What virus protection do you use? How's it doing?

[pscot]

I've tried several, from Norton and McAffee to Spyware Dr. A couple years ago I got fed up and switched to Microsoft Security Essentials. I let it update and scan automatically and the results have been good. I'm no longer deluged with alarms and the system quietly swats down any threats. It seems reasonable that Microsoft would have a better handle on virus attack than any outside party. And it's free.

[lpbk2713]

1. I use Comodo, no complaints.

Once you get it set up it works good IMO. You have to set up your firewall for the first
few days with allow/disallow and other minor tweaking but after that it does a good job.

[Pharaoh]

2. Avast

It's great an it's free.

http://www.avg.com/us-en/downloadav-ppc_1?ECID=ad:go:se:US-EN-SCH_Competitor-Free&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=%2Bfree%20%2Bdownload%20%2Bavast&utm_content=&utm_campaign=US-EN-SCH_Competitor%20Free&gclid=CMO9xcqZxLYCFYw7MgodFx4ACA

[pscot]

3. I saw someone complaining about Avast recently

but I can't remember the issue.

[Mnpaul]

9. It was alerting on a photo in one of the threads

It think someone attached something to the photo to prevent hot linking and that was setting off an alert.

[truedelphi]

11. I have heard that it will eat your computer if you use an older system

We go out of our way to have Windows XP. So we now avoid Avast.

[Mnpaul]

15. I have had no problem using it with XP

I have been using it on my XP machine for years with no problems at all. I did shut off the sandbox part in the previous version.

[truedelphi]

18. What is the sandbox version? n/t

[Mnpaul]

19. Version 7 had it

I don't see it in version 8

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I switched from AVG, which was...

apparently doing a good job, for MSE when AVG seemed to be hogging the machine.

Thar seemed to work fine,l but then I read that MSE was at the bottom of some rankings so I went back to AVG.

Once in a while I get a warning that some site or email is dangerous, but apparently I haven't been under any attacks to worry about with either one of them.

[Pharaoh]

5. AVG

works great for me.......Just passing that along, If your a novice and you want a simple virus protection, it's a good option.............

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. MSE

Set it & forget it.

[Phillip McCleod]

7. immunet 3.0 with clamav ..

..running *alongside* microsoft security essentials.

let me explain..

i can't recommend this (free) combination *strongly* enough, and can provide empirical evidence to support my claim that it leaves the rest in the dust by every metric. it even leaves the best commercial antivirus in the dust.

immunet (clamav) is the real gem.. it's a windows port of the classic industrial-strength low-level linux antivirus tool called 'ClamAV'. this is a unique product in that it's the only antivirus designed to run *on top* of your main antivirus. it is *not* a stand-alone antivirus! you have to install it *after* you install a compatible antivirus program. there's a compatibility list on their website but all you really need to know is it will happily run alongside MSE, Avast, AVG or Avira (the top 4 free antivirus).

what immunet does is boost your antivirus with the open-source, free, linux-based ClamAV database and engine. think of clamav as antivirus for hackers. where MSE or norton find one, clamav might find *50*. i used it three times yesterday on machines that were so badly infected they wouldn't boot into windows to let me run the installed antivirus, so i had to boot from a linux livecd and run clamav from the command line.

ok, so there's the pitch for immunet 3.0.

so why MSE? simple.. it doesn't really matter *what* you install because immunet brings them all up to the same level. mse, avast, avira, avg all get boosted to the level of clamav.. hence the choice to use MSE was motivated entirely by the fact that it runs quietly.. almost silently.. and will never ask to upgrade to the 'pro version'. set immunet to run quietly (turning off notifications) and you have industrial strength antivirus with almost zero performance loss and no ads.

here's a link..

http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/about/win32/

..

*note.. during installation Immunet 3.0 will give you the choice for the 'free' version or the 'free trial'. you want the 'free' version. immunet *plus* as they call it is the standalone version, but we're going to let MSE do all that extra stuff.

..

**almost no ads.. immunet does have a sidebar ad for the plus version when you fire up the user interface but it's not a pop up. it only appears when you actually run the program, and you can dismiss it after 30 sec.

[truedelphi]

12. This sounds wonderful.

I know a while ago, when I was using Avast, I had switched over from AVG. And Avast discovered stuff that AVG had not!

So I won't ever go back to AVG.

Now I have PC Tools stuff. But I am not really happy - it does seem like my system gets tied up.

Also, do I have to be using Linux to use it? Will it work on my Windows XP?

[Phillip McCleod]

14. for windows.

there's a 32-bit or 64-bit version at the download link in the last post. for windows xp just use the 32-bit version.

actually both ClamAV *and* Immunet are 'for' windows, since we linux users don't worry about viruses. clamav is a linux tool designed to seek & destroy windows viruses.. probably invented just to show off, but now it's an invaluable tool.

the difference is clamav runs on linux, and immunet runs on windows 'powered by clamav'.. but both are used to scan windows drives using the same (clamav) virus database. the linux tool clamav is mostly used when the viruses are so bad you can't start windows.

[hobbit709]

8. Usually use MSE in conjunction with Malwarebytes.

I use the paid for versions of Malwarebytes-there was a sale on and I got the copies for $10 each(less than half price). I have one computer with AVG since it's running XP Pro X64 and MSE doesn't work with it.
Haven't had a problem in years. Of course I refuse to use Internet ExploDer and I make sure Remote Assistance is turned OFF.

[Worried senior]

10. I had asked on here for virus help too

and finally after comparing different ones we decided on Vipre, so far it's been very good

My only complaint is that they do block certain sites that we have been on in the past with no issues. There is suppose to be a way to by-pass the firewall but that hasn't worked very well. They do have a site you can send the URL to and they will check, if ok they will put remove it from the blocked sites.

They do seem to have good customer service in case you do have a problem.

[truedelphi]

13. Many of these anti virus companies provide little customer support.

Both paid for Avast, and paid for AG refused to let us add the number of computers we had paid to ahve on our account. And there didn't seem to be anyone to complain to.

PC Tools has been better than those companies on the customer support end. I will also mention I had installed Avast after AVG had been running steadily for over two years, and Avast found stuff that was medium to serious risk that AVG had not.

[TroglodyteScholar]

16. What's a virus?

[Fantastic Anarchist]

20. I Use System Mechanic by Iolo Labs

It's the only thing you need. That software does everything for you.

See all the features here:

http://www.iolo.com/resources/articles/more-than-50-performance-features-at-your-service/?pfcs=3F02CB3B-A1B1-40E7-BA83-0F2F8B39CC30&theme=product

[RoccoR5955]

21. AVG and Avira and Avast for me

I also use just the Comodo firewall at home.

I have three PCs at home, and I feel that no one will find everything, so different PCs have different software.
It's all the free versions, and all perform pretty well.

[truth2power]

22. I have been using Norton 360 for about five years. I've had no problems and their support is

excellent. I have it installed on both my desktop (running XP) and my laptop (Vista).

You can always get a deal on the price from Staples, etc. or from Norton on download.

I went to Norton after I had a nightmare experience with several other programs...viruses, trojans etc. Whatever it was took the program I had installed and put it somewhere else so I couldn't even access it. Woke up one morning and had porn site icons on my desktop.

So far, so good. Hope this helps.

[frylock]

23. Kaspersky is the best antivirus IMHO