What AV does the experts here use?

What antivirus does the experts of this forum (like IBK, Blackspear etc) uses? Why? McAfee? NOD32? KAV? NAV?....

 

On-demand I use all, on-access for obvious reasons none. I have an idea about which AV I will probably install on the laptop I should get in some weeks, but I will not tell it (I do not want to make publicity for anyone).

 

Come on IBK, it´s not publicity, it´s just an opinion...
Please, tell us! Or just tell the three Avs that you would use...

 

Ahh, the smell of an av war is in the air...

 

IBK is right to not put here his choice because he is an independent AV tester...

I'm not an AV expert, but you can see for example the tests on the AV Comparatives and decide what kind of protection do you want to have. A more proactive or a more based on signatures...

The rest, you have to try some of them to see which works better for your needs and system...

 

What do you consider as "expert"


I wouldn't call myself an expert, but more along the lines of someone who loves doing what they do.

I use NOD32 as my main av on most pc's. I use Bitdefender, AVG, Avast, F-Prot, blah blah blah. I use them for different reasons. Kinda depends on what I want it to do.

Capp <--- Not an expert, but close hahaha

 

Does any of the experts uses McAfee VSE 8.0i??

 

Used it for awhile VS 8.0i, it is a very good antivirus. At present I am useing eTrust R7.1 enterprise antivirus, Really like it a lot.

 

As Blackspear stated, "i am not an av expert" well I am not either but i know what I like from past use and I have used about all of them. But what av program you use is a personal decision made from knowledge in reading articles on different programs and talking to people that have used them and going to the recognized testing sites to get a general idea of which ones they might want to try. But the one that is usually chosen is the one that works the best on that particular computer. from personal experience I have seen that any given antivirus will work a little different on every computer it is put on. So it is all about trialing different av's until you find one that is acceptable for "your computer".

 

avast! if you are looking for free solution,otherwise NOD32/Kaspersky Antivirus
Short and simple answer.

 

To answer the original question, most AV experts examine files themselves (ie. disassembly analysis, although sometimes a quick browse with a hex editor can be enough) rather than using scanners - none exclusively rely on a scanner anyway, the reason being that an educated brain such as that of an analyst is in a better position to detect viruses than scanner software can.

Best regards,
Wayne

 

Depends on what you mean with "Experts". Most AV Experts (who works in this business) do not use AV at all. Probably they have ther own AV installed, but not to secure the machine, just to check if some files are detected with the current version. I just quote my Signature here again:

"When you get to the point where you really understand how your antivirus works, it's probably obsolete..."

 

Toulmin, it's a shame that nobody here can give you a straight answer, they all sound like a bunch of politicians to me

To me it's a good question, it's like asking a mechanic what oil do he use in his own car, not just what he recommends. You would assume that he would use the best to protect his own car and that would be a good indication of what is the best.

I consider my self a malware removal expert, I'm not a programmer but I do own a computer business and the number one thing I do is remove malware, ALL types of malware i.e. viruses, trojans, worms, adware, spyware etc. I consider all of it malware since it is all malicious to your computer.

One of the dumbest answers I see to your type of question is "it depends on your needs"...... umm.... your needs are to protect your computer as best as you can, what is the point of using a product that isn't going to offer you the best protection? Do you want to use a product that will likely miss a virus? Of course not, so why would you consider it.

There isn't an antivirus program out there that will detect 100% of the malware out there, but I can guarantee that Kaspersky Pro 5 using the redundant database will detect more than any other antivirus program available.

So to directly answer your question..... I use Kaspersky Pro 5.

 

RejZoR seems to have summed up the general consensus on these forums:

 

I can only say that I will choose for my laptop an AV which have ADVANCED+ in the upcoming August test.

 

like many of the previous posters, im not an expert but rejzor also summed up my choices. mcafee would be another choice but i rele dont like its automatic virus handling and the dialogue box isnt very organized or easy to understand, i prefer if it just prompted me.

 

As a network consultant for small businesses, in the past I had always used Symantecs Corporate Edition/Small Business Edition. Most of my clients networks are server based, quite a few MS Small Business server. Some peer to peer networks too. So I'm always looking for a networked version of antivirus software.

Anyways, up until last year, Symantecs Corp Edition did quite well for me. Towards recent years I addressed the issue of malware (adware/spyware) by using additional products like Spybot S&D, Spywareblaster, Adaware, recently Microsoft Antispyware. Symantec started getting pricey, the licensing a pain, and a bit heavy starting with version 9...and simply outrageously heave with version 10 which came out this year. So last year I started playing with other brands...Kapersky, NOD32, and AVG. Of the 3, I settled on NOD32 because if it's light weight (hardly slows computers down), very frequent updates, and strong detection/effectiveness.

For the past year NOD32 is all I use for myself, and all my clients. I am very pleased with it. If I were to choose another brand, I'd again look at Kapersky, at the time last year of comparing them, it was too heavy as far as system slowing. But for effectiveness, it's also very strong.

 

I'm an expert end user I also think RejZoR summed it up well except he left out BitDefender.

Throw BitDefender on the list.

 

Why is McAfee Virusscan being so neglected?

 

I'll sum up BitDefender when they'll fully impliment HiVE.

 

nod32 and KAV are just more liked around these forums, secondly i much prefer the cleaner/better interface and updater of VSE. no activex/IE and no security center!

 

Selecting an AV is like bigc said. It is a personal preference based upon doing research yourself. You can't really say this one is better than that or you will drive yourself nuts.

IMHO, you need to think about what you use your pc for? Is it a mission critical pc? Does it have mission critical apps installed on it? How much RAM does it have? Are you a gamer? Do you just surf the net casually? Do you not mind using up system resources? Or are you a performance and resource junkie like me who likes to have his machine running lean, yet mean....

Just some ideas but I think you see where I am going with this.

With all else being relative, after you ask yourself these questions, why not trial them all? Or maybe if you have extra hardware lying around trial multiple AV's at the same time. Or get Virtual PC from MS or VMWare so that you can test them out in a simliar environment etc.

Myself, I am no AV expert but my AV of choice is NOD32. It does what I need it to. It's light on resources, has great heuristics, and is getting better and better all the time.

Bottom line, the choice is yours, good luck and have fun trialing.

Regards,

Jag

 

I'm no expert, but I'm using F-Prot 3.16c. ^_^

 

Capp <--- not a politician

The "oil" comparison is not the same. It would be more like asking a mechanic what type of tires he would recommend. Because, obviously, you wouldn't want to put "Slicks" on a car that is going offroad. Likewise, You wouldn't want to use off road tires on a slick track.

It is not easy to always say "This is what you should use" because we don't know if he is doing some high-end graphic design while simultaneously playing games, chatting, programming, checking email and downloading files...or if he just occassionally gets online to poke around.

The best scenario for someone that is wanting to try something new, is just that....try something new. Download some trial versions and see what suits you best.

I still don't consider myself an expert, but I too run a computer business and spend a lot of time cleaning up "malware", but that doesn't mean I only choose 1 product to do that.

I use NOD32 and recommend it, only because I have tested several AV's myself and for me, personally, it works best for what I do.

That's how you should determine your preference, not based on what "experts" have to say.

~ my 2¢