Advice please on GOOD antivirus software-don't mind paying for good stuff

[Marka]

I purchased on line almost one year ago and really regret doing it McAfee (I guess also known as McAcrap) antivirus Security Center. The only thing this does is secure to make sure it takes complete control of my system and uses as much resources as possible throwing advertsing and forcing updates whenever it darnwell pleases. I had thought that the auto update on def's feature would be handy but instead it turned out to be a real pest. Every time I start windows I get nailed with this long startup of their socalled Security Center which informs me of the same thing over and over and over again. That I have up to date virus def but I have not installed my anti spam etc etc etc which of course are all extra charges that I am not paying for but also at the same time do not want to seee this advertising thrown at me every time I start up my computer. I have to wait for this splash screen every single time. I had contacted McAfee tech support and asked them if I could disable this startup screen and of course they said no because then my antivirus would not work properly. Then it loads thousands of files at startup (Okay, maybe exagerating a bit but it feels this way) and I get tired of waiting and waiting for it to do as it pleases. Then I go to Msconfig and see all the McAfee files loading and I dare not uninstall any of them for the fear that my antivirus portion may not work properly.

I am presently running a Compaq Presario 5838 with an AMD A7. 256 meg and Win98SE. I don't care if I have to pay for something good and would prefer to buy it from a store with an install CD for a good antivirus program that does not throw all that unwanted crap in my face every time I start this computer. And then when I do get my updates it always makes sure it asks me if I want to purchase the add-ons which I don't want. I had thought by buying McAfee as a well known brand name I would be purchasing a very good antivirus program. Well - sorry, in my book I am very dissapointed in this program. My subcription is not up til end of May but want to purchase something sooner like at Staples, Office Max whereever. The only good thing I know I have here with this is that when I first purchased it I used my credit card on line. Since then I have changed my credit card and even though I have NO autorenewal selected I don't trust it but since I registered with a card I no longer use I know they can't auto charge my credit card - good for me.

Anyway, can someone please suggest a good antivirus program that will give me good protection while being on line. Also for my email. I am not so concerned with the firewall and all the other features. I don't know much about all that stuff and really don't have th paitence or the time to start tweaking all those features. I usaully go to the same old sites all the time. I just wnat something that wil protect me and not take all my resources every time i boot up my computer.

Another thing that concerns me is when I am ready to install the new antivirus software and want to remove this McAcrap how do I know for sure all of the darn files are removed. It makes me feel like it infests itself on my system so I don't dare uninstall any of it for fear of killing my ssytem.

Remember, I don't mind paying for a good product so really be honest with me.

Thanks to all of you in advance.

Mark

[jmtjet]

I like the free AVG. It's non- intrusive and does a good job. Best of all it's free. The problem with buying an AV off the shelve is that as soon as you install it, you have to update immediately. Here's a link to AVG's web site:

http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index...be933154c0dc81

[Murf]

NORTON

In my opinion it's the best

[Cowboy622]

Here's a thread you can read: http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...hreadid=133261

Here's an older study comparing AV's that might give you some background: http://agn-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/vtc/en0110.htm Click on number 11 to read the comparison terst results.

Here's an unscientific study done by INTERCEPTOR1 a little over a year ago.
Interceptor1: posted 02-21-2002 06:58 PM It's been a while since I took a long look at antivirus programs most users utilize. I thought you might like to know how their virus scanners stack up to the latest threats. I made my selections for these reasons:

Time-I only have so much I'm willing to dedicate to something like this. There are many av programs I could not include due to limitations of my personal resources.

Freeware-InnoculateIT had a large following. Since the end of InnoculateIT's availibility to new users, Ez-Antivirus has been the program recommended by the company. Ez-AV, like it's predecessor, is not that good of a virus scanner. I wanted to give people an option to use free antivirus programs and scanners that I feel are effective enough to recommend. Two that appear to be the best are listed below.

Shareware-I tried to include what I thought are the most popular scanners among everyday users. Two I did not test, Sophos and Panda are good programs but don't seem to be popular enough to warrant taking the extensive time to test them. However, if I was not using PC-cillin I would use Sophos http://www.sophos.com .

Trojan hunters-Ever since I promoted Tauscan a few years ago, there has been an out and out performance war between Tauscan and The Cleaner. I think it's time to bring another contender into the fray. I think Tauscan and The Cleaner ought to forget beating up on each other and take stock in PestControl, which has quietly become number one.

Using 150 viruses and trojan horses, several antivirus programs been thoroughly tested. While programs detected variations of the same family of malicious code, they may not have found others, or didn't detect them at all. The results may surprise you. We'll go from the very worst to the very best:

AVG from Grisoft.com scored the worst, detecting only 64% I would not recommend this product. http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.htm

Since the demise of InnoculateIt, new users have been instructed to install Ez-Antivirus from E-Trust. In the test, Ez-Antivirus detected 73%. If http://my-eTrust.com/products/info/Antivirus/2?

Symantec's antivirus program Norton (NAV) scored 83% If Symantec would pull their heads out of the sand, they could easily be one of the best. http://www.symantec.com/nav/indexA.html

A FREEWARE program I tested was Antivir from http://www.hbedv.com/index.html This fared much better at 97% However, I don't like the way it updates.

