IMPORTANT!!! ANTIVIRUS FAULT!!!

[Captain_Collins]

Hi all,

This may be slightly off topic, but I feel it is important enough to post here.

My College tutor has just completed a PHd study of antivirus products, and he has found that the main four antivirus programs he tested rate like this:

Norton(corporate edition)(commercial) found false positives (seeing a virus that isn't there) 0.2% of the time. It had positive negatives (not seeing viruses that are there) 4% of the time, and it took on average one day to update. This was the best commercial antivirus tested.

Kapernsky (Sp?)(freeware) found false positives 8% of the time, it had positive negatives 6% of the time, and it took 3 days to update. However, this product came out worst in terms of usability and support so is NOT RECOMENDED.

These are the two to watch:

AVG (freeware) found false positives 72% of the time, and positive negatives 78% of the time, and it took 1 day to update. Also, AVG uses the larges amount of computer resources out of the four. Therefore, I recommend you GET RID OF AVG IMMEDIATLEY!

The best performer in the freeware catergory was Avira. It found false positives 4% of the time, and postive negatives 6% of the time, ranking it very close to Norton. It is also very resource light, meaning it will impact less on your computer than all the others compared (other than Norton).

Therefore, my recommendation to you is to get Avira, as none of the other freeware antivirus products compared will do their jobs as well as Avira, especially not AVG.

Oh, by the way, if anyone wants a DVD of malware, then PM me:hehe:

 

[narrowgauge]

I'm puzzled why you talk about 'main ones' being Kapersky, AVG, and Avira. I have heard of AVG but not the others. I run with Trend Micro Internet Security (commercial)and in the four years I have used it, I have not had a virus problem. It has warned me several times about web sites but I have had no infections. Updates are frequent, sometimes daily and they always install immediately and without fuss. I would wholeheartedly recommend this program.

I have heard many complaints about Norton, I would not touch that.

Perhaps I don't surf as dangerously as some, porn sites are not on my list.

Cheers

Narrowgauge

 

[pommie]

Hi all,

AVG (freeware) found false positives 72% of the time, and positive negatives 78% of the time, and it took 1 day to update. Also, AVG uses the larges amount of computer resources out of the four. Therefore, I recommend you GET RID OF AVG IMMEDIATLEY!

Why would I get rid of the program that has looked after my machines for years, in that time AVG has missed only a few times ( ten tops ), with the false positives I have had no more than five over the same period.
Facts and figures can be manipulated to mean anything, with no disrespect to the person that did this limited test, I think that the various computer magazines would test these things a lot more thoroughly, and their results differ from what you give by a long way.

Thanks for the offer of the malware DVD but I know where to get gigabytes of the things if I wanted them

oh as an aside I do not care where I go on the web security wise, including the no-no sites

Cheers David

 

[big_b]

I use Zone Alarm as well as Avira as well as
Spyware Terminator & Winpatrol

I've only had one problem in about the last 2yrs that's caused a problem & thats only because my kids turned off the scanners when we were on dialup

My daughter has used AVG for the last 3 years without any problems & updates in under 5 minutes.

If those are your tutors finding I hope he reviews his finding before submitting his paper.If AVG is taking that long to update he either has a virus or a malware problem on his computer

Dave

 

[johnwhelan]

Realistically these days the problem is not viruses but scripts on infected web sites.

Procedures are probably more important than which anti virus software you use. So avoid problems with by running windows update, Firefox 3.0 running no script, and run all Internet connections in a user level account, this is not the XP default you need to go into control panel but please make sure you have at least one admin level account as well so you can install software etc.

Cheerio John

 

[dougtrain]

Hi all - I have been using AVG for over four years and it has done me proud, first as freeware and then the bought version ( a tad better). Running this alongside Lavasoft I have no problems at all. No trouble with firewalls, nothing!

I would not entertain Norton as it is too "in your face" trying to control everything. Not that it is a bad piece of software, it is just not for me. Everyone to his own.

My AVG updates in under two minutes so I have no comlpaints there either. AVG has been tested and always recomended by my computer mag 'Computer Active'.

I am not about to have a panic attack over a questionable "test" that proves nothing to me at all. The results I want are my anti-virus prog telling me that I am well covered. AVG does that and I can relax.

Doug

 

[Captain_Collins]

I'm puzzled why you talk about 'main ones' being Kapersky, AVG, and Avira. ...cut...

I have heard many complaints about Norton, I would not touch that.

...cut...

1. The main ones my tutor tested.
2. The Norton internet security suite is really bloated, but the commercial version is just an antivirus that is designed for large corporations etc.

Why would I get rid of the program that has looked after my machines for years, in that time AVG has missed only a few times ( ten tops ), with the false positives I have had no more than five over the same period.
1. Facts and figures can be manipulated to mean anything, with no disrespect to the person that did this 2. limited test, I think that the various computer magazines would test these things a lot more thoroughly, and their results differ from what you give by a long way.
...cut...
Cheers David

To answer your points, I have numbered them in red:
1. Yes, maybe the magazines manipulated their figures.
2. He has multiple PHds and MAs in computer subjects, including computer forensics, and network security, and he did the study with three even more highly qualified people. Oh, and he spent three years on it (not all at once) and tested many different releases of the products.

...cut...

If those are your tutors finding I hope he reviews his finding before submitting his paper.If AVG is taking that long to update he either has a virus or a malware problem on his computer

Dave

Sorry, I may not have been clear enough on that point. The figure I quoted were the frequency of updates issued, not the download/install time.

Hi all - I have been using AVG for over four years and it has done me proud, first as freeware and then the bought version ( a tad better). Running this alongside Lavasoft I have no problems at all. No trouble with firewalls, nothing!

