Anti Virus Software

Duke · 05-26-2008, 11:37 PM

I was just curious as to what anti virus software people around here use? For years I've been a firm supporter of AVG up until v8.0 that is. Now it's a process pig with around 4 running processes at any one time eating up well over 50,000K and running me up to 35 Running Processes at any one time.

It seems to me that AVG 7 was far more ram friendly and even if it was hogging ram at least you could shut it down via Windows Task Manager. No matter whether you try to shut down processes or the process tree with AVG 8 it simply re-boots the process after a second or two.

The control panel seems completely useless as well as it won't allow you to configure what and what not to use and when. A part of me is wondering if AVG is in bed with McAffee because I've been here before.

Just out of curiosity what version of Anti Virus Software are you using, how long have you been using it and why do you like/dislike it?

Thanks.

Vautrin · 05-27-2008, 06:06 AM

I hate AVG. It is a resource hog, and does not do as much as it should.

I adore Kaspersky. "Problem" with the latter is it does do quite a lot of licence checks. Which is only a problem if you do not use the software in a legally sanctioned way (piracy). Haven't run it in months, though so I can't give more precise detail.

I like NOD32. I contracted a virus 9 months ago. (I could see that, changed executables). I tried installing Kaspersky. It would not work. Checked the virus definitions, and yup, the virus made it impossible to install McAfee, AVG and Kaspersky. So I installed NOD32, and gone were my problems.

It just runs two processes, in principle for everything. Getting the updates, scanning files, scanning files received on the internet. And it gave me the proper warning in case of dubious content.

Mondo · 05-27-2008, 07:34 AM

I use adaware, windows washer and as much common sense as I can muster.

NoTargeT · 05-27-2008, 07:37 AM

I use norton, haven't had any virus problems, but it's not free. Norton also does a great job at keeping my entire computer/ports in full stealth mode. I test it now and again, and I always get a full 100% score, so basicly my computer is completely undetectable from the net, which is pretty rare for an xp machine with IE. The last is important for me since some of the game adminning and hosting I do makes me subject to port and ddos attacks at times. Was suffering from those on my old machine, and as soon as I started up my new one with norton it blocked 7 different port attacks (TCP command spam)that were specifically aimed me, and I've never been bothered since. Also making ports available for gamehosting without adding any risks for other access on those ports works great.
Oh and I use ad-aware for getting rid of spyware, works great too.

TKDLady · 05-27-2008, 11:36 AM

I use McAfee and don't have any complaints with it except all the processes it has running in the background all the time. I don't do gaming just mostly this site and some internet surfing occasionally.

Duke · 05-27-2008, 10:30 PM

Ya I used McAffee in the past and hated it not only for all the running processes but also for the fact it could not be completely uninstalled without deleting registry entries. When I play games I like to be able to shut down un-needed processes to free up RAM which is why the new AVG doesn't work for me.

A buddy of mine is going to hook me up with nod32 so we'll see how that goes.

IR_Efrem · 05-28-2008, 12:25 AM

I am about to remove anti-virus from my computer. I have not had a virus or even seen one pass my way in a VERY long time. I spose that I only keep anti virus software because I get a twitchy when getting files from a torrent or other fileshare type program. But I still haven't seen a virus in a long time.

Duke · 05-28-2008, 01:18 AM

I haven't seen a virus in ages either as I scan everything I dl however you always need to scan with something to ensure your files aren't hiding something nasty. I dl a fair amount of files mostly for ArmA and the Sims 2 so I'm not willing to take any chances.

Vautrin · 05-28-2008, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IR_Efrem

I am about to remove anti-virus from my computer. I have not had a virus or even seen one pass my way in a VERY long time. I spose that I only keep anti virus software because I get a twitchy when getting files from a torrent or other fileshare type program. But I still haven't seen a virus in a long time.

I'd rather not remove it. I suggest keeping it switched on when you dl more dubious content (torrents and the like), and switch it off when playing games then.

NoTargeT · 05-28-2008, 04:16 AM

Well, I just checked my Norton logs.
It has never found a virus in a file I downloaded, but it has so far blocked 17 unauthorised file transfers from websites, which all probably would have been virusses/worms. It also blocked 6 unauthorised IE startpage changes, which could have referred me to websites with virusses. It has also blocked a whopping 168 unauthorised port accesses, 12 of those because I forgot to open a port for a game, and almost all of the rest consisting of TCP command spam, which would normally flood my modem into failure within a second or 2. I tried tracing the tcp command spam a few times, but they all got rerouted through dozens of IP's in the Asian pacific, making it impossible to trace the original source.
Next to that my provider scans all incoming mail for virusses and known spam, and it has already blocked dozens of mails containing viruses for me. In short, I may not have noticed anything with virusses, but I would have had many without the anti virus measures I'm taking myself and taken by my provider.

BTW, a university here in the netherlands conducted a test where they set up a computer to have no defense to outside internet access at all (not only no virusguard, but also no measures taken by OS, browser, firewall etc. . They programmed it to detect portscans and they let it run hooked up to the net for 24 hours. Within the 24 hours they detected over 70,000 portscans. Just to show how 'safe' the internet is...

__RavErz__ · 05-28-2008, 05:23 AM

Nortons is regarded generally by the industry to be bad software. AVG has been good in the past. Mcaffe is alright but not free so generally discounted. Anti-Vir is probably the best right now. It is free for personal use with free daily updates. I wouldn't suggest having no program at all though..

Also port scans arn't a bad thing necessarily. Everything you do will result in a port scan generally from playing games to looking at web pages. They need to know the correct ports are open. 70 000 seems like a lot, I would like to know what they were doing in this 24 hours.

IR_Efrem · 05-28-2008, 10:37 AM

I looked at my anti virus logs and I have nothing but Zeros all the way down the list. No infections. Zone Alarm has found a but load of spyware (all tracking cookies) and blocked 19,000 intrusions.

__RavErz__ · 05-28-2008, 10:39 AM

Just because there have been no logs doesn't mean you remove a virus scanner, especially if it doesn't use much in the way of resources like anti vir.

Australia doesn't dismiss their entire millitary just because they haven't been in a war in a while. It is nice to know its there for a rainy day. Although the millitary costs loads of money, a free virus scanner costs you nothing. Save it for when you need it, you might never know