Antidote from Vintage Solutions, is a FREEWARE scanner that performed very well at about 99% http://www.vintage-solutions.com/Eng...per/index.html

As always, Kaspersky Labs AVP performed as expected. It did quite well at 99% http://www.kasperskylabs.com/products.html

McAfee's antivirus surprised even me. It found 100% of the viruses it was tested against. http://www.mcafee.com/ However, I've heard of various operating difficulties with users over a period of time. Since I've heard this from too many users, I hesitate to recommend McAfee.

The CONSISTENT WINNER of the tests was PC-cillin from http://www.antivirus.com As usual and expected, PCC had no trouble detecting 100% of the malicious code that was thrown against it.

Trojan Hunters:

An added bonus was a test of the more popular trojan horse detectors. Always a close race and against 200 different trojan horses, The Cleaner http://www.moosoft.com/ edged Tauscan out of the top spot for the first time by 1%, finding 92% of the trojans. Tauscan can be downloaded at http://www.agnitum.com/products/tauscan/

PestControl from http://www.safersite.com/ was tested on a friend's system. It detected all of the trojans it was pitted against.

My recommendations for the top antivirus programs:

For protection for advanced network servers running Win2000 family of server software and Linux:

TrendMicro Server Protect for storage/file serversGateway protection for webservers

For Win95/98 (FE/SE)/ME/2000/XP:

Shareware programs
PC-cillin 2000 rates 6 on the Interceptor scale for balance of price, performance, support and user friendly interface

Sophos has always been a top-notch program. http://www.sophos.com

Freeware programs
Antivir

Antivirus for Linux:
Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux

Anti-Trojan programs: I still prefer Tauscan over The Cleaner, but I'd definitely give PestControl a try.

Programs with unacceptable performance:
AVG
Norton
Ez-Antivirus

All this being said, I used AVG for about two years and am now using Norton both on Interceptor's "Unacceptable" list,

[DuaneB]

I agree with Murf and Cowboy622, I like Norton. I had Norton Internet Security 2002 on my machine for a year and a half. I removed it to try others (including McAfee, which I don't like at all) and finally went back to Norton.

However, Norton, like McAfee, requires some attention. If you want a program that's invisible you'll probably have the same complaints about Norton that you have about McAfee.

I also tried AVG (no problems or complaints) which is probably closer to what you're looking for. It doesn't require much attention and, as mentioned by jmtjet, its free.

[Prophet]

I'm using AVG Pro right now.

Norton was too "possessive" for my tastes and McAfee couldn't keep the updates in a timely manner which led to email virii entering.

Sophos is too slow. Panda is "a legend in their own minds", ha!

There's a FREE AVG from Grisoft but I'll stay with AVG Pro for now.

[nekot99]

I recommend Norton System Works, I just purchased it about a month ago, and it works great. If you have a Best Buy or a Office Depot or a Sam's Club near you, you can get it for a steal. It comes with alot of extra software that works great, goback, cleansweep, norton utilites, and additional problem solving tools. I messed up my computer and used goback to get it back up and working, it a lifesaver. Just my opinion, hope this helps.

[Ridgerunr]

eTrust EZ Antivirus from Computer Associates is my nod. us$19.95 to purchase, us$9.95 per year thereafter. Updates several times per week and does the job for me...

https://www.my-etrust.com/services/ipe_support.cfm

[^dAvEy^]

- AVG 6.0 free
- and periodic scans for trojans and viruses:
Trend Housecall

have had no need or reason to look further...
no problems in years...
knock on wood...
no bulky, bloated, possessive monster software packages...
still picking out bits of Norton from years ago, btw...

[Mowergun]

Hi,

I have used NAV2000 and now NAV2002 for the past four years and I would not hesitate to recommend Norton. It is, in my opinion a good and solid AV program.

If you buy NAV2003, I would recommend a thorough clean up of your system and defrag before installing. Also after helping a relative install NAV2003, I would also recommend that you check This Page and follow the directions to verify that you have long file names enabled before installation. Also, before installation I would recommend opening msconfig and unchecking everthing except ScanRegistry, SystemTray, and SchedulingAgent, and then reboot.

Just my two cents,

Mowergun

[KMIELKE123]

To keep my system as clean as possible I use :

AVG Free Version.
PC Door Guard (Paid.)
Spybot S & D.

However there are numerous other resources out there for you to try out :

http://www.wilders.org

http://www.cexx.org

http://www.spywareinfo.com

[Vernon Frazee]

http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_dwnl3.php

[ylen13]

will also recommend norton. I started using north around 2000 and never went back to Mcafee i guess u know why. With north you can set up your computer to download update files daily. So for those that download allot this is a good option for them

[mawil]

Another vote for eTrust EZ Antivirus. I've used it for years (since back when I had the free version) and it has taken good care of me. Not a resource hog and very easy to use and update.

I did download and install AVG on a spare computer recently and I'm waiting to see how it goes.

[putasolutions]

Another vote for AVG, I have been using this one for almost 2 years since inoculateIT went pay. Always goingto be an emotive subject, but for a freebie, AVG won't let you down, unlike McAfee