Anti-virus opinions

[DanMC]

Run the main connect thru a condom :lol: ...keeps most viruses at bay :roll: .

 

[nick4203]

i quit using anti virus programs like 2 years or so ago
but when i did... i used malwarebytes and avg
they conflict with alot of stuff i install and i figured even when i did get a virus

it didnt seem to help!

i always get the gradual drop in performance from everyday use of my comp. downloading installing different things
even if i didnt get any virus's i still get a gradual drop in performance after lets say 3 to 6 months thats about the target where it starts moving slow and irritating me thus i reformat my comp i got a few terabytes worth of hard drive space and have everything backedup/saved to them so its not an issue trying to back everything up

and i just re load programs as i go

 

[DocWatson]

i quit using anti virus programs like 2 years or so ago
but when i did... i used malwarebytes and avg
they conflict with alot of stuff i install and i figured even when i did get a virus

it didnt seem to help!

i always get the gradual drop in performance from everyday use of my comp. downloading installing different things
even if i didnt get any virus's i still get a gradual drop in performance after lets say 3 to 6 months thats about the target where it starts moving slow and irritating me thus i reformat my comp i got a few terabytes worth of hard drive space and have everything backedup/saved to them so its not an issue trying to back everything up

and i just re load programs as i go

Have you considered using an imaging program for your backup ?? If the "reformat every 6 months" is your strategy of choice for keeping your system lean, mean and clean, then an image of a clean install with all the updates and patches and all programs and drivers installed would seem to be the best way to go. That would save you all the trouble of recreating your system ever 6 months and all you'd need to do is restore the image, update all patches and install any new programs, drivers or version updates to stuff, create an incremental image of the current setup with your image backup program ... before you start to use it.... and you should be ready to go for another 6 months in less than an hour with a spanking clean install of your updated system.

 

[nick4203]

doesnt windows 7 have something like this built in DocWatson?

i was looking at this acronis true image looks promising gunna give it a try

was messing with my phone and i rooted it and updated it to the newest os (im no phone guy) was pretty straight forward but in the process of DL drivers and all kinds of software i think i may have messed something up restored to a previous date still same thing then did it again now all seems fine but i bet in a few days its gunna be lugged down again

first time i have ever looked in to rooting (not too hard by the way)

 

[earl60446]

AVG for me for many years now
Tim

 

[Kochy]

Kaspersky. It's really nice, it also gets the job done. Aswell if you want to make sure your computer isn't infected, Download the trial version of Malwarebytes, it is the best anti-malware program out there, it will pick up malicious content on your computer that even some of the best anti virus wont pick up.
It also deletes it.



In my personal opinion, I wouldn't go with free verson of Anti virus because its cheaply made if its free, that means any virus that is encrypted is going to get past it with out the free antivirus picking it up. Then you could lose your precious data, if you do any online banking, meaning paypal, ebay or any of that stuff I will also suggest Comodo Firewall.



If you are downloading anything off the internet via music, documents, videos, inappropiate videos (you know what I'm talking about.), pirating software, even opening up emails, I suggest a firewall, A good Anti-virus such as Kaspersky or Norton, and especially malwarebytes and clearing your temporary internet files once a month as well as cookies. If you don't do any downloading then you wouldn't have to take these measures, but if you do paypal, I definetly would.

 

[DocWatson]

doesnt windows 7 have something like this built in DocWatson?

i was looking at this acronis true image looks promising gunna give it a try

was messing with my phone and i rooted it and updated it to the newest os (im no phone guy) was pretty straight forward but in the process of DL drivers and all kinds of software i think i may have messed something up restored to a previous date still same thing then did it again now all seems fine but i bet in a few days its gunna be lugged down again

first time i have ever looked in to rooting (not too hard by the way)

Sorry for the delayed response. Christmas and New Years, ya know.... :roll:

Yes, Win 7 has a built-in image backup program. Read a review from PC Mag here.

However, as is often the case with MS backup software, some do not think very highly of it and this comparison review by CNET indicates that a free, third-party program does better.

 

[cuda]

Avast the free version

 

[WaltR]

I've been in IT over 35 years and this is one of the most contentious subjects. Everyone has there favorites and most hated. I've used Norton/Symantec, Mcafee and Kaspersky, Trend and Sophos Enterprise products. Kaspersky wasn't bad except when a bad update killed a bunch of servers. At different times Norton/Symantic, Mcafee and Sophos have sucked the life out of the systems they were running on. I found McAfee a sieve and Sophos not much better. Constantly cleaning up with Malware Bytes. Trend support and documentation are horrendous. We need to involve our account manager to get support on our Trend IDS, which should be going away as soon as we decide on a SIEM solution.

AVG was my go to for small business and individuals for quite awhile, but got fat and lazy. I still used the free version as better than nothing for awhile after that. I tried Avast Free, but nags too much about upgrading to paid version for small business customers. I used Eset at home for a while, but it sucked the life out of my Mac worse than anything else I've ever used (not too bad on the PC). For the last three years, it's been Bitdefender across the board. Lightweight and effective on all platforms. Only complaints are that it requires logging into an account to get updates, even for free version and the management consoles for Enterprise and SMB aren't great. The firewall management, black and whitelisting could be simpler. I've submitted a number of feature requests. Some are just some minor logic changes in the order of operations. One was implemented within a couple weeks of submission. Tech support has been excellent in my experience as an Enterprise user. Much of it out of Romania, but excellent english and thorough. Haven't needed it with the home versions. I'm running a POC for Enterprise deployment at work right now. The client is powerful, but lightweight and does a good job of staying out of the way. I can run a full scan during production server during business hours and not worry about it bogging down, it just takes longer. It pretty much stays out of the way. Consistently rated in top three usually on top by independent testing labs. This is the longest I've been happy with an anti-malware product other than Malwarebytes.

I've also used Spybot Search and Destroy, but the latest versions have annoyed me a bit of late and haven't felt the need for supplemental protection since switching to Bitdefender. Spyware Blaster is another tool I've used as a complimentary tool. It has the neat concept of fooling malware into believing that it's already installed. You have to pay for automatic updates, but manual if free. I use both of these on my mother's computer because she's a malware magnet. I also paid for the professional version of Malwarebytes for her.

 

[LionHeart]

+1 for Malwarebytes. Avast is very good also.

 

[stinkfoot]

I use the paid version of Malwarebytes. I also like the Sophos Virus Removal Tool.