Antivirus / Internet Security Help

[FireWorm]

From a gaming perspective, don't get AVG.....I just changed to Kaspersky (bought if for £10) and i have noticed a HUGE difference in gaming.

I was told before that AVG was bad for gaming, now I've seen the difference.

As for what you SHOULD get I don't really know......thats why you should listen to people who know their stuff....like Dragon for example!

[Soul-Taker]

Well thanks a lot for that information Dragon, I wasnt aware that the freeware for home was just as good as the stuff you have to pay for.
In that case taking Dragon's and Fireworms advice into account Ill probably looking into getting the latest version of avast then
Tough if you could possibly pm me Dragon with any personal suggestions id be greatful
CHeers

[Ripple]

ok, first question...who is qualified to recommend AV/ASPY software on here? Your question shouldnt be what is the hoardes buying, but what would a professional buy.
d

sorry... didnt realise that 15 years of IT support both in business and home environment rendered me incapable of offering my advice on antivirus products. I also didnt spend 2 days reviewing 12 antivirus solutions at the beginning of the year to decide what we would recommend to our customers either

i'll be quiet from now on

[JonnyRock]

well i still like and use ZoneAlarm. Personally i am not a fan of AVG, and i used it for over a year. Kaspersky, which i have also used for about a year, AVG and ZoneAlarm are the three AV packages that i recommend to people.

if you want to go free, for me its either Avast or AVG but you should then also run spybot.

For the average joe home user the thing to consider with regard to any free AV or spyware apps is that you need to make sure the thing is up to date and running correctly and run often regardless if the thing starts up at boot up. Honestly in my experience the less interaction a user has with AV software the better. Its one of the reasons i like ZoneAlarm. You install it and set it up for the user and you only hear from them again when i little box pops up on start up saying that its time to renew the subscription.

i personaly want a software firewall that lets me know and configure all (well almost all) IP traffic. Its just easer and less time consuming than setting up a harware firewall. And anyway who heck really wants a another device that needs power and needs to be connected to a home network. The average joe home user sure don't. The main reason why a run a bought AV program is because i want the firewall more than anything else. All my web browsing and downloading is done with Linux VMs. And i do run avast for Linux only because i download .exe files/windows files on the Linux box.

In the end if you are a home user or have a Windows PC that is connected to the internet and you use any web browser, it is reckless not to run a package that has both AV and Spyware/malware protection. Your data, what ever it is, is i am sure, valuable to you. Spending £15/£30 to protect your PC from data loss and not have to waste the time and have the hassle of sorting it out or paying someone to sort out a PC that has been messed up by a virus or malware is priceless.

I have been in the IT industry for over 16 years and do a lot of home installations/repairs etc. for people. The amount of times i have hear, why did i not just spend £20 on that AV software.........



FYI - if you are running a windows box and are running a bought AV package i would still install and run spybot often.

O and if its is important BACK IT UP!!!!

[DragonSVD]

sorry... didnt realise that 15 years of IT support both in business and home environment rendered me incapable of offering my advice on antivirus products. I also didnt spend 2 days reviewing 12 antivirus solutions at the beginning of the year to decide what we would recommend to our customers either

i'll be quiet from now on

dont let me ruffle your feathers Your advice was good too.

I would put Eset (slovak company in bratislava, know the developers) in my top three enterprise business solutions. Depending on what you need. ESET has the most comprehensive settings, but also the most complex. Symantec has the most well rounded features, but is bloody expensive. MS is an interesting addition because they do everything you would want, they perform well, they are much much cheaper then the others, but they dont have the reputation that you would expect from a business class sw.

Small business market is somewhere between enterprise and home users, but i would say more closer to the home users market.

Free versions are great for most home users, and they all now have gaming features which will disable some av functionality while you game. Personally, I have Avast (czech company in prague, know the developers) on my gaming rig. Many others here use it, and others use MS sec essentials. I do not work for Avast or MS BTW. I would also never run symantec on a home pc either

[Comm512]

I would say MS essentials.
I now have Kaspersky IS 2010 and it acts up regularly resulting in lag. When disabled all games run as smooth as silk. It wasnt alsways likt this, but some 3 months ago some update changed something resulting in the current KIS behavior

From personal gaming pov, i would not recommend kaspersy 2010.
Comodo Internet Security is supposed to be awsome, but i do not have exprerience on gaming pc's with that package

[FireWorm]

I haven't had any issues with Kaspersky 2010 as yet.....it's a massive improvement on AVG. It's like a whole new gaming experience! lol.

(it's Kaspersky 2010 Anti-Virus that I have btw....dunno if that makes any odds!?)

[Amrish]

im gonna keep this simple............. Avast FTW!