Anti-Virus Recommendations

What does everyone think are the best Anti-Virus packages currently available?

I'm currently using AVG.
I like the program, but I wonder just how effective it really is and I experience some problems with the mail scanner on occasion. I'm not certain, but it appears that the mail scanner needs to connect to the AVG server whenever it scans incoming mail. Quite often, it is unable to make the connection to the server and prohibits my mail from coming through.

Anybody experienced any similar problems?

Thanks,

I use AVG as well, and I had a similar problem about a year ago....I couldn't get it figured out, even after uninstalling and reinstalling, and in desperation I finally called my ISP help desk. Believe it or not, they told me that people had found that if their mailfile got too full, it could cause the problem. I cleaned out a good quantity of old mail, and it worked just fine after that. Didn't make sense to me, but it worked.

I have had better luck with AVG than any other AV I have used.

AVG is extremely effective. I have used it for years at home even though I have always had access to a corporate anti-virus app through work (McAfee, Symantec, etc). Recently I upgraded to Vista and even though AVG says its supported, it would not work and would not uninstall properly. Rather than waste time messing with it I installed another free product called Avast. Anti-virus software is just part of the equation. Anti-spyware such as Windows Defender and a good firewall program or device are equally as important. Also being diligent in not opening attachments from people you don't know. Hope this helps!

I tried Avast when I was having trouble with my AVG, and found it not only more confusing to use (a computer whiz I ain't), but ended up with a NASTY virus while using it. That's when I called my ISP in desperation, lol.

I also run Spybot and AdAware.

As far as Pure AV goes - I'd reccomend Kaspersky AV.

For spyware/pest protection I would suggest Pest Patrol (Computer Associates).

Avast and AVG are the two best free options out there.

Kaspersky and NOD 32 are probably the best there is, but you are going to pay for them.

As far as spyware, there are a few good tools out there but I am a really big fan of spwywareblaster and spybot search and destroy.

Cathy,
Are you referring to your inbox or mail stored anywhere in folders?
I keep my inbox nearly empty, but I store a great deal of email in various other folders. I can't imagine that AVG would be scanning all of the folders everytime it checks incoming mail.

Thanks,

Originally Posted by Cat_72

I use AVG as well, and I had a similar problem about a year ago....I couldn't get it figured out, even after uninstalling and reinstalling, and in desperation I finally called my ISP help desk. Believe it or not, they told me that people had found that if their mailfile got too full, it could cause the problem. I cleaned out a good quantity of old mail, and it worked just fine after that. Didn't make sense to me, but it worked.

I have had better luck with AVG than any other AV I have used.

I've been checking out Kapersky and it's very highly rated. However, a couple of the reviews mentioned Bitdefender as being every bit as good (one voted it better) and it's half the price.

Anybody have any experience with Bitdefender?

Originally Posted by Mike Greathouse

I've been checking out Kapersky and it's very highly rated. However, a couple of the reviews mentioned Bitdefender as being every bit as good (one voted it better) and it's half the price.

Anybody have any experience with Bitdefender?

Bitdefender is actually the engine used by some other commercially available products.

I've never used the client version, although several years ago we used the Bitdefender engine in one of our email scanning appliances and it worked well.

I've been using NOD32 by Eset for the last year or so with good results. I get automatic updates several times a day, so they certainly must be keeping up on the latest threats out there.