virus protection program?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dobro
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dobro

dobro

Well-known member
Hi. What's a virus protection program that takes up minimal space, has regular updates, and which you can turn off when tracking?
 
Why do you need an anti-virus program?

You need one if you are sharing files indiscriminately with users across the internet or a network, or use floppies, illegal programs etc.

So long as you take a few precautions you should be fine. Like being careful with your attachments, backing up the entire drive as ghost images on a weekly basis.

If you still need one, Norton would be the choice. is updated weekly, and you can turn off the background scanner completly, and only have heuristic scans run when you choose to, on files you need to.

Sang
 
Emeric, I'm curious now, what exactly do you find problematic with norton ?
please edjucate
:cool:
peace
Shred
 
- The program is bloated in size and takes far longer to install than it should.
- The virus definitions are way too large, and time consuming to download, unless you're on high speed.
- It uses up system resources like no tommorow.
- It installs a bunch of other crap even when you choose 'custom' install'.
- It's a symantec product.
- I hate it.
- EZ anti-virus is better.

Just my take on it, no doubt it works for some.
 
Sorry Emeric - I use Norton Corporate edition both at home and at work, where is sits on numerous servers and 250+ workstations. When my company picked an anti-virus program, they were the only company that offered anti-virus protection on every level - for workstations, servers of all types, and firewalls. I can't speak about how well it works on servers, but it seems to do a pretty good job on workstations, even limiting our problems with Klez which has been our biggest virus problem to date.

As for your specific criticisms -

* Install time: Didn't seem to be a problem. Besides, you only do it once.
* Average update is 8 megs. And if your not on high speed internet, well sorry.
* Never noticed any respource problems with Win9X, the only OS where it would matter. NT/2000/XP its a non-issue.
* Never heard of it installing other crap. Maybe you are thinking of Norton System Works, which does install a lot of crap - it's supposed to, since it's a software swiss army knife.
* the rest - just personal opinion.

I also think Symantec has one of the better anti-virus info sites -

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html

I have no experiance with EZ-Virus. I do give high marks to F-Prot, a DOS/Command line anti-virus that you can download for free -

http://www.f-prot.com/index2.html
 
RWhite said:
Sorry Emeric - I use Norton Corporate edition both at home and at work, where is sits on numerous servers and 250+ workstations. When my company picked an anti-virus program, they were the only company that offered anti-virus protection on every level - for workstations, servers of all types, and firewalls. I can't speak about how well it works on servers, but it seems to do a pretty good job on workstations, even limiting our problems with Klez which has been our biggest virus problem to date.

As for your specific criticisms -

* Install time: Didn't seem to be a problem. Besides, you only do it once.
* Average update is 8 megs. And if your not on high speed internet, well sorry.
* Never noticed any respource problems with Win9X, the only OS where it would matter. NT/2000/XP its a non-issue.
* Never heard of it installing other crap. Maybe you are thinking of Norton System Works, which does install a lot of crap - it's supposed to, since it's a software swiss army knife.
* the rest - just personal opinion.

I also think Symantec has one of the better anti-virus info sites -

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html

I have no experiance with EZ-Virus. I do give high marks to F-Prot, a DOS/Command line anti-virus that you can download for free -

http://www.f-prot.com/index2.html
Click to expand...

That's why Emeric said it was just his take on it. (just his opinion). I don't think he was intending upon getting in a computer geek battle :D
 
I had Norton at one time, and gave it away (for a lot of the reasons Emeric mentions) and replaced it with common sense. But I'm going to be needing something that scans downloaded files before I open them.
 
Hey, wait a minute - a slower thought just chose this moment to cross my mind...

I want this antivirus stuff because I want to download mp3s privately for collaborations. But if I use a place like nowhere, all stuff that's posted there - will it be scanned by whatever virus protection nowhere has at its disposal?
 
dobro,

mp3 files cannot contain viruses as of today. Howver a malicous user can rename .vba/.exe files to mp3, so that unsuspecting users, when they click on the file, will get infected. This is something that amateurs will get caught into.
 
Didn't mean to get into a geek battle either :D Just pointing out that some people are using norton successfully.

I think that virus software - which often comes down to Symantec vs McCaffee vs. everyone else - is just one of those personal preferences. Like Ford vs Chevy, Mac vs PC, etc.

I would hope that these days ANY web site that allows uploads and downloads would have some sort of virus protection running on it's servers.
 
Try AVG from Grisoft. It's bloat-free, doesn't commandeer your computer, has regular updates, and drumroll, please.........It's 100% FREE.

I've been using it for over a year now, and I am totally satisfied.
 
i use panda titanium. i formerly used norton at the office. klez slipped by it somehow. so, i searched out everything and decided panda should be tried due to daily updates and its unobtrusiveness. it doesn't seem to hog system resources at all. very highly recommended.

steve
www.piemusic.com
 
I'm gonna agree with Emeric here..



and RWhite.. :p




I've used both... I use Norton Corporate at work and have used Norton at home...

Corporate works fine.. takes up little space and does its job well... installs easy.. no hassle... blah blah blah...

Norton's Personal Anti-Virus "Suite", on the other hand, is a horrible resource hog... commandeers half your computer... scares your children... eats the last of the ice cream.. and shouldn't be trusted alone with your teenage daughter...

:p

No really... I would never use Norton at home... it really is a resourse hog and it "incorporates" itself into way too many areas of your system.

I've used AVG and found it to be small and cheap (read "free") :p but its virus detection isn't top notch...

but.. the best solution is something that was mentioned earlier...

a little common sense will do better than any virus detection. I run a 24/7 game/web server and I don't have a single anti-virus app anywhere on it. I simply don't do anything stupid. :p I only download progies I know are safe.. I don't open any emails that I don't know the sender of... I don't install 3rd party junkware (trial software crap or "demos" for every stupid game and that comes out). I run a tight ship and I've never.... let me repeat... (:p).... I have never had a virus on my personal system in my entire computing life. (Which has been a long time, btw.. :p)

But.. if you must run an anti-virus app (it's not like I'm saying not to run one) then I'd try some of the suggestions given earlier.


WATYF
 
Common Sence!! It's the way to go!

Can't stand anti-virus programs. Norton or Mac.
Withuot them I can reboot in 5 to 10 seconds, With them 1 to 5 minutes.

Get an alternate email and use it. Don't open anything that you're unsure of. you'll be fine


Later

F.S.
 
RWhite said : Never noticed any respource problems with Win9X, the only OS where it would matter. NT/2000/XP its a non-issue.
Click to expand...

I have also installed Norton on a number of machines, and have left with a very different opinion. Norton in all its forms is a huge resource hog no matter what version of windows you are running. Even a very fast computer will be slowed way down by Norton. The best thing to do is to only turn it on every once in awhile to run a scan, but leave it completely off the rest of the time - even un-installing it if need be.
 
don't open any emails that I don't know the sender of...
Click to expand...

There is a problem with this "policy"...

Many known viruses grab email addresses from the infected machine, and send themself to all those addresses. I often get emails with viruses attached from people I know.

Queue
 
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