[Lupin The Third]

I realize that this website doesn't focus on such issues but I thought I'd pick your brains if no one minded.

For the last several years I've been using McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i as my antivirus program. McAfee stopped offering tech support a little while back and as of the start of the month you can no longer update the program. So obviously I need to switch. I'm debating whether to spend the money for new licenses for the roughly 10 computers I maintain (about $1000 for three year licenses) or if a free program might be just as good at this point. I've seen AVG recommended before, but in browsing around cnet I see that Avast is rated higher by users and the cnet review doesn't mention it slowing down boot-up/shut down like their review of AVG does. Keeping in mind that I also use the following...

-Firefox ONLY with NoScript and Internet Explorer is disabled (using a fake proxy server at 0.0.0.0)
-Windows Defender
-Spybot with the Immunizations and Tea Timer

...would a program like Avast be enough to keep my systems secure? Or is there a better free program to use instead of, or even in combination with, Avast? Hopefully it's ok to ask this in this subforum, if not maybe a mod can move this wherever it's more appropriate.

[booB]

I remember not liking AVG or Avast. My ISP provides me with a current copy of McAfee Security Center (incl. VirusScan and a bunch of other programs) free of charge. It's not the best out there, but as long as I don't visit any sites that the SiteAdvisor tells me to stay away from, I do not have any problems. And it doesn't seem to bog down my computer in any way.

[Lupin The Third]

Originally Posted by booB

I remember not liking AVG or Avast. My ISP provides me with a current copy of McAfee Security Center (incl. VirusScan and a bunch of other programs) free of charge. It's not the best out there, but as long as I don't visit any sites that the SiteAdvisor tells me to stay away from, I do not have any problems. And it doesn't seem to bog down my computer in any way.

I've been using Mcafee since 2004 and liked it fine, aside from the random corruption error which would periodically require a re-installation. I'm just not too keen on dropping $1000 at this point to secure my machines if there are other alternatives...

[Collector]

Personally, I dislike both McAfee and especially Norton. AVG used to be good, but over the past year or two, I have had several people bring me their PCs because they had become too slow to be usable. The culprit in most cases proved to be AVG, even after a fresh clean install of Windows.

The Microsoft Security Essentials has been getting great reviews, even by security expert Steve Gibson, the author of the very first anti spyware program. It is free and has far fewer false positives than most antivirus programs. Though the scanning is somewhat slower, it is more through.

[rayvio]

I'm using the Microsoft Security Essentials and despite the odd shiver down my spine at the thought of trusting my security to Microsoft, it's actually pretty good. and while the scans do take as long as AVG did, they don't slow the computer down anywhere near as badly during the scans so I don't have to leave my pc on overnight to do it (three cheers for cheaper electricity bills!). I also use spybot and firefox with noscript and adblock
plus as a last resort there's a zergling and a murloc sitting on my monitor

[terhardp]

I'm using only these security programs right now: Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Windows Firewall. I think this is very efficient and unobtrusive protection; I haven't got any security issues lately. I'm also using Firefox with AdBlock as my primary browser.

In the past, I've used AVG Free and AVIRA Free, but I found MSE superior to both. Maybe not so in the terms of the detection rate, but certainly in the other details. AVG is a notorious resource hog (especially in the latest version) and AVIRA nags with every definition update. I've also tried the latest AVAST (I hated it in the past because of the GUI). Fortunately, they updated GUI in the latest version, but the program is still rather slow in scanning and memory intensive. As for the anti-spyware programs, I've used Ad-Aware and Spy-Bot, but I think that there's no real need for them with MAM.

[Collector]

Originally Posted by terhardp

I'm using only these security programs right now: Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Windows Firewall. I think this is very efficient and unobtrusive protection; I haven't got any security issues lately. I'm also using Firefox with AdBlock as my primary browser.

This is a near ideal setup. And Vista/Win7 users will also have Windows defender. The only thing that I would add to this is a router. A router gives you a physical firewall, which I strongly recommend. Just not using Internet Explorer at all goes a long way towards protecting your machine, too.

[Harald B]

While I admittedly don't know much about it, I'd be loathe to trust Windows Firewall. Personally I use Comodo, which is free yet the most aggressive/paranoid firewall I know. (That does mean a bit much security prompts, but so it goes.)

[Collector]

Originally Posted by Harald B

While I admittedly don't know much about it, I'd be loathe to trust Windows Firewall. Personally I use Comodo, which is free yet the most aggressive/paranoid firewall I know. (That does mean a bit much security prompts, but so it goes.)

With a decent router a software firewall is a little redundant and in some cases, if restrictive enough, more trouble than it is worth. With a router you don't need much of a software firewall to block incoming and you only need something to block out going if you are already infected with malware. There is also a big difference in the built-in firewall in Win7 over earlier versions of Windows. It has it about right. It provides enough protection without being too intrusive, especially if you have a router. Too "aggressive/paranoid" is for most people a bad thing. And as always, the best security exists between the keyboard and the chair. Good practices go much farther than your choice of OS, browser or security software.

[Gamegirl]

Another vote here for Microsoft Security Essentials. It works fine for me but the full system scan does take over two hours. I don't care about that and so far I have found it very reliable. For ten years I used Norton and that was definitely a system hog.

[Lupin The Third]

So I've been trying MSE for about a week now and it seems ok. However I'm a little concerned about the lack of features. Virus Scan Enterprise offered all kinds of options like port blocking, prevention of IE or Outlook from launching files from the Temp folder, prevention of remote creation/modification of files, prevention of file creation in the Windows and System 32 folder, etc...even a very effective option to completely block internet downloads (which is useful for one of the work machines I maintain)....MSE doesn't seem to offer any of these more advanced options. Am I right to be concerned that while it's free and I'm more current on detections now, since Enterprise 8.0i is no longer supported, I'm actually more at risk in some regards since MSE doesn't seem to do anything to prevent infections?

[Lupin The Third]

Anyone???

[Collector]

Microsoft Security Essentials does provide real time monitoring and protection, not just a scanner. For more information you can check out the Wikipedia page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microso...ity_Essentials

[Lupin The Third]

I realize that it does real-time monitoring. But like I said it doesn't seem to have features like blocking remote creation of files, port blocking, etc. So my question is more of whether these advanced features that something like MSE does not do, warrant the extra cost of a paid Antivirus program. So far it seems like a solid program....but even though I used Windows defender I always had the feeling that it wasn't really doing anything (just a vibe I had about it...) and something about MSE gives me that same vibe. Plus it seems to be completely lacking in advanced options as I've said.

[Blogga]

well regardless what others think I reckon Avast is the way to go, never had any hassle since installing it, straightforward real-time protection... also helps that I recentley switched to Firefox, much more secure than IE