Anti-virus + Anti-spyware: Latest software opinions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thomas G. Marshall
  • Start date Start date
T

Thomas G. Marshall

Sigh. Once again.

"Which is best?" is a question that gets asked a great many times in this
group, and I've been following the trends for a while, but am lost as to
what the /current/ opinions are. So hopefully, this post isn't a simple
rehash of all the others in the last couple weeks.

Used to be it was McAfee vs. Norton for AV, and that was all there was worth
mentioning in the AV universe. The others were piddling nothingness.

Now it seems that there are a lot of accolades for other apps in the AV
arena. Basically I run both Norton and AVG (Norton full time, and avg "once
in a while").

I am mostly concerned with bandwidth impact of my continually running 2003
NAV auto-protect.

1. What is the best AV considered to be these days?
2. Which AV has the least impact on the system (perhaps this need not be a
separate question).
3. Is McAfee considered to be a bigger hog of cpu bandwidth?
4. What is everyone's favorite anti-spyware? I am using AdAware, but am
intrigued by McAfee's new app.

*And the whopper spyware question* :

5. Is microsoft's new and free anti-spyware application any good?
 
Thomas G. Marshall thought carefully and wrote on 1/26/2005 9:34 PM:
*And the whopper spyware question* :

5. Is microsoft's new and free anti-spyware application any good?
Click to expand...

It's still beta. So no, it's not good yet.

Lance
*****
 
Thomas G. Marshall said:
Sigh. Once again.

"Which is best?" is a question that gets asked a great many times in this
group, and I've been following the trends for a while, but am lost as to
what the /current/ opinions are. So hopefully, this post isn't a simple
rehash of all the others in the last couple weeks.

Used to be it was McAfee vs. Norton for AV, and that was all there was
worth
mentioning in the AV universe. The others were piddling nothingness.

Now it seems that there are a lot of accolades for other apps in the AV
arena. Basically I run both Norton and AVG (Norton full time, and avg
"once
in a while").

I am mostly concerned with bandwidth impact of my continually running 2003
NAV auto-protect.

1. What is the best AV considered to be these days?
2. Which AV has the least impact on the system (perhaps this need not be a
separate question).
3. Is McAfee considered to be a bigger hog of cpu bandwidth?
4. What is everyone's favorite anti-spyware? I am using AdAware, but am
intrigued by McAfee's new app.

*And the whopper spyware question* :

5. Is microsoft's new and free anti-spyware application any good.
Click to expand...


I have been using Nortons for a couple of years without any problems , I
have seen in some of the threads that a lot of
people have had some problems with it. I have also installed AVG and AntiVir
on a few other computers, both seem ok.

I have been using Microsoft's anti-spyware for a little while and it seems
ok, but I also run the following.

Router
ZoneAlarm
Ad-aware
Spybot S&D
Spywareblaster
A-Squared
Winpatrol
Pestpatrol
CWShredder
Stinger
Hosts file from MVPS.org
I also use a few other utilities like XP antispy,upnp,Dcombob,gdiscan and
some Windows process monitors.
 
Thomas G. Marshall said:
Sigh. Once again.

"Which is best?" is a question that gets asked a great many times in this
group, and I've been following the trends for a while, but am lost as to
what the /current/ opinions are. So hopefully, this post isn't a simple
rehash of all the others in the last couple weeks.

Used to be it was McAfee vs. Norton for AV, and that was all there was
worth
mentioning in the AV universe. The others were piddling nothingness.

Now it seems that there are a lot of accolades for other apps in the AV
arena. Basically I run both Norton and AVG (Norton full time, and avg
"once
in a while").

I am mostly concerned with bandwidth impact of my continually running 2003
NAV auto-protect.

1. What is the best AV considered to be these days?
2. Which AV has the least impact on the system (perhaps this need not be a
separate question).
3. Is McAfee considered to be a bigger hog of cpu bandwidth?
4. What is everyone's favorite anti-spyware? I am using AdAware, but am
intrigued by McAfee's new app.

