What anti virus software are you ruinning?

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2006-10-12 05:17pm

What do you have? Do you like it? Ideally, which would you choose??

I was running Norting, but it really sucks up too much RAM. Does anyone here actually use that?

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2006-10-12 05:23pm

I use Symantec.

It works. 'nuff said.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2006-10-12 05:23pm

Symantec. It was free.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-10-12 05:29pm

AVG Professional single user.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2006-10-12 05:30pm

Symantec and Norton are the same, right?

salm · Post by **salm** » 2006-10-12 05:32pm

AVG Free Edition

Post by **Beowulf** » 2006-10-12 05:45pm

Superman wrote:Symantec and Norton are the same, right?

There's different versions of anti-virus. I'm using the corporate edition. Norton is the home version, and it's a bloated piece of crap.

Rin · Post by **Rin** » 2006-10-12 06:03pm

F-Secure Anti-Virus Client Security 6.00 (Corp. version of Internet Security 2006 -package, I think. No idea how that differs except that I have possibilty to have remote administation.)

It works for me, relatively easy to use and I get it free.

Can't say much about memory, as I have not tested another programs on this machine. Definetly not the lightest one anyway.

I have not had any major problems with it (autoupdate was acting wierd once), but reading Scot's newsletter, that had A-V product "review", some have had problems with the consumer A-V product.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2006-10-12 06:13pm

I'm using Avast. I stopped using Norton after I noticed this irritating pattern of the system getting slower with each update but faster with each reinstall. Then I discovered that I couldn't change my Firewall settings for some inexplicable reason.

So off I went to use something free.

Thag · Post by **Thag** » 2006-10-12 06:54pm

I had Norton 2002 and was doing pretty well with it. Then they cut off support for it and I went with the upgrade to 2006, which I now utterly hate. I'm running it on a three year old laptop, and N06 for all intents and purposes shuts the system down as soon as a scan starts. I'll hold onto it until all the subscriptions run out ( I paid for the damn things, might as well try to get max use out of it), but after that, I'll be looking for something else.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2006-10-12 07:00pm

At the moment McAfee but the second it runs out I'll just switch to AVG.

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2006-10-12 07:02pm

AVG Free on all my systems

Dominus Atheos · Post by **Dominus Atheos** » 2006-10-12 10:24pm

CorSec · Post by **CorSec** » 2006-10-12 10:30pm

Nod32

It's light, it's fast and I haven't had any problems, with the program or nasties getting inside. It checks home at least twice a day. Well worth the cost, I say.

(Call me crazy, but I don't trust free antivirus programs.)

Ravencrow · Post by **Ravencrow** » 2006-10-12 11:01pm

Norton 2006 - no problems with it but it does take a chunk of ram to run.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2006-10-12 11:30pm

EmperorMing wrote:AVG Free on all my systems

Ditto. Funds are a bit light to be buying software at the moment. I switched over when the paid stuff I was using expired.

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-10-13 01:42am

I'm going to second "No AV".

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-10-13 02:36am

AVG free.

They don't try to get good habits in you, they don't attack the root of the problem, they just are fancy, very resource hungry pattern matchers that in no way are worth anything they cost.

I love the smell of snob in the morning

"Look at me, I'm so UBEH 1337 I don't need an anti-virus!! "

Yeah, well, good for you, but some of us don't like living on the edge.

ThatGuyFromThatPlace · Post by **ThatGuyFromThatPlace** » 2006-10-13 02:47am

Destructionator XIII wrote:None. Never have, never will. Virus scan makes any computer slow and is a terrible, terrible "solution" to the problem. First, they are reactive, not preventive. They don't try to get good habits in you, they don't attack the root of the problem, they just are fancy, very resource hungry pattern matchers that in no way are worth anything they cost.

The right thing to do is run as a limited user and not be a fucking idiot. Do those two things, and you will never get a virus.

really huh? you ever opened an email from a major company whose Scholarship news letter you signed up for, only to find that one of their sysadmins was an idiot and let Trojan.Vundo on their system? (actually happened to me, before there was a fix out for Trojan.Vundo and while my Norton subscription was out, that was one nasty bugger, trashed two iPods from a 'limited user' account)
Or how about a gretting email from a family member who knows his/her way around computers and just got a little carelss just in time for CountDown?(I'm sure we've all had this one happen to them or a friend, your virus may vary)
Maybe opened one of your favorite websites only to find a hacker had gotten in and added about a dozen nasty scripts. (rarer, but nastier)
The trouble with computers is that you don'thave to be the stupid one to get a virus, and its a lot easier to download and use an AV now than when the latest script kiddie who got hold of your mom's email address crash-locks your computer, even a limited user account won't protect you from everything.
Running a scan is a reactive thing, but AV software comes with many pro-active systems as well, such as email scanners and script blockers.

I keep a copy of norton loaded because its one of the best ways to keep abreast of what threats are out there, only in rare cases will it take more than a day for a fix to go live.
of course, thats not all I keep around, I've always got HijackThis for the real nasties and two free malware programs (currently AdAware and Spybot S&D, which play nice together, sometimes you have to watch out when running multiple Malware detectors).
Of course, I do stupid things with my computer to necesitate that level of security so your mileage may vary.
(I don't feel like curtailing my ease of use because somebody might introduce a nasty. I may run a little slower, but I feel it's worth it to not have to worry about opening emails from my own mother..)

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2006-10-13 02:51am

I'll be the third person to say that I don't use a virus scanner.

On Linux, that is. What, do you think I'm crazy? For Windows, I use AVG Free at home and my office uses AVG Network Edition...

Decue · Post by **Decue** » 2006-10-13 03:00am

Nod32 here, I had Norton, McAfee and AVG in the past and nod is the best one (only the name NOD makes its good

)

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-10-13 03:00am

CorSec wrote:Nod32

It's light, it's fast and I haven't had any problems, with the program or nasties getting inside. It checks home at least twice a day. Well worth the cost, I say.

(Call me crazy, but I don't trust free antivirus programs.)

I use NOD32 on my laptop because it doesn't noticeably slow the system down any and scores well on all of the AV tests I've seen.

On my desktop XP installation I use Symantec 10, which is somewhat of a hog compared to NOD32, but much improved over the previous versions.

Ravencrow · Post by **Ravencrow** » 2006-10-13 03:04am

It's possible to go without AV on windows: just don't open mails with attachments without confirming its source, don't subscribe to mailing lists and newsletters, don't visit sites that seem unstable, make sure you are the only one using the computer.

I once had no AV on my computer for about 6 months and nothing happened. But I still rather have it than not.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-10-13 03:10am

I'd add 'disable HTML preview' in your email program to that short list as well.
A buddy of mine calld Outlook Express 'Virus & Trojan Magnet Express' because of the shit that can slip through that way, though I think they eventually did fix it so you could disable the HTML preview.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-10-13 03:11am

Bounty wrote:AVG free.

They don't try to get good habits in you, they don't attack the root of the problem, they just are fancy, very resource hungry pattern matchers that in no way are worth anything they cost.
I love the smell of snob in the morning "Look at me, I'm so UBEH 1337 I don't need an anti-virus!! "

Yeah, well, good for you, but some of us don't like living on the edge.

Oh look, you're talking about Windows. He's running Linux.