Which AV programs satisfy my criteria?

NAV seems adequate (despite Symantec's horrible support), but I'd be willing to try a competitor's product if they satisfy my main criteria.

Which AV programs, free and paid, satisfy the following criteria:

1. NAV Offers you the option of telling it what to do when a virus is detected.

McAfee VS 10 has a "feature" called 'automatic cleaning" that may silently automatically clean, i.e., delete a file thought to have a virus. Note that McAfee does NOT always automatically clean a file. In the McAfee forum, A number of users have stated that they have been burnt by automatic cleaning. Attempts to get a proper response from McAfee in those forums have been unnsuccessful. I would eliminate McAfee if only for this reason. I would NEVER allow McAfee to do a full scan.

With NAV, I NEVER allow a file to be automatically deleted, other than in incoming email.

I do not know which of the other AV programs have this same issue. I'd outright eliminate any that do.

So, my first criteria is to use an AV that allows me to control what gets deleted.

2. The 2nd criteria is evidence that lots of nasty critters are detected. The info at av-comparitives is a place to start.

I expect that one would want to choose among those rated ADVANCED+.

3. I would also require good INCOMING email scanning. Some free products may not include such scanning.

4. next is cost.

The ability to get NAV, even the 3 user edition, at low, even $0 after rebates, cost most all year long is attractive.

I'd really like to find an alternative to NAV that meets the above criteria.

 

Personally I use Nav because of the criteria you listed i tried F-Secure for a while but in my opinion Nav is a better product albeit their support sucks. Fortunatly I have never had to contact them with a problem

 

1. NOD32 moves all newly created malicious files to quarantine by default. Also, the HTTP scanner in IMON (Internet monitor) can be set to automatically deny download of malicious files. As for other AVs, I'll let others to comment on it.

2. have a look at AV-comparatives tests (on-demand and retrospective) to see how particular AVs perform. However, the tests should always be taken with a pinch of salt as the test set comprise of a very small chunk of all threats spreading worldwide.

3. for pricing information, see the website of a particular AV vendor. Some offer family packs with discount for home users.

 

BitDefender is certanly worth trying and also meets your criteria. Pretty cheap too, though not the cheapest.
avast! Home Edition on the other hand might be a nice option if you look for low cost stuff (it's free). Meets all the criterias except it's "just" ADVANCED not ADVANCED+. Still worth trying.
NOD32 was already mentioned by Marcos, you can then check KAV in the end.
Not really cheap but with outstanding alround performance.

 

Use Nod32 It's Better i am using it for 5 years
i love proactive defence

 

BitDefender is also just "ADVANCED" as avast!, not ADVANCED+ in the latest AV-comparatives tests (on-demand), but it's still worth trying.

But I personally think Norton/Symantec is one of the best AV around so no need to change.

 

KAV is relatively cheap at newegg for US residents

 

the best balance between price and quality is certainly NOD32. And it also meets your criteria as Marcos mentioned.

 

hey bigc, could you elaborate a little? i'll stick with FIS2006 for the next 6 months at least, but just curious