Anti Virus Software
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Forum Name: General Discussion
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URL: https://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=20217
Printed Date: 30 March 2026 at 9:36am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.08 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Anti Virus Software
Posted By: Amateur
Subject: Anti Virus Software
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 1:20am
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What anti virus software do you use/find the best? Symantec Mc Afee AVG Anti-Virus Kaspersky Other (Please specify) Currently purchasing a laptop and trying to decide what to get with it |
Replies:
Posted By: MadDog
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 1:54am
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I have been using the free edition of AVG Anti-Virus for about 1-2 years and have never had any problems. I had Norton and Trend Micro before that and they both cost and they could never do what i wanted. Also with Norton i always got infected! ------------- http://www.iportalx.net" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Amateur
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 1:58am
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Alot of people are warning me off Symantec, Mc Afee, Norton. I have Norton on my desktop PC and never had a problem. But like you said it costs and as the funds are low I am looking for an alternative. However, it needs to be up to scratch as I can't allow my laptop get infected. |
Posted By: MadDog
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:02am
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AVG (free edition) so far has helped me out a ton. I actually just recently installed on my dads computer that got infected by about 15 different trojans and viruses. He had Trend Micro installed but it failed to do what it was designed to do. AVG cleaned up his system and removed every single virus and trojan that was on the machine. Something else i like about AVG is that i can set what time to start scans (cant do this with Trend Micro, 90% of the time it would start in the middle of a game!) and it will automaticly update at a set time, or when you turn on the PC and the internet is going. ------------- http://www.iportalx.net" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Amateur
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:08am
| Cheers, must download AVG and play around with it. What edition did you get, could you provide a link please? |
Posted By: MadDog
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:13am
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Here is the download link for the AVG Free Edition, http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10342876.html - http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10342876.html Something i really like is that i am never nagged to upgrade (like through pop ups or banners). ------------- http://www.iportalx.net" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: iSec
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:13am
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I have been using McAfee for 4 years now, never had problems. It doesn't slow down your PC like Symantec/Norton do... However, other McAfee products can be pain in the neck... The only two things I like are the Personal Firewall and the Antivirus...those two are great and will give you peace of mind.
I'd also recommend AVG for any unprotected machine. ------------- "When it gets dark enough, you can see the stars" -Charles A. Beard |
Posted By: Amateur
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:16am
Thanks for this. Does it provide a firewall? I'm being lazy now I know! |
MadDog wrote:Posted By: MadDog
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:19am
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The free edition of AVG does not have a Firewall, but i believe that is one of the things the paid version has.
------------- http://www.iportalx.net" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Mikey
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:19am
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No the free edition doesn't provide a firewall but i'd highley recommend it myself. AVG is the only anti-virus i've used that has kept my PC clean of infections plus as maddog said, it has never bugged me. some software i've used (norten for instance) bugs me more than the actual viruses! ------------- Handyman man? |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:25am
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I use ZoneAlarm Security center but there's a couple of things I turn off. Symantec really sucks. McAfee used to be mean and lean but they're going the way of Symantec. Heards some good things about AVG but never used it. pcmag.com usually reviews security suites and AV programs once or twice a year. They run them against infected machines to see what products catch the most virii and what types of virii are caught. They're worth a read but they tend to have an "oooh... features" slant. ------------- 
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: Amateur
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 2:26am
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Cheers for all the info, keep it coming. Any recommendations for a firewall product? Looking through the AVG documentation and it looks impressive. |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 08 June 2006 at 3:24am
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I originally started with ZoneAlarm for it's firewall. Still the best software firewall for windows after all these years (IMHO)
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Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: Tegwin
Date Posted: 14 June 2006 at 7:57pm
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IMHO the best AV product is called NOD32. (www.nod32.com or www.nod32uk.com). I have been using them for over 2 years now and they are excellent, never missed a virus. |
Posted By: Scotty32
Date Posted: 14 June 2006 at 11:01pm
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i had AVG Free and i got infected (though i still use it and would recommend it) installed the free trial of Norton to get rid of the virus, an it told me to restart after install, but once i booted it up i had serious problems, it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow, took for ever to boot up and load programs etc, and then after ages norton goes "we recommend you do a scan" which funny enuf i was tryna do, i did the scan, it removed the virus... and then i removed norton, after the boot up after uninstallin it my pcs speed went back to an acceptable speed so yeah i add my vote for AVG Free too though id prob recommend not relying on one AV, id say install a few, more chance of catchin viruses. my mate had Panda Anti Virus and it seemed to dislike being used along side other AVs (or just AVG) and acctually crashed his PC he used to swear by Panda, now he has AVG ------------- S2H.co.uk - http://www.s2h.co.uk/wwf/" rel="nofollow - WebWiz Mods and Skins For support on my mods + skins, please use http://www.s2h.co.uk/forum/" rel="nofollow - my forum . |
