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Best Antivirus NOW

Started by Ace, August 13, 2007, 11:53 hrs

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Ace

Right now. Not yesterday; not this morning... this very minute.

Here's my situation: I got Kaspersky 6.0 Antivirus (per Scuzzy's recommendation, after which he changed his mind) retail/disk a year ago and license runs out in days.  I did an update to the 7.0 per Kaspersky's rec.  But seems when you do that you don't get the email "here's how to update/discount prices" email they talk of.  Tried the Kaspersky page on renewals, and activation through the product: either wants a (new) activation code OR wants a "key file" (?) with the current code.  No idea how to create a key file, no sign of one in the Kaspersky program folder, won't take a manual entry of the current code. Prices I see online look like buying the whole thing again at $59+.  There's an email you can send, but that wants a scan of the retail receipt (which I do not hope to have, after a year...) And have no interest in duplicating, by buying the whole thing over again.  So my hunch is I'm gonna go with something else to not get gouged by this...  Something EASY TO RENEW, even. 

So, probably would try something free.  What's good? Worth it?  Avast?  AVG?  BitDefender CA no, not Symantec thank you very much.  I was reading that AVG just does an online scan and isn't really working from the pc (?).  Tell me where to go.  Thank you.

Ace; your pleasure, one would think.
Ring bells for service.

Bill

Well, OK, you can go there.  No wait, I'm not an expert and I don't know what you read or where, but, I have been using AVG, free version for several years.  It is on my system, it's free, and it updates frequently. 

I have never had a problem with it, period.  There was one time the AVG update server was down, for about 15 minutes, but aside from that, it's been all good.

Bill
Antec 3700 | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz | 4 GB (4x1GB) DDR2 PC 5300 Kingston RAM | Antec NeoPower 550W | eVGA GeForce 9500GT 1GB 128 bit PCI Express 2.0 | Intel SSD X25-M 80GB | VelociRaptor 150GB | WD 80GB 7200rpm |Samsung 22x SATA Burner |Windows 7 32-bit

Ace

Alright; thanks! I just loaded it this weekend on my Sister-in-law's machine... She's had NO antivirus (!).  Took a long time to scan, but seemed ok on function.  With dialup, I've got such a stupid long wait for anything to download I just have to time for things to come through to install.  When I do a virus check I'm usually not in a hurry to do anything else.

I haven't looked at Avast, so will see what it looks like too.  One thing I didn't like with Kaspersky was it updates immediately when you go online, so with dialup it hangs while it's throbbing and feeding itself.  No problems in the last year as far as infection, but honestly I didn't expect to acquire a virus anyway.  I stopped by Best Buy but just looked like PCillin for $39, MS for $49, and Symantec (no....) were boxed and available retail.

I'm also about ready to uproot Webroot Spysweeper; it seems to be hanging up the internet connection, and things speed up when I knock it down.  Have a hunch it's trying to interpret websites while I'm travelling...? 

Ace; keep telling me where to go.

Ring bells for service.

pat

Earlier this year I tried several AVs some free some not. I can�t even remember all of them at this point, but I went with Bitdefender. Works well and I have no complaints, it does take a while to do a full system scan, but then again I have much data to sort through. I bought the 2 user-2year for $49.

You could do what I did and keep trying the 30 day trials, shoot with all the antivirus products out there that can keep you going for a year or two�����.
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

scuzzy

#4
I bought the Bitdefender special a few months ago and regretted it. It turned into a serious system resource hog and caused problems on all of my systems. I finally got rid of it all together and tried various solutions. I almost went back to Norton, when I fortunately discovered ESET Smart Security (beta 1b). Beta 2 should be out before too long.

I have been running ESET beta on all of my computers with excellent results. My systems have remained spotless, and I was also able to dump ZoneAlarm and Spy Sweeper. I never thought I would like an all-in-one solution, but ESET has won me over.

The current beta is free of charge and simple to install. Just make sure you reboot your system after installing it, since it's not done automatically as part of the installation.

I like that ESET has made this as close to "install it and forget it" as I have seen. The popups can be turned off if you don't like them, and the user interface is greatly improved over past ESET (Nod32) antivirus menus. I also have the included firewall set to automatic, and it works beautifully without pestering me.

Scuzzy; I wish Ace had such a setting.
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

Buffalo2102

I would recommend Panda but somehow I don't think you'd want that on your machine..........


Buff; Eats shoots, viruses (virii) and leaves.
Vista x64 Home Premium. Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Abit IP35, 4 Gig Kingston HyperX PC8500C5 DDR2, GTX260, Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer, Antec 900 Gaming Case.

pat

I have not had those kinds of problems with the Bitdefender product. You may remember back a while that I did put up a topic about the Trend Micro product that did cause those types of problems for me at that time.

I would suggest downloading and trying out the trial version of whatever product that may be under consideration before buying.

SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

Ace

I am not about to download a panda in, or on, my computer... 

I was finally able to get the Kaspersky activation code (not the license key) to connect, and have a sign-in and password for tech support.  I'll see if that results in an email on discount prices as suggested or if there looks like a reasonable means to renew.  I downloaded AVG and Avast at work (only takes minutes there...) and will burn and take home if needed, and I'm downloading Spyware Terminator which is a supposed combo spyware/antivirus product.  I'm not going to go with another firewall, since I don't need that headache again.  Obviously, from my poasts, I don't care what exits my pc only what comes in...

Ace; I could just see a dang panda getting stuck in one of the ports on the back and having to clean it off...
Ring bells for service.

scuzzy

Aside from using high resources, Bitdefender brought my home network to a crawl. Since I paid for the product, I made every effort to resolve the problem to no avail. In the end, after two or three weeks of struggling with it, I dumped it once and for all.

