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Virus Scanner Recommendation

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:13 pm
by DiscoDave
Lo all,

My rents currenty have a old system of mine that they use for web surfing, emailing, writing documents etc, pretty much non demanding stuff. Its a K6-2 500mhz, 192mb Ram, TNT2 etc etc.

They currently have the lastest version of Norton Antivirus installed. I've noticed it grinds the system to a halt and the subscription for it has run out, so i've been thinking of putting something a bit better on it.

Im not really up to date with virus scanners, never had to use one for a few years now but because its my parents, probably best for them to have one.

So could you please recommend some good Virus Scanners suitable for this low spec system please?

David

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:15 pm
by 4days

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:18 pm
by DiscoDave
How much of a difference is there between the free and paid version? My rents dont mind paying for a subscription

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:21 pm
by 4days
never used the pay-version so i couldn't tell you, sorry.

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:23 pm
by dmmh
ive stopped using a virusscanner a long time ago, they all suck

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:24 pm
by SoM
http://www.avast.com/

recommended by Phoenix :icon14:

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:25 pm
by SplishSplash
dmmh wrote:ive stopped using a virusscanner a long time ago, they all suck
Oooh, check out dmmh and his ultra-controversial opinions! :icon28:

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 7:23 pm
by Arkleseizure
SoM wrote:http://www.avast.com/

recommended by Phoenix :icon14:
Second recommendation made by me. It's the only antivirus I like.

:icon14: :icon14:
Two thumbs up Alwil Software.

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 7:46 pm
by bork[e]
I've had some great luck with BitDefender...grab it over in the T&T link to check it out...free and updates on auto daily. Really nice product :up:

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 7:51 pm
by SplishSplash
I also heard Bitdefender is really good.

/I use (free) AVGuard though, because... it's free.

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 7:54 pm
by Arkleseizure
AVG sucks.

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:22 pm
by rep
Care to elaborate?

My experience is Norton and McAfee are so bloated they both take 40-60MB of RAM just to operate.

Quake 3 uses what, 56 as default? Fuck those programs. AVG seems to work fine.

The best defense is using Opera and surfing with a little brains.

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:29 pm
by SplishSplash
Arkleseizure wrote:AVG sucks.
the updater (kinda) sucks, on-demand detection is quite good, on-access detection indeed sucks AFAIK.

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:38 pm
by dmmh
SplishSplash wrote:
dmmh wrote:ive stopped using a virusscanner a long time ago, they all suck
Oooh, check out dmmh and his ultra-controversial opinions! :icon28:
got a problem with that?
want some?

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:57 pm
by SplishSplash
Yeah I got a problem.
Yeah I want some.

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:58 pm
by lars63
AVG seems to work good for me too. No problems as of yet

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 11:03 pm
by Bdw3
Another nice free one:
AntiVir.... http://www.free-av.com/

Online Scanners:
Panda:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/

Trend Macro:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 11:07 pm
by Kills On Site
I have Norton Systemworks, as far as virus scanning it does great, I love Systemworks for the other apps besides AV it comes with

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 11:11 pm
by SplishSplash
Bdw3 wrote:Another nice free one:
AntiVir.... http://www.free-av.com/
That's the one I was talking about...? :paranoid:

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 11:51 pm
by Dr_Watson
dmmh wrote:ive stopped using a virusscanner a long time ago, they all suck
werd... virus scanners are for suckers.

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:05 am
by Tormentius
Arkleseizure wrote:AVG sucks.
Quite agreed. AVG's trojan handling capabilities and real-time protection suck. I've used it on my own systems and I've run it as the antivirus solution on a network before. Lets just say the network version is nothing shy of pathetic.


For free scanners Antivir is great and for paid versions I've had great results with Symantec products. The problem with the original poster's system is most likely a lack of memory.

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:14 am
by dmmh
Dr_Watson wrote:
dmmh wrote:ive stopped using a virusscanner a long time ago, they all suck
werd... virus scanners are for suckers.
I have one installed on both my notebook and my pc though, just in case, but they are always off

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:15 am
by SOAPboy
rep wrote:Care to elaborate?

