Best Anti-Virus

Pls. help me decide which anti-virus should I purchased?

Moved to Viruses and Spyware from Off-Topic -Zylstra

Purchase?

Check out:
http://free.grisoft.com

before you spend any money.

AVG is free.

avg caused me more problems then it ever solved , nod32 evaluation version is free and better.. if you want to spend money bit defender is worth it

avg caused me more problems then it ever solved ,

Interesting.
I suspect that you are in the minority though.

nod32 evaluation version is ...better..

You forgot to say why.

I'd choose AVG too, it's definitely the lightest on resources that I've tested.
It was also good at detecting and removing viruses.
I found NOD32 to be capable, but a bit pricey and heavier on resources.

nod32 is better in my opinion because it found viruses when avg dident also when i removed nod32 it dident leave behind files and mess with command prompt but avg did..

[Moderator]

Avast, in my opinion, is the best
www.avast.com


There is a free home edition, but you must be a home user to use it (eg: its a computer you dont use at the workplace)

[Moderator]

nod32 is better in my opinion because it found viruses when avg dident also when i removed nod32 it dident leave behind files and mess with command prompt but avg did..

I've been using and installing and un-installing AVG on client's machines for well over 5 years now and have never seen any of these symptoms.
Since this adds up to hundreds of machines i would say your experience was a bit out of the ordinary.

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

nod32 is better in my opinion because it found viruses when avg dident also when i removed nod32 it dident leave behind files and mess with command prompt but avg did..

I sincerely doubt this was a result of AVG.  If so, it'd have to be a fluke.  Like patio, I have installed/uninstalled AVG on many computers and have never run into such a thing.

[Moderator]

nod32 is better in my opinion because it found viruses when avg dident also when i removed nod32 it dident leave behind files and mess with command prompt but avg did..

I sincerely doubt this was a result of AVG.  If so, it'd have to be a fluke.  Like patio, I have installed/uninstalled AVG on many computers and have never run into such a thing.

I personally like Avast since it has the Boot-Time scan, where it can vigorously scan your system without interruptions. Avast, even when not in Boot scan, can remove viruses that conclude themselves as "in use" and even remove viruses from the System Restore.
I also like the interface, and how it doesn't open a new window to show me its updating itself.

I have used AVG, but, mainly out of aesthetics, I enjoy using Avast more. Avast has daily updates, which, not every virus scanner has. (This tells me that someone is always working on the product at hand, including weekends)

Avast is resource friendly, and will not slow your computer down as much as McAfee or Symantic/Norton. (Havent tried TrendMicro yet)

NOD32, according to my friend, is faster and better since it uses its own assembly language. Due to this, its supposed to monitor at a faster rate.

Scanner vs. Scanner? What you should rate them on is how well they detect viruses when all files are scanned. www.eicar.org provides a great test file.

[Moderator]

AVG had 3 updates yesterday alone...
But i agree Avast is a fine AV program as well.

P.S. Do me a favor Zylstra...put eicar in a nest of folders 7 layers deep and run Avast and see if it picks it up.
It didn't for me last time i tested but perhaps they have updated this...

[Malware Removal Specialist]

P.S. Do me a favor Zylstra...put eicar in a nest of folders 7 layers deep and run Avast and see if it picks it up.
It didn't for me last time i tested but perhaps they have updated this...

Sneaky one you are 

Did AVG sniff it out?

[Moderator]

Yep.   

I found that to keep a copy of eicar.com,  one way was to zip it up, and password it.
AVG doesn't find it.

Just curious -  would that passwording defeat most AV software, you think?

[Moderator]

I found that to keep a copy of eicar.com,  one way was to zip it up, and password it.
AVG doesn't find it.

Just curious -  would that passwording defeat most AV software, you think?

Using WinZip9 i was unable to zip the file or password protect it...
Instructions so i can test further ? ?

Using WinZip9 i was unable to zip the file or password protect it...

Why?  What was the symptom?


