[Poll] Which Antivirus do you use?

[PhysicoRaj]

I stopped using it when it made my computer go blank. I had to reinstall windows again :3

Ditto. Except that I am yet to discontinue it.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Always used MSSE until I tired of the endless error messages in Event Viewer. Although it is not very good, since I do not visit dubious sites and download only from proper sources, it was enough. Then I started sharing my PC with the missus...

BitDefender (free) is as lightweight as MSSE and allows for a much faster boot to desktop, apart from its excellent level of protection (usually ranked in top three). Recommended.

 

[Chronos]

Malwarebytes with ME AV works fine for me.

 

[B. Elliott]

Many "free" products are just bait for paid-for products from the same company.

But nobody is going to make any money by recommending a genuinely free product from MS. (OK, MS Essentials isn't really free - you paid for it up front when you bought your Windows license, whether you use it or not).

My thoughts exactly

 

[poper9435]

Bit Defender

 

[TrentNY]

I use Webroot! (not on poll).

 

[meBigGuy]

I'm surprised no one referenced this site:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/

It makes it pretty clear which SW is the best (there is more than 1 "best"). For the "good" SW, there is generally a tradeoff between detection and false alarms and performance impacts.

They have charts on performance, detection rates, false positives, etc. and extensive descriptions on the nature of the tests.

BTW, microsoft's solution sucks (I have personal experiences I'd be happy to share) and AV comparative's real world tests say this:
Microsoft’s out-of-box protection: 83.3% (non-competitive)

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

BTW, microsoft's solution sucks (I have personal experiences I'd be happy to share) and AV comparative's real world tests say this:
Microsoft’s out-of-box protection: 83.3% (non-competitive)

hmmm well, I've used MS Defender for years with no viruses. I think these days you either get a virus by being careless or by doing questionable things. I haven't worried about viruses for many years.

 

[Dr.D]

I have been using a paid version of AVAST for several years with good results,

But ...

This past Friday night, I had a problem running a utility that I have used countless times previously. Avast said it was corrupted, so I called Avast support. To make a long story short,
-- I worked with them off and on through the night for a total of about 15 hours;
-- They said I needed their paid support package for Win XP and to let their tech control my machine;
In the end, their tech seems to have destroyed Win XP, so my machine is completely shot until I do a re-install. I cannot run anything at all right now, and I'm more than a little bit frosted with Avast!

No More Avast for Me!

 

[dlgoff]

I have been using a paid version of AVAST for several years with good results,

But ...

This past Friday night, I had a problem running a utility that I have used countless times previously. Avast said it was corrupted, so I called Avast support. To make a long story short,
-- I worked with them off and on through the night for a total of about 15 hours;
-- They said I needed their paid support package for Win XP and to let their tech control my machine;
In the end, their tech seems to have destroyed Win XP, so my machine is completely shot until I do a re-install. I cannot run anything at all right now, and I'm more than a little bit frosted with Avast!

No More Avast for Me!

Probably just as well you re-install XP. I too used Avast and found it very difficult to get all instances of it's "fingers" deleted. I switched to Microsoft Security Essentials about the same time as Greg did, I believe, and haven't had any problems with it. But agree that ...

I think these days you either get a virus by being careless or by doing questionable things.

 

[rcgldr]

Most of my system protection comes from frequent backups. I multi-boot (Win XP, Win XP x64, Win 7 x64), and have several partitions on several hard drives, plus an external drive. For anything that could be suspicious, I test with Win 7's virtual machine XP mode, since recovery just requires restoring a backup of the XP mode hard drive image file.

 

[meBigGuy]

hmmm well, I've used MS Defender for years with no viruses. I think these days you either get a virus by being careless or by doing questionable things. I haven't worried about viruses for many years.

That is an anecdotal, valueless, opinion espoused by many people who have simply been lucky.

I'll agree that many problems are caused by user stupidity, but don't think for a moment that they all are.

I have been infected by malware (with widows defender active and updated, BTW) on an unattended computer. Just parked on a website, and a compromised ad-server rooted my machine. Of course, Microsoft wasn't interested in the forensics, either.

You might say that "leaving a browser open is questionable", but I think not.

It is not a matter of "if" you will be compromised, it is a matter of when. With windows defender, the odds go WAY up. Did you even look at the AV comparatives reports? If you are aware of the 83% effectiveness (worse that all other solutions) and poor performance of windows defender, then that's your decision. But, if you are actually unaware of the quantitative differences between the many AV solutions, then I don't know what else to say.

It's only a matter of time before you accidently click on something you probably shouldn't have, and Microsoft let's you down.

 

[Medicol]

That is an anecdotal, valueless, opinion espoused by many people who have simply been lucky.

I'll agree that many problems are caused by user stupidity, but don't think for a moment that they all are.

You sound harsh. It's not really the stupidity when one is unaware of something dangerous but I suppose when he makes the same mistake several times.

I have been infected by malware (with widows defender active and updated, BTW) on an unattended computer. Just parked on a website, and a compromised ad-server rooted my machine. Of course, Microsoft wasn't interested in the forensics, either.

You might say that "leaving a browser open is questionable", but I think not.

It is not a matter of "if" you will be compromised, it is a matter of when. With windows defender, the odds go WAY up. Did you even look at the AV comparatives reports? If you are aware of the 83% effectiveness (worse that all other solutions) and poor performance of windows defender, then that's your decision. But, if you are actually unaware of the quantitative differences between the many AV solutions, then I don't know what else to say.

You think about only one engine. No single AV can detect all the latest viruses, because AV engines work based on their server databases of stored file signatures to identify the targets in question. You heard of Virus Total of Google :D. It offers scanning services for not only a particular file but also domains or sites all at once.

It's only a matter of time before you accidently click on something you probably shouldn't have, and Microsoft let's you down.

Viruses or malicious codes can be attached to whatever files, not only PE (portable executable) files.

I have a headache reading statistical data.

 

[meBigGuy]

I have a headache reading statistical data.

Then look at a picture:
http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php

Pick what tests you want to see. File detection, Real Time Protection, and Performance are good choices.