What is the Best antivirus for windows XP?

[RX8]

What is the Best antivirus for windows XP?
And firewall? i hate the SP2 firewall.

 

[folken]

I'd give avast antivirus a try. I've been putting it on all my clients machines for a while now and it picks up stuff that not even symantec av corp could see. Best of all it is free
I've never used a software firewall so I don't know much about them but ZoneAlarm is free so what do you have to loose?

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Codesmith]

I second that.

I have given up Norton AV for Avast.
1) Its free
2) It uses very little CPU resources.
3) When it turn it off it goes off.
4) It won't quit working once a year unless I pay up.

I know 1 and 4 are pretty much the same, but every non-expert I know who uses Norton ends up infected once a year becuase somehow they don't notice the messages saying they need to renew their subscription or else.

Downside:
1) No integrated spyware protection (need adaware and spybot for that).
2)Now that I put Avast4Home on everyones computer I no longer make money repair computers due to virus infections.

 

[Zoron]

Panda Platinum Internet Security for me. It's not free... but then I'm one of those that believes you get what you pay for in a lot of cases. It updates definitions daily, has firewall protection and also spam / spyware protection. It takes up less resources than Norton, and I have found it offers better protection.

Toey recommended Panda to me a while back, and it has worked very well for me. Thanks Toey!

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>

 

[Codesmith]

I swithced from Norton to Avast in protest when Symantec added product activation to Norton AV 2004. Since then I have been using it to keep my computer and a dozen others safe with zero problems.

Avast isn't entirely free, its just free for home/non-comercial use.

Anyway there are many great programs that are open source, free or have free versions that contain all the functionality home users are likely to need. Many are simply the best program to use despite being free.

Firefox & Mozilla
Adaware
Spybot
ZoneAlarm
BSPlayer
AC3 Filter
Deamon Tools
CDex
DVD Decrypter
AutoGK
iTunes
Prime95
wxChecksums
Bittorrent
Emule

I am sure others can thing of even more examples.

 

[_WW_]

What is the Best antivirus for windows XP?

The one that is kept updated...and used.

Like those above I use Avast. It's even blocked malicious script on web pages...


....WW (5.0)

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I've been using AVG 7 Free for a while now without problems [crosses fingers] ... what's your guys opinion of Avast vs AVG Free?

Thanks ...



<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[folken]

One of my friends tried AVG a while ago and it seemed to be almost as big of system hog as norton only it didnt detect hardly anything
When he put avast on it found lots of viruses, lol.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[RX8]

avast seems like a small file of 350kb should it be that small, i downloaded nortons 2005 security pack 1 years free subscription, is this any good i dont trust free firewalls but if avast is as good as panda then i will try it.

i used to have panda plat subscrption ran out.

 

[bjpatrick]

I just installed Panda today and I love it! It's not bloatware and Panda gets the job done.

 

[folken]

I haven't used panda before but I have avast on all my comps and all my clients comps and it has done a damned good job sofar. I'll bet the pro version you pay for is even better. I'm tempted to buy some licences for it.

I think the avast installer is like 8mb or so unless it has changed very recently. Make sure you are getting the right thing

Avast also has plugins for email (including outlook w/exchange), all major instant messengers, all major P2P software, and more.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I just installed Panda today and I love it! It's not bloatware and Panda gets the job done.

Question ... How do you know? Unless u have a test virus file - u don't really know if it "rocks" or not ...

I've used AVG (6 then 7) Free for 6-8 months now with no infections, it scans my email, etc ... and I see no reason to mess with it.

My own opinion is the best AV is the habits of the user ... caution being my point ...

I have heard of problems (missed viruses) with Panda ...

I'm still interested in Avast ... but AVG is not a resource hog - I know that for sure ... check some other security forums ...

(I'll post links, if u guys really want)



<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[RX8]

yes please post the links for avast direct downloads.

By the way Panda platinum securty suite is sh1t, the day the subscription stopped i got Nortons anitvirus 2005 i updated and it found 4 viruses and 1 trojen horse, Panda is not what its cracked upto be.

