok, but noobs will suffer.

Mrk

 

I understand. I was using AVG free mainly for psychological reasons. The few times that i got something in my internet temp files or downloaded a suspicious file from p2p, AVG never saw it for me, so i was always counting on Jotti...

You could install Threatfire for your folks. It's easy to deal with. 2 days ago it caught a spyware on a friend's PC that McAfee2008 and Dr.Web Cure it wouldn't see. Just tell them to quarantine suspicious things, see if everything else continues to work and if yes, then delete it permanently. It does produce FP too, but i trust it more than AV definition files to nail real malware too.

 

If you don't need an av and it should be free, why not use Dr.Web CureIt. Perhaps run a scan once a week? If there's need for realtime scanner, I would recommend avast.

 

An "A versus B versus whatever" thread initiated by a massive poster. How long b4 this puppy gets deservedly closed, I wonder?

 

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=180128

 

If friends or family dont mind on demand, why not bitdefender free with auto updating.

 

I found Nod32 pretty light then i only use this AV to check my index of malwares for researching and comparing them with different security products, mainly HIPS, Sandboxes, and Virtual Systems.

It's hard to pin down a winner because they all (AV's) undergo continuious changes in order to better position themselves as reasonably reliable if only on a temporary basis which is how i view them all when it comes to full-time protection.

EASTER

 

Short answer, ~ 3 hours.

Mrk - the question is best answered with a quick search, but that only isolates potential candidates and behavior on your machine (or anyone elses) can differ due to local configuration differences. A search will isolate the standard candidates (NOD32, Dr Web, and with appropriate configuration - most of the others can be made suitable as well).

With that - thread closed.

Blue