HOT!!! Antivirus software for $4.99

Eocene said:
EDIT: about the guy who said Norton comes free ...

http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/downloading-the-norton-security-suite

It doesn't come with any bloat crap from them does it?
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I installed this a while back for a small business that insisted that they wanted to manage their own AV, although we offer several cloud-based MSP's :rolleyes: at some ridiculous savings. Didn't seem to be much bloat, think there's some optimization tools that will run automatically if you don't disable them
 
AVIRA is good now that they removed the annoying nag screen/ad for the pro version.
 
Which one of these is going to bother me the least? I didn't have an AV for like 6 months, then finally installed MWB and there was nothing on my computer. But for $5 why not.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
How is Kaspersky when it comes to being intrusive... compared to, say, NOD32 or Avast? I'm likely going to get rid of NOD32 at this rate, so I'm going to go back to Avast unless I can find something that's basically a better version of Avast.
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Could someone give me an answer on this real quick?

Eocene said:
EDIT: about the guy who said Norton comes free ...

http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/downloading-the-norton-security-suite

It doesn't come with any bloat crap from them does it?
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Interesting, I use Comcast, so I could try this out. I actually used one of Norton's newer versions at some point when I was starting college (that was over 4 years ago, I've graduated) because it came with my laptop. It was actually quite good. Low on resource usage and everything and didn't give me too much beef with false positives. I would hope the newest versions have been even better since then. Tempting.

blade52x said:
Which one of these is going to bother me the least?
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Exactly what I'm asking lol
 
I bought NOD32, liking it so far. I was using Kaspersky for a long time, but the 2014 version has some issues, such as slowing down web browsing significantly. Not everyone gets that issue, but I and many others do.

After reading this thread, it seems discussing AV software is as bad as discussing politics or religion! :p
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
Lol, no. Might as well not even use an anti-virus.
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i've been using MSE for the past few years without issue. i know that could mean i've just been 'lucky' but i'll keep using it until proven otherwise. it's non-intrusive and has kept me clean. i like it.
 
Porter_ said:
i've been using MSE for the past few years without issue. i know that could mean i've just been 'lucky' but i'll keep using it until proven otherwise. it's non-intrusive and has kept me clean. i like it.
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While I've been doing the same, I bought this for an older customer just two days ago. MSE said she was clean but I knew something wasn't right. NOD32 found 9 legit items. She had Sirefef. I don't see any nagging with NOD32 unless I didn't play with it long enough. I'm losing faith in MSE. It's just missing too much.
 
I used Kaspersky for the longest time. Then I had major issues with 8.1 and Kaspersky. KAV would literally not start at all. I submitted a ticket explaining the situation, even did a clean install etc etc. Their support got back to me in a week and a half. Too bad I jumped ship by then. Been using Bitdefender and haven't had much issue at all. Computer seems to be faster overall, too. At least that's my experience. YMMV
 
Porter_ said:
i've been using MSE for the past few years without issue. i know that could mean i've just been 'lucky' but i'll keep using it until proven otherwise. it's non-intrusive and has kept me clean. i like it.
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It has been proven otherwise by every AV testing site for the past couple of years. MSE is probably the most useless av on the market. It still uses more resources than nothing which is essentially what it does anyways.

TypeO said:
While I've been doing the same, I bought this for an older customer just two days ago. MSE said she was clean but I knew something wasn't right. NOD32 found 9 legit items. She had Sirefef. I don't see any nagging with NOD32 unless I didn't play with it long enough. I'm losing faith in MSE. It's just missing too much.
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Yeah, I've had a virus get past MSE. I've also had it happen to other people that I know.

beowulf7 said:
QFT and it's got the best price - free! :cool:
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There is better free software.
 
I usually never buy antivirus, but $5 bucks for nod32 seemed like a good deal
 
OK, MSE debate aside (I still want to see some hard data, like a report from a 3rd party comparing all of the AV companies), I think a wise investment is $10-12 for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware when it goes on sale, lifetime license.
 
