Comment Feed for Got new laptop... now need a better AV (Coffeehouse on Channel 9)

Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Mario — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:14:27 GMT

My bet goes to ESET NOD32 too. Its way light, intuitive and safe. Kaspersky 7 is my 2nd choice. And btw the locked licence key problem is because theres 2 or more users with that key (blacklisted).

If you need a free solution try Avira home. Its really nice for a free AV.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Ian Walker — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:11:55 GMT

And you try and tell them that we only had 1k of RAM and they won't believe you ...

Re: Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Alexei Pavlov — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:22:45 GMT

Oh, in SUCH case - it's VERY good laptop!!! :D

Re: Re: Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Raghavendra_Mudugal — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:21:04 GMT

okay.

but I am not happy with your comments. :( seriously.

Re: Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

La Bomba — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:45:19 GMT

Cheap uncle ;-)

j/k

Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Raghavendra_Mudugal — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:19:03 GMT

thank you,

but it is a gift from my uncle... so something is better then nothing.... ;)

Re: Re: Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

JonathonW — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:46:56 GMT

I've used AVG for a few years now and I've been quite happy with it. AVG 8 was a pretty big improvement over the previous version: the UI's a lot better and updates happen in the background (7 would pop up an obnoxious dialog while updating). Free, no pop up ads (Avast's free edition has the occasional pop-up ad).

I did not, however, get bitten by the bug where AVG detected user32.dll as a virus and quarantined it (must have missed that update). Kinda makes me reconsider using AVG, but I don't want to spend money on anything else (although NOD32 seems like it might be worth it).

I'm quite firmly in the "antivirus is essential on any PC" camp. I've never downloaded any viruses or anything (I'm careful about what I download), but I almost got a virus from a flash drive a few months back (my own flash drive, even-- the virus was dumped on it by a kiosk at a photo printing place). Thankfully, AVG detected it before it ran... otherwise, I'd have had a nice mess on my hands.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

cheong — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:20:35 GMT

I agree, but with most people who disable UAC immediately after the OS installation, antivirus software is still a necessary safety net, especially if you have any messaging client running, or you form LAN with computers owner by other family members, who you don't know whether they'll follow the security practices you have (almost certainly not in most cases).

Re: Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

CreamFilling512 — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:14:35 GMT

I don't install anti-virus software, all degrade performance, most have a bad reputation for stability, and I don't think they're necessary for a secure system.

Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

cheong — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:53:36 GMT

I'm also AVG Free 32-bit version user but had not experienced that problem.

So far it works great, and I found that Spybot S&D is nice companion for it.

Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

blowdart — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:03:13 GMT

I use and paid for AVG. However it's been getting worse in terms of bugs (hey lets delete a windows system file) and lack of support (I have an outstanding issue where it would no longer tell windows it was running, thus causing alerts from the OS which has been open for about 10 days now.)

Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Christian Liensberger — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:37:44 GMT

NOD32 is the only one that I would use... just because it seems to be the only one that was completely optimized for performance.

Re: Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

La Bomba — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:04:52 GMT

f-secure.com

Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

androidi — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:59:25 GMT

I used to think the same but malware has changed in 10 years and there's much more of it so my current preferred (and possibly unique) approach is to not run AV software but run a clean virtual machine where i have allowed a read only access to the host HDD. Then I run the AV softwares under the VM scanning the host HDD. This has the advantage in that if there's a bug in the AV software that leads to exploit of the AV software then it can do no damage due to the read only access. Depending on how the VM's IO and hypervisor is implemented it may also able to access the host in some form of shielded manner that would prevent non-hypervisor aware malware of intercepting the IO, making possible to detect rootkits without booting. (this is just speculation, I haven't investigated on how they are actually implemented)

Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

phreaks — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:38:07 GMT

++;

I agree, switched from Symantec to ESET last month, and the world is so much better now.

Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

JeremyJ — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:47:04 GMT

I would go with NOD32. It is a solid AV solution. It is very light-weight. You won't even know it is running.

Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Alexei Pavlov — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:27:58 GMT

New Toshiba laptop - good. I like Toshiba.
Screen 1280x800 - it sucks.
Intel "Genuine Monitor Adapter" aka "GMA"- it sucks too.
5400rpm HDD - not the best option, but definately faster than 4200rpm...

Sorry...

Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Scott — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:49:09 GMT

We just switched from Sophos to McAfee here at work (corporate mandate) and on boot McAfee's scanner is using over 500MB of RAM. The machine is also noticeably slower. So I'd stay away from McAfee.

I hear that Norton has greatly improved with their latest version, and actually lets you uninstall the program without jumping through some hoops.

I've had success in the past with Avast (it's completely free for home use).

I hear good things about AVG and Kaspersky, but haven't used them myself.

I'm not currently running any AV program on my home machine because it's been 15 years and I've never gotten a virus. I think being a smart user is much more helpful than some scanners running in the background.

edit: Oh, and I'm 99% certain that all of the above companies offer 64-bit versions.

Re: Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

Raghavendra_Mudugal — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:03:25 GMT

solid answer. thanks a lot :)

Re: Got new laptop... now need a better AV

harlock123 — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:33:32 GMT

Personally I run AVG
on Vista 64 Ultimate...

Love it, and have never head a problem with it. I would avoid Norton and McaFee like the plague, each are WAY WAY to intrusive IMHO, having had problems with them both in the past. Don't knopw much about the others as AVG has suited me just fine so I stopped looking.