I was wondering if I could get a few thoughts or different preferences on Anti virus software and which ones seem to be the best ones.
I currently use Norton, but it slows my computer somewhat.
I did a search on Google and "The Shield" came up. Is this any good?........

Thanks

Never heard of The Shield Pro 2006, it must be new. You going to get varied opinions on this one. Yes Norton is a major resource hog and you computer needs lots of jam to run it.

I would recommend Kaspersky or Bitdefender. I currently use Kaspersky and have been very happy with it and it takes up hardly any resources.

http://www.kaspersky.com/personalpro
http://www.bitdefender.com/

I also use Kapersky Internet Security Suite 6.0 and am very happy with it.

Yo-

I am using Trend Micro Internet Security Suite 2006 and it works very well (top rated in Consumer Reports) - full oem version with one year of updates - can be gotten for $14 shipped from www.globe2000.com -eh!

I like to use AVG Free. Some folks dig it, others don't, but I like it better than Norton.

i'll second Bitdefender, i use it and it seems good, you can get it for $25 from
http://anti-virus-software-review.to...er-review.html
with 3mths free spysweeper

AVG 7.5 ...a new and free version...I like it too. In combination with Zone Alarm...a must.

NOTE: They sometimes offer you the choice of "delete" or "quarantine". You should select quarantine if you are not 100% sure...then later clear this out if everything is still running if it should.

And from time to time, run CCleaner, Ad-Adware, Spybot - Search & Destroy.

There´s a range of pretty good free set-ups and some say it´s a better way to go since the big/popular names (like Norton) seem to get targetted by malware more often. In addition, many of these are lighter on resources, and some also run nicely in the background.
High marks being scored by newbies - worth checking out: SuperAntiSpyware, and a-squared.
If you wanna buy a system then get G-Data (which incorporates Kaspersky) or Trend Micro.

Run a few tests on your own system: www.auditmypc.com Maybe get a surprise!

The best antivirus program is without a doubt Eset's NOD32. It has the best detection rate, smallest foot-print and fastest performance. It has won 40 Virus Bulletin VB 100% awards, which is more than any other AV app has ever archived...

I'm glad we have so many free options out there!

I also prefer free programs wherever possible i.e. whenever there is a free alternative that is atleast as good as a payware version, and infact of all the apps i use, i only have 3 apps that are non-free :

Windows XP PRO SP2
ESET NOD32
Acronis True Image Home v9

The reason i use Acronis True Image and ESET NOD32 instead of free alternatives, is that i haven't seen any free alternatives that is able to rival them unfortunetly...

Just my 2 cents...

Sounds totally reasonable to me.

I use quite a few retail things, but will probably switch from Microsoft Office to Open Office and am giving Free Commander a pretty hardcore workout as my primary file manager. I own PowerDesk Pro 5 and 6, but don't think I'll give them any more of my money when they do an upgrade.

WinRAR is payware, as is dBPowerAMP, MP3 Splitter & Joiner, Nero, Sound Forge Audio Studio, Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5 and there are a group of others. I am in too far to totally be able to pull out, cause some of these apps are just too comfortable for me to want to switch.

I'm running a minimal system at the moment, just XP with a dozen or so essential apps, no e-mail client (webmail if needed), no software firewall (hardware in router). This thing boots really fast and feels light as a feather in daily use. I also found the perfect antivirus companion for this spartan setup: BitDefender 8 Free Edition. The Virus Shield option is not available, but you do get automatic updates and can scan what-/whenever you want. After 10 years Internet and with some common sense, I'm comfortable with that. For the inexperienced, I'd recommend AVG (first or Avast! second).

here's a direct link to it,

http://www.bitdefender.com/site/Down...adFile/340/EN/


as i said before i've version 10 and happy with it

AVG Free Edition for me along with ZoneAlarm or Comodo Firewall

NOD32, doesn't miss a thing. It's light and updates every day.

30day free trial

A package from my ISP (anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, popup/ad-blocker etc), which despite being free, works very well for me - as Cressida said, coupled with a good dose of common-sense.

On my mum's PC...Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0, and ZoneAlarm Free. Again, works well.



