Anti-Virus Protector

[Azyael]

Okay, time for me to get an anti-virus program...

So, what do you all recommend? What's good and reliable?

The price range is open-ended. I'm okay with spending good money to make sure my computer is secure.

[Kerio]

A quick question ...

Just anti-virus? or do you need a firewall too?

Many of the larger brands have combination packages which are only slightly more expensive than their single anti-virus product. Symantec (i.e. Norton) has been producing anti-virus protection products for more than a decade -- that doesn't mean that their current product is the best; only that they have a long history from whence they have earned their expertice.

Other companies include McAfee, Trend, Sophos, Kaspersky LAB, Computer Associates, GRISoft, SOFTWIN, Dialogue Science, Frisk Software, IKARUS, GeCAD RAV, and VirusBuster -- and probably a dozen more of which I am unaware.

Furthermore, you should make sure your operating system (OS) is fully patched as many viruses, worms and trojan horses try and exploit weaknesses therein.

A good anti-virus program will help insure that your computer is only infected for a short period of time ... a good firewall will help insure that your computer is extremely difficult to infect.

Only you can determine what your needs are ...

[Reisel]

Well, for a free virus scanner I use AVG, and for a free firewall I use ZoneAlarm.

If I was going to buy an anti-virus program though, I would probably buy EZ Trust Antivirus. They also sell firewall protection. I used their anti-virus software way back when it was free. It's really good, they keep it updated, and it doesn't suck away all your system resources like Norton usually does.. If you go to www.my-etrust.com you can download a 30 day trial.

[Bramond]

I would personally go for the Symantec by Norton, and if you need a firewall, you could upgrade your connectivity with a "NetGear" router for a good round the house wireless connection with an in built firewall.

Have a looksy on the web site below. Tons of good reviews and antivirus news on "Linux".

http://www.vnunet.com/

[Pae]

www.avast.com

Another decent anti-virus program that is free for personal use.

[Aristotle]

I have read nothing but BAD stuff about Norton's anti-virus and firewall software.

The program drains enormous system resources, is buggy, and doesn't even do a good job of protecting your machine.

If you want to buy something, I'd go with McAfee.

I know there are some good free ones out there as well but I haven't tried them.

[Gadiantor]

I use McAfee and have loved it. Both the firewall and virus protection are near idiot proof to use, and other than having to re-install the virus protection on the rare occasion when an update doesn't load right, I've had no problems at all. I could have Norton for free from work, but choose to pay for McAfee. I'm about as cheap a bastard as you'll find, so that's saying something.

I also recommend Ad-Aware and SpyBot Search & Destroy for control of adware and spyware. I use both of them, and have been very happy with them. Plus, they are free!

Also, Pop-up Stopper! Pop-ups suck, and not in a good way.

[Bramond]

Takes all sorts dont it, we used to use Mc Afee at work, and for some reason changed to Norton, i am sure theres a good reason.

Then we do use the corporate edition, so its probably all relative to the depth of your needs i suppose. At the end of the day
Mc Afee will do the job.

[Graeblyn]

Originally posted by Bramond
Takes all sorts dont it, we used to use Mc Afee at work, and for some reason changed to Norton, i am sure theres a good reason.

Then we do use the corporate edition, so its probably all relative to the depth of your needs i suppose. At the end of the day
Mc Afee will do the job.

Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition is TONS better then MCAfee VirusScan ASaP. But, we are talking about the individual home application here, right?

Between the two of them, McAfee seems to cause less performance degradation on my and my boyfriends PC. In addition, the firewall Norton has (Internet Security as I recall they call it) totally sucks. it is a memory and HD hog, and slows your browsing experience to a crawl. What I find works best for home is ZoneAlarm with antivirus. Even if you decide on a different antivirus software, you can download the firewall part of zonealarm for free at www.zonelabs.com

Also, you will need to get a spyware filter. AdAware and Spybot SearchandDestroy are both excellent, and FREE.

[Azyael]

I downloaded Avast, ZoneAlarm and Search and Destroy and all have been working admirably. Almost no pop ups, and almost no problems: they've worked like a charm!

However, my current and only source of complete frusteration is my homepage settings. Naturally, I have my homepage set to the forums. However, a week or two back my homepage started changing to this BS 'search engine' site. No matter how often I switch it back to the forums, every time my computer restarts it automatically starts out with search engine site. Now, it ALWAYS loads the search engine site, regardless of what I set as a homepage.

It's fucking frusterating as hell. I was assuming it was some type of virus?