Need New Anti-Virus!

Whats a good anti-virus program out there right now?

 

What kind of PC do you have? What criteria do you want to purchase an AV on? Which ones do you currently like?

 

If you look around the posts here, you'll see a number of us use Kaspersky, NOD32, Dr. Web, Norton, McAfee, Avast!, Bitdefender, not to mention quite a few others.

A little more information may help focus the discussion and advice. Are you switching from one now or just starting? Level of machine (power to burn vs. a little lean on speed)? Type of program you're looking for and so on. Lots of factors can be weighed in making a recommendation and how they are weighted depends on the person responding. Basically, all the programs I mention above - and a number of others - are quite good.

Blue

 

you may want to check out this, this (for a free comparison), this, and this. personally, i use nod32. it gives me peace of mind and i feel safe with it!

 

I am going to try Kasperky Anti-Virus out

 

Just dont use the ADS feature, because it may or may not cause problems

 

If you have access to McAfee VirusSCan Enterprise 8.0i (school/work),grab that one. It's nearly as good as KAV...

 

KAV 5 works fine for my machines and there are no problems with ADS. The majority of people are not worried by ADS.

Dick

 

Same for me and it updates every hour.
I don't mind the ADS at all, it gives me more protection. IMO

Never have I experienced problems updating, because everytime an update is posted here I look it up in the console to verify.
When I was using BitDefender Standard I experienced update problems during several weeks,
so that's why I switched to KAV (on recommendation of my friend).
I haven't regretted it since.

KAV 5 is running smooth here and it's an easy interface, not like 4.5, which I also trialed.

If you like the controls in 4.5, choose that one.
I on the other hand like 5.0 (almost no configuration necessary), because I got lost in all the options of 4.5.
Even configuring my email client was a real disaster.

Choose the one you like best and doesn't give you problems.

 

Which AV should I buy thread #92876111

Try using search!

 

I'l tell u this if u are going for the best protection go for Kasperky coz there is no other antivirus that gives more protection.

 

It's some sort of checksum, as I understand it. If a file changes, it's automatically scanned by KAV.
That means more security or am I wrong.
I'm no AV expert, but that's how I see it.
Also read this.

But it's our ultimate goal to achieve this.

Not that difficult. I just highlight the sentence in Opera 8 and choose the quotes icon.
It immediately inserts the quotes.
BTW you didn't close the quote = [/QUOTE]

 

Well so far KAV hasnt been a problem

So far it cought some trojans, so Im happy so far with this product.

 

The way I saw it is: when Kaspersky scans it leaves tags behind to brand/mark the files with identifying data for optimizing future scannings...

But if Kaspersky updates your sigs, will the tags automaticay dissapear cause of the potential new danger hence the new sigs?

That is what I'm affraid was, for the rest Kaspersky has been always awesome to me

/edit: I used Kaspersky for two years, I love 4.5 version and the only reason I won't go to pro is it doesn't do anything better then 4.5 in fact I still have my doubts on this pro version...

and to be completely honest: I am not following Kaspersky anymore for a while now, so maybe they fixed this thing I am referring too...I am not sure.

 

Good to hear it's performing well.

I told you I was no AV expert, but by adding the ADS the scan goes quicker.

Don't know anything about it. Best to ask or look it up at the KAV Forum.

Truly awesome indeed.

 

I think we definately need a FAQ

 

Why? was it something I said?

 

As far as I can tell, ADS diminishes security in at least three dimensions:

1) Files are literally skipped during a scan in order to increase performance. Presumably those files are "virus-free" but not necessarily.

2) ADS are just thousand of more "small files" that need to be scanned. There are no good tools that I know of that can manage this many ADS files. Most ADS scanning tools (e.g. TDS-3, ADSSPY) are really designed to scan a small number of ADS files.

3) ADS plays havoc with rootkit detection software (e.g. rootkitrevealer) as well as certain types of IDS system (e.g. Prevx).

Suffice to say:

1) Most KAV users who were polled by KAV asked that there be ways to suppress to eliminate ADS.

2) ADS will not be included in 6.0, because it really is a very poor "stop-gap" idea to increase performance (not a bad idea) but unfortunately, in doing so, it decreased security (a bad idea).

I'll probably move from 4.5 Pro (I purchased Pro only because I was told 4.5 was not available) to 5.0 Personal MP3, when MP3 is very stable (at least as stable as 4.5). But I am most looking forward to 6.0, which seems to really have some customer security value-add over 4.5. In the meantime, I only recommend to others what I did for myself, which was to move back from 5.0 to 4.5 because of all of the trouble ADS was causing me.

Rich

 

Kaspersky only skips them if you have not updated since the last time scanned and since Kaspersky updates once roughly once an hour it really isn't security problem.

For those interested in how iStreams work:http://www.kaspersky.com/faq?qid=156636746

 

Don't forget the quarantine period aspect - 14 days for the fastest scan settings, while it is 365 days for the other two (as I recall). The first is arguably a little short, while the latter two beg the question of whether it is really needed at all.

Blue

 

Hi Don,

This is true, but this assumes that there is no virus in the file. There is always the possiblity that a KAV signature is introduced after the file has lapsed into its "no scan" mode. This certainly is a hole in the stratregy, an undoubtedly one of the reasons Kaspersky will not be using ADS in the future.

What perplexes me the most is that ADS is the default during installation (in fact there is no way to suppress it in the 5.0 Pro version). I believe, that for maximum protection, non-ADS should be the default mode. Then if someone feels that they need increase performance (I always prefer max. security as long as the AV runs without impacting my system), then they should have the option to append ADS.

I tell you, to this day, I am totally bewildered by the whole 5.0 release. Since I worked for software companies in various capacities for over 30 years, I have a distinct feeling that 5.0 was a "marketing" release controlled by the marketing and sales department and not a technical release. I could be wrong, but it sure has that perfume that I would normally associate with decisions made by the marketing/sales departments. (I was in marketing also ). But who really knows. All I can say is that it is a very confusing release for me. I am sure there are many others who differ with my assessment.

Rich

 

Hi Blue,

That is my feeling exactly. The whole thing just doesn't feel right at all. It just doesn't seem to measure up to the high level of engineering of the product as a whole.

Rich

 

Hi all,

Hey, I started a debate on ADS.
Thanks anyway for the information. It's always good to learn something new about it.

 

yep, same here, thanx for the info Don