Best Anti Virus?

[Executioner]

On my new system that I just built a month ago, I'm running NAV 2002, but I'm wondering how effective these older versions are compared to new versions of the same product: 2003/2004/2005?

[blade]

I'd guess that they'd all be the same, considering they get the same updates. Just the interface and bloatware is different.

[FlyingPenguin]

On my new system that I just built a month ago, I'm running NAV 2002, but I'm wondering how effective these older versions are compared to new versions of the same product: 2003/2004/2005?

I still have clients running NAV 2000 and it still gets updates.

They all use the same basic engine, so there's really no MAJOR difference. Newer versions just have more features. For instance 2005 added more aggressive spyware scanning and it also runs a baby firewall that specifically looks for Trojans phoning home.

Newer versions also include support for IM clients.

Frankly the BEST version of standard NAV was 2002 and I tell my clients to keep using it if they have that version ESPECIALLY on older systems. 2002 was the most stable, and least resource hungry version they ever made. All later versions are MAJOR performance killers.

[Executioner]

Well, after a good test of Kaspersky, I found it to be good, but I did not like the way it over controlled my pc. Everything seemed to run slower, so IMHO, it's a resource hog and I removed it today.

I'm going to give AVAST a shot since it's free, and better than AVG.

[DocSilly]

The feeling from running slower should be from the On-Access checking, which automatically checks files whenever you access them. You can finetune the settings and exclude certain directories for the On-Access checking (like your videos folder).

Avast (free Home and nonfree Pro) was tested in the last C'T magazine and it failed to detect all ITW viruses (in the wild) and that's quite bad since ITW viruses are really out there. They also don't recommend Norton or McAfee for their slow definition updates and sucky rescuemedia.

Really good virusprotection won't come free and it'll use some resources. Their current recommended antivirus apps are F-Secure Anti-Virus 2005 (5.10) and Bitdefender Professional 8.0 (the free 7.2 has no On-Access scanning). Kaspersky lost the topspot since they minimized the On-Access settings (regarding archives) in the current 5.0 version.

If low resource usage is your main goal (On-Access-Scanning) they suggest AVG Free Edition 7.0, Nod32 Antivirus or PC-cillin. If you seek one for free they suggest AVG over AntiVir.

Tested apps:
Avast Home Edition 4.1.418 (free)
Avast Professional Edition 4.1.418
AVG Free Edition 7.0.289 (free)
AntiVir Personal Edition 6.28 (free)
AntiVir Professional Edition 6.28
AntiVirenKitb (AVK) 2005
Bitdefender Free Edition 7.2 (free)
Bitdefender Professional Plus 8.0
F-Secure Anti-Virus 2005 (5.10)
F-Prot for DOS 3.15b (free)
Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Pro 5.0
McAfee VirusScan 2005 (9.0)
Nod32 AntiVirus System 2.0 (1.906)
Norton Anti-Virus 2005 (11.0)
PC-cillin Internet Security 12
ViRobot Expert 4.0

[Executioner]

Hey Doc, thanks for the update. I have AVG right now as it replaced Kaspersky, but I've not heard anything good about AVG. Most of the sites that I visited to get information on virus programs, they just mention the best one, whether or not you had to pay for it. I'm just curious as to which free one was the best, and compare it to others that you pay. Any comparisons like that available?

[Nomad]

Hey everytime i read blogs about Anti Viri I have to just say and in my opinion is to listen that when I say to use PROTOWALL in conjunction with an Anti Virus and Firewall software at all times..... It blocks so many IP's that you wouldnt want your computer to be connecting with anyways, and its just all that bit more to the safest point you could be at.... Seems like a lot of people on other boards seem to blow me off when I say to head on over to Bluetack internet Security Solutions and download some stuff...


Only thing is is that if you plan on using Protowall I would really encourage you to also then go ahead and download the Blocklist Manager.... This program compiles a blocklist from which you choose within the program, and then you save it to disk and load it into Protowall and there you go you are set to not see anymore ads, spyware sites, etc. etc. etc.

[Mike89]

Hmm, I guess I'm in the minority here as I use NAV 2004. I keep hearing about NAV being this so called resource hog. I just don't see it (or feel it). It doesn't slow down my system one bit that I have EVER noticed and I have used it on many computers. As far as NAV having slow updates. Even though the Live Update just renews itself weekly, you can get the updates daily by going to the site and downloading them manually.

I don't like the idea of a virus scanner checking each file you open, that seems like a waste of time to me and quite unnecessary (not to mention bogging down the system). Earlier NAV versions gave the choice of either auto scanning each time a file was opened or just auto scanning a new file as it enters the computer. The latter one was always the one I chose. NAV 2004 doesn't have the option so I'm assuming that it also now just does the latter because I notice no pause when opening files that would suggest it is going through the scanner.

BTW, that Spybot deal with the DSO has been fixed with an update.

[Executioner]

Originally posted by Mike89
I don't like the idea of a virus scanner checking each file you open, that seems like a waste of time to me and quite unnecessary (not to mention bogging down the system).

I agree, which is why I removed Kaspersky. The shut down time also increased with Kaspersky, as it would take over a minute to shut down. As soon as I removed Kaspersky, the shut down returned to normal, taking only 10 seconds or so on the win2k rig.

There is another program called BioClean:
http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_MA ... CACHE_ID=0
that I'm probably going to try.