# Antivirus



## abyssis (Oct 7, 2013)

Hi I was wondering what Antivirus do you guys use, if any? I was recently reading some reviews on the internet and majority of them seems kinda off. So I was kinda hoping I could get more "serious" answers here. I was thinking of installing Avast (free edition). Would that be a bad idea? I haven't used any Antivirus since now because I never really needed one but right now I just feel like I should probably consider getting one.

Thank you.


----------



## blergh (Oct 7, 2013)

I use NOD32, been using for a good few years now. It's doing what it's supposed to, not using too much resources & not adding any bloat.


----------



## shovenose (Oct 7, 2013)

Avast! Free if you want free. Avast! Pro if you want to pay.


----------



## abyssis (Oct 7, 2013)

What do you guys think of Kaspersky? This seems like a pretty good deal to me even though it ends pretty soon: http://www.alza.cz/EN/kaspersky-internet-security-2012-pro-3-pc-d367073.htm ($18/3 PC's).


----------



## Magiobiwan (Oct 7, 2013)

I use Microsoft Security Essentials on my computers. It's free, it WORKS, and it has relatively low resource impact. It has pretty darn good detection rates for everything BUT Zero-Days. Like any other Antivirus solution, it doesn't work alone, you need to pair it with things like CommonSense.exe and InternetSenseAndNoToolbarInstallation.bat.


----------



## abyssis (Oct 7, 2013)

Magiobiwan said:


> I use Microsoft Security Essentials on my computers. It's free, it WORKS, and it has relatively low resource impact. It has pretty darn good detection rates for everything BUT Zero-Days. Like any other Antivirus solution, it doesn't work alone, you need to pair it with things like CommonSense.exe and InternetSenseAndNoToolbarInstallation.bat.


Gotcha.


----------



## WebSearchingPro (Oct 7, 2013)

Microsoft Security Essentials (free) with common sense - it works and its extremely quick to deploy.

The downside is its not techncally licensed for business usage, you would need to use Microsoft Endpoint Security in a business environment (not free).


----------



## datarealm (Oct 7, 2013)

+1 for microsoft security essentials, or otherwise avoiding windows when possible.  virtualbox works great for times that you really need to get something done under windows, and then it can be shut down.


----------



## abyssis (Oct 7, 2013)

Ok, there is slight problem. I'm running preview version of Windows 8 and it says I can't use Essentials on Windows 8 (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download). So I assume having Defender turned on should do the job?


----------



## Magiobiwan (Oct 7, 2013)

Windows 8 comes with Microsoft Defender, which is MSE plus a bit of Antimalware built in. You should really consider upgrading to the full Windows 8, as the Previews are going to stop working soon.


----------



## abyssis (Oct 7, 2013)

Magiobiwan said:


> Windows 8 comes with Microsoft Defender, which is MSE plus a bit of Antimalware built in. You should really consider upgrading to the full Windows 8, as the Previews are going to stop working soon.


I'm pretty much just testing and I will most likely be going back to Windows 7 anytime soon. Thanks for all the replies!


----------



## matt[scrdspd] (Oct 7, 2013)

+1 for Windows MSE/Defender


----------



## shovenose (Oct 7, 2013)

LOL @ all the people that think MSE is useful...

http://www.howtogeek.com/173291/goodbye-microsoft-security-essentials-microsoft-now-recommends-you-use-a-third-party-antivirus/


----------



## jarland (Oct 7, 2013)

An anti....what? Is that like a flu shot?


----------



## eva2000 (Oct 7, 2013)

ESET Smart Security 6

http://www.eset.com/au/home/products/smart-security/

been using for several years Eset products


----------



## abyssis (Oct 8, 2013)

eva2000 said:


> ESET Smart Security 6
> 
> http://www.eset.com/au/home/products/smart-security/
> 
> been using for several years Eset products


Is ESET really that good?


----------



## abyssis (Oct 8, 2013)

I have come up with three different antiviruses. I'd like to know your opinion if possible.

Bitdefender Internet Security

F-Secure

Norton Internet Security

In terms of performance/protection which one would you choose?

Source: 

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-7/julaug-2013/

http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparatives-reviews/


----------



## Joodle (Oct 8, 2013)

I'm using Avast, since i began using it i never had a virus again


----------



## mikho (Oct 8, 2013)

On my personal and my friends computers I use Microsoft Security Essentials.


