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Best anti virus program - latest and greatest?

netsol

Premium Subscriber
I would use trend micro, or, failing that, hold my nose and use norton

a consultant friend recommended bitdefender. i asked him if he misunderstood the question. too often the choice is made based on which product a company makes the most on, not safety of the client

these days, with all the ransomware, etc it is more than irresponsible to recommend a bad product, it is practically criminal
 

rjssigns

Active Member
Probably best to talk to an independent PC shop. These are the people that have seen it all and repaired it.

It's just like buying a car. Never trust what a salesman says. For any make or model talk to the people that make thier living fixing them.
 

Jean Shimp

New Member
The local PC guy suggested Bitdefender. He suggested I sign up with him for a monthly contract, if I understand correctly $75 per computer. I can buy the software online for about $60 per year for 5 computers.
 

netsol

Premium Subscriber
Wow. I did warn you. Bitdefender is not great software. It drove us crazy with false detections
 

kcollinsdesign

Old member
They are all decent, but I find Bitdefender overall the best. Anybody who thinks Bitdefender is an inferior product probably doesn't understand how it works and its comprehensive capabilities.

50 years computer experience including experimental work on self-replicating software at the University of Illinois (under the direction of a core group of mathematicians going back to John von Neumann, who presented the concept of a self-replicating computer program back in 1949), and the use of PLATO in the '70s, a fully deployed central server network which allowed experiments involving self-replicating software before distributed systems came into use, consultation work with Marc Andreas and the Mosaic (later Netscape) development team at U of I, beta testing Windows, and continued interest in the potential of self-replicating software through VIRUS-L on BITNET in the eighties (I always had a subversive streak, but I didn't write code to destroy data, just pop up silly animals in a fun sort of competition with fellow nerds).

I lost interest in the early 90s, deciding to become a sign guy instead of wasting all my time playing with computers (remember, back in those days you bought computers at the toy store). The kind of heuristic used by anti-virus engines back then was totally different from those used today, so I really have no idea what is the best AV program. Pick any of the major brands, backup important files, and you will be ok.
 

netsol

Premium Subscriber
How do people even get computer viruses? even in the days of limewire and torrents I was able to sift through the shady stuff
25 years ago, they declared it was a crisis when 3-5% of emails were malware

When we look at barracuda logs, counting what is bounced, its not unusual to see 3% legitimate email & 97% garbage, phishing attempts, false flags.

Victor, you are a lucky man if you never see this
 

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Other than the fact it ISN'T actually sn anti virus program

Defender is a license enforcement mechanism pretending to be something other than what it is

It will only delete things microsoft associates with software piracy.

It does not protect you from viruses
If you are being serious then it's time for you to retire. In todays W10/11 Microsoft Defender is just fine and dandy for home use. Combine that with common sense to not click every goddam "free money" link and you will live to see another day.
In need of more features, adjustment, restrictions and business use, sure go for something else. But please cut the crap.

I personally only have a router with firewall and Microsoft Defender in use. No tin foil hat needed.
If I wanted more it would be Bitdefender. But by default it needs some configuration (my opinion) and probably not the best for average Joe.
 
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visual800

Active Member
AVIRA, its not bloated and it doesnt slow my machine down. However, me being on windows 7, AVIRA did inform they would no longer work on my computer, this was 2 months ago. But it was the absolute best AV I have ever had.

Windows defender sucks, I dont and have never trusted any microsoft product to protect me from anything, just my opinion. Windows firewall CUT IT OFF, Defender CUT IT OFF.
These programs do nothing but slow down your system over time

NORTON sucks and is bloated, AVG is bloated. Kaspersky, Avast. they all suck now. Avast was awesome a few years back til it got bloated.
 

netsol

Premium Subscriber
I AM semi retired as a consultant

I retain a small group of clients, 1 of which is almost a $1Billion/year reseller.

You and i will just have agree to disagree , as we undoubtedly would on many other issues

I personally couldn't care less about "home use"

Everyone should choose a serious antivirus product. We take client security seriously, recognizing there are real dollars and cents consequences to TO NOT DOING SO

choose any product that makes you happy, i am through responding to this thread
 

caribmike

Retired with a Side Hustle
So it's time for a new anti virus program - any suggestions? Thanks.
Personally, I have never used any anti-virus software except the Windows Security that comes pre-installed with the OS. I've owned my business for 18 years, have over a dozen work stations and have never once had a virus in all those years. Once in a blue moon, I'll install the free version of Malwarebytes and give it a run through but I have yet to come across anything of concern.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
Don't be an idiot and you won't get viruses. Attacks are happening via phishing scams on email. Don't open things you don't recognize... and those emails can be VERY clever and convincing.
 

netsol

Premium Subscriber
in 2017, one of our clients had a ransomware attack.
i got the call at midnight. went right in. our antivirus (not chosen by me or my company) missed it completely) it was a new variant. they joked, perhaps they would name it after us
32 virtualized servers shut down in a period of about 5 minutes
the antivirus enterprise tech support said they could do nothing for us...
we were using veeam enterprise backup, but the ransomware infected the backup servers,, so a $50,000 backup system proved useless (it was a new variant, no one protected against it)
it was a friday, no orders shipped that day, it represented a loss of about $1M in sales
while this was going on, the client contacted the FBI, who was no help as usual, they asked questions and made a report for the insurance company
the client purchased $250,000 of bitcoin, in case we had to pay the ransom, fortunately we didn't
we worked for 72 hours, managed to recover enough to be "fully functional" for monday, the next business day
over the next year, we implimented MANY additional security features, setup redundant systems, veeam backups to the cloud center that can be "spun up" in the event of another attack
we had a "forensic audit" done, at great expense and were unable to determine what the trigger event was

since then we have had a couple "false flag" attacks, (an employee sending a payment to a phony destination)

total cost of the incident is estimated at $1M. Statistically, 70% of companies having this type of attack go out of business, file bancruptcy or are acquired by a competitor and bargain basement prices. there really is more to it than "you should be careful".
 

Pauly

Printrade.com.au
links to avoid:
- make your penis 5x bigger pills
- sexy ladies in your local town ready to get down
- free money
- your computer has a virus link that is making siren effects and flashing like a 2000's disco.
- stick to well known p0rn sites like p0rnhub.
 

netsol

Premium Subscriber
OK i lied, i continued to respond, but, this is really a serious issue, for any client with REAL cash flow.
i don't want to sell you anything, i am PRACTICALLY out of that business. we have a closed practice and haven't pursued additional clients in over 10 years.

if the impact of an attack would be an interruption of your porn watching or playing of video games, then i am over reacting. otherwise think about serious protection
 
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