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I'm getting tired of what I suspect are conflicts between windows XP, with all the security updates, and Norton AV 2004, with all it's updates. Can anyone point me to a better AV solution? I have tried to find objective comparison info on AV software on the web without much satisfaction. I have only dialup internet connection. and I use Mozilla 1.6 as my primary browser. I'm running windows XP SP1 with all the security updates, and I think I have disabled the darned messenger.

lately i do think norton has gone way down hill on there products

i switched to mcafee products as of lately, firewall and antivirus

mcafee lately has really made improvements on this years software versions, i would give it a shot

Go for NOD32 It is awesome. Worth every cent!

antivir... free !

www.grisoft.com

Free AVG is the one I've been using for about a 18 months

free mcafee is the one ive been using for few months now

Kaspersky Anti-Viral toolkit all the way. I have never succomb to a virus in 5 years of use. It is updated daily and scans on the fly with almost no system resource usage.It also has always been rated very good at detection of new unknown virus.You can download a 30 day trial from their web sitehttp://www.avp.ch I prefer verson 3 still over all the newer versions.It never impedes on disc burning at all or defragmenting for that matter.

ClayBuster wrote:www.grisoft.com

Free AVG is the one I've been using for about a 18 months

it looks good - is it better than antivir..?

thanks to everyone for the input. Will check out the suggestions.

Kaspersky 5.0/NOD32 are at the top. I'd say NOD was, until Kaspersky released version 5.0, which now has a heuristic module built in. It puts it back on par with NOD with respect to ITW/new viruses. (means it doesn't require a virus pattern to identify suspicious files).

What sets it apart is that Kaspersky does a much better job identifying trojans than NOD does. Though I guess you could argue that a AV app isn't supposed to cope with Trojans.

NOD is a bit lighter on system resources, scans quicker but Kaspersky's unpacking engine (for compressed/packed files) is second to none.

Might also want to take a look at Bitdefender 7.2 and Panda Titanium 2004. I'd recommend BD over Panda if you are using Outlook 2003. They don't get along well.

As for free versions, you get what you pay for. In most cases the real-time/on-access scanner is disabled or signature updates aren't released in as timely a manner.

wicked might want to look at version 5.0 released early this month. Most people are having zero issues with multitasking while running a scan. Actually I should correct that... the first scan is very intensive, scans everything, after that it only scans files that have been modified.

Thanks tazdevl for your discussion on this subject.
I appreciate it.

Mozilla or Firefox+Thunderbird with a hardware firewall. Don't click on anything stupid and you'll be fine.

Matt, what hardware firewall do you recommend, and are you saying there is then no need for anti-virus?

As long as you're extremely careful about who you open your attachments from and don't use software that has a plethora of security holes you won't get viruses from the normal means. (Outlook or Outlook Express attachments, Security holes in Internet Explorer) The ones that use exploits in Windows like blaster and sasser only work when your computer is exposed directly to the internet. If you have a hardware firewall inbetween those exploits can't connect directly to your machine.

As long as you adhere to good computing practices you have nothing to fear really. I've never used AV software and have never had a virus either.

Oh, and as far as a hardware firewall... only if you're on broadband. The inexpensive D-links are fairly easy to install and don't require much other than hooking it up, powering it on, and rebooting your computer.

Well,did I mention that NAV 2004 is really very good?Only downside is that it hogs the system resources very much.


::Pranav::

Matt wrote:As long as you're extremely careful about who you open your attachments from and don't use software that has a plethora of security holes you won't get viruses from the normal means. (Outlook or Outlook Express attachments, Security holes in Internet Explorer) The ones that use exploits in Windows like blaster and sasser only work when your computer is exposed directly to the internet. If you have a hardware firewall inbetween those exploits can't connect directly to your machine.

As long as you adhere to good computing practices you have nothing to fear really. I've never used AV software and have never had a virus either.

thanks for confirming what I thought. This is what I have suspected for a long time, but never felt sure enough about it to go without AV. also would not want to unknowingly pass something on to an e-mail contact if I did somehow pick up a bug. I have a great backup system, so that gives me another form of insurance.

thanks pranav81 for the NAV 2004 suggestion, but that is the one I suspect is causing me problems. (see my orig. post at the beginning of this thread).I have used NAV for years, upgrading to the new version every year for free by combining rebates, but I'm not all that pleased with the 2004 version. and I thought it was time to take an objective look at the whole antivirus software issue.

I have Win XP SP1 with NAV 2004.I had NAV 2002 previously,but I upgraded to NAV 2004 a couple of montths before and I am happy.The only noticable change that I see is the response time of my machine,it has decreased a lot due to NAV.Otherwise it works flawlessly for me.


::Pranav::

tazdevl wrote:Kaspersky 5.0/NOD32 are at the top. I'd say NOD was, until Kaspersky released version 5.0, which now has a heuristic module built in. It puts it back on par with NOD with respect to ITW/new viruses. (means it doesn't require a virus pattern to identify suspicious files).

What sets it apart is that Kaspersky does a much better job identifying trojans than NOD does. Though I guess you could argue that a AV app isn't supposed to cope with Trojans.


wicked might want to look at version 5.0 released early this month. Most people are having zero issues with multitasking while running a scan. Actually I should correct that... the first scan is very intensive, scans everything, after that it only scans files that have been modified.

I just uninstalled 3 and installed 5. Doing a full system scan now. Will report on burning abilitys later tonight.

You may want to try this awesome program:

CyberScrub AntiVirus, Lifetime Edition:

http://buy.cyberscrub.com/avutility/index.php?ReferrerId=1348

It is scary to think that Norton has had two security flaws in one month. Read here:

http://www.securitypipeline.com/news/20900285/

This is the first anti-virus package that does not take advantage of the customer. Both Norton and McAfee as well as many others charge yearly subscription if you continue to use their product. This program is based off a very well known Russian Kaspersky scanning engine. Look at chart (from the first link) for the five-year cost for each product.

CyberScrub Antivirus also comes with a built in KERIO software firewall as well.

In order to get this special promotional deal include the reference ID# 1348.

Here is Kaspersky's renewel options:

http://www.kaspersky.com/renew

This adds up in several years paying these renewel subscriptions when CS Anitvirus use the same technology as the Russian Kaspersky

Here are a couple of direct quotes I found:

"CyberScrub AntiVirus is powered by Kaspersky Lab. This means we utilize what is considered to be among the world’s most effective and secure technology."

This is a great product!

I installed NAV 2005 on a computer with Win XP SP2 and I like it.It comes with built in worm protection,the definitions of which can be upgraded via Live Update.And it does not hog the resources as NAV 2004 did.I like it.



::Pranav::