Antivirus - Best & Worst

Heya all,

"Which is the best anti-virus, which is the worst?" And of course, I always get different opinions. I get different and strange answers from a lot of forums and websites. So i would like to ask you guys for detailed explanation.
If you are not busy and have time, please answer me which is the best antivirus and why. Faults and shortcomings, and advantages too.

Avast, Avira, AVG, Kaspersky, NOD 32, Norton, etc..

Thanks

Norton is a huge product and can cause a lot of slowness on a machine that can't handle it, takes too many resources.

AVG is known for false positives and corrupts itself when updating.

I use Avira on both my Desktop and laptop, it's small, doesn't hog my CPU and updates smoothly. Doesn't ask me, just updates itself when my wireless connects.

I use Kaspersky Internet Security, it's light weight and makes me feel secure with it's security features.

It also has this "safe run" feature which allow me to sandbox any applications, so it saves me time from having to boot up my VM when I want to test if a website is malicious.

Their malicious URL blocking features is also quite good. It saved me a couple of times.

What about NOD32 ?

I have been using Avast free home version for close to 10yrs and love it. I have never had a problem and its caught many virus and never had a major infection. I reccomend it to all my customers.

I agree with Belahzur about Norton, McAfee is the same way they will hog your system resources.

Hey, I'm also use Avast Home Edition from last one year . It's good antivirus and it includes good security systems. It also includes voice alert for any threat in your computer .. I also used Norton also but I got some problem regarding to PC speed . So. I left it and started using of Avast Home edition.

For worst AV I´m afraid I have to go with the open source stuff like Clamwin. No real time protection and sucking detection rates. And I´m a huge fan of open source stuff, but I wouldn´t touch an open source AV with a 10 feet pole.

I am using Sophos, but I would never buy it because it is so stinkin' expensive. I am only using it because I get a free license through my company.
I stay away from Symantec, but the very next choice on my list are Kaspersky and Avira. Lots of schools are using McAfee's products and you can use more than one that is free, just make sure they are not active at the same time, because they could have conflicts since one can behave like a virus, because viruses are being detected through pattern detection and an antivirus can behave the same way.

Hello Nazzgull,

For a good Antivirus you shoud try

ClamAV For Windows

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/ClamAV.shtml

I've been using Avast Free for about 8 months now & I really like it, very powerful boot-time scan, and I love the "new look" Avast v5 with it's sleek new GUI--I didn't care for the old "radio" GUI on prior versions. They also have a terrific user forum.

I used AVG prior to that, AVG became too much of a resource hog & too intrusive, with a lot of FP's, failed & corrupt installs/updates, etc. When it failed to prevent,detect, heal, delete or quarantine 2 infections in 3 months last summer, it was Adios AVG for me.

As for Norton, I read this quote some time ago that says it best, IMO--"Norton is about as useful to a computer user as a screen door is on a submerged submarine."

Last edited by Pink_Freud on 14th March 2010, 7:41 pm; edited 4 times in total (Reason for editing : Once to attach signature, 3 times for spelling/clarity.)

Personally i like Avast the best. I've been using it for about 3 years and have yet to get a major virus on my laptop.... my grandparents have been less successful thanks however. I've had to reformat their computer about 3 times because of virus's and malware

I had AVG for years, never a problem until recently when I sought better protection by updating daily. I ended up with 118 infected files, some of which AVG detected but nothing else.
So I will try Avast since I live in the mountains and my pc speed is only about 50% of what it would be anywhere else.
Thanks for all the info