Small Business Anti-Virus Question

T

Throc

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
290
I work for a small accounting firm. We have 8 computers total in the office with 6 employees. I'm kind of the resident computer guy, even though I'm a CPA. We bought new computers last year and they came with a 1 year subscription to Norton. I haven't liked it because Norton's firewall doesn't let us access share folders on the network so I've always just had everyone cut it off and set up Windows firewall on all the computers.

The question is now that Norton has expired, what is a good solution for protection for all 8 computers. I use AVG on my home network but didn't know the best and most cost effective way to approach the business. Any suggestions?

So far, I've looked at Avast! 4 Professional which is about $240 for 8 computers and AVG Anti-virus Business Edition 9.0 with is $300 for 10 licenses.

Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.
 
ESET Nod32. Do you have a server?

I recommend all my clients to stay away from all those all in one antivirus/firewall things.

Stick with Business Nod32, loaded on server and deployed, and some content filtering or opendns
 
We don't really have a server. We have one workstation running XP Pro that serves as our "server" but it really only holds then tax and trial balance software that we access from all the other workstations.
 
In addition to using NOD32 in our own company, we migrated all of our clients to NOD32. No complaints or issues.
 
Voting NOD32, it's fairly light and the admin console is decent. Hardly any maintenance required.
 
Maybe because its not in the terms of use to use in a business environment. =)

So yes no suggestion to software that violates the terms. MSE is great but it should be left on the home user computers.
 
Definitely stick with maintaining an antivirus.

The past 2 years, Nortons products are actually quite good, great detection rates, and most importantly..they've gotten VERY light. They did a ground up total re-writing of the program to make it light, the bare antvirus product uses only 8 megs of RAM now. Yes..only 8 megs.

Consider renewing your existing Norton licensing to get the latest version (most likely your cheapest option)..or look at purchasing a new brand...such as Eset NOD32.

AVG...thumbs down. Poor detection rates, a bit "heavy" too.

Don't forget, for a business, free options like AVG Free, Avast free, AntiVir free, or even Microsoft Security Essentials...they're not free for businesses, so it's against their licensing.

Nortons firewall will let you have local network file and print sharing.
 
I tried everything I could over the past year to get Norton's firewall to allow sharing between our computers. I failed miserably. I settled with using Windows firewall and cutting Norton off. The problem with that is that when others in the office booted their machines, Norton told them they needed to turn on the firewall. They would click ok, and then come complaining to me 2 hours later because they couldn't pull a file off of another computer. I'm definately looking for a simple anti-virus that isn't "heavy" but works well.

I also do like free versions but I know they frown upon using those in businesses. The owner say's it best (and all the time), "It's just not worth the risk!"
 
ESET NOD32 for business is what I would recommend. I'm also starting to evaluate Sunbelt's VIPRE Enterprise. THey have a very compelling $10/seat promotion going on right now.....
 
For your use I do suggest Microsoft Security Essentials. If you upgrade to a real domain, with a real server, then I would reccomend Microsoft Forefront.


This post is made "AS IS" without warranties, and confers no rights
 
Ranma_Sao said:
For your use I do suggest Microsoft Security Essentials. If you upgrade to a real domain, with a real server, then I would reccomend Microsoft Forefront.


This post is made "AS IS" without warranties, and confers no rights
Click to expand...

Except that running MSE in a business environment is against the rules . . . . :rolleyes:
 
# INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS.

* Use. 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.
Click to expand...
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/eula.aspx#mainNav

From the OP:
I work for a small accounting firm. We have 8 computers total in the office with 6 employees.
Click to expand...


So, yes, he would be in violation of the license terms were he were to use MSE on his office computers.
 
I stand corrected. I was told it was good for small businesses without domain controllers. I read the eula before making the statement and apparently missed that part. My apologies.

This post is made "AS IS" without warranties, and confers no rights
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top