Your Antivirus ? How Long ?

I thought it would be interesting to know how long we keep an antivirus program on our computer or if we change them with the seasons. I have been using AVG antivirus on my primary computer since July 1999, I started out with the free version, then a couple of years ago I started using the Pro version and I have recently upgraded to the new anti-malware version. In 7+ years of using AVG, it has caught several viruses and never let my computer become infected.

So what's your story ? how long have you been using your current antivirus ? what's the longest time you've had a particular antivirus installed on your system ?

 

In my years on a PC I have gone from McAfee (came pre-installed) to Norton 01 I believe it was (for only about 2 weeks). To AVG Free to Pro up until about 3 years ago. Nod32 since and do not plan on changing as long as they continue to offer a standalone AV or an AV with an outstanding FW in Vers. 3.

 

erm, here we go.....

1 year with norton, (FREE)

3 years with f-secure

1 year with trend, (on going) - 1pc (FREE)

1 year with avg sute (on going) - 1pc

and now i have a 2yr licence with dr.web for my laptop, fantastic


paid for f-secure for 3 years and only swapped for 'a change'
trend i got for free with another purchase off the internet, use it on one pc.
norton was my first av, came with one of the pcs, ditched it when it ran out mainly for a change, i had no problems with it.
avg i bought as i liked it, got a great price off ebay, use it on one pc.

if i ever bought another other than dr.web down the years, i would probably go back to f-secure.

 

Dr Web-2 days
F Secure Suite-9 hours.

Reformat 26 hours ago.

 

here we go.
i used norton since i got on my old pc which is 6 years old now.
i had norton for 4 years on my old pc. the last norton i used was the horrible 2003 version.
the story with norton was that my dad brought the newer and newer versions and sais this one will be better than the old version lol.
when i got my new pc when my old pc was 4 years old i installed f-secure used the 2005,2006, and very breifly the 2007 version. f-secure used to run fine on this pc but now its old it slowed it down to much and had a few problems.
i have now used so far kis6.0 for 2 and a bit months installed just before xmas.
lodore

 

Now I'm testing F-SecureAV2007 and it's lasting 2 weeks now...

My previous AVs:

-AVK 2007 licensed, about 20 days of use.
-KAV 6 licensed, about 45 days.
-Sophos 1 month trial.
-NOD32 1 month trial.
-KAV 5 (status ? ) about 13 months of use.

Funny thing is since I got rid of 2 virus infections with KAV 5 I've never been infected again... Instead I'm having fun on swapping & testing between AVs

It's time to see a psychiatrist

 

heres the AV ive had the longest (estimated times):

NAV - 5 years
McAfee - 1 year
NOD32 - between 1 and 2 years
KAV - less than a year

ive also trialed several other AV, but they didnt last long.

 

PC-Cillin--1 year
NOD32--3 years

Prior to that, I used F-PROT for DOS when needed.

 

I kept to the same for years, but now I chop and change all the time. My history:

Norton 2002 AV & Firewall - Good.
Norton 2003 AV & Firewall - Good.
Norton IS Suite 2004 - Good.
Norton IS Suite 2005 - Good but a bit slow.
F-Secure IS Suite 2006 - Good, but couldn't shut PC down!
Bit Defender 9 IS Suite (2006) - OK, but problem with torrents.
McAfee IS Suite 2006 (1 day!) - Just didn't like it.
Kaspersky IS Suite 6.0 - Great! Would definitely recommend.
F-Secure IS Suite 2007 (7.0) - Trouble at first with install / uninstall, but like the suite. Problem with Full System Scan.
Bit Defender 10 IS Suite - Same as 9, still problem with torrents.
Norton IS Suite 2007 - OK once running, but incredibly slow boot up and scan.
F-Secure IS Suite 2007 (7.1) - Still my favourite, and current, security app, despite the numerous running processes, incompatibility with other software, and sticking spyware scan. Sometimes you just gotta be different.

 

what about how long have you had the common sence not to click random links or go to dodgy sites for?
for me its two years.
i used to be a really dangerous surfer but now im really safe maybe to safe.
lodore

 

I have use Norton for several years... ...McAfee was my first one and i got infected my one and only infection (it was an older version). I have used Bitdefender free along with CA EZ AV for about a year. I have used Command AV for one year. I liked that one service was poor and it went up in price so I dropped it. I went back to McAfee much more recent versions. Then I went to the free ones and have been with them for over a year, AVG and Antiviri Classic.