On my work computer I use Symantec Endpoint Protection (.Cloud version)


----------



## Riccardo_G (Oct 8, 2013)

I use NOD32, using one years . Is doing what it is supposed to, do not use too much resources and do not add any bloat.


----------



## bizzard (Oct 8, 2013)

I don't use Windows in any of my systems now a days and when someone asks me for a free antivirus, I suggest Immunet. During my widows days, I have tried all sort of free Antivirus available then and most of them have given me nothing other than troubles, deleting system files and exe's which I want to keep, etc

Immunet is small, use less resource and does the basic protection. Anyway, all my friends usually land up formatting windows atleast once in 6 months due to performance issues.


----------



## Nyr (Oct 8, 2013)

I don't use any.

For work I use my MacBook mostly, Windows only for gaming.

Removed Avast when I was forced to use Windows, it was pure crap and I recently discovered they don't care about security at all (reported some vulns, ignored and refused to pay bug bounty).


----------



## abyssis (Oct 8, 2013)

Thanks for all the replies. I decided to go with F-Secure for now and if F-Secure fails I think I will give BitDefender a try.


----------



## NetWatcher (Oct 8, 2013)

ClamXav on Mac OS X 

That AV found couple of viruses, but all of them were files which I copied from some external device who were plugged to some Windows PC before  

So, non of viruses were dangerous for Mac OS X. 

But still, even on Mac OS X you should have some AV... 

And of course, firewall should be enabled


----------



## jarland (Oct 8, 2013)

abyssis said:


> Is ESET really that good?


It really is. An anti virus should sit in the background and not have anything to say until it's relevant. These days anti viruses want to track down everything that they can just to pop up and pat themselves on the back about what a good job they did doing nothing of significance, just to remind you that you'd be lost without...their massive renewal fee.


Nod32 does it's job and then shuts up about it, and doesn't slow down your system.


----------



## abyssis (Oct 9, 2013)

jarland said:


> It really is. An anti virus should sit in the background and not have anything to say until it's relevant. These days anti viruses want to track down everything that they can just to pop up and pat themselves on the back about what a good job they did doing nothing of significance, just to remind you that you'd be lost without...their massive renewal fee.
> 
> 
> Nod32 does it's job and then shuts up about it, and doesn't slow down your system.


Would you consider Nod32 better over mentioned F-Secure?


----------



## Nyr (Oct 9, 2013)

abyssis said:


> Would you consider Nod32 better over mentioned F-Secure?


Not sure about resource consumption, but F-Secure is a decent product with a good engine. Also, one of the few not American/Chinese/Russian security firms.


----------



## abyssis (Oct 9, 2013)

Nyr said:


> Not sure about resource consumption, but F-Secure is a decent product with a good engine. Also, one of the few not American/Chinese/Russian security firms.


What's wrong with Russian security firms? It definitely feels much safer compared to USA.


----------



## Nyr (Oct 9, 2013)

abyssis said:


> What's wrong with Russian security firms? It definitely feels much safer compared to USA.


Just wanted to clarify it was one of the most independent security firms. Russian security firms (Kaspersky) have very strong ties to the government.


----------



## abyssis (Oct 9, 2013)

Nyr said:


> Just wanted to clarify it was one of the most independent security firms. Russian security firms (Kaspersky) have very strong ties to the government.


Well just because there is no real artice on the internet it doesn't mean F-Secure is not "working" with government. That's my opinion. I think pretty much every bigger security firm as you call it works with government in certain way. Also it might be even worse in Finland, who knows. So far it works really great as in it doesn't affect performance of my system in any way so I will just continue testing and see how it goes.


----------



## ServerBros (Oct 9, 2013)

Microsoft security essentials......does the job 

I tend to do most of my web browsing from a Windows 8 VPS I have setup for company use, and use the same on that.


----------



## abyssis (Oct 9, 2013)

ServerBros said:


> Microsoft security essentials......does the job
> 
> I tend to do most of my web browsing from a Windows 8 VPS I have setup for company use, and use the same on that.


I don't know how much trust I could possibly put into this article but it obviously says "NO MSE".

http://www.howtogeek.com/173291/goodbye-microsoft-security-essentials-microsoft-now-recommends-you-use-a-third-party-antivirus/


----------