I would not entertain Norton as it is too "in your face" trying to control everything. Not that it is a bad piece of software, it is just not for me. Everyone to his own.

My AVG updates in under two minutes so I have no comlpaints there either. AVG has been tested and always recomended by my computer mag 'Computer Active'.

I am not about to have a panic attack over a questionable "test" that proves nothing to me at all. The results I want are my anti-virus prog telling me that I am well covered. AVG does that and I can relax.

Doug

Unfortunately, you can be told anything, and it may not be true. Please also see my reply to Pommie.

EDIT: Just to clarify another point, some of the malware used was very rare and so antivirus companies may not have provided for it.

 

[Liam125]

Ugh..AVG is the worst. Half the time it says that the virus isn't healable

Norton Internet Security is the best - I've had it for over 3 years and it's blocked all viruses that tried to intrude The only "virus" that the scanner has picked up is just one annoying tracking cookie that keeps coming back every now-and-then, but tracking cookies are harmless.

 

[PerRock]

My problem with Norton is that it is too restricted. the last version I used would update every day at 8:00pm; prime computing time for me. It would pop-up little "issues" no matter what settings I had it on (shy of turning the scanner off) which would interrupt my games, sometimes even make them crash. the last straw for me was when it would "quarantine" stuff then tell me that the quarantined (in a later scan) was dangerous and that it needed quarantining. I have since switched over to AVG which has not done anything to turn me away--yet {PerRock knocks on some wood}

peter

 

[Captain_Collins]

Now that is strange!

My first post on this subject has been separated from this thread and has no views or replies.

Weird.

 

[The_Salesman]

All I know is, I've used AVG for years with no problem for years, with no viruses or problems over 3 computers.
Norton and McAffe are overhyped bloatware passed off to the average compute user as top of the line.

If they are so good, how come my friends using them have had tons of problems over the years and I've not had any?

 

[RooRocz]

Norton is so bloated that many security experts consider it a virus in and of itself nowadays. Y'all who have it might want to just get McAffee now... it's small and has never allowed a virus into my system.

 

[transitguard]

I now use "Avast!", and before that I used the free AVG. The only thing that turned me away from AVG is that one day I got a message that told me that updates would no longer be available for the free version of the virus scanner.

 

[The_Salesman]

I now use "Avast!", and before that I used the free AVG. The only thing that turned me away from AVG is that one day I got a message that told me that updates would no longer be available for the free version of the virus scanner.

They do that every year when they release a new version. All you have to do is download the newest one from Grisoft.com. Admittedly, their notice could be written a little more friendly though.

 

[transitguard]

At the time I got the message, the new version wasn't available yet so I assumed that they had discontinued it. Oh well, "Avast!" seems to work well enough for me.

 

[The_Salesman]

At the time I got the message, the new version wasn't available yet so I assumed that they had discontinued it. Oh well, "Avast!" seems to work well enough for me.

Yeah, I've heard good things about Avast! as well. If Grisoft ever goes under, I'll be switching to Avast!

 

[JCitron]

I'm puzzled why you talk about 'main ones' being Kapersky, AVG, and Avira. I have heard of AVG but not the others. I run with Trend Micro Internet Security (commercial)and in the four years I have used it, I have not had a virus problem. It has warned me several times about web sites but I have had no infections. Updates are frequent, sometimes daily and they always install immediately and without fuss. I would wholeheartedly recommend this program.

I have heard many complaints about Norton, I would not touch that.

Perhaps I don't surf as dangerously as some, porn sites are not on my list.

Cheers

Narrowgauge

I agree. Trend has a great product. I use this at work on the five laptops we have running. We used to run their OfficeScan, but the licensing is too high for 5 machines; It's less expensive to run the PCCillin on the laptops. At home I also run this on my machines. The bundling is great because you get 3 machines for the price of one with the free upgrades during the first year, and the $39.99 renewal. This is a good deal.

I have never had any weird problems with Trend either, nor had anything sneak through like with Norton. When my company was part of Polaroid, we would have problems all the time with Norton AV.

John

 

[davesnow]

My problem with Norton is that it is too restricted. the last version I used would update every day at 8:00pm; prime computing time for me. It would pop-up little "issues" no matter what settings I had it on (shy of turning the scanner off) which would interrupt my games, sometimes even make them crash. the last straw for me was when it would "quarantine" stuff then tell me that the quarantined (in a later scan) was dangerous and that it needed quarantining. I have since switched over to AVG which has not done anything to turn me away--yet {PerRock knocks on some wood}

peter

I installed Norton about two weeks ago, and started having problems when I ran TRAINZ 06. The movement in the game (trains, traffic, etc.) would make a minute "jerk" once a second. It was a small jerk, but very annoying. I UNinstalled Norton and the jerk is gone. Norton is not for me.

 

[GP_38-2]

Norton is a severe system hog. It's been getting worse with each release.

AVG was quite good for a while, but recently it has been noted to have some problems (virus recognition, non-viruses seen as viruses etc.)
I use CA, Zonealarm and both are great. I've used Kapersky in the past and it was also a great product.
Just last week (literally) I started using Avast on customer computers and for a free anti-virus it's very nice.

 

[lewisner]

I used to have Norton and I can't comment on whether it did its job properly BUT when I tried to renew it by phone I ended up talking to their "Service Centre" (sic) in India.The woman I spoke to could barely speak English and when I told her I lived in York and she replied "which country is that in?" I realised that my half hour phone call was pointless.I hung up and never renewed.Another gem was that gave the renewal price in Dollars and I asked "why on earth would I want the price in Dollars when I live in England" she replied "I'll have to get it converted to pounds".What a bunch of idiots.