When I go to Vista I will go back and get a pay one F-Prot or NOD32 maybe.

Edit: forgot about AOL AVS for a few months.

 

I have TotallyAwesomePwnsYourAv for about 3 months now, and I am not regretting it at all (aka none)

Cheers,

Alphalutra1

 

On this computer-
Norton 2003 (came pre-installed) for three months, then
Zone Alarm Suite for about 6 months, then
McAfee for about 10 minutes, then
PC-Cillin for about 3-4 months, then
CA for almost a year, then
NOD32 for about 7 months now

I plan on sticking with NOD32 unless the firewall in v3 has issues. If I need to switch I may try Kaspersky, Avira Pro, Bit Defender 10 or F-Secure (although I have heard F-secure has a number of conflicts with other programs).

 

On Latitude LM P133 Win95/Win98fe:

Norton 1997
iRiS AntiVirus (free download from Dell) 1998
Norton again 1999-2005
AntiVir 6 - 7 January 2006 to present
____________________________________________________

On Dell Desktop:

Came preloaded with McAfee, 90 days
Norton Internet Security 2004-2005
EZ-Trust 2005- to present
___________________________________________

Sony VAIO:

Came preloaded with TrendMicro's PC-Cillin? (30 day)
Norton SystemWorks 2003-2004
________________________________________________

Dell D800 (ordered without pre-load)

NSW2003 2004-2005
NSW2005 2005-2006
AntiVir version 6 then version 7 January 2006 to present

 

I don't think I can remember them all.

I started in 1996 with a free one, I think
Inoculateit.

Norton 1997 - 2001

AVG 2001 - 2002

McAfee 2002 - 2003

Kaspersky 2003 - 2006

AVG 2006 - Present

There were times in between all the above that I trialed something else.

 

Norton - 1999 to 2004

Nod32 - 2004 to present.

 

Late nineties till 2003 - AVG Free
2003-2004 - Norton AV
2005 - Antivir Free
2006 - Nod32
2007 - Nod32 till my license runs out then will switch to AVG Pro as i have an unused 2 year license for it.

 

Here is my info starting from March 2005 when i got my first pc.
Below is the approximate time for which i used the AV's (chronological order).

1)Mcafee which came installed on my dell desktop-1month
2)Etrust ez- 2 month(Came free with the internet connection)
3)F secure-(5 days)
4)Pc cillin-(2 months)
5)Eset- (since last 14 months)

I have used following AV's for which i don't remember any time frame.
Kaspersky,Symantec antivirus, mcafee enterprise, Ms onecare, Bitdefender, Dr web, Norton 2007, Fortinet, Panda antivirus, Authentium, Avast, Ca antivirus, Sophos, Antivir, F prot, Norman, G Data 2006, G data 2007, MKS_VIr, VBA32,

 

2 years - NOD32 [realtime]
3 months - AVG Free [scanner]
1 month - Avira Antivir [scanner]
A few minutes - AVS, Avast [scanner]
13 months till now - MWAV Free [scanner]

 

I never had a AV installed more than a year, I liked to try new things. That is until I met NOD32. I had it for three years which is the longest I´ve had.

Now I use Drweb (installed it in july last year) and will probably keep it until something equal or better with a lower price tag comes around.

 

Then you may want to check out the latest version of F-Prot.

 

1999-2004 F-prot for Windows
2005-2005/2006 Panda Titanium 2005 / TruPrevent Personal 2005 / TruPrevent Personal 2006
2006-2007 (currently) NOD32 Anti-Threats system

 

I have had common sense since 2004 , really I remember using old Windows 98 without any firewall , only AV and I clicked on all kind of links but times were different

 

Did you join 'surfers anonymous'?

I do tend to 'safe surf' most of the time, but that's because most of my internet use is for buying CDs, DVDs, etc. Obviously, the first thing I did when I got on the internet 5 or 6 years ago was look up 'sex' and 'porn', but you tend to grow out of that phase fairly quickly. I also used to use Warez sites a lot, and they can be very dodgy, but there are so many trojans around these days, it's hardly worth the trouble. My most dangerous activity now is using Torrent sites, which can contain some nasties, but I can honestly say, I have never been infected by any of them.

 

NOD32 3 years

Kaspersky 1 year

Prior to any of those 2 I was using AVG or Avast