Edit: Hehe, passed all the firewall tests in Dean's link above. Not bad.

My IT advisor guy is a fan of the G-Data package...it combines Bitdefender and Kaspersky, and is obviously not free. For a free set-up he says go for the AVG + Zone Alarm

A note about Trend Micro: going through some of the recent test reports, it seems that it was hot stuff until a year or so ago...now for some reason it´s a bit weaker, and not really featuring as a favorite. NOD is new to me...but sure, the reports are glowing so far.

A note about SuperAntiSpyware - It caused major problems on my system (AMD 64 with Win XP media centre ed) and stopped quite a few applications running - particularly MS office)) I had to uninstall, then everything returned to normal.

I run AdAware with no problems.

I use a combination of Avast! and Bitdefender 8 Free Edition as an on-demand scanner. This proved to be the best solution for free.

I use Clam Win as its open source, anyone who works in security/crypto will tell you this is the only way to run safe and secure code.

NOD is very good but you have to pay for it, IMO you only need that amount of AV security if you have many people using your computer that will go opening all spam sent and going off to any part of the interweeb without using any sort of software firewall and anti spyware/malware blocking to keep software/websites in control.

A hardware firewall can only filter something from the outside from coming in, so if you run UPnP of have any sort of closed software on your computer it can let in or open any ports for anything to drive right thru the hardware firewall as well as being able to send any information home. Things like XP (which reports back in 12 different ways on your computer habits) 'phone home' to keep track on what you use the computer for, even Zone Alarm does this (just google zone alarm spyware) I dont know if that has been sorted as IMO there are many far better free firewalls out there that work much more than ZA does.

I dont run AV full time as I dont need it, I only scan downloads and dont go reading spam, or blindly following any link. A good software firewall is much more important than real time AV software IMO (and many others).

I leave AVG on full-time and don't notice much of a slowdown, if any at all. I guess I'd rather be safe than sorry.

As a former Norton AV user I can say it it worse then the free ones.
Resource hog and my machine caught a bug it could not fix, not even after using the tools on their web site, support was nil and they even beat me out of my rebate.
I went for a 30 day free trial of Kaspersky Internet Security and I was sold!
It is an all in one and you dont even know its there. It goes for about $60.00 but I bought mine on Ebay from a licensed reseller for $33.00.
If you want the info pm me.
To me it is the best product of its kind and has a great support forum.
You also cant go wrong with NOD32 and they also offer a free trial, but they dont have a firewall, since installing KIS I was able to get rid of adaware and spybot as they became useless with KIS installed.

Sophos is pretty light too, if that's what you want. But AVG is fine, and it's free. I'd never pay for something that should be included in Windows anyway (though I've done it in the past).

NOD32 doesn't have the best detection rate and never did.

Doesn't matter what "security/crypto will tell you " bottom line is Clam Win/ClamAV doesn't have good detection. AntiVir, Avast!, AVG are much better.

G-Data has the best detection of all the AV's, but its detection (minus spyware/adware) is a slim 00.17% better than second place AntiVir Free Edition

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

www.eset.com :

NOD32 has consistently been rated as the best protection against zero-day outbreaks and attacks by the world's leading antivirus testing organizations.

* www.av-comparatives.org is an Austrian research lab that performs retrospective tests.
* www.virustotal.com produces a newsletter listing vendors that detect outbreaks as they occur.

ESET has achieved 40 Virus Bulletin VB 100% awards, more than any other vendor. In Virus Bulletin's comparative tests, ESET's product has not missed an 'In the Wild' virus sample since May 1998.

Fast Performance :
Great detection doesn't have to slow down your computer. Written largely in assembly language, NOD32 continually wins awards for the fastest performance of any antivirus application, on average 2 to 5 times faster than the competition (source: Virus Bulletin). Switch to NOD32 and upgrade your computer's performance.

Smallest Footprint :
NOD32 conserves resources on disk and in memory, leaving more for your critical applications. The installer is just 8.6 MB and the application takes up less than 20 MB in memory (this fluctuates with changes to the detection technology). ThreatSense updates, which includes heuristics logic and signatures, are usually between 20 kB and 50 kB. Switch to NOD32 and reclaim precious resources.