Used to use McAfee. Hated it.
Currently using AVG. Hate it.

Any other suggestions?

Avast if you like free.

I don't recomend Norton 2006, it really is bad, I mean, so bad we had to reload a computer after it started locking up, and uninstalling didn't work.

The license key for Avast home edition is good for 15 months. You need a unique key for each machine, but you can have more than one sent to the same email address without a problem.

The program updates its virus db usually everytime I start the computer. However, there have been times when it updates in the middle of a computing session. I guess it looks for updates everytime you boot plus intermittently throughout the day. I don't really know what the schedule is.

The UI is very nice compared to AVG. There are some options not enabled in the Home version, however.

Overall, it's the best antivirus I've ever used. I use it mainly on my PIII 800MHz laptop and performance doesn't seem to have been affected very much at all. You don't have much to lose, so maybe you should just check it out.

Nod32 is the best virus scanner. Check out http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/about/index as they test all the different software each month. NOD32 has the best record.

Yeah. Another vote for NOD32.

I've heard of this NOD32. Isn't that the one Leo Laporte did ads for?

Is it free or pay? The link you posted doesn't seem to work for me at the moment.

And Roger, that behavior sounds strange to me. Are you sure you have version seven, and not six? It sounds to me like most of those things have settings, although I don't know about the user switching because I don't use that.

NOD32 is commercial so not free. I quite like it because it doesn't slow the PC down like NAV and it appears to be pretty comprehensive regarding detection.

Yeah, I steer everyone who asks me away from Norton. It's sad that these companies have to bloat their software like this. I just find it ironic that people buy this software because they want to protect their system and keep it functional, then the program bogs it down to the point where the computer becomes useless.

I always tell people that on one machine, the software was causing so much slowdown that it took all of five minutes to bring up the start menu. Once I removed the program (after MUCH difficulty - thanks Norton), the machine ran with no problems. That's bad.

I've used F-secure products for a few years on a few stand alone systems and have had no problems at all. They seem to be among the first with new virus definitions. I don't know how their products work in the environment you are describing though...

Nod32 has a trial version available and here is the pricing info.
1 User - $39.00
5 Users - $170.00
1 User Renewal - $27.30

The site was slow when I posted earlier today but it seems to be fast now. I don't know about the ads.

i'm using avast too, i think i even used the same serial on multiple machines.
Will they sue me now?

Just what I was needing Antivirus suggestions.. Ive been using Norton and having issues.. My roommate used Mcaffee and hes having issues so When i format in a couple days Ill try NOD32 and see how that goes... Anysuggestions for easy/good firewalls? Ive been using Tiny..

We use Trend Micro at work and it seems to work a lot better than either Norton or McAfee.

I use the nvidia hardware firewall it's very nice but requires that your motherboard / nic support it. In the past I used Kerio Personal Firewall.

I've been using Symantec Anti Virus Corporate Edition at work for years without a problem..... that I know of. The management console is entirely useless, but the client pieces do their jobs nicely with no noticable system impact.

If you're looking for home user AV, then this might not help you. Though, apparently, Symantec AV 10 also has good anti-spyware. I haven't installed this yet to test, but in my opinion, spyware protection is hundreds of times more valuable than anti virus in today's environment. Maybe they're one and the same.

We use Sophos Enterprise. Only drawback is that they ONLY do corporate installs. No single versions.

Pro's:
Very quick
Enterprise instalation
Centrally managed auto-updates.
Good tools for checking status of every machine on the network
Runs on EVERYTHING, including Linux, BSD, All versions of windows, etc.

Cons:
When an install fails, it's a PITA to fix (but happens rarely)
Corporate only. (although they allow any device that connects to your network to run it)

Oh, and for spam, we use a Barracuda Spam Firewall. It blocks 90% of mail entering before it even hits the email server.

I'll seccond symantec corporate edition. Unfortunatly we recently migrated to Symantec Client Security, which is the antivirus bundled with a crappy firewall. When the firewall fails to install(one out of fifty user machines, I'd estimate), it's taking your network connection with it, and it's probably never going to work if you reinstall it. Us IT people all keep the standalone av installer around for our own *ahem* personal use.

I don't know why home user focus groups always insist on bubbly non-standard interfaces. Both Macafee and Norton seem to use them, and they're always impossible to figure out how to do whatever simple tast you're trying to get them to do. (And, for the reccord, I don't care what my "security index" on a scale of one to ten is)

Matthew

McAfee enterprise version 8.0 has worked well for my company. The management console does a good job of keeping all the machines up to date.

Is it me or has there been an uptick in the quantity of email virii recently? I've gone from virtually none to maybe 7-8/day (all caught and killed).

-Zeke

Even if you were to use the Latin plural, there's only one "i".

Edit: I should really read those links before I respond.

I know.

I just like saying virii.

It rhymes with Jai-alai.



-Zeke

The recent uptick of infected e-mails is the latest incarnation of the Sober (.X?) mass-mailing worm. It returned a month ago, disguised as mail from the FBI, "here's your password", and more. I guess a lack of recent mass mailing worms lulled common users into trusting this one. I'm actually surprised to see it still spreading.