*And the whopper spyware question* :

5. Is microsoft's new and free anti-spyware application any good?
Click to expand...
Kaspersky Pro here. Also just started using MS Anti Spyware, which was
originally owned by Giant.

Clive
 
Gary said:
For detection it's Kaspersky.
Click to expand...

I believe both Escan and NOD32 both use the Kaspersky engine- does this mean
basically they are the same product as Kaspersky just under different names?

Will
 
Will said:
I believe both Escan and NOD32 both use the Kaspersky engine- does this mean
basically they are the same product as Kaspersky just under different names?

Will
Click to expand...
NOD does *not* use the Kaspersky engine. I'm not sure they are even
written in the same programming language.
 
It's still beta. So no, it's not good yet.
Click to expand...

I once read a letter to an editor that put it perfectly.
If the automakers made cars like MS makes an operating system, there would
be callbacks every hour, and breaks failing every microsecond.
 
Kaspersky Pro here. Also just started using MS Anti Spyware, which was
originally owned by Giant.
Click to expand...

how is the MS anti-spyware and did you ever try Avast before you used
Kaspersky?
 
"Which is best?"
Click to expand...

Avast gets my nod. It allows exclusions, so you can exclude anything that
has a performance problem, although that probably isn't relevant.
Performance problems probably have other causes, such as going online.
TCP/IP sucks up about 10% of my computer's performance.
4. What is everyone's favorite anti-spyware? I am using AdAware, but am
intrigued by McAfee's new app.
Click to expand...

Take a look at a2 from emsisoft, which also scans for trojans.
Is microsoft's new and free anti-spyware application any good?
Click to expand...

No. Wait for the next version. This beta is too buggy.
 
Moe Hair coughed up:
I once read a letter to an editor that put it perfectly.
If the automakers made cars like MS makes an operating system, there
would be callbacks every hour, and breaks failing every microsecond.
Click to expand...

And using their rules, cars would stop in the middle of the road and turn
off for no reason. And everyone would think that it's to be expected.
 
skydiver coughed up:
"Which is best?"
Click to expand...

Avast gets my nod. [...]
Click to expand...


Ok, wait a sec. I'm reading over and over the following:

Avast is great

and now I'm also reading in this thread

Kaperksy is great

*How are these two compared to NAV and McAfee* ?


....[rip]...
 
skydiver coughed up:
"Which is best?"
Click to expand...

Avast gets my nod. [...]
Click to expand...


Ok, wait a sec. I'm reading over and over the following:

Avast is great

and now I'm also reading in this thread

Kaperksy is great

*How are these two compared to NAV and McAfee* ?

And do either Kapersky or Avast have reasonable anti-spyware?

....[rip]...
 
How are these two compared to NAV and McAfee* ?
Click to expand...

NAV is pretty good but doesn't seem to find as much as Avast. It's also
not as easy to configure properly. Norton Systemworks is great if you can
load it as a normal program and keep it out of resident memory and start
up. The tools are excellent.

McAfee is a real drag on resources and places itself all over the startup
and registry.
 
Thomas said:
Ok, wait a sec. I'm reading over and over the following:

Avast is great

and now I'm also reading in this thread

Kaperksy is great

*How are these two compared to NAV and McAfee* ?
Click to expand...

They are far less expensive, especially Avast.
And do either Kapersky or Avast have reasonable anti-spyware?
Click to expand...

They are anti-virus programs, not anti-spyware programs. See:
<http://home.rochester.rr.com/bshagnasty/tips.html#spyware>

There is no one-does-everything application. Practicing safe hex is
the best "program" though.
...[rip]...
Click to expand...

Was it the beans? :-)
 
I use Web Root for spyware protection and Trend Micro for AV. Very happy
with both....and light on resources.


