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General discussion

Which antivirus utility protects your computer?

Jan 14, 2005 4:01AM PST

Which antivirus utility protects your computer?

AVG Anti-Virus (love or hate it?)
Kaspersky Anti-Virus (love or hate it?)
McAfee VirusScan (love or hate it?)
Norton AntiVirus (love or hate it?)
Panda Titanium Antivirus (love or hate it?)
Trend Micro PC-cillin (love or hate it?)
Other (what is it?)
I don't need no stinkin' antivirus app. (really, why not?)

Discussion is locked

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Agreed
Nov 25, 2005 10:28PM PST

I replaced Norton with PC Cillin, and now my computer boots faster and freezes/crashes far less. Norton is a resource hog and enjoys the brand name recognition. My system has been just as well protetced with PC cillin.

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pccillin all the way
Nov 26, 2005 9:50AM PST

I have to agree that trendmicros pccillin is by far the best antivirus app that I have tried-better than some of the better well known anti-virus software. I like it the best because it just works-perid.

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Any real tests done?
Dec 6, 2005 7:42AM PST

I've been following this thread because I just loaded AVG 7.1 while trying to decide on dumping NAV. NAV seems to catch the viruses (how do we really know until something else discovers one lurking?), but it conflicts with my Nero so I can't burn CDs. I am running them both along with:

Spyware Blaster
CW Shredder
CounterSpy
Ad-aware 6.0
ZAP
CCleaner.

Last night I intentionally visited some sites that I knew would load minor trojans or bugs. NAV picked up 10, and I don't recall AVG showing any....maybe 1. Perhaps I should have run an ABG scan before I deleted the bugs that NAV had quarantined. Maybe the NAV quarantine hid the bugs from AVG????

Anyway, this little experiment leaves me in doubt of AVG's capabilities, but still unhappy with NAV's peculiar problems.

Question: Are there any scientific tests of the performance of all of these major AV systems that we can look at to compare? Anecdotal experience is fine, but without a stream of testing that repeats the performance hundreds of times we are just stabbing in the wind.

dallas

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Anti Virus Independant Test Sites
Dec 6, 2005 10:04AM PST

Hullo,

Yes there are AV test sites and try plugging above into google to find them.Amongst others is the VB100 site.Many AV vendor homepages will have a link to these although usually only when their current rating is good!.

If your running Win95/98/ME another way of testing is to use the F-Prot DOS AV scanner,it doesent need Windows to be booted to do a full scan from the DOS command line (F8 or CTRL in Win98 on boot).I use the F-Prot Linux version and scan windows from there.Very thorough with everything including the swop file scanned and no possible conflicts from running programs.If others do choose to use F-Prot for DOS as a second line scanner,or to test,the scans are best done on boot to avoid conflicts with your main AV utill.From the command line simply type in f_prot\f_prot.exe and take it from there.(You may need to use f-prot\f-prot.exe depending on how DOS has loaded it).And that address assumes you have unzipped the DOS file direct on C:\ drive.

Hope that is usefull to some,best Wishes Chris

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PC-Cillin over Norton
Nov 27, 2005 6:11AM PST

I used Norton for many years over several versions and after reading recently that Norton tracks its users' usage, similar to spyware, I decided to switch to Trend Micro's PC-Cillin. I couldn't be happier. Gone are the slow boots and unexplained lockups. I also like the quick automatic updates. I highly recommend PC-Cillin and will never go back to Norton.

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PC-Cilin vs. Norton
Nov 28, 2005 6:39AM PST

I totally agree with the superiority of PC-Cillin over Norton, also from my experience.

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have a couple questions about mym
Jul 5, 2011 8:21AM PDT
Wink
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If you have any questions, or need any assistance
Jul 5, 2011 8:47PM PDT

I suggest you visit one of the other forums and create your own new discussion.

Asking in threads this old tend to get lost in time.

Mark

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All those AV's, etc.
Jan 19, 2005 11:14PM PST

Is it really neccessary to have all those tools?
Isn't there one...OK, maybe two systems that have it all combned?