Posted By: Tegwin
Date Posted: 14 June 2006 at 11:13pm
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I used to use Panda and ditched them.. I had a whole bunch of machines that it just would not work on and always said there were new updates and when I installed them manually it would come back. They said "Panda does have problems on some machines" and thats all they said .. no offer of whether it would be supported in future on those machines. Stick with NOD32 you cant go wrong.. it has the smallest footprint in the industry and apparently the fastest scanning rate |
Posted By: WebWiz-Bruce
Date Posted: 15 June 2006 at 8:36am
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I use AVG Network edition on my servers and the SOHO version on workstations and find it excellent, especially as without it I get over 300 virus each day. I do occasionaly see a virus in emails, but this is usually when a new virus comes out and I get it in an email before the anti-virus vendors get a chance to update their databases with the new virus definition. To be honest though any computer savey person who keeps their PC up-to-date with the latest security patches should never need a virus scanner as they should know NOT to click on attachments within emails or download illegal files. I often have to fix computers for friend etc. that get infected with viruses and spyware again, and again, and is always because they always disable auto-updates, and install file sharing software and download illegal files. If people install file sharing software to get pirate software and music then I have no sympathy for them when they phone every few months complaining their computer is not working again. ------------- https://www.webwiz.net/web-wiz-forums/forum-hosting.htm" rel="nofollow - Web Wiz Forums Hosting https://www.webwiz.net/web-hosting/windows-web-hosting.htm" rel="nofollow - ASP.NET Web Hosting |
Posted By: Tegwin
Date Posted: 15 June 2006 at 9:18pm
I agree with you borg this is how I make my living now. There are so many people who download music/movies etc and get infected all the time. If I am to look at most of my customers machines they have been infected with viruses of some sort or another. But hey, whos complaining.... keeps me gainfully employed.  |
Posted By: dfrancis
Date Posted: 15 June 2006 at 9:39pm
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I'll chime in on this. I use and HATE Norton. Oh it works just fine but it is so bloated that I can't stand it. I am going to recover my main PC and not reinstall it.
I've used AVG on my dedicated servers (network edition) and the free version on my wife's home computer. I have had great results with it and will likely install the soho version on this once it's back up.
Firewall. I recently took a new office and cable broadband. I needed a router so a friend told me about ZoneAlarm as a temporary solution until my router came in. I had no idea how active the ports were before but on cable I was getting slammed constantly. ZoneAlarm catches everything. Once I received my Linksys BEFSX41 and from the very minute I plugged it in, ZoneAlarm confirmed that I was safe. Warning about the BEFSX41, upgrading the firmware was a pain in the arse (that's a bad thing borg), but is doable.
I've decided that once I receive my Microsoft Action Pack (yea), I'm reformatting my hard drive, and installing stuff one by one. I will NOT be putting Norton on, nor will I be putting ZoneAlarm back on. Windows XP pro, office 2003 pro, sql 2003 developer and a number of my favorites is all I'm putting back on this. AVG soho and the hardware firewall is what I've decided to go with.
Oh... and MS Defender? No way, I've been so disappointed with that even though it has caught a few spyware that others have missed. I may reinstall Spybot-S&D carefully to watch and block common spyware... that one is powerful though so be careful.
Enough about me... what do you guys think? Is this a good plan?
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Posted By: Tegwin
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 12:17am
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You dont really need to have a software firewall as well as Hardware, but they do seem to work well together and both have their pros and cons. Here is an interesting article on them. http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/3103431 I used to use ZA years ago, but now I dont use them anymore. They had a number of problems a while ago and used to be really aweful, think they got better now. I tried out a product called Outpost Firewall Pro, which seems to be very good. At one stage they were rated better than ZA. |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 12:46am
I guess I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy. I use a hardware firewall, a dmz, and a software firewall  The software firewall gets hit by packets that make it through the hardware firewall and dmz about once ever 12-18 months.Zonealarm has some deal with ether linksys of netgear so it interacts with the some of their routers/firewall's firmware. Supposed to be pretty slick. Never used outpost, but they have a good rep. Security software competitors tend to play leapfrog a lot. so at any given point in time, one may be better than anothers current release. Next release, it could change. I think the best thing is to read current and past reviews on cnet and pcmag. Usually for the past three years, the highest rated will switch back and forth between two or three vendors. Picking any one of them is a good idea. Norton's a good product, despite the bloat. The firewall is relatively trim, but the AV and AS is heavy. Still, it's usually one of the top rated for features and for effectiveness. Effectiveness is what it's all about. That being said, it'll be a cold day in hell before I use them again  -------------
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: Scotty32
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 10:10am
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i think its that Norton Personal Security thing that courses problems for someone i know they couldnt receive emails (in outlook express) and i tried everyfin, spent ages, turns out it was stupid norton blocking its access to the net, and when i tried to put outlook on the allowed list it would lock up and crash, though if i DID get thru and tell it to allow outlook, it'd just ignore me and continue to block it - stupid thing ------------- S2H.co.uk - http://www.s2h.co.uk/wwf/" rel="nofollow - WebWiz Mods and Skins For support on my mods + skins, please use http://www.s2h.co.uk/forum/" rel="nofollow - my forum . |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 1:34pm
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One of the tricks to using Norton is to turn off virus checking for outgoing emails. Out-of-the-box it checks email and attachments going out. Turning that off and turning off virus checking on file access seems to fix a lot of Norton problems.
