Need an AV recommendation

I've been using Norton Anti Virus for years now and have grown increasingly dissatisfied with the product speed and stability.  LiveUpdate, instead of being a convenience, is turning into a real headache.  So for these and other reasons I've decided to aggressively consider switching to a different product.  After doing some research, the two that kinda stood out to me were nod32 and kav.  

Now, I run a winxp home box and I've seen some users have problems with kav, some not.  I'm also not a big fan of them storing personal info in their keys, and they seem to do less well in the 'in the wild' tests than nod32, which excels on this point.

I'm attracted to nod32 for several reasons.  First is the 'in the wild' test results.  Second is their apparently strong heuristic capability, third is speed.  I'm not a big fan of the multiple icons in the systray, nor the confusing un-integrated approach to navigating between email/resident/on demand scanning.  For as strong an anti viral engine as this product appears to have, the user interface is, well, let's just say it's weak at best.

That, however, is a secondary concern to what really matters, and that's protection.  In that regard, nod32 seems to be a very strong package.  Do others agree with this position?  And finally, are there any other products I should seriously consider?

Thanks in advance.

Rick

 

Rick, i'm not gona second guess your choice of Nod as it is my preferred AV !

 

Hi

NOD32 is a very good product .Period!
Since u use Windows XP multiplies icons should not be a problem. U can always hide them.

If you got money u should try F-Secure. It's simple and yet effective AV. User interface isn’t that pretty, But performance should count not the look.

KAV released 4.060 versions and solved many issues that occurred in earlier versions.

Try DrWeb and see if you like it. DrWeb is a very good AV scanner and its relatively cheap.

Technodrome

 

I like DrWeb more and more and I think I will buy a licence when my special CeBit trial version runs out. Very positive about DrWeb is that it uses now also the anti virus plugin for TheBat! which is in my opinion at the moment the best solution regarding email virus scanning and removal.

wizard

 

I need an opinion on the free av programs out there. I was downsized or became redundant at work so I do not have the  $$$$ to spend on software  So I use freebies (including free auto insurance)  I have been using AVG as my primary av with antivir and antidote superlight as my on-demand backups.  I have tried Avast32 but it slowed my internet down considerably and did not like to be on same computer with AVG.  Among the free av's, are these programs capable of providing good virus coverage?  Are there any free avs out there that anyone thinks better?   I know you get what you pay for, but .......

Thanks,
Bryson

 

I don't  know if you tried Vcatch from http://www.vcatch.com/home.html . I have no clue how good it is...

But I think that Paul is rite about AVG, being the best free av scanner.

Technodrome

 

NOD32.  Fast and efficient.

I am a former NAV user.

 

I'll have to second that opinion of AVG being the best free AV scanner.

In my (albeit elementary) testing, it did very well in detecting known viruses. (I wasn't able to test its heuristics, as I was limited in the amount of viruses I had due to my relience on obtaining them from unknowing e-mail senders  ).

I believe, in published testing, it didn't score as high as NOD32, but for the price, I'd highly recommend it.

If you can afford NOD32, however, IMHO go for it.

 

Thanks everyone for your opinions.  I feel better now about my choice of av.  In future as things change, I'll give NOD a try as I was totally unsatisfied with NAV and won't even discuss McAfee.

 

Can anyone compare NOD32 to Dr Web?  I'm now running a NOD32 demo and I like it.  I went to the Dr Web site and it looks intruging.  I can't figure out how much it costs to buy, though.  And does it scan incoming email?  I suppose it can do without a pop3 scanner as long as attachments are scanned before they're saved to disk.

 

Hi Soul_Flame,

a few weeks ago I wrote a small review about DrWeb. This will might answer some of your questions. You can find it in this subforum. Check the older postings or use the search option to find it.

wizard

 

Thanks Wizard and Paul.  And gee, Paul, that hint was pretty oblique, but being the really smart guy I am, I was able to figure out where the thread was anyway!



Dr Wizard does sound intriguing, but my core question seems to remain:  how does Dr Wizard stack up against NOD32?  It appears my new firewall will be Look n Stop, and I'm a newly registered TDS-3 user, so I'm now looking for a complementary AV solution that isn't named Norton.

 

um sorry to change subject but free auto insurance

 

Paul, Wizard's review of Dr Wizard was excellent.    However it focused solely on Dr Wizard so not being a security expert, it's difficult for me to read that review and draw comparisons to other products.  When I got done reading the review, I thought "hmmm, sounds pretty cool, wonder how it stacks up against NOD32?"  That's why I asked the question here.  

The differences that I could see are it employs a different technique to scan email, one that may be better or less intrusive than NOD's pop3 scanner.  It has the possibility of returning a few false positives, probably because of it's aggressive heuristics, while I've seen no mention of that with NOD even though it supposedly employs aggressive heuristics as well.  Also, in looking at the VB100 tests, NOD32 seems to have captured a few more of those than has Dr Wizard, though I"m not sure how much weight that deserves.

I guess I'm looking for something that says something along the lines of "both 'a' and 'b' are strong products, but for reasons x, y and z, we feel product 'b' is a slightly stronger application. "  Or put differently, if you had to choose between them for your anti virus scanner of choice, which would you pick?  Which actually makes me wonder what AV product DO you use?  I can understand if that's something you don't wish to divulge.  I wonder, is there a poll around here anywhere where members have voted on which AV/Firewall/Anti trojan software they use?  I think that would be very informative.  

Anyway, the short of it is, I need differentiators to help me choose between what appears to be a number of very strong products in this category.  I hope that makes sense.

Thanks

Rick

 

Thank you Paul, that is most helpful indeed.

Sounds like NOD32 is the better choice for me.  I'm not afraid to get somewhat down and dirty with these programs, but I'm not looking to make a career of it.  

NOD32 it is!

Thanks again

Rick