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avg
Jan 21, 2005 3:39AM PST

you need one anti viruce you could try Avg and

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avg
Jan 21, 2005 3:37AM PST

you do have a good set of programs but you could try avg it is great try and you will see how much better then norton ever was moxie

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avg
Nov 29, 2005 4:01PM PST

I too uses AVG.And it works great.But now rersearching firewalls.After sysmatics purchase Sygate and after a month is scraping it.Norton feel it's over shadowing they product line.mainly because Sygate came in two versions,free and pay.And works really well.I may go to ez armour since my isp giving it.

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Trend Micro
Nov 25, 2005 1:21AM PST

I have found Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security the best program. I use the antivirus,firewall and antispy features. For backup I also have Webroot Spysweeper witch I think is also one of the best on the market. I am a game player and have found that this setup is the most compatible. My sister has Mcafee and I hate their e-mail setup, took me long time to figure it out. I had Norton Internet Security and I found it not compatable with a lot of my games. One instance is the game ''Far Cry''. Game was very choppy, read on a message board about Norton interfering, turned it off and game ran perfect. Yes, I do keep all my video drivers up to date. Mcafee does work well for my sister because all she does is E-Bay, Amazon (online buyer) and of course her e-mails.

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Trend Micro has good support
Nov 27, 2005 4:17AM PST

I've had a few reasons to contact Trend Micro (makers of PC-cillin) for support and they have been extremely helpful - stuck with it until we figured out the answer. In one case there was something wrong with a Word document that wasn't clearly a virus; in another case an upgrade conflicted with another program and eventually they came up with a better install file that worked. I haven't had any infections in a number of years, nor slowdowns.

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Be thankful that you replaced McAfee!
Dec 4, 2005 7:28PM PST

I have been dealing with McAfee since buying my computer in early 2001. After the virus protection that came with that purchase expired I purchased McAfee Internet Security ver. 5.0. When that expired I began getting annoying and frequent pop-ups telling me to update my service. I went and purchased McAfee internetsecuritysuite 2005 ver. 7.0. After I installed it the pop-ups continued. McAfee support failed to provide the correct means of stopping them. I finally stumbled across something that looked promising in my Add/Remove and got rid of the pop-ups.
My ver. 7.0 was due to expire March 29, 2006 but something went wrong. It somehow expired a few weeks ago. I had to Add/Remove expunge all of it from my computer before I could get my internet service to be allowed to operate. Of course I could not get to McAfee's internet support site without doing this.
McAfee's Customer Support responded that I should go to its Technical Support. McAfee's Technical Support did not even verify that their response matched my computer's operating system. I have still not re-installed the software because McAfee has yet to respond to my response to their response to being informed that their first Technical Support response was useless to me. So if you have not learned to operate 4 networked computers and are concerned about more than virus problems, try to find something user friendly.

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You Got Your Point Accros On
Dec 5, 2005 9:41PM PST

You got your point accross on the first message. You didn't need to post it 7 different times

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Norton Add a Virus
Jan 18, 2005 7:22PM PST

I had several weeks of problems with Norton, after numerous phone calls to their help line eventually they gave me a web site which allowed me to ditch it. The idea behind this was to reinstall it, no chance. I switched to AGV and wondered why it had not done this before. I now get daily updates and a secure PC.

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website
Jan 28, 2005 5:13PM PST

i have had no end of trouble uninstalling norton anti virus off my computer...what is the web site that symantec referred you to? thanks marce

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nortons vs AVG
Oct 28, 2005 1:02AM PDT

I too have been using Nortons Internet Security. After the last renewal my PC running XP pro took about 5-6 minutes to shut down. After clean boots and other trouble shooting (it always shut down properly then) I uninstalled Nortons. Had to do it in safe mode. I installed FREE AVG and the shut down and start up delays went away. Back to normal again.

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used both, done with norton
Nov 26, 2005 11:12AM PST

used norton internet security for a few years. a total resource hog. wanted to go with zone alarm and norton but couldn't as i found out because of compatability issues. so, a friend turned me onto avg. been running it several years with no regrets at all. have since installed on many systems and turned a few others onto it as well.

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AVG
Jan 18, 2005 11:00PM PST

AVG has major problems with spy blockers and anti adware programs. It also lockeds up our computer. May be free, but not worth the hassles.

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AVG
Jan 18, 2005 11:59PM PST

If AVG is locking up your computer, you have problems other than AVG. I've been using AVG for over a year on 3 differenct machines. Never had a lockup.

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AVG
Jan 19, 2005 5:01AM PST

I thorougly agree that something other than AVG is locking up the computer. I've been using AVG since its inception and have no trouble whatsoever. It's a wonderfully easy little program unlike Norton's HUGE download with all its nobs and whistles, also which happened to miss a virus that AVG picked up. Can't argue with the cost either - FREE!

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AVG
Jan 19, 2005 5:29AM PST

This is not intended as a flame of anyone or any product.
To say any software is locking up a computer is completely irrelevant without defining what version & build of the software you are running / what Op. Sys & version you are running.
Better yet add your hardware ie: CPU/RAM/Max Hard Drive Space / Free Hard drive space.
You have/havent run MS updater to get latest OS updates.
You have/havent checked for latest application updates.
You have checked the vendors FAQS/Support list for similar issues.
Have you run DiskClean / Defrag recently - surprising how often these two resolve "funny" issues.
By doing this someone almost certainly will come back with a suggestion; not always the one you wish to hear but if it resolves your issue then you are in front.
I have AVG install on many machines including servers from latests and greatest to really old home user clunkers and have no issues at all.
AVG support always answer emails with informative answers to registered users.
They also have a forum at: http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/

Free software always has a price - the fact that it receives no support from the vendor.
AVG state on their web site "Technical support via e-mail is available only for AVG Professional registered customers".
Antivirus software costs are like insurance; if your data isnt worth insuring then dont worry about antivirus software but dont moan when it all goes south.

Love their comic "critters"

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AVG
Jan 19, 2005 4:02PM PST

I have been using AVG for several years and its been the best free download for my machine. I had Norton, but its a huge load for any system if compared to AVG. It even updates its database on a timely manner and has prevented my 3 teenage kids from infecting our system. I didn't think it was going to be as efficient, it being free, but after using it 4 years, I am glad to have been proved wrong.

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AVG is excellent.
Jan 19, 2005 7:14PM PST

I have used AVG since it's earliest versions and never had a problem with it.Compared with Norton it is light on resources, updates automatically on a regular basis and protects my mail and other files perfectly.
On the odd occassion when I have had a blip I have simply uninstalled and reinstalled the program in a matter of minutes. This has happened twice in about 4 years!! For a free program it is excellent!!

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AVG: so far so good
Nov 24, 2005 8:55PM PST

I quit using Norton because I had several problems with it (not being able to get updates and having to restart Windows 3 or 4 times before being able to do so; protection shutting down in the middle of sending/receiving an e-mail; not being able to receive e-mails; etc.) and although both Norton and Microsoft are aware of these problems of incompatibility, they have no solution. I've been using AVG Free for a few weeks now and it's swift, completely compatible and easy to use. No complaints so far. But I don't know how good it is at catching viruses because the servers I use have an effective anti-virus program running, which leaves little to do for AVG.

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Avg
Nov 25, 2005 1:49PM PST

My friend/computer genius installed Avg Free on my computer several years ago. I've never had a virus since then. Before with Norton, it wouldn't even let me access my work online it was awful to have to fool with it and it sure wasn't worth the money. I've never had mycomputer lock up with Avg. It did with Noton

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Norton AV
Jan 19, 2005 9:40AM PST

I had been using Norton (Symantec) AV on my systems here at my home office as well as at my business office across town for almost ten years, then switched to AVG this past December and am very happy with it. The Norton tech support is exasperating, can't understand the dialect of the folks from North or South India, plus Norton takes up a lot of hard drive space. AVG has a smaller footprint, works well with all my other utilities as well as Windows XP SP2. I recommend you try AVG, I'm sure you'll like it.

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Norton Lives on "past accomplishments"
Jan 20, 2005 7:04AM PST

I had problems with Norton Antiviral 2005 and after emailing them almost daily for one month, they never really responded with any solutions. I never felt they even understood the problem since the techs were not able to speak English but use software-translations to correspond. I finally gave up on Norton and removed all Symantec products from my system. Went with EZ-Antiviral and Trends PC-cillin. Been trouble free since that time. Screw Norton.