Most effective antivirus software?

Anyone can develop a lab test that gets any or all AV apps to fail. Anyone can run a simple test to show one AV app as under-whelming compared to another. The problem is, that is extremely closed-minded, and short-sighted thinking, and a good IT department wouldn't fall into that trap
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It is not close minded at all. You might as well drive the Subaru off the lot without a test drive. Testing applicable performance is a typical IT scenario. Your example of an argument lacks any logic-it is a simple generalization. BTW, I did not recommend any. The only recommendation I have given was caveat emptor.

It was a simple possible use of the host without any restrictions to the user. Some succeeded and others did not. Very simple.
 
~GigahurtZ said:
Right now I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials. Is there anything I'm missing out on here? I'm not stupid about which sites I use or anything like that, but is there something better than MSE that I don't know of?
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Check av-comparatives.org if you're bored but basically the top 10 are roughly 1-2% of each other for the most part.

MSE, Avast, or Avira are all solid choices in the "free" category.
 
Not seeing enough love for Avast Home Free Edition, so I will throw my support behind it...

I have been running Avast for the better part of 6-7 years now, and hands down it has not failed me yet as far as a serious infection of any type. My children on the other hand, managed to let Antivirus 7 get a hold of their system a couple of weeks ago...simple removal tool and it was gone.

I build systems on the side as well as maintain all the systems my family and friends have, and the 1 piece of software that I mandate get used is Avast...
 
Shikami said:
MSE is not very effective nor capable. As many think it is as so, it is as good as it is free. Now truly any of these antivirus utilities can be as so, but I have seen it all too often not detect and remove (MSE). However, it is free. Caveat emptor.
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You got file hashes for me? Feel free to IM them to me.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
/me pulls up a chair, some sodas, Milk Duds, and some pizza... this should be interesting to watch. :p
 
All these people saying "stay away from bad sites" or "I know where I surf" or "use common sense"...

...isn't anyone even remotely clued in on the times, IT technology..and the (been years by now) more recent methods of spreading malware and rogues? Yes...hacking into legitimate normal everyday websites and typing in the drive-by code...and/or using constantly rotating ad-banners, etc.

So those in the habit of making morning visits to say...10 or 20 websites..totally legit websites...not midget porn or naked fat lady websites...but every day normal websites..your bank, your favorite tech forums ( gasp! ) Yup..that's how people get hit. ;)

Catch up with the times eh?
 
I think many of you need to go over to AV comparatives and see their tests, some of you are putting down AV that has gotten top ranks on their sites and praising ones that just flat out suck...
 
Unfortunately there are millions of people in the world that think they are more clever than you and will try to prove it by finding some way to steal your money. You are fooling yourself by thinking your "common sense" will protect you. There are millions of ways to do attacks. If you ever log into anything you should always make sure you have protection. Just imagine this, if someone grabs your email address and password from one site - can they user it to get your email? How about to log into your bank? Other sites? Can they get into your email and get new passwords to your bank account sent to that email address? Because people have problems being secure, they tend to use the same usernames and passwords on multiple sites rather than having to remember different ones, and even the website protections commonly used assume your email is secure.
 
Well after rummaging through this thread, you guys convinced me to try MSE. Going to drop avast! free home version and see how MSE goes.
 
Third (or fourth, fifth....) vote for checking out av-comparatives.org. I've been using PC Tools Spyware Doctor w/ Anti-virus for a few years now and it's nice to see it do well in the comparative tests. My only complaint is it's a little slow when scanning.

I've used a lot of the different free products in the past (AVG, Spybot S&D, Avast). While they're a really good value, they don't perform quite as well as a lot of the products you pay for. There are some things that are just worth spending money on and anti-malware software is one of them.

Also, I'm going to jump on the stay-the-hell-away-from-mcafee-and-symantec bandwagon. Far too many bad experiences in the past.
 
DeaconFrost said:
but i am 99% sure, that if i scanned a computer with kis2010, that was "protected" by mse or avast, and those both said that the system was virus free, that it would have a virus hidden away..
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This is true, but only because kaspersky blows hard, my work uses it and it is always deleting files from programs that aren't viruses and I have to go back and reinstall the programs again on the machines.

I use mse, and its pretty good, very simple.
 
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munkle said:
This is true, but only because kaspersky blows hard, my work uses it and it is always deleting files from programs that aren't viruses and I have to go back and reinstall the programs again on the machines.

I use mse, and its pretty good, very simple.
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Can't you create exceptions?