Disposed said:
If you manage 150 machines and rely on an antivirus for security its time to consider replacing the guy managing the machines not the anti virus.
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.... There are other security measures set up... but I guess you want to be rude and assume things you don't know about. Point is Kaspersky sucks at doing it's job and makes things worse. You'll notice I didn't complain about other security measures not working. So I guess to you that's means we aren't using any, more like it's only Kaspersky is pos and everything else works fine.
 
beowulf7 said:
OK, MSE debate aside (I still want to see some hard data, like a report from a 3rd party comparing all of the AV companies), I think a wise investment is $10-12 for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware when it goes on sale, lifetime license.
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Hard data for me is simply what I've seen over the last year. I used to never get calls from friends or family and now it's like all the damn time with MSE and I don't even work on computers.

I have no idea if this site is legit but it makes sense...

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

November 2013 report: I looked at it briefly but one thing I noticed.

"Sample 11 (473): This sample is a typical widespread ransom Trojan horse that takes the system hostage. This common malware shows the importance of rescue disks for home users"

MSE as well as other antivirus programs we normally don't recommend failed miserably in this test. Ransom Trojans have been all the rage lately which is why I think MSE has gone downhill. I'm not singling them out but I need sample 11 to fare well. MSE received a "DD" rating in this sample which is the worst possible (zero score)

DD Score:
Removal: Only the malware dropper has been neutralized and/or most other dropped malicious files/changes were not removed, or system is no longer normally usable; dropped malicious files are still on the system; removal failed (D)

Convenience: Removal or install techniques requires contacting support or similar; removal failed (D)

It appears almost all the antivirus programs did well with everything except for the ransom Trojan. That is what separates the pack.

In other news, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
 
How's Webroot at catching infections these days? I remember having it awhile ago and it had a microscopic footprint.
 
Fixall said:
How's Webroot at catching infections these days? I remember having it awhile ago and it had a microscopic footprint.
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I've heard well but they weren't tested at the links above.
 
You can also check AV-test which also rates MSE very poorly. There is another anti-virus testing site which came to the same conclusions.

If people want to use MSE that fine, just don't recommend it to others. Its poor advice.

I think that Kaspersky is well worth the $5.
 
I wouldn't suggest putting any kind of Anti Virus software on your machine. I would suggest buying a secondary external Hard Drive to keep your important documents on.
 
Krenum said:
I wouldn't suggest putting any kind of Anti Virus software on your machine. I would suggest buying a secondary external Hard Drive to keep your important documents on.
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No, you do that in addition to having active protection to help catch potential issues. You want to have AV/anti-malware software running.
 
Krenum said:
I wouldn't suggest putting any kind of Anti Virus software on your machine. I would suggest buying a secondary external Hard Drive to keep your important documents on.
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That makes no sense. If the machine becomes infected so can the files on the drive and you can potentially spread the crap with your now infected drive.
 
Disposed said:
That makes no sense. If the machine becomes infected so can the files on the drive and you can potentially spread the crap with your now infected drive.
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There's always one who refuses to wear a condom.
 
NKD said:
The new nortons are really good. I dont know why people still hate them. I have been using the new versions for the last two years and they have probably been the least obtrusive out of any antiviruses I have tried. Never blocking unnecessary stuff.
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This. People who bash Norton haven't 2009 to present. I used Kaspersky's 2007 version and absolutely hated it. I'm sure it's better now, but back then it was constantly asking me questions. At some point I reinstalled Windows and never reinstalled it. I'm hoping Fry's will offer NIS 3 License pack for free (AR) soon, but it's been a long time since they've had any Norton AV for free :(
 
QKSILVR73 said:
I use Nortons, but it comes free for comcast users for last four years so I haven't had to buy in a while. BTW Nortons used to suck back in the day, Been quite happy the last few years with it.
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As i recall, it was good up through the 2003 (maybe 2004) editions, then it blew chunks until the 2009 version. I tried installing 2007 in a VM once and it took hours. Recent version install in a few minutes. If I can stick with them I will. Makes life easier since I get a 3PK (gotta keep the parents virus free).
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
It has been proven otherwise by every AV testing site for the past couple of years. MSE is probably the most useless av on the market. It still uses more resources than nothing which is essentially what it does anyways.



Yeah, I've had a virus get past MSE. I've also had it happen to other people that I know.



There is better free software.
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I've gotta agree on MSE. It use to be good, but now, not so much. I used it on my Dads machine (was out of norton Licenses) and he managed to get all kinds of crap on it. Malware Bytes cleaned up several things that MSE didn't detect. Nevertheless, next time I'm there, I'm going to wipe the drive and reinstall windows. I may put him on a limited account and hope that helps.
 
There is a reason that MSE is so unobtrusive...it doesn't catch a lot of stuff that it should be flagging. I used and liked it for a long time, but I've recently switched back to Avast (I didn't know that Avira got rid of that annoying nag window, otherwise I might have tried it as I liked it other than that).

Now, that being said, I did use MSE for a long time and never had any trouble with infections, but I'm pretty careful regarding where I go and what I download. And it HAS caught some things before, usually in old torrent files or cracks, but I always wondered what it might not be catching also.

The fact is, many of the ones that have been named in this thread are adequate. I just hate how inconsistent AV software is in terms of quality. If you read AV Comparatives, the results can vary wildly every time they do a report, so what's sub-par today might be great in 6 months and vice versa. I vividly recall people claiming NOD32, Kaspersky, etc. "king" on the forums at various points throughout the years, but it seems that they've become prone to higher resource usage or causing other issues. F-Secure is a great example. I administered an F-Secure server at a previous job. Older versions of it were horrible on resource usage, with the processes hogging 99% of the CPU and rendering the PC almost unusable. Later editions were lighter on resources, but I was disappointed to see many infections on our PCs. But I read recently that they rate very well in terms of detection, so there you go. And it could change again.

I just run one of the better free ones and hope for the best. And yeah, regarding Symantec, they have improved a lot from their 03/04-09 days. The last couple places that I've worked use SEP for AV and it is very good at virus detection. Malware, not so much. They have a lot of catching up to do in that area. We still have to bust out Malwarebytes and ComboFix every so often to clean up something that SEP doesn't catch (or can't get rid of).
 
i have paid avast and really like it. one feature that is truly boss is that it auto-updates my software!
 
mtbush said:
I installed this a while back for a small business that insisted that they wanted to manage their own AV, although we offer several cloud-based MSP's :rolleyes: at some ridiculous savings. Didn't seem to be much bloat, think there's some optimization tools that will run automatically if you don't disable them
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Norton that comes free from Comcast is bloat free and runs VERY well. I have been using it alongside Avira for a while now and no issues whatsoever.

I like Avira, It has caught the MOST trojans out of any software I have used for the last 3 years. To me, Avira was always best at catching viruses, even better than Norton.
 
iGrooCk said:
Norton that comes free from Comcast is bloat free and runs VERY well. I have been using it alongside Avira for a while now and no issues whatsoever.

I like Avira, It has caught the MOST trojans out of any software I have used for the last 3 years. To me, Avira was always best at catching viruses, even better than Norton.
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You run both? Like at the same time? What are you doing that's getting all those Trojans??
 
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MSE and not acting like a spoon on the internet, way better than any third party bloat :p
 
Looks like they took some off the list =-(

Went and got one anyway... how do I download it though?


Also, any deals on Windows 7 / eek.. or even W8.1?

I'm not sure what the market rate is to look out for a deal anyway.
 
Kor said:
MSE and not acting like a spoon on the internet, way better than any third party bloat :p
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That's a joke, right? MSE doesn't catch things that other AV software does. None of them are perfect, but MSE is not what it once was. Trust me, I've seen what it lets by that payware catches. If you're a very careful browser (as many of us likely are), then it's adequate. If it's for your parents (or perhaps grandparents), it's not adequate at all. I've got one parent that might be OK with it, but my other one just clicks on stuff.

I totally use to believe that we needed no AV S/W at all, but what I consider common sense is not for the average PC user. If you're paying 0-$5.00/year for each PC, then I'd say 3rd party is worth it. I may have to pay $15 for 3 pc's this year (first time commercial S/W has cost me money since 2007), but I'm not going to sweat $15.00. If it prevents me from having to spend time on my parents' PCs then it's more than worth it.
 
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