Best Virus Software

[Bestmiler]

What do you think is the best virus software? I personally like McAfee.

[praveen]

NOD32

[G10]

They all have good and bad points and there isn't one that is best at everything.

Personally, I go with McAfee also though there are a lot of other very good ones out there.

[casperl]

I am using Mafee and dont have any problems with it, it automatically fetches updated virus definitions.

[Bestmiler]

Originally Posted by casperl

I am using Mafee and dont have any problems with it, it automatically fetches updated virus definitions.

Yeah, that is what I like about it. It is easy to use and convenient.

[Lamaan]

Originally Posted by Bestmiler

What do you think is the best virus software?

The trick in choosing security software (of any type) is to decide how much security you want.

If you aren't particularly fussed whether you get infected or not, then a relatively easy option is as follows: start off with an uninfected hard disk, and use a backup program (e.g. Acronis True Image) to make a backup of your hard disk. Then, whenever your computer gets infected, use this backup to restore your hard disk to the way it was before you got infected. While your hard disk is uninfected, you can also install some basic security software to reduce the frequency of infections. For this purpose, I suggest Avast (free) antivirus.

If security is important - for instance, you shop or bank online - then you have to take security seriously. Recent research shows that the most popular antivirus programs (presumably including Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro) don't work very well at all - details on my blog at http://thehomecomputer.blogspot.com/. From other research, my judgment is that the very best antivirus program available at the moment is NOD32.

NOD32 also has the added advantages of being very easy to use and automate, extremely fast when scanning, and with a light touch when using system resources (that is, it doesn't slow the computer down like many other antivirus programs).

[webzman]

Personally I like AVG. I have not had any problems with it and also it is free. I think it is a great program.

[Andy06]

NOD32.

[Lamaan]

Originally Posted by webzman

Personally I like AVG. I have not had any problems with it and also it is free. I think it is a great program.

I like AVG too; I've used it many times. The fact that it is free is certainly an advantage.

Having said this: viruses are rarely made to be discovered. They are designed to cause your antivirus programs to appear to be working well, while actually being totally useless. Independent testing has shown AVG to be less than ideal as an antivirus program. That is, it keeps out almost all known viruses, and stops some unknown ones ... but always a few get through.

So the question is: do you want no viruses, or just a few? AVG can be guaranteed to let no more than a few get through. Unfortunately, it only takes one to cause your system to malfunction.

[G10]

A lot of the Blue Chip corporations seem to go for NAV or McAfee, or so I have found when I worked for them.

One of the best, many years back was Dr. Solomons AV but Symantec bought them out.

As for the reviews on who is the top one, I think you'll find that different sites have different winners - CyberNets review, and the list will go on if you keep searching.

Read a few reviews and choose whichever one you feel most comfortable with, thats my advice.

[Lamaan]

Originally Posted by G10

As for the reviews on who is the top one, I think you'll find that different sites have different winners - CyberNets review ...

All the world's a critic, they say, and the Cybernetnews site you mentioned seems a fair one. The bit I found interesting was when the author said:

"I expected NOD32, Avast, and AVG to perform a little better than they did but NOD32 and AVG definitely fought back at the heuristic testing. Heuristic testing is extremely important because that is what gives an Antivirus the ability to catch a virus even it is not in the database. Here are the top 10 from that list:

1. Nod32 2.51.30 - 41503"

This is the key bit of news here, because according to AusCERT (Australia's peak cyber-security organization), the exact reason why so many computers (60%+ at last count) are infected is because "the most popular" ones (presumably including McAfee and Symantec) have inferior heuristics. So it works like this:

• If you want to be infected, go with the popular choice. The people (and companies) that make this choice either are now infected, or will be very soon.
  
• Alternatively, go for heuristics, and give yourself a fighting chance.