Trying to figure out what AV/Firewall to use

Hey guys, I've spent the last 2 days digging through the vast internet (Googling like crazy) trying to find a definitive answer to my question. As I've now found out, there is no obvious answer.

However, what I've learned is that more often that not no matter how I word my question, most of the results come from Wild Security, and I read through all of them.

So what would be the best AV I can get right now for my needs? I'm not looking for a comparison war about why a specific AV sucks, but from what I read in the past few days I've been having recent doubts on my current setup.

I run ESET Smart Security along side my Router's Firewall and MBAM Pro. My ESET is about to expire and as I was about to purchase another license before I decided to check out the latest feedback about it. The more vocal side is saying NOD32 is no longer the best for a variety of reasons and each of these are conflicting with one another.

As of now I run ESET SS with all the features activated and HIPS in interactive mode, when it comes to my safety I'm willing to deal with allowing permissions to different applications one by one. I also feel it runs very fast, but I've never really paid attention to the bloatness of an AV (I used to use Norton for 12 years without a care in the world cause I thought it was standard, I never even ran my computers without it to notice the speed reduction and when I changed to ESET, I upgraded my computer so I was never able to compare Norton and ESET's speed).

All I'm really looking for right now is AV that I can trust to do it's job. I'm a college student with college friends who sometimes send random links, I also game a lot and have friends from there who sometimes send random links and expect me to click on them to see a "funny" picture, so I want to make sure I'm safe from any Internet Transmitted Disease they accidentally spread.

I also want to make sure that the AV I use is compatible with MBAM Pro, even if I need to set exclusions like I currently do. I'm willing to pay up to $100 for a license (I enjoy the placebo effect that comes with purchasing software, I'd buy a paid version of everything I use if it was available) and I'm willing to do all the configurations necessary, I'm also willing to download a separate firewall, but I'd prefer a suite that has it all. One of the reasons I'm asking and risking hate instead of trying everything as has been suggested numerous times is that I do not have an imaging software, so it'd be a pain to try dozens of AV and go through the rigorous task of removing them completely from my computer and honestly, I wouldn't even know how to test them.

Even with the occasional suicide dive into a random link, I have pretty safe habits. I don't pirate or torrent at all, I run CCleaner at least once a week. I use Chrome and Firefox with Ghost, ABP, Disconnect, and NoScript. I also put up with Interactive Mode in ESET. However, in all my years on the computer, I've never had a virus/trojan/malware (that I know of) and I'm pretty sure it's because of my refusal to use my computer without protection (heh), and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Now for those of you who actually read through all of that, thank you for putting up with my first post. I also wouldn't mind knowing your thoughts on any imaging softwares that are available now, and what I should look into. As for the AV/Firewall, I'm not looking for a definite answer on what's the best, I know that would be impossible. I just want to know what most people recommend for my setup and maybe a reason why (like a specific feature others don't have) so I can try a select few instead of all of them in order to find one.

 

Welcome to wilders first of all.

If you don't want your thread closed,don't ask such questions here as it's not allowed.
My short and honest opinion...if you are happy with it,extend your Eset license and look no further.Eset Smart Security with MBAM real time are great.Just add Sandboxie to have your browsers secured.

And damn that's right,you MUST have an imaging software.I suggest you the freeware Aomei Backupper,it's awesome.Or take a look here https://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=97
you will find plenty of threads about imaging and backup software.

 

You'll probably want to go with a suite; take a look at the tests on these well-known websites to decide for yourself which ones provide the best protection and performance:

www.av-comparatives.com
www.av-test.org
www.virusbtn.com

 

ESET does perfectly well these days, so if you're happy with it, there's no reason not to stick with it. There are free options out there with that compare well with it, there are paid options that do *slightly* better, but it's all about what works well for you. Keeping what you've been using, and doing what you've been doing, nobody would say you're an at-risk user by any means.

 

Welcome to Wilders!

Either you follow the "vocal side" Or you follow your gut feeling

 

Vocal side? You meant devil's whisper?

To the OP, you worry too much. HIPS in interactive mode should do the job just fine. It's kinda pointless to keep trying to find the best since there was never been a standard to determine it. And things change, a good AV in the past might be not so great today.

I just hope you didn't get your references from Ya**o Answers.

 

Hello,
I use NOD32 and i've been testing it lately against all kinds of nasties and it does very well so just extend your license...but if you want to try something different, I suggest either G Data or Emsisoft and optionally Sandboxie