I would like to use norton firewall with antivirus disabled as it really hogs up resources trust me, and i want to use avast for virus will this be a good combination or will they clash?

 

[Jake_Barnes]

sorry ... I don't have link for avast (this is the 1st site to recommend it ... and not a trusted secutity site, at that) ... I still use AVG 7 Free without any incidents .... along with Zone Alarm Pro ... and a hardware firewall (D-Link router) ... I wouldn't go near Symantec/Norton ... but just my opinion

I want to get more info on Avast vs AVG ... ?





<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[PatMcGroin]

Avast.com and it is a little over 8 megs to answer your earlier question.

You Dont Want To Be The Last to Know Anything.

 

[folken]

I think the AVG vs Avast war comes down to personal preference. Try one and if it doesn't suit you try the other.

Here is link to avast download:
<A HREF="http://files.avast.com/iavs4pro/setupeng.exe" target="_new">http://files.avast.com/iavs4pro/setupeng.exe</A>

It does require registration but the registration is free. They send you a key via email that is good for 1yr I believe. Then just get a new one once a year. If that is to much effort then I guess just stick to AVG

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Avast.com and it is a little over 8 megs to answer your earlier question.

Didn't ask (or care) about file size ... not an issue with me ... but I was curious what Avast offered that AVG didn't ... hasn't been answered yet ... seems most ppl on good security sites recommend Nod over AVG ... and Avast comes up short .... but this is not from someone who get infected ... so, essentially, how the he<b></b>ll would I know ...

I'm just looking for the best free ride ... and AVG is painless ... and with no problems in half a year ... well ...




<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[Zoron]

*Shrug*

I've used Panda for 3 years now... no issues at all with viruses... except for those I caused myself.

Btw... Norton has been known to detect some files used in Panda Activescan (free online virus scanner) as viruses... I've had the issue come up a couple of times. Also, any quarantined files will be detected as viruses... even though they have been contained and aren't causing any harm.

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>

 

[Codesmith]

Avast works so well for me and everyone I know that I have never even considered trying anything else. Its free, it doesn't slow down my PC and I don't get viruses. What more can you want.

I would like to add that everyone installing any antivirus program should be using an antivirus test files.

All the antivirus companies got together and added the fake virus definition to their products.

That way you can email it to yourself and see if your email protection is working. Put it in a zip of a zip or a zip and make sure your scanner is going deep enough inside archives, show you mother what it looks like when a virus is found etc.

Anyway here is the virus test string. Cut & past it into a text file and it should be detected as "EICAR Test-NOT virus!!"

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

 

[blah]

<A HREF="http://www.free-av.com/" target="_new">This</A> link will take you to the AntiVirus heaven

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

 

[RX8]

Thank you guys for the links and help.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

You know ... even though I have no issues with AVG Free 7 ... I may just try Avast to see the difference ...

I tried the test virus file ... AVG did not report it as a virus ... but I just pasted it into the body of a Yahoo email to myself ... should I have pasted it into a word/notepad doc and attached it?



<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Let me update my previous post ... for accuracy. When I pasted the "virus test string" into the body of a Yahoo email ... nothing happened - no warning. But when I pasted it into a wordpad text file and attached it to an email - it was picked up.

Initially, roadrunner deleted it at their server level before it got to me ... so I couldn't really test AVG.

So I just scanned the "file" with AVG 7 and it reported it as a virus ... didn't say "EICAR Test-NOT virus!!" ... just virus found ... and asked me what to do ...



<b> ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking alcohol - W.C. Fields </b>

 

[RX8]

string test worked with nortons instantly.

 

[Codesmith]

I always email myself the test virus to make sure my email is properly protected.

I imagine with some AV programs you will have to send it as an attachment, as plain ASCII is a very unlikely vector for a virus infection.

However AV programs usually scan every file regardless of the file type, so sending it via an attachment should always trigger a warning.

It would be funny if the server this forum is running on has a virus scan and my post gets deleted