I tried F-Secure on a couple of my systems (I got ahold of a 6 month trial), but I found that it does not play nice with any other type of security software. It caused more problems than I cared to deal with.
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor

Ace

I'm glad I don't have any resources...  I finally got the Kaspersky "discount link" email.  Renewal of the Antivirus 7.0 version is $42, for a year, for 1 user.  $63 for 2 years.  Geez...  That's like a whole $10 bucks off starting over retail.

Ace; I might just go with "free."
Ring bells for service.

Whizbang

I don't know how to determine what is best when I can't seem to get any viruses to invade.  I guess I should feel left out, right?  The last time I can remember AVG finding a critter was in September of 2005, just before installing Zone Alarm.  After I followed that with installing SpyBot and Spyware Blaster, the only problems have been tracking cookies that occasionally need to be removed.  The D-Link firewall has eliminated the need for Zone Alarm also.  I left ZA installed for quite awhile after going to Vonage ASDL; but it never picked up a beep; and that was after a period of over 6000 red flag alerts before the router took over.  I do wish that there were a monitoring program on the router that would record hacking attempts.   I guess the comparison might be a bit like, "What kind of car do you drive?"  It really does not seem to matter if you just leave it parked in the garage.   :-\

Ace

Yep, that's how I feel too.  No crises over the last year with the "new" machine but didn't expect any, either.  Just seems like a gouge, for near $50 bucks to renew.  Geez, to compare to another "for pay" product BitDefender is $29 a year and $39 for two, so basically half the price.  And comparing to free ones makes those look even cheaper.
Duh.

Ace; 3 days left on it... 
Ring bells for service.

Mark H

I use ESET on my Intel system with Windows Vista 64 and it works wonderfully. I am thinking about replacing Norton on this PC with ESET when the year is up.

Mark H
Enjoy the nature that is around you rather than destroying it.

Buffalo2102

Panda for the win.

Go on.......you know you want to....


Buff; It's good..... honest.
Vista x64 Home Premium. Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Abit IP35, 4 Gig Kingston HyperX PC8500C5 DDR2, GTX260, Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer, Antec 900 Gaming Case.

Buffalo2102

Seriously though, I see very little point in paying for AV - most of the free solutions are every bit as good as the paid-for ones.  Without a lot of the bloat too.

Buff; Comodo (AV and Firewall) works good for me too.
Vista x64 Home Premium. Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Abit IP35, 4 Gig Kingston HyperX PC8500C5 DDR2, GTX260, Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer, Antec 900 Gaming Case.

Ace

I agree with free AVG.  I hadn't heard of ESET so I'll see what that is, too.  And Comodo.  I wonder if that's short for "Commando" or "Commode."  Or the dragon.  For the time being I found a way for Kaspersky to turn off the alerts (guess how...). 

No to Pandas.  Be serious.  Geez Louise, the name alone oughta get it deleted from poasts here, like xxxxcat and xxxcar and xxxxxxformica.  How is vermin going to get rid of germs?  C'mon... 

Ac;e like there are stinking pandas navigating the wildes of Britain

Ring bells for service.

Whizbang

The main difference I have seen in using a free antivirus and the retail one is that if you ever have trouble with a virus, you can email the company and get a return email that will make you feel really stupid because the one answering is not only not on the same page, but is not even on the same planet as you.  I gave up with AVG retail because the paid for "help" was an arrogant cold robot.  I hate it when someone just reads from a list and never really "hears" anything you are saying.  I would rather get a response from a former hippy and listen to the jargon, as in "Cool man, no problem, groovy.  Chill out; I can fix that for you, solid, man," and get the problem resolved. 

Ace

Well, the good thing from Kaspersky from what I can see is that they're based in Germany and I took German for 3 years, although I dropped it in college since the class was in German and I can't speak or understand German so that wasn't working out too well plus Scuzzy's been to Germany so I'm figuring there's nobody like a German to already make you feel dumb.  Plus, I read that "Beemer" refers to the motorcycle while "Bimmer" refers to the car.  I don't own either, although I knew a guy who did custom cars and he had a Beemer.  I do appreciate a Bangle Butt, though, since those are in vogue now on Bimmers and a lot of other cars.

I don't know if any ex-hippies are in Germany.  I would think they would have navigated to Denmark by now. 

It was a pretty terse email that I got from Kaspersky... just "Hello" then "Do This." 

Ace; Achtung.
Ring bells for service.

Whizbang

#18
Well, my email was completely devoid of help.  ( There was a typo there because I had originally said kelp.  I debated removing it because the word definitely is compatible with the problem, since kelp is a primary component of an underwater jungle.)  The techie wanted to know about my computer and what operating system I had.  He left right there because if I call animal control about removing an opossum from my house, what is the purpose of my having to tell him when my house was built, how many rooms it has, and how big my electric bill is?  I could even tell him that the critter is a prehensile-tailed marsupial, Didelphis virginiana.   I just see it as, "Bring your animal-catching-net over and get the thing out.  I have him cornered and can see him.  I can even tell you what color his eyes are and what he smells like.  He "ain't" gitt'n away.  Just come 'n git 'im out!"

I definitely do not need another email telling me that they are investigating the situation and will inform me later of the appropriate action to take, if any is needed.  (Regarding the computer, a hammer works, but comprehensive reconstructive surgery also entails another appointment along with government required investigation to insure that I have not unwittingly acquired certain forbidden JPEG files that might falsely cast aspersions at my character.