Need recommendations for Windows virus software

[gapstr]

I have recently learned that some Windows computers belonging to an organization I am associated with have no virus protection. I'd like to know what those of you who use Windows machines recommend. These machines are mostly various pentium 2 machines or newer, but none are less than two or three years old. They run systems from Windows 98 to XP. They are networked together, so a vulnerability in one could be a danger to all, all have e-mail access and some have web access.

I'd like comments on the effectiveness of your recommended anti-virus programs with regards to upgradeability, cost of use (do they charge subscriptions for upgrades, etc) effectiveness, etc. And of course, if there are any lousy anti-virus programs you'd recommend steering clear of, I'd like to know about those as well.

Thank you,

Andrew Gapstr.

[zodraz]

Here's a link

http://antivirus.about.com/cs/antivirusvendors/

Our company (7,500 employees) has used Norton and McAfee.

http://www.symantecstore.com/dr/sat2/ec_MA...&CACHE_ID=74456

 http://us.mcafee.com/default.asp

They recently changed because they got a better price from Norton/Symantec.

No free lunch, this guys are not a charity. You pays for updates (automatic) by subscription. Usually yearly. You can usually go longer by manually updating the virus "profiles". But if you're a tech admn it's not worth the hassle.

Both are good companies. However, the the protection willl only be as good as the maintenance of the products and vigalent updating of Windows OS software (lots of them are purely security fixes).

Are you sure there's no antivirus software on them now? Most PCs are sold with something, unless these are custom built jobs, or had their OS systems updated. If these machines are networked through a server, it may have a firewall and email scanning.

Good Luck.

     

[jepinto]

I'm using AVG Anti-Virus on an XP and a 2000.

QUOTE

Download, install and use AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition and get:

    * AVG Resident Protection
    * AVG Email Scanner
    * AVG On-Demand Scanner
    * Basic Scheduled Tests
    * Free Virus Database Updates
    * Automatic Update feature
    * Easy-To-Use Interface
    * Automatic Healing of infected files
    * AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files
    * Basic user Interface only
    * Disabled Advanced Scheduling of Tests
    * Disabled Creating of Your Own Tests
    * No Technical Support

It's free.

[kelly]

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/showtel...3343782,00.html

[Diana]

AVAST 4 Home Edition - http://www.alwil.com/en/default.asp
NOD32 - http://www.nod32.com/home/home.htm
KAV 4.5 - http://www.kaspersky.com/
F-Prot - http://www.f-prot.com/
AVG - http://www.grisoft.com/

Note that some of these are free in the Home editions, but I've yet to find one that is free for business use.

Personally I've used Norton Antivirus and McAfee at various times. I've never found McAfee to be reliable. Norton seems good at catching viruses that McAfee didn't, but even Norton has missed a few that came through my e-mail. Only a personal policy against clicking attachments will save you in those cases. Norton and MacAfee are both notorious for hogging system resources. Norton has also instituted a policy requiring "registration/activation". I understand this to be a measure to prevent theft, but that and some of their new policies will prevent me from renewing my Norton subscriptions. Zodraz mentions that you can update Norton by hand once the subscription runs out, but I've found that not to be the case. Once your subscription runs out, there are no updates of any kind. The software will not accept them.

I've heard many good things about F-Prot. Some research will show this to come from a well-established company with a good track record and commendable tech support. Their licenses are very reasonable, especially for businesses. $50 for 10 licenses and depending on the need over 10, the price per machine drops dramatically. F-Prot will be my choice once all the Norton subscriptions run out.

Here is alink to an extensive list of what's available:
http://www.knowledgestorm.com/search/taxon...omy/204/204.jsp

And here is a list I retrieved from a security newsgroup I frequent: Note, this list was not verifiable, nor could I find reference to it on the Internet, but it is interesting none-the-less.

The number to the right of each name is supposed to represent the number of viruses each recognizes. Maybe it will help to compare that to the list in the link above.

McAfee 98,4379
Kaspersky 97,97974
F-Prot 93,0696
GeCAD RAV 93,0535
Symantec 87,52174
DrWeb 87,33171
Trend 85,44028
Sophos 85,37748
AVAST! 83,15511
NOD32 82,33622
InoculateIT 79,74749
MkS_vir 77,58712
SOFTWIN 76,32537
H+BEDV 72,12945
Norman 68,87964
VirusBuster 66,17254
VET 59,623
IKARUS 52,45185
AVGLite 51,82298
HAURI 35,00145

There really is no excuse for letting your machine become infected...

see ya,

edit to fix broken link

[zodraz]

You know, I was extending myself there.

You can definately update Norton virus definitions for free for the Mac.

Just go to to http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcen...ges/US-NMC.html

You download the installer, run it and restart (OS 9).

You just can't do the "live update".

This does not change the application, but adds the latest virus defintions to what you have.

It does seem you can do the same for PCs, but my Win 98 / Norton is only a few months old, so I haven't tried it yet.

If I can't, I'll wait for a CompUSA competitive upgrade; switch to McAfee and with a rebate, get it for free.

     

[Diana]

Hi zodraz..

I'm also speaking only from personal experience, but with Norton versions 2002 and up for PC, once the subscription is over no updates can be applied...liveupdate or manually. True the program continues to run and will catch viruses that it recognizes from its last definition list, but you can't update that list.

I wouldn't recommend McAfee either, at least not for PC. It is a huge resource hog and causes much instability on the machines I have...plus it misses viruses. If you have a PC, this is unacceptable.

If you have a PC you're trying to protect, do lots of research, and above all remember the "safe computing" best practices...be careful.

see ya,

[tacit]

On top of making sure you have anti-virus updates, also make sure you run Windows Update (it's in the Start menu) regularly! I can not overemphasize how important this is. Run it at least once a week. Install any critical updates it finds.

[gapstr]

Thank you for all your comments. In answer to a few of the questions some of you asked, I don't know if all the computers are unprotected, but I'm fairly sure at least the one I sometimes use is, unless the antivirus software works so seamlessly in the background that it never pops anything onscreen to indicate it is there. Also, I've searched for any file name containing "norton" without finding any. That doesn't necessarily prove anything if another antivirus program is in use, but it doesn't give any positive evidence that there is virus protection there. I'll check today to see if there is anything containing "mcafee" or "symantec" of some of the other names.

The other people I've asked either think there may be no virus protection on their computers also if they are a little knowlegeable of computers. Others don't have enough computer knowlege to hazard an opinion. The LAN was set up by someone who is not available to ask at this time. You can be sure I will when she comes back. Someone else said that she thinks the e-mail/web server uses XP's built-in firewall, but I don't know how much protection that provides, and I doubt it provides any protection against anything that may be transmitted on a CD or floppy.

And thank you for the reminder to run Windows Update. I do, every week or so, but I don't know who else does. Some of the less computer knowlegable staff possibly don't know what it is.

A. G.