My experience is Norton and McAfee are so bloated they both take 40-60MB of RAM just to operate.

Quake 3 uses what, 56 as default? Fuck those programs. AVG seems to work fine.

The best defense is using Opera and surfing with a little brains.

You make me laugh.. you know "EVERYTHING" yet know nothing

AVG is the WORST antivirus on the planet in terms of actually finding virii.. fill a machine up with virii, and run AVG.. itll find 1/2 of them, tops..

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 10:04 am
by 4days
from here:
http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/def ... =67&mnu=67

test was made on 10-25 August 2004, see page for details - end ranking:
1. Kaspersky Personal Pro version 4.5.0.58 - 99.09%

2. F-Secure 2004 version 4.71.5 - 98.77%

3. Extendia AVK Pro version 11.0.4 - 98.68%

4. AVK version 14.0.7 - 98.50%

5. Kaspersky Personal version 5.0.149 - 97.88%

6. eScan 2003 Virus Control version 2.6.484.8 - 96.75%

7. McAfee version 8.0.41 - 93.59%

8. Norton version 2004 Professional - 93.38%

9. RAV version 8.6.105 - 93.14%

10. F-Prot version 3.15 - 91.85%

11. Command version 4.90 - 91.41%

12. Panda Titanium version 3.02.00 - 91.38%

13. Norton Corporate version 9.0.0.338 - 90.29%

14. Panda Platinum version 7.05.04 - 89.97%

15. MKS_VIR 2004 version 2.0 - 89.45%

16. Virus Chaser version 5.0 - 89.07%

17. BitDefender version 7.2 - 88.52%

18. BullGuard version 4.5 - 87.26%

19. Dr. Web version 4.31b - 85.35%

20. PC-Cillin 2004 version 11.00.1253 - 84.80%

21. Nod32 version 2.0.0.9 database 1.840 - 82.68%

22. Sophos Sweep version 3.84 - 81.31%

23. Avast version 4.1.418 - 80.55%

24. AntiVir version 6.27.00.01 - 79.57%

25. Vexira version 2.14.00.01 - 79.50%

26. AVG version 7.0.262 - 72.50%

27. Norman version 5.70.14 - 67.72%

28. UNA version 1.83 - 62.85%

29. Solo 2.5 version 2.6.3 - 61.08%

30. ZoneAlarm with VET Antivirus version 5.0.590.015 - 60.82%

31. Fire version 2.7 - 60.52%

32. E-Trust version 6.2.0.28 - 58.48%

33. V-Buster Pro - 57.61%

34. Protector Plus version 7.2.F04 - 51.28%

35. VirScan Plus version 14.091 - 48.36%

36. ClamWin version 0.35 - 48.08%

37. ViRobot Expert version 4.0 - 45.68%

38. MR2S version 1.47 - 44.36%

39. V3Pro 2002 Deluxe version SP2 - 42.33%

40. RHBVS version 4.13.656 - 41.99%

41. Digital Patrol version 5.00.08 - 38.52%

42. Quick Heal version 7.01 - 30.13%

43. Wave version 2.0 - 22.07%

44. TDS version 3.2.0 - 16.67%

45. PestPatrol version 4.4.3.24 - 15.34%

46. A Squared 2 - 15.05%

47. AntiTrojan Shield version 1.4.0.9 - 11.82%

48. PC Door Guard version 3.0.0.14- 11.77%

49. Trojan Hunter version 3.9.807 - 6.76%

50. The Cleaner version 4.1.42.52 - 6.34%

51. Trojan Remover version 6.2.8 - 5.62%

52. Tauscan version 1.6.1024 - 4.82%

53. Hacker Eliminator version 1.2 - 3.38%

54. IP Armor version 5.46.0703 - 2.87%

55. Anti-Hacker & Trojan Expert 2003 version 1.6 - 0%
bear in mind that's how well they perfom as anti-virus apps, not how much they batter the machine.

just remembered though, shouldn't your isp protect you?

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 12:31 pm
by Arkleseizure
23. Avast version 4.1.418 - 80.55%

24. AntiVir version 6.27.00.01 - 79.57%

26. AVG version 7.0.262 - 72.50%