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Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: site master
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 3:05pm
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nothing better then http://www.eset.com/ - NOD32 ------------- 
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Posted By: Tegwin
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 3:23pm
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site master i agree with you NOD32 is AWESOME.. will never touch anything else |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 4:46pm
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I once set up NOD32 for someone because it was to complicated for them to do it. IIRC, there were 4 or 5 things that it did and each was a separate configuration with no defaults. Got 3 or 4 support calls for it and swapped it out for Mcafee. Calls stopped. It may have been a good solution, but it's not for the average user. Haven't done anything with it for over a year though so it may be easier to use now but it left a bad taste behind.
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Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: Tegwin
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 5:05pm
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dpyers.. there are no config changes for it, I have never had to configure anything on it , and it works well out the box. The only configuration it needs is the Username/password when you register.. Other than that its as simple as 1-2 -3 |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 16 June 2006 at 8:11pm
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It must have been 2 or 3 years ago that I worked with it. At that time there were 4 or 5 separate modules. Each started and ran separately and for each you had to set up sepatate configuration and spearate scheduler files. Maybe it's time to give it another shot.
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Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: Bluefrog
Date Posted: 19 June 2006 at 3:56pm
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I'm using a paid for version of AVG (I have a Windows 2003 as my main box) mainly because it doesn't cost me many hundreds of dollars. But it works well and I'm happy with it. I know a guy who used to sell Kaspersky then switched to NOD32 because it was 'better'. I haven't tried it, but... ZoneAlarm was good, then had major problems, then was good again. I'd try it again if I needed a new firewall again. The thing to watch with a firewall is that if it doesn't require a reboot - ditch it because it's crap. All good firewalls for Windows require a reboot. (They work at the kernel level.) ------------- http://renegademinds.com/" rel="nofollow - Renegade Minds - Guitar Software http://renegademinds.com/Default.aspx?tabid=65" rel="nofollow - Slow Down Music |
Posted By: Amateur
Date Posted: 09 July 2006 at 12:29pm
| Any free personal firewalls out there that do their job well? |
Posted By: Scotty32
Date Posted: 09 July 2006 at 12:33pm
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this thread is about anti-virus, not firewalls, but anyway... i used to use Sygate Personal Firewall, there was a free version, but the people who make norton bought them out, so am not to sure about it any more ------------- S2H.co.uk - http://www.s2h.co.uk/wwf/" rel="nofollow - WebWiz Mods and Skins For support on my mods + skins, please use http://www.s2h.co.uk/forum/" rel="nofollow - my forum . |
Posted By: Tegwin
Date Posted: 09 July 2006 at 1:08pm
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One of the ones I tried a while ago was called OUTPOST PRO by Agnitum. Has a Free trial but pretty good anyway. www.agnitum.co.uk |
Posted By: dfrancis
Date Posted: 09 July 2006 at 2:11pm
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AVG has a new version with a firewall and anti spyware. I'm using it and it found a bugger of a Trojan that nothing else could find.
I still haven't wiped my hard drive (though I am in the next few days) and when I do, only AVG will be used on my machine.
The price is amazing for 5 computers and the protection is unsurpassed.
http://www.grisoft.com/ - http://www.grisoft.com/
No... I'm not affiliated. Just sharing my opinion.
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Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 09 July 2006 at 5:41pm
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pcmag just did a security software review. The free Comodo personal firewall got their top rating for free stand-alone firewalls as of May 30, 2006 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1969207,00.asp - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1969207,00.asp Best AV was Mcafee 2006 Best Suite was ZoneAlarm 6.5 -------------
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: Tegwin
Date Posted: 10 July 2006 at 7:36am
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Sometimes I have to doubt the reviews of some magazines, they always seem to give good reviews to the products with the BIG names.... makes one wonder what is going on ? |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 10 July 2006 at 8:53pm
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pcmag's been pretty good in the past. In the mag they list the scope of the tests, who passed how many in each section, what wasn't caught, etc. One of the problems is that they also include features ans usaability in the ratings. given two products that catch the same number of virii, the one with the most features or usability will get the higher rating. That skews things towards the big guys. -------------
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |