The Best anti-virus

[Bit.Imp]

[italian Only] http://www.programmifree.com/confronto-antivirus.htm

[Eng] http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

[Eng, need subscription] http://www.virusbtn.com/

[Eng] http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/default.asp?id=69&mnu=69

Acutally when you read an indipendent test it doesn't display the CPU usage but you can deduct it by the "scanning time" result, where showed. It seems that the fastest is NOD, but not as efficent as others ones. The most famous (norton, panda, etc...) seems are not the best (primarly for big CPU usage in the all-inclusives packagers).

I utilize Kaspersky, really good for finding / removing (in the charts these abilities are not the same), not really good for CPU, well however it's not a "suite" :-)

Byez all

[soldier1st]

trend micro is da best baby.

[Francesco]

Avast! Rocks!

That's the most nice free antivirus i've found. Try it and you'll use nothing else! Expecially when you can just enable network, outlook and p2p scans (yeah it recognizes A LOT of p2p software but really a lot! the supported p2p clients list is so huge it scared me) without having your pc to slow down a lot. It's definitely the best easy to use and lighter av around. One bad thing is the interface, it remembers me of a wmp skin however it's skinnable so you can chose a decent skin that will make it appear semi-professional (that kde-zeppelin skin is the nicest around expecially if you enable alpha blending in the options).

If you're unsure on which av you want to install, try that av before anything else, it feature scheduling, automatic updates (yeah they're really automatic and they are downloaded whenever you connect to the internet and a nice box appears to informs you of the update completition), boot up scan, it fixes a lot more files because it creates a file checksum db when your pc is inactive. Another nice thing is that when it can't remove a virus it will let you set a boot-up scan to remove it. Even if you need to install an av on an unexpert friend pc you should really consider avast!: even a goat placed in front of a computer would be able to use that program, it will save you lots of desperate calls from friends where you installed an antivirus.

Another defect of avast!, despite the interface, is that you have to reregister each year on avast! website for a free license. However that price is minimum for such a good, really automatic, very easy to use and very often updated antivirus.

Unfortunately most antivirus comparisons don't give that program the merit it deserves. In fact, most of those comparisons are made with old viruses and since alwil software was a small company probably their defs about old viruses were not all that updated like other antiviruses's ones. However I can tell you that I've never seen computers with viruses that it couldn't detect: probably because now viruses's lifes are come to and end and a new generation of nasty worms is taking it places, and those worms spread very quickly so it's almost impossible to find an antivirus that doesn't detect them sooner or later. A thing is sure however, it detects even all those nasty trojans packed with utilities like exestealth that norton doesn't even care to detect. Wanna try if your av detects them? get exestealth (search on google you'll find it) or any other executable encryption utility and pack a virus with it: if your av detects it then it's a good av, if it doesn't then it's probably norton

Big antiviruses suffer of something that I would call, the "windows xp" or "ie" syndrome: norton and mcafee are the most used antiviruses, so when virus coders write their nasty viruses they try in a lot of manners (disabling the av, uninstalling the av etc) to get rid of those avs in order to prevent them to remove them. Avast! is not all that diffused, so this guarantees you that virus writers won't even care about it while avast! instead will take care of their nasty viruses.

If you want a commercial antivirus however, I really really really suggest you kaspersky av: it has the best virus detection, it's very fast and also very efficient. Just watch at av tests, most of the times it's the winner.

So, what are you waiting for? get it at http://www.alwil.com ! Give that av at least a possibility, i'm sure it won't fail you (oh well if it will fail you remember, you have never seen this post anywhere, it was only a bad dream )

Have a nice day, and, if you can, try avast! right now: don't wait for those pesky virus to come knocking to your door!

oh ****! they knocked again ... now i'll go to take my gun and...

-- end of transmission --

P.S. sorry if i'm a bit aggressive with norton, I've been finding for years computers filled with viruses that norton didn't even care to detect.

For those of you that didn't know, even symantec corporate av use the same detection routines so you could be at risk, change to something else while you can.

P.P.S. It's not all that hard to slipstream, just get the avast! pro executable, install it, use the create unattended or something like that from the professional version menu and then use place the file it created in the install dir. Then use the avast! pro executable (yes the avast! pro executable works with free home license, it installs as a home version! naturally if you give it a avast! home serial)

P.P.P.S. Alwil software doesn't pay me for publicizing their products, I just got angry at norton and a lot of other avs that are difficult to use and have lot of my friends calling me whenever they need help to use them: it's so frustrating...

P.P.P.P.S. -- real end of transmission --

[azagahl]

Urgh, AVG Free Edition is very slow

I turned off the resident virus protection because it made executables take too long to start. I wish it just did an MD5 or something so it could check executables once and not every time I click on it.

Also at bootup it takes 10 seconds (even though I have 3400 MHz PC) to run the BOOTUP.EXE scanner, and it always makes the Windows bootup logo disappear (there is no /Q or quiet oiption).

you have to reregister each year on avast! website for a free license

So the registration expires after a year? Sounds annoying to me.

Edited June 13, 2005 by azagahl

[Francesco]

Urgh, AVG Free Edition is very slow

I turned off the resident virus protection because it made executables take too long to start. I wish it just did an MD5 or something so it could check executables once and not every time I click on it. 

Also at bootup it takes 10 seconds (even though I have 3400 MHz PC) to run the BOOTUP.EXE scanner, and it always makes the Windows bootup logo disappear (there is no /Q or quiet oiption).

you have to reregister each year on avast! website for a free license

So the registration expires after a year? Sounds annoying to me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh well it's just once a year. Usually with commercial antiviruses you have to renew the subscription each year. Wasting 2-3 minutes to request a new key on the website is not all that awful

If you use avast! you can just enable email and web/p2p scan so you won't need the bootup and resident scan anymore (you can scan manually floppies and cds that you want to use with the explorer shell extension). This will save you from all those nasty and boring slowdowns.

[Win2k3EE]

I've been using Symantec Corporate AV since v8, now I'm using v10 and I love it. This is the one for me. I've tried NOD32 and I liked that too...

[NAO]

Kaspersky

[aunlead]

Kaspersky all the way..........

[hotmale]

I don't know whether it's the best, but I certainly feel safe using NAV.

[sonu27]

I used the latest version KAV but it messed my computer up; it kept on restarting automatically.

So I removed it and that olved the problem.

The one thing I hate about it is that it cannot update it version, like NAV.

Which is a shame.

[Clint]

Kaspersky 4.5 is the best, later versions hogs more resources and are to streamlined for my taste...cant stand wizards and crap.

Also very easy on resources.

But if we are talkin leanest I must say F-Prot 3.16c....under 5mb...that is VERY lean

No need for that "AllInOneAnti-thisAnti-thatBlockerAV" if you use your head..

[Zxian]

But if we are talkin leanest I must say F-Prot 3.16c....under 5mb...that is VERY lean 

No need for that "AllInOneAnti-thisAnti-thatBlockerAV" if you use your head..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, I installed it in VMWare this morning... wow...

Does it actually work as well as the "big boys" though? Would it be enough for the common user? I've been looking for a good AV for my parent's island laptop that's only got 128MB of RAM, so F-Prot would seem like a good candidate.

[wiFFy]

Bitdefender.

[treat2]

Had to do this! Just thought people should know everyone's opinion. Thanx guys!! B)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not surprising this one has been going since Mar 18 2004, 11:22 AM. It'll keep going until someone does ONE (AND MORE) OF the following THREE THINGS...

1) Not all Firewalls offer the same things, obviously. HOWEVER, when speaking of what they offer, "Out-Of-The-Box", meaning, as delivered AND THE INITIAL SETTINGS.... I know of NO firewall Vendor that even comes close to providing the protection from specific well known Ports that are MISUSED by incoming and/or outgoing, and/or "in-out" messages.

There's a sizable list of Ports EVEN WHEN SPEAKING ABOUT those Ports ABOVE 1023, that should be closed, in A VARIETY of directions.

Add to that, the Ports below 1023, and you end up with a list of commonly misused Ports that should be closed (by default). Yet NOT ONE VENDOR provides ANYTHING but a tiny fraction (or none) of the Ports that should be closed, as being ALREADY SETUP "Out-of-the-box".

2) I know of NO Firewall Vendor that provides ANYTHING LIKE GENERALIZED PROFILES, as Microsoft does (for example), as it applies to generalting specific Security Profiles that are PREDEFINED by them, and serve as reasonable starting points for a variety of specific types of users and uses. For example, use as a Server, or use by the DOD on a stand-alone PC, and about a half-dozen more predefined profiles. All of which COULD BE CREATED AND DISTRIBUTED WITH THE OUT OF THE BOX Firewall, BUT NEVER is distributed, NOR EVER EVEN PROVIDED, if asked for. For Example... try asking Check Point, which distributes Zone Alarm for a few WELL TESTED XML SYSTEM Rules, Program Rules for STANDARD EXE's in System32!!! NOTE that they ASK YOU! tHEY ACTUALLY BUILD IT INTO ZONE ALARM, FOR THEM TO RECIEVE your own settings.

Is anyone going to even believe that no such profiles could NOT be constructed! Absurd!

Such Profiles would include Predefined Rules for Very well distributed Apps, that could be selected, as a choice after the Firewall finds that program is installed, such as MS Outlook, or Frontpage, Word, and hundreds more programs.

NO VENDER supplies the number of rules that should be supplied for any kind of user, within any kind of configuration, or the typical Services such as SvcHost,

and a vast number of Applications as well.

3) Someone with plenty of bucks Creates a complex Program for the Various Firewalls, that would understand how to create these rules, and where to put them to be integrated into THE VENDOR'S OWN PRODUCT, which you select, or it could search for and detect. And, that new company keeps regular tabs on new Ports being exploited, as new apps are built with less than adequate security which use new Ports.

In sum, ALL FIREWALLS are delivered to EVERYONE with entirely worthless settings which do only the most basic things, and can be generally concluded as providing NO MEANINGFUL FIREWALL Protection to ANYONE.

UNTIL Such Profiles and progarmming is written, well-tested by Vendors, and suopplied to consumers, ALL FIREWALLS ARE essentially meaningless, as supplied.

REMEMBER.... It is NOT in a Firewall Vendor's BEST INTERESTS to GIVE YOU WHAT YOU REALLY NEED!!!!! Uncustomized Firewalls are garbage, and the Firewall Vendor's approach is to keep them that way, and keep you dumb and unaware of what is REALLY going on unless you're a Port and Firewall junkie who ACTUALLY KNOWS what they are talking about.... which is about 0.0000001% of the people that claim ANY FIREWALL is OH SO GREAT!!!

[treat2]

OPPS!

This was meant to be in the other Poll, on Firewalls. Soz.

If anyone cares, move the above post to the Firewall Poll, and delete this one.

Soz yawls.