Computer Geeks! What is the best anti-virus program?

[FlashHarry]

I'm getting sick of McAfee VirusScan Online. When scanning e-mail, it creates massive temporary files on my HD that keep growing and growing until they eat up all the empty space available. I contacted their 'live' support chat (which took 2.5 hrs. to connect) and the guy just had me delete a few files in Internet Explorer. Needless to say, it keeps happening.

So, if I ditch McAfee, which anti-virus program should I use? I'd prefer something that updates automatically. I'd prefer a freebie, but I'd be willing to pay $30/year.

Any suggestions?

[Catshrink]

1. I've always had good luck with Norton.

Gotta be careful with those viruses. Poor mouse:

[kalian]

2. Go freeware...

www.grisoft.com
They keep their AV program up-to-date on a regular basis.
Over two years using it and NEVER had a virus issue on my home LAN.

[noiretextatique]

28. free AVG is great

it found the worm when i got it :bounce:

[Padraig18]

3. AVG

Get it free from http://www.grisoft.com . It ROCKS!

[trof]

18. yep. AVG

My neighbor is a retired air force systems computer geek.
When it come to computers, I trust him completely.
He put me on to AVG and it's FREE.

[LynneSin]

24. Someone hooked me up with AVG

it's free and I'm quite pleased with it.

[papau]

4. AVAST VERSION 4.1 HOME EDITION IS FREE AND SOLID

:-)

[Wwagsthedog]

9. Link Please?

Thank You.

[GregW]

5. Norton Anti Virus

The best on the market. Period.

[demnan]

6. I have to come to the defense of McAfee

They're not as good as when they were bought out by (I don't remember NCA? - I don't do tech support anymore) but let me tell you, when I got my first tech job back in 1993, they were so helpful, they were my heros!!!!

I was an underpaid systems admin in my first real tech job (really I just had application skills) and I was lost. The guy who trained me didn't know anything about viruses. His disks, our server were full of them. I talked to the most wonderful people on the phone from McAfee. I'll never forget their kindness and patience with me.

So I love McAfee, and I trust them. It's probably an emotional decision but in my job the fact that I got good technical suppport sealed my reputation in that job. They helped me and I'll never forget it.

[trotsky]

11. I second that opinion on McAfee

NAI is the company that bought them. Their home stuff is crap, but their business products are top-of-the-line. Their tech support is very informed and helpful, and I have yet to get a virus infection at work on any machine that's up to date on its virus definitions. (And McAfee pops them out within hours of a new virus appearing, if it's spreading fast.)

[Fixated]

7. .....

What files did he have you delete? I've been missing huge chunks of HD space recently.

[FlashHarry]

12. Go to run and type %temp%

then delete any McAfee files. See if that works.

[cprise]

8. LINUX

http://www.knoppix.net/get.php

Believe it or not, no installation required. :)

[kcwayne]

10. Get a firewall

if you haven't already. I have a Netgear wireless router with a built in firewall attached to my cable modem. I also have Norton Anti-Virus.

I have had no viruses to date, knock on wood.

[Deja Q]

13. Norton Internet Security 2004

It has product activation :puke: but otherwise I've found Norton to be VERY reliable.

Freeware is okay if you have no other option, but Norton's people are PAID to get updates out faster. This is what you want.

Internet Security also includes a darn good firewall. They keep trojan and other backdoor definitions updted often too.

It's $80 but it's worth it. Even on a 56k line where dumb people with 2 year degrees who work at Best Buy say you don't get attacked by intruders. :eyes: (I had to tackle a computer recently that was 56k and most certainly WAS attacked, geez it was a gigantic MESS and from Spybot to Ad-aware to Swat-it, there were gigantic signs of backdoor and trojan infiltration. Home users are ideal targets because 56k shows they're just unassuming home users and also often have Quicken and other yummy financial programs on their system just ripe to be picked and exploited, and so on. Check my NIS firewall logs. I'm using up the rest of my AOL account this month and have been attacked by LOTS of different people in the last 3 days alone. Obviously AOL is a great spot for hackers because of the unsuspecting home users again. It wasn't ever that bad when I used MSN!)

