Preferred Antivirus

[Wheresatom]

Hey all.

I just realized I am about to run out of 30 day trial with NOD 32. I really like this antivirus for how fast it does scans, and how smoothly it runs, and how it doesn't use many resources when I have it cranked up. However, when I have active scanning on it makes F@H throw errors.

Placing the folder F@H is in on an ignore list does not stop these problems. Does anyone suggest any other anti virus that works with Vista 64 bit? Or did anyone figure out what to do to make NOD leave F@H alone?

Thanks in advance yall.

 

[SmokeRngs]

My advice is no antivirus. Oh wait, I'm not running Windows so the chance for me getting a virus is pretty slim. Sorry, wrong thread.

 

[Majic]

AVG is decent I have it on most of my systems. Version 7.5 is free.

 

[BillR]

AVG is decent I have it on most of my systems. Version 7.5 is free.

Have to agree, low overhead, fast scan finds all sorts of crap. get the adware version as well.

 

[SmokeRngs]

I guess I should post something for my few Windows installations. I also use AVG Free 7.5. I've been using AVG Free for at least a few years now and it seems to do well. I've done other virus scans and nothing shows up with them either so I figure it much be doing halfway decent. Then again, I couldn't tell you the last time I actually had a virus warning.

 

[ICE_9]

Ditto on AVG as long as it has a Vista version.

 

[HighYield]

I run Vista 64 on my main rig. I actually broke down and purchased NOD32 (before I started folding). I had nothing but problems with that software and the SMP client. Their tech support eventually said that there was no conflict between the two programs. I'm not sure what they are smoking over there at ESET, but it must be some powerful shit. I'll give AVG a try as well.

 

[dcds1]

I prefer Avast Antivirus. I have been using it for a few years now with no problem. They have a free home version.

 

[smileyscout]

I prefer Avast Antivirus. I have been using it for a few years now with no problem. They have a free home version.

Avast FTW I've been using it for a year or two also. I like it a lot more then AVG. Avast seems more comprehensive.

 

[jws2346]

I prefer Avast Antivirus. I have been using it for a few years now with no problem. They have a free home version.

Ditto: I've been using the free Avast Antivirus for a long time (at least a couple of years) on several different boxen when using a winders based OS, both for dial up Internet and DSL Internet (which I have now ) I don't use any antivirus program for my Linux boxen.

To be honest, I don't know if it works on VISTA, I've only had WinXP w/ SP2 and below for a winders based OS

 

[Axdrenalin]

I prefer Avast Antivirus. I have been using it for a few years now with no problem. They have a free home version.

Vote #4 for Avast Antivirus. I've been using it for 2-3 years on my windows boxen and it does a great job. The only thing I've had to do with it since I've been folding is to put the FAH directory in the exclusion list, as it picked up a WU one time as a potential virus.

Good Luck...

 

[kazak]

I've been using McAfee 8.5 with ASM on my Vista64 from the beginning. No issues with folding so far. It is a bit restrictive in general but if you know how to configure it, not a problem at all. Plus work provides it for free! There's also Norton which I like better but have not had a chance to try their 64-bit version.

 

[Sunin]

I guess I would ask myself if antivirus protection is necessary or not. I run all my boxes without it. I just don't open anything or download anything from unknown sources. I also make sure to keep the boxes patched up.

When I did run virus protection I preferred McAfee.

 

[jljenkins28]

Another vote for AVG. Been running it for years and haven't had any problems. I've got it on all my folders, even the SMP boxen.

 

[kazak]

I guess I would ask myself if antivirus protection is necessary or not. I run all my boxes without it. I just don't open anything or download anything from unknown sources. I also make sure to keep the boxes patched up.

When I did run virus protection I preferred McAfee.

Keeping up with patches is certainly a requirement and not downloading anything suspicious does help but does not guarantee protection...against a worm for example...which I had to deal with on some servers at work last week.

 

[rmdashrrootsplat]

I normally don't run antivirus on my boxen. I do however use the free version of Zonealarm Firewall and configure it to allow the F@H client access to the intarwebs.

 

[jws2346]

Amazing The link below has some reviews of both AVG and Avast.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,113462-page,1-c,antivirus/article.html

Of course it's up to the individual what Antivirus program they use, for that matter what any (paid or not) program they use.

I'm sticking with Avast because I have tried AVG, McAfee, Norton and some others since I discovered the Internet and have had absolutely no problemos with avast! 4 Home free edition.

 

[SmokeRngs]

I guess I would ask myself if antivirus protection is necessary or not. I run all my boxes without it. I just don't open anything or download anything from unknown sources. I also make sure to keep the boxes patched up.

When I did run virus protection I preferred McAfee.

It's still a good idea to have an antivirus program on the machines even if they are not "actively" used on the net. Some viruses and other nasties will infect boxen through a LAN and it's not worth the risk.

 

[digital_exhaust]

This is a really interesting, and rather refreshing thread.

For those that don't venture outside of the DC forum much, there has been a fairly long standing preference around here for NOD32. It seems that the majority of members here highly recommend it, and that certainly doesn't seem to be the case here........

I used AVG faithfully for years... right up until the day that it tagged F.E.A.R. as a virus. I thought, okay, a false positive, no biggie, shit happens blah blah blah.

I then tried to actually play the game, and no go.....took days for AVG to clear up the problem.....

And then it happened with Quake4.... and I'm sorry, but how the hell did that get overlooked? I mean neither of these titles are exactly obscure..... pretty big time titles in my opinion.

Now, I no longer game, so it's no longer an issue, but it really soured my taste for AVG...

I don't use any A/V on my SMP boxen, they're headless and running *nix, so no need, but I do have NOD installed on my GPU machine and I have no problems with it at all. Vista HP on an old P4 3g machine, and it's really lightweight and unobtrusive.

Of course, if it borks the SMP client, that is more than reason enough not to use it....

Just my experiences.....

 

[Xilikon]

I use NOD32 3.0 on my main PC but my SMP clients is within VM so it isn't affected

 

[SmokeRngs]

If I wasn't a poor and not to mention cheap bastard, I would use NOD for my antivirus. However, I rarely ever use Windows for anything other than a dual boot for gaming on my main machine for games I can't get to work under Wine. I have very little use for Windows antivirus programs and can't justify spending money on one for how little it would actually be used.

It's not so much that we're different from say the Networking and Security subforum (as I've traveled in there many times) but that we're spending most of our money on folding machines and like to save a few bucks where we can. In this case, the free versions of decent antivirus programs saves us that money. This can make a huge difference for people with home farms. It's not so much the case as it used to be as most of the home farmers have fewer machines with much more production thanks to the quads and no where near as many copies of Windows need to be installed. The Linux SMP client and easy to setup Linux distros made it possible for a lot of people to start using Linux which mostly negates the need for an antivirus program.

 

[Wheresatom]

Thanks for all of the help guys. I did a lot of research before, and decided I didn't mind spending some money on antivirus if it would be good. That is what lead me to NOD32. I didn't hear a bit against it. A few WU's into my time with NOD32 though, I realized it was going to be a problem and I turned off the active scanner.

I have decided to go with Avast! for now. We will see how I like it. I remember having it before and for some reason switching away from it, but I cannot remember what that reason might be. It must not have been a very good one eh?

Thanks for the help everyone.