I've seen a bunch of old individual threads, but thought we could use a central location.

I've been running, putting on family members' machines, and recommending Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). I think MSE is good for at least those who aren't completely computer stupid, e.g. clicking links in spam emails, suspicious facebook posts, etc.

However, my mother recently had some major computer issues which ended up being due to at least one virus and over 100 *-wares (mal-, spy-, ad-). I had MSE running on her computer. She generally doesn't click/do anything unfamiliar without checking with me first; however, with the shear number of unwanted software packages on her computer, she must have fucked up several times, apparently. The worst part is that MSE didn't catch anything. A local computer guy ran some scans and found the bad software, removed it, and then installed avast.

I just installed avast on one of my machines to check it out; I like it thus far.

The above is just a FYI. I think others can use this thread to find antivirus programs and ask questions.

From what I know (please update me, if I'm wrong):

Norton is a great antivirus (maybe the best?), though it isn't free.
MSE is good, though now I'm a bit weary. Free.
Ad-Aware (free version) is great/a must.
Spy-bot is also great/a must. Free.
Avast (free version) seems legit
I don't care for TrendMicro (at least what NCSU distributed)
I don't care for McAfee (I don't recall much about this; however, I know it caused me problems in the past).

4/6/2012 10:17:56 PM

On my current rig, I went to the Kel-Tec website. I noticed on the side tab there was a mention of a possible virus on the website. That was enough warning for me to leave that site and go no further, though I had already gone and checked out the PF-9 specs. As soon as I closed the browser (after seeing the "news" about possible virus), MSE warned me there was a trojan attack and I had the option to remove, quarantine, or ignore. Before I could move my mouse to click remove, my computer started shutting down. Windows applications were closing, my memory was being maxed out, and my remaining harddrive space was being cluttered with useless garbage. Windows became unstable and shut down. I restarted in safe mode in attempts to remove it, but then I got warnings that my CPU and memory temps were increasing, so I unplugged the comp. Rebooted into restore mode and did an Acronis Image restoration. Everything is fine... Kinda disappointed that MSE didn't prevent the virus to begin with (and I check to make sure it's up to date weekly). First time anything like this have happened to me, ever, in the 25 years I've been alive.

4/6/2012 10:42:56 PM

Norton isn't the best. Avira has better on-demand detection (as do a few others). Norton also is subject to a high number of false positives and doesn't catch as much as say Avira does. There's also better software at detecting malware not present in definitions (again, like Avira).

But anyway, there is a website that compares various AV software:

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

4/6/2012 10:50:34 PM

I've got a couple-years-old version of Symantec (Norton) Endpoint Protection paired with Malwarebytes website filtering...does the job for me

4/7/2012 1:43:28 PM

I install MSE on everything along with Malwarebytes. I view McAfee as a virus itself & the last version of Norton that I installed wasn't much better (it shouldn't be more difficult to uninstall anti-virus than an actual virus). I'm pretty safe online but I've had better results with this combo than any others except maybe NOD32.

4/7/2012 3:37:35 PM

McAfee is great in the corp world. At home, meh.

I browse with Firefox + NoScript addon (its great, blocks the crap).

I prefer MSE + Adware/Spybot/Malwarebytes, (combofix if needed) + finish off with a ccleaner. Run msconfig, double check.

[Edited on April 7, 2012 at 5:36 PM. Reason : d]

[Edited on April 7, 2012 at 5:37 PM. Reason : ss]

4/7/2012 5:36:30 PM

If you use autoruns instead of msconfig there's no need for a reboot/checkbox.

4/8/2012 12:38:13 PM

I guess AVG isn't on anyone's list anymore? I know I don't install it anymore since MSE came out.

4/8/2012 11:37:46 PM

I virus this shit without words

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/9/2012 12:15:04 AM

So everyone uses MSE now? Does it really offer the best protection?

7/3/2012 5:09:17 PM

Avast is pretty good. Plus they I've been to their HQ in the Czech Republic. Nice Guys.

7/3/2012 5:28:24 PM

1. MSE (free and fast)
2. NOD32
3. Kaspersky
4. Avira
+ Malwarebytes

AVG started constantly flashing banner ads and requests to update/reboot too frequently.

7/3/2012 5:43:29 PM

^^^It's very good, but it excels in keeping false positives to a minimum, and it is less intrusive and resource-hungry than a typical AV program.

7/3/2012 8:54:03 PM

i do not recommend mse for your parents and such. mse can be uninstalled programatically and malware has done it both my parents. for my parents I have them on kaspersky. I still run MSE

7/3/2012 9:59:18 PM

According to the latest independent testing G DATA, Bitdefender, and Kaspersky are rounding out the best detection rates for your $$$. G DATA uses two virus engines, one the same as Bitdefender and one from AVAST, so it's a bit more resource heavy but it has the best rates.