Was it because AVG was active, and thus interfering?

Instructions so i can test further ? ?

You would ask me that,  seeing as how the filedate here is  almost three years ago.   

Knowing myself,  it was probably          pkzip -s filename  eicar.com


I just tried it here.
Both with Winzip 7.0   and   pkzip 204g  .
AVG halted both.

Turned off AVG   Resident Sheild,  and both worked fine.

Did not try 7Zip.

Here you go. 

 

[saving disk space - old attachment deleted by admin]

One thing I will say is that I have tested NOD32 2.7 (v3 is out now, apparently slows the system down more but scans faster), AOL AVS (based on Kaspersky 6), Avast, Antivir and AVG on the same machine (at different times).
I can definitely say that AVG was much faster in scanning and impacted performance less than any of the others, and uninstalled much more cleanly too.
Aesthetics is a personal decision and virus detection depends on the circumstances, but scanning speed and performance impact are statistics that will not change.

[Moderator]

AVG had 3 updates yesterday alone...
But i agree Avast is a fine AV program as well.

P.S. Do me a favor Zylstra...put eicar in a nest of folders 7 layers deep and run Avast and see if it picks it up.
It didn't for me last time i tested but perhaps they have updated this...

This is the second time that I recall doing this for you
Yes, it does detect it without a problem, and removes it too!

[Malware Removal Specialist]

AVG Antispyware caught this.

AVG Antivirus didn't.


MISEC Trojan Simulator

http://www.misec.net/trojansimulator/

MISEC Trojan Simulator Results
Antivir: Nothing found
ArcaVir: Nothing found
Avast: Win32:TrojanSim [Tool], Win32:TrojanSim-B [Tool]
AVG: Nothing found
BitDefender: Application.TrojanSimulator, Application.TrojanSimulator
ClamAV: Riskware.Trojansimulator
F-Prot: Nothing found
Norman: W32/TrojanSim.A, W32/TrojanSim.A
Rising: Nothing found
VirusBlokAda32: Joke.Trojan.Simulator, Joke.Trojan.Simulator
VirusBuster: Nothing found

Report overview
Scanned by viruschief.com


Eicar Results
Antivir: Eicar-Test-Signature
ArcaVir: Nothing found
Avast: EICAR Test-NOT virus!!]
AVG: EICAR_Test (+2)
BitDefender: EICAR-Test-File (not a virus)
ClamAV: Eicar-Test-Signature
F-Prot: EICAR_Test_File
Norman: EICAR_Test_file_not_a_virus!
Rising: EICAR-Test-File
VirusBlokAda32: EICAR-Test-File
VirusBuster: EICAR_test_file

Report overview
Scanned by viruschief.com

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

Personally, I like that AVG often catches infected files before I even download them.  For example, if I were to try downloading the Eicar test, AVG will notify me of an infection as soon as I click on the link.  It doesn't catch the password-protected zipfile, but I think this will probably be the case with most programs because I'm assuming they can't access the files.  However, as soon as I enter the password, AVG stops it.

I got some very surprising results from downloading EICAR.

Download EICAR.COM was caught by AntiVir before I could download it.

Download EICAR.ZIP was caught by Windows Defender before it could be downloaded.

Download EICAR2.ZIP was caught by Windows Defender before it could be downloaded.

Surprising was the fact that up until now Windows Defender has never made so much as a peep about anything.

 

[Moderator]

Avast also detects the EICAR test file before it has a chance to download, since, technically, your computer has already started downloading the file. Most scanners set to scan everything from the internet, and all files will do this for you.

Avast did not detect the zipped file, reason being is that it has no way to scan the password protected files, and I don't think there is a fast scanner out there that could detect a password protected virus.

One thing to remember:
Never EVER trust what a Antivirus or any type of security company says about its product compared to other products. When looking for reviews, always check more than 3 different places. 6 would be better. (That doesn't mean ask this question 6 times, but research from 6 different places)