Best anti virus for the money?

[Trinity]

Ok..

So my Norton has now expired on both of my computers. 

And my cousin told me of Windows Live  anti virus
Now, he worked for Microsoft and retired rich and young so
of course he'll tell me that this is better than Norton (which is his opinion)

So... I'm using it and I like it.  $50 for one year and I can install it
on up to 3 computers in my household.

3 month free trial use... for anyone who's not using one and needs one right now


But.. I'm not really here to advertise as much as find out people's choices for protection.

I'm aware of one that is free but I can't remember it's name.


So.. weigh in.  Anyone have any fantastic experiences or horrible experiences
using anti virus?


to mods: I searched anti virus.. found 4 topics but not directly related.

 

[Kat Stevens]

Grisoft AVG Free 7.5.....  Free was the best price I could find anywhere.

 

[Timmy!]

I have been running Norton with no problems. Anything free has a bunch of spyware stuff in it... well most of it. Dang porn...

 

[284_226]

For Trinity:

Seek out your TIS (telecommunications and information systems) techs on your base, be they ATIS or LCIS.  They will have you sign a home use agreement, and provide you with a copy of Symantec Corporate edition licenced for home use.

They will also provide Office 2003 on the same basis.  More details available from your local TIS techs!  ;D

 

[DirtyDog]

AVG Free by far.

I'd uninstall Norton.

 

[Gunner98]

Grisoft AVG Free 7.5.....  Free was the best price I could find anywhere.

Tried many and free (AVG) is best in this case.  Norton's Go-Back program was one of the only good things about Norton.

Windows Live Anti-virus won't work if you have signed any Microsoft-related user agreements from DND/CF IT sects more than 2 years ago.  It does a search of your system and declares your system invalid.  Be careful.

 

[284_226]

Windows Live Anti-virus won't work if you have signed any Microsoft-related user agreements from DND/CF IT sects more than 2 years ago.  It does a search of your system and declares your system invalid.  Be careful.

Could you elaborate on that a bit?  I've not tried Windows Live anti-virus because I'm using Symantec, but your description of what Live AV looks for on the PC is a bit vague.

 

[Klc]

Symantec Corporate is the king of all anti-virus, I've used it before.

If you can get the licence, go for it - hands down best in independent testing.

 

[Mithras]

I use Avast! Antivirus, it is free and is fully functional and isn't as bloated as some of the commercial products you find like Norton (Symantec).

All you need to do is register for a key and voila!

You can see a list of the features here: http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

 

[284_226]

I use Avast! Antivirus, it is free and is fully functional and isn't as bloated as some of the commercial products you find like Norton (Symantec).

Norton != Symantec

Norton AV is home-user bloatware.  Symantec Corporate AV is very streamlined, and doesn't bog down resources.  Both may come from Symantec, but they're not the same.

 

[herseyjh]

I have tried numerous commercial anti virus software and in my books I would stick with AVG.  After my computer got nailed by a worm (I had a commercially purchased anti-virus software running), it melted down and I had to reinstall windows.  This, of course, happened a few days before I had a big presentation due.  The final straw was when my anti-virus software would not install and the guy on the tech line told me that it was already installed on my computer therefore he could not give me a new registration key (the old one would not work anymore).  The fact that my computer had melted down and I had to nuke the hard drive after the worm got through seemed to lost on him... BUT for $49 I could purchase a new copy!  Forget that!

I downloaded the free version of AVG as soon as I got off the phone and it works great.  I say save you money.

 

[tlg]

Grisoft AVG Free 7.5.....  Free was the best price I could find anywhere.

AVG is da bomb. Works better than any paid for "systemworks" bundle and uses a fraction of the resources. Plus its free and it has updates almost daily (because there are new version of viri and trojans kicking about every hour),

 

[Klc]

You DO get what you pay for in software for the most part - especially something that requires constant updates...

There IS a reason most large companies go with Symantec Corporate - lite and powerful.

 

[Sham]

The best that I came across is " e-trust". My friend installed it for me
( dont know how he got it for me for free )and got rid of Norton cause
Norton is horrible and hides the virus even though you think you got rid of it.
http://store.ca.com/dr/v2/ec_Main.Entry17c?V1=11032521&V2=11032521&PID=&PN=29&SP=10024&SID=40705&CUR=840&CID=198580&DSP=&PGRP=0&ABCODE=&CACHE_ID=198580

 

[Trinity]

really?

Doesn't erase the virus?
Anyone verify?

 

[Elwood]

I've been very impressed with AVG and McAffee. I tried other programs, but none quite compare.

 

[Klc]

Norton home defaults to 'quarantine' files, effectively hiding them from the file system, and only visible through the software. This is to prevent other programs from activating the code. The files can be deleted in the software, they just default to hide the file in case any data is recoverable from the infected file.

 

[284_226]

really?

Doesn't erase the virus?
Anyone verify?

I'm going to hazard a guess that he means Norton moves the virus-infected file to "Quarantine".  It doesn't delete the file from Quarantine until you tell it to.  Symantec Corporate AV has the same behaviour.  I think the idea behind Quarantine is that the virus definition may come out before a "clean" definition comes out.  Putting the infected file in Quarantine allows you to wait a while to see if Symantec comes out with a definition file that will allow you to clean the infection without deleting the file, thus potentially saving your data.

Either that, or he means it doesn't wipe the virus from the System Restore files - which no anti-virus program does.

 

[Klc]

Beat you to the punch 284  ;D


+1 to what he said though.

 

[284_226]

Beat you to the punch 284  ;D


+1 to what he said though.

Can't keep up with you young'un's anymore 

I work desktop and network support at Shearwater, and we've never had a problem with Symantec that I'm aware of.  McAfee...well, I'm not sorry to see it gone, memory pig that it was.  We've had no reports from anyone using Symantec corporate AV under the home use agreement that they've been bitten by a virus since the changeover.  AVG is good, and I used to use it at home, but it does occasionally miss things.  For free, it's not bad.  I'm sold on Symantec, though.