7/3/2012 11:58:25 PM

I'm thinking MSE is easy to defeat...if only because virus writers may assume it's installed on most systems.

But that's a complete assumption. And also because a customer of mine got a horrible infection while "protected" by MSE.

7/4/2012 12:11:34 AM

Indeed, MSE isn't doing so well anymore; now it has the worst detection rate of the bunch (93.1%) in a recent test, although it was the only one to avoid false positives in that test: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_fd_mar2012_intl_en.pdf
On the basis of this test, BitDefender and F-Secure sound best (in other similar tests I've seen, F-Secure consistently has few false positives, usually beating MSE on that score).
Avast! and AVIRA do well among free programs, both having moderate numbers of false positives in this test and scoring well for detection (AVIRA being second-best to G DATA, which had slightly fewer false positives).

In this retrospective test (intended to measure how well the heuristics worked), MSE did even worse (although Avast! did even worse and was still second-worst to Panda), while G DATA and AVIRA did well and BitDefender and F-Secure did moderately well: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_retro_nov2011.pdf
MSE once again did a most excellent job avoiding false positives, while Qihoo (the product with the highest heuristic detection rate, i.e. the fewest false negatives) did a terrible job of it.

It was noticed that BitDefender, unlike most products, actually loaded its protection modules before any malware that may have been in the startup folder (MSE was not in this test): http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/performance/avc_per_201206_en.pdf
BitDefender and F-Secure also had low performance impact, as did Avast! and AVIRA; G DATA did a bit worse.

In this old (August 2011) test, BitDefender was excellent at removal, AVIRA and MSE a bit less so, and F-Secure, G DATA, and Avast! were even worse: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/removal/avc_removal_2011.pdf

In this old (August 2011) test, AVIRA, BitDefender, and G DATA, among others, supported all major browsers in their Anti-Phishing addons, in case you're into that sort of thing (MSE includes no such thing, relying on technologies like Microsoft's SmartScreen filter): http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/phishing/antiphishing2011.pdf

This very old (December 2010) test tells how well various security suites protect against Pick-Up Artists Potentially Unwanted Software: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/pua/avc_pua2010.pdf
AVIRA, G DATA, F-Secure, BitDefender, and Avast! did well, while MSE was a bit worse...then again this was more than one and a half years ago.

This factsheet in preparation for the latest Whole Product Dynamic Test report showed the greatest protection from F-Secure, with BitDefender and G DATA doing almost as well and AVIRA and Avast! close behind (albeit with a large number of "user dependent" cases); MSE was not involved in this test: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/dyn/avc_factsheet2012_05.pdf

Based on some of these tests, including the 2011 year-end summary, I might just try out AVIRA again, while I'd move to BitDefender if I weren't such a cheapskate: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/summary/summary2011.pdf

7/4/2012 2:23:29 AM

And using one site as your sole source of comparisons, while not a bad site, isn't your best option.

Take what you find at av-comparatives, av-test, and virus bulletin and form your own opinions.

For example, here's a comparison from the most recent VB 100 certifications round:

7/6/2012 9:04:06 AM

Using Avira now and it confirms the stupid pop-up ads I extremely hate.

Luckily found a workaround:
http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-the-Popup-Ads-in-Avira-Antivir

7/6/2012 4:03:01 PM

ms security essentials

sandboxie when it's needed

/end thread

7/6/2012 5:54:02 PM

^

http://lifehacker.com/10-malware-removal-apps-tested-malwarebytes-comes-out-1614046598?

8/1/2014 11:08:03 AM

Very nifty.

8/3/2014 2:02:12 PM

starting to look like Avast! is a better choice for the non-tech-savvy, even though it *is* more resource-intensive than MSE/Windows Defender

8/7/2014 6:12:47 AM

what are you all using these days?

1/24/2015 2:56:46 PM

mse

1/25/2015 2:41:16 PM

AVG free

1/26/2015 9:14:45 AM

avg is so damn bloated these days.

1/26/2015 12:08:51 PM

is it? i haven't noticed...i just let it update when it needs to. but then again i don't use my personal computer much.

1/26/2015 1:22:43 PM

mse or windows defender

1/26/2015 3:31:33 PM

What's good? Currently doing AVG + Malwarebytes. AVG is pretty annoying, but I feel like it's better than MSE.

6/10/2016 12:31:47 AM

get a mac nerd

6/10/2016 11:13:01 AM