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

14. Having done almost nothing but clean viruii from computers

since the Blaster struck, I have to say I am less and less impressed by Norton. It's just too easily broken-- all these new worms know exactly how to turn it off or otherwise render it useless.

I've been looking at McAfee lately, and I think they've overcome the (justified) bad rap they had from years past. The enterprise version of their protection suite includes something I've relied on a few times lately-- a command line scan utility that can be burned to a cd. I upgrade the definitions and burn a new copy weekly, and the first step I take on any computer now is to use it (after I disable Norton). It's discovered more than one virus on Norton "protected" machines.

The first thing you look for on a Norton machine is, will a Live Update complete, or disappear shortly after it begins? If it disappears, you know it's been broken by a virus. When that happens, be prepared by having a separate, protected scanner available.

[cprise]

15. I'm really sorry to hear it

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:M7o2mrhl7X8C:

[mvd]

27. Get a router and a software firewall like Zone Alarm

Since they can both defeat things like the Blaster worm if configured properly. I recommend both since a router doesn't offer outbound protection. Excellent for inbound protection, though.

[TrogL]

16. I just finished evaluating anti-virus products

Trend Micro is best bang for the buck.

MacAfee is bloatware.

Semantic is good.

[VOX]

17. Kaspersky.

It's a little pricey (around $80/year when on special), but I find it to be superior all-around. Updates daily whenever you set it to do so.

I've used it for two years, and it's kept my kmptr utterly clean and healthy.

[elifino]

19. Computer Geeks! What is the best anti-virus program?

It Support by trade, 2000+ workstations. Mcafee at work and at home, no problems either place. Loss of disk space can be a big problem if using MS IE as your browser. Better choice is Mozilla or Netscape. Your problem may be the multiple copies of internet history and cookie saved by MS IE. On the workstations which I run MS IE, I run a program from IOLO, System Mechanic which not only will keep the cookie and history files clean, it also will clean the register and delete unnecessary files. Good luck.

[Ignis]

20. SAV

You might even give Sophos a try. It's a bit off-the-beaten-path, but it works well in certain PC environments.

[TrogL]

21. ah, hell

The techs just went through with a brute-force antivirus program.

My auxiliary computer (used mostly to display things) was infected up the ying-yang with machi and some other stuff.

Oh well.

[Character Assassin]

22. AGV from www.grisoft.com. It's free and the best.

[MadHound]

23. Get a Mac

Then you don't have to worry about viruses or virus software. I've been running a Mac for ten years with no virus protections and haven't had a problem. Its kinda fun to open a virus and take a look.

[Uzybone]

25. Like others have saiid

AVG at www.grisoft.com. Its the best and its free, so why pay or change operating systems?

[mvd]

26. Well, I frequent the broadbandreports.com security forum, and..

the general consensus is that NAV is better than AVG. I recommend AVG as a back-up, non-resident scanner. I always have a main AV and a second scanner to be safe.

I wish Norton would have live updates more frequently than once a week (although they do issue some emergency LUs), and it does have problems with being shut down. But worms don't just target NAV.

Also, I've had cases where Norton couldn't repair, quarantine, or delete a file. Especially when the file is in temp. internet files. NAV is decent, but I've heard KAV and NOD32 are both better.

[TreasonousBastard]

29. There is no "best" but...

every one of them has advantages and disadvantages.

Personally, I've been using AVG, and it's worked just fine. I also have the Zone Alarm firewall, which isn't all that hot, but has caught Swen even before AVG got to see the email.

AVG sometimes has problems with trojans, and may not be free for long after V. 7 catches on, so it might pay to look at some others.

Just about everything you need is listed here:

http://www.pricelessware.org/2003/PL2003SECURITY.htm

and it's all good stuff. And free.

btw, I have AVG set to automatically check for updates every 24 hours. They were on Swen the day I got the first email.

[mvd]

30. Zone Alarm Pro is very good

I wouldn't use the free version because it's without expert rules. The Pro version has great active content handling, too.

I think AVG is fine if you are savvy with security and don't download tons of stuff and take risks. May put it on one of my computers because of NAV's product activation.