I've had F-Secure do the same thing, though not very often. When it does happen I fix it in the management console and push the updated policy out to the clients.
 
^^ good choice, there is no one choice solution, todays age, you need AV / spyware-malware and sometimes other items.
 
MassiveOni said:
hmmmm, can we all please look back



i believe that i have said that i have tried other programs

if you want everyone to believe, that that a laptop is being "overnighted to you from an remote office" and all you are going to use on it is MSE, then you are not very good at telling the truth.

and dude i use to work at Woodside's International Headquarters here in Perth Western Australia (Woodside Plaza), and i have seen that they dont use MSE.
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Do you suppose because it's ILLEGAL to use MSE in a business environment?? :rolleyes:
 
QwertyJuan said:
Do you suppose because it's ILLEGAL to use MSE in a business environment?? :rolleyes:
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Really? I didn't know that.

Anyway, I work in a computer repair shop and I find that combofix, Malwarebytes, and MSE takes care of most everything. Anyone have a recommendation for dealing with really nasty rootkits though?
 
I have AVG with Resident Shield enabled in my parents' computer and it still gets viruses from the web all the time. I just got D-Lined from EfNet because they had a SPAMbot virus. Scanning with malwarebytes is practically the only way to go. Anti-virus suites are all useless to me.
 
This is just like "Which car is better?" The answer is very subjective so I'll just state what I use: MSE and safe browsing habits.

I like MSE because it is lightweight (much more so than AVG Free which I used before).

Here's a list of anti-rootkit software.
 
tigerwolf753 said:
Really? I didn't know that.

Anyway, I work in a computer repair shop and I find that combofix, Malwarebytes, and MSE takes care of most everything. Anyone have a recommendation for dealing with really nasty rootkits though?
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It's because you're supposed to buy licenses for Microsoft Forefront Security if you're in a business environment. The EULA forbids businesses from using MSE.

We use Forefront at work and have had no problems since switching from Symantec a few months ago.
 
QwertyJuan said:
Do you suppose because it's ILLEGAL to use MSE in a business environment?? :rolleyes:
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And technically if IT/shops use other normally free programs like Spybot, MalwareBytes, etc..in a professional environment, you're supposed to pay for licensing too if it's corporate or business or professional use.
 
I looked over the EULA for MSE yesterday because of this thread; there's no specific language that says a business can't use it in their environment - there is language that specifically states it can be used in a "home-based small business" but, because of the lack of language that FORBIDS the use in a business or commercial environment, I would say it's perfectly legit to do so.

Unless the EULA specifically forbids a given usage, it's just fine to do so - we can't go around claiming everything is "ILLEGAL" just because someone forgot to put the specifics in there and someone else jumps to a conclusion about it. People do that shit enough as it is.

If it doesn't say you can't or shouldn't or you're forbidden from such express usage, go for it.

There are no laws being broken here, just a licensing agreement. Licenses != laws... but have a look for yourselves:

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/eula.aspx

Section for does make specific mention of usage by saying "You may not use the software for commercial software hosting services." but that's so incredibly wide open and generalized it could mean anything at all. If I own a computer shop and I don't run a website, I don't host anything, I don't own any servers, I don't sell any software, I just fix PCs, but I install MSE on client machines and also use it on my shop work machine, what does that mean against the EULA...

See how this shit gets ridiculous?
 
QwertyJuan said:
Do you suppose because it's ILLEGAL to use MSE in a business environment?? :rolleyes:
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It's not ILLEGAL. It may be against the EULA, but unless you manage to get the EULA printed into the constitution. Well....
 
Stoly said:
It's not ILLEGAL. It may be against the EULA, but unless you manage to get the EULA printed into the constitution. Well....
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Wow, a EULA is a binding legal agreement. If violating a EULA wasn't against the law then pirating and modifying any piece of software would be completely legal.
 
NoForgiveness said:
Wow, a EULA is a binding legal agreement. If violating a EULA wasn't against the law then pirating and modifying any piece of software would be completely legal.
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Violating a EULA is against the law? Are you sure about that? The legal system does not work like you seem to think it does.

Bahamut does raise an interesting point about the MSE EULA, which can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/eula.aspx

From Section 1: "You may install and use any number of copies of the software on your devices in your household for use by people who reside there or for use in your home-based small business."

From Section 4: "This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement."

Section 4 applies to Section 1, so you can only use MSE as described in Section 1, meaning not in non-home-based businesses.
 
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