"Thomas G. Marshall" <[email protected]>
wrote in message |
| Sigh. Once again.
|
| "Which is best?" is a question that gets asked a great many times in this
| group, and I've been following the trends for a while, but am lost as to
| what the /current/ opinions are. So hopefully, this post isn't a simple
| rehash of all the others in the last couple weeks.
|
| Used to be it was McAfee vs. Norton for AV, and that was all there was
worth
| mentioning in the AV universe. The others were piddling nothingness.
|
| Now it seems that there are a lot of accolades for other apps in the AV
| arena. Basically I run both Norton and AVG (Norton full time, and avg
"once
| in a while").
|
| I am mostly concerned with bandwidth impact of my continually running 2003
| NAV auto-protect.
|
| 1. What is the best AV considered to be these days?
| 2. Which AV has the least impact on the system (perhaps this need not be a
| separate question).
| 3. Is McAfee considered to be a bigger hog of cpu bandwidth?
| 4. What is everyone's favorite anti-spyware? I am using AdAware, but am
| intrigued by McAfee's new app.
|
| *And the whopper spyware question* :
|
| 5. Is microsoft's new and free anti-spyware application any good?
|
|
|
| --
| Onedoctortoanother:"Ifthisismyrectalthermometer,wherethehell'smypen???"
|
|
|
 
They are anti-virus programs, not anti-spyware programs. See:
<http://home.rochester.rr.com/bshagnasty/tips.html#spyware>

There is no one-does-everything application. Practicing safe hex is
the best "program" though.
Click to expand...

Agreed whole heartedly! There is no perfect 'all in one' product. Now
here is an analogy - It's a lot like Shampoo and Conditioner - ever
though the Shampoo and Conditioner all in one is convienient and even
cheaper in most cases - two seperate products, a very good shampoo and
a very good consitioner - sometimes from different brands - offer the
best results :-)


Regards,
Ian Kenefick
http://www.IK-CS.com
 
On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 05:34:52 GMT, "Thomas G. Marshall"

[Snip]
1. What is the best AV considered to be these days?
Click to expand...

For my money F-Secure Anti-virus is the best thing going.
2. Which AV has the least impact on the system (perhaps this need not be a
separate question).
Click to expand...

Probably, F-Prot or Nod32.
3. Is McAfee considered to be a bigger hog of cpu bandwidth?
Click to expand...

Huh? What? Assuming you have reasonably up to date hardware and
sufficient RAM who cares. My primary workstation is 1.6GHz P4 with 1GB
of RAM... I can't see any difference in performance with F-Secure
running versus not running.
4. What is everyone's favorite anti-spyware? I am using AdAware, but am
intrigued by McAfee's new app.
Click to expand...

I've got both Adaware and Spybot S&D installed... Neither of them has
ever found anything other than the occasion "tracking cookie".
*And the whopper spyware question* :

5. Is microsoft's new and free anti-spyware application any good?
Click to expand...

Hmm... Ummm.... Err... I suppose that depends on how you define
"good". Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a ten meter cattle prod.


Cheers-

Jeff Setaro
jasetaro@SPAM_ME_NOT_mags.net
http://people.mags.net/jasetaro/
PGP Key IDs DH/DSS: 0x5D41429D RSA: 0x599D2A99 New RSA: 0xA19EBD34
 
skydiver coughed up:
"Which is best?"
Click to expand...

Avast gets my nod. [...]
Click to expand...


Ok, wait a sec. I'm reading over and over the following:

Avast is great

and now I'm also reading in this thread

Kaperksy is great

*How are these two compared to NAV and McAfee* ?

And do either Kapersky or Avast have reasonable anti-spyware?
Click to expand...

Kaspersky has the ability to detect spyware... It's not enabled by
default though. I memory serves there's an option in the updater to
include the spyware detection information in the updates.


Cheers-

Jeff Setaro
jasetaro@SPAM_ME_NOT_mags.net
http://people.mags.net/jasetaro/
PGP Key IDs DH/DSS: 0x5D41429D RSA: 0x599D2A99 New RSA: 0xA19EBD34
 
Kaspersky has the ability to detect spyware... It's not enabled by
default though. I memory serves there's an option in the updater to
include the spyware detection information in the updates.
Click to expand...

Correct!
In current version 5.0 of KAV you select the 'Extended Database'
option in the updater options. In versions previous to 5.0 you must
change the update url from the /updates to /updates_x

Regards,
Ian Kenefick
http://www.IK-CS.com
 
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