anti-virus free or paid?

Marty_J

gjchester wrote: »

I know Mac's are pushed as virus proof (and even by Apple themselves) but that is just a plain daft practice.

The following link is from someone at Sophos who do sell Antivirus software, so you could say they have a vested interest in pushing AV software.

http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2008/12/02/do-you-really-need-anti-virus-on-your-apple-mac/

However knowing the source doesn't change the facts, Macs DO get Virus's and they can trash your system or steal your data just as well as a PC virus can. Remember the first computer virus was on the Apple II, and don't forget the fact there are Flash and Java based virus out there means it can be platform independant to some degree. Your Mac may not get that Windows Virus but you could be pushing infected files out to your contacts and computer on your home network.

It's just not worth the drain on resources considering the size of the risk. I have used virus and malware scanners in the past, but they have never found a single thing, not so much as a tracking cookie.

I practice safe browsing (and common sense), use encrypted disk images to store sensitive data, and I keep my eye on the situation by using sites such as SecureMac.

I think this article advocates a reasonably balanced approach.

aliEnRIK

Id like to know why a few people suggest using AVG8!?

thomas01155

Oh no Avira AntiVir is joint second with Avast :O

Marty_J

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Id like to know why a few people suggest using AVG8!?

Probably because it's what they use, in keeping with the idea that the first free anti-virus you trip over on Google is the best one.

GunJack

JUst put avira on a clean install of XP to try it out, but I won't be using e-mail on that pc so I thought, why not give it a go ?? The lack of e-mail scanner is fine on that comp. Use Avast on all my house's main comps, but they all have e-mail access so avast over avira for those

jasonwatkins

Millionaire wrote: »

Don't use anything on my Mac.

Don't use anything on Windows

aliEnRIK

GunJack wrote: »

JUst put avira on a clean install of XP to try it out, but I won't be using e-mail on that pc so I thought, why not give it a go ?? The lack of e-mail scanner is fine on that comp. Use Avast on all my house's main comps, but they all have e-mail access so avast over avira for those

has Avast ever found a dodgy email Jack?

GunJack

RIK - yes, it has !! in fact, everything has remained nice and clean, and the few detections I've had have been avast stripping trojans from spammy e-mails on their way into my inbox....no complaints in that department

Little_John

As a long term user of Dr Solomons, then to Mcafee and I am now a reseller of an f-secure based product and Kaspersky I would go for Kaspersky any day of the week. It picks up everything I have thrown at it and some stuff I havn't so it gets my vote. The fact you can buy an OEM 3 user Internet security licence from http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Kaspersky-Internet-Security-2009-(v8)-UK-Edition-1-Year-3-User-OEM-Edition for about £14 it is great value for money and it will actually remove infections unlike AVG. That price is cheaper than I can buy it as a reseller.

NOD32 is the only other AV I would recomend at the moment.

ss4

Little_John wrote: »

As a long term user of Dr Solomons, then to Mcafee and I am now a reseller of an f-secure based product and Kaspersky I would go for Kaspersky any day of the week. It picks up everything I have thrown at it and some stuff I havn't so it gets my vote. The fact you can buy an OEM 3 user Internet security licence from http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Kaspersky-Internet-Security-2009-(v8)-UK-Edition-1-Year-3-User-OEM-Edition for about £14 it is great value for money and it will actually remove infections unlike AVG. That price is cheaper than I can buy it as a reseller.

NOD32 is the only other AV I would recomend at the moment.

I have looked at that and it say's oem, can I buy it on it's own. I'm very tempted by kaspersky at that price. Looking at this thread I will definately be ditching avg.

On another note, i saw on another thread that you should use malwarebytes antispyware. Currently i have spybot and adware but i have never heard of malwarebytes, is it good/should i change to it?