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Best Windows AntiVirus
Well this big boy moved out of home about a month ago. And now my family is having virus issues. Right now I am helping them remove their virus via TeamViewer, not what I want to be doing on a thursday night Anyways what would you guys recommend for a virus protection. McAfee sucks, Norton Sucks, Avast is mehh, Spybot search and destroy is alright. I am willing to pay for the software. What would you guys say is the best?
Comments
Nod32. Second best Microsoft security essentials. I go by what seems to actually give me results instead of false positives and always whining about tracking cookies to make me think it's doing something. I like my antivirus to shut up until its needed
use microsoft security essentials, as good as anyone else
I use Avira for my friends. Security essentials at work.
Avira is better but has annoying pop-ups for the free personal version.
I just enter my credit card numbers every time it detects those virus things and my computer's good as new.
^ Win
My common sense tells me you are joking, however, I did encounter people that were doing just that.
That's what I use, quite simple and effective. ESET Nod 32 is good too, but I cba downloading it etc., I mean common sense is also something that you should use above all. For removing it, I'd go with ESET, microsoft is more of a preventative thingamajig.
For removing stuff I like MBAM.
LOL
avast and avira are good for free antiviruses. Kaspersky if you're willing to pay, absolutely.
I suggest Microsoft security essentials (or Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection, the paid version for business environements) AND avoid using administrator privileges. Security essentials or SCEP does not slow down the computer. But in a year I found two istances of browser hijacking and Microsoft antivirus disabled; the user confirmed that it "clicked on something", then malware symptoms started. This never happened with the Kaspersky antivirus; but to put this in perspective, two infected PCs are less than 1% of the total number of installations I supervise, so is good enough for me.
Avast! Pro... the free instance is great but it has the occasional ad...
I recommend you check out http://www.av-comparatives.org/
They run tests on all main anti-virus software around.
Been using MSE for a year or so. Ditched Avast when I got tired of its constant popups and ads.
I suspect MSE will desupport XP the moment XP is no longer officially supported.
@raindog308
You do realize... Avast pop-ups can be turned off...
try some local av like smadav.
usually i use trendmicro/comodo intrtnet security/kaspersky.
just dont you ever ever use something like antivirus 2009/2012/2013. you have to reinstall your windows if you see that popup rogueware
Maybe - though why should I have to go through the work of hunting down settings? Why should I have to register once a year? Why do I have to reboot my computer every few months when Avast releases a new version?
MSE is AV without hassles. YMMV.
@raindog308
The setting to turn them off is the first thing you see when you open the window..
Surely you can find that..
Ohh wow dude.. rebooting once every year is such a problem
Once a year? If only.
But again...what is so great about Avast that having to turn off ads, having to reboot, having to register, and having to click through a bunch of "no, I don't want to upgrade" ad screens is justified?
Sorry, Avast blows...but to each his own.
I have been really happy using avg 2012 and now 2013. So much so I use it on my parents computers because they click on everything lol mse works pretty alright as well imho
Used to be avg, now mse is my choice
Avast
Microsoft Security Essentials (Also known as Windows Defender in Windows 8), and Avira Free Edition.
I have been using eset smart security since 2009 and never had problem. Norton sucks indeed.
F-secure here, excellent management for large networks and seems to do ok..
Bitdefender and malwarebytes, that is what i use
Avg is great. I love it when my anti virus ocassionaly catches something and almost never provides more help than "Sorry, I tried deleting the virus with the delete key and it didn't work, good luck!"
At some point you're just running to anti virus to run one lol
Common Sense 1.0
I wholeheartedly recommend it.
In other words, educating people on how to interact with the Interwebs in a safe manner and keeping their software up-to-date.
Antivirus by design is a non-optimal solution. It blocks or repairs a situation that you shouldn't be in to begin with.
But yeah I know, teaching your grandma (or anyone else) good Internet habits can be nearly impossible. For those people, I guess antivirus is the only practical solution at the moment.
Avast and MSE are both free and works reasonably well.
Kaspersky if you're willing to spend some money.
Exactly like me
Used to be an avast fan, but some long time ago (2 years ? ) I started to have problems ppl calling me about infections. Pointed them to Avira and I enjoyed peace again.
Regarding Antivirus XP, 2009, whatever, you do not need to reinstall, actually, very few infections really blow your system files in such a way that a reinstall is needed:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/
Agreed in some cases it is hard to manage to get it on the computer (infected almost immediately unless read-only medium) but those are few and far between.
If everything fails boot an AV cd (there are quite a few completely free) and do the disinfection from there.
@Sunshine Well, even the best among us can get caught in an unknown vulnerability caught by a seemingly legitimate imbed on a reputable website. Far less common, but it does happen. Just takes being in the right place at the right time.
Heck, I got a virus today. The kid who compiled it put it there, I fixed it, but fact remains...you can't always control everyone no matter how much you try. Short of replacing computers with pencils, that is.
@jarland agreed!
+1 for Kaspersky, I had the worst experience with Norton in past.