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Is it time to start a new AntiVirus/Internet Security Suite review thread?

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Carol Haynes:
With the release of a new batch of '2009' products is it time to start looking at Security Suites and standalone AV products again.

Personally I have had an interesting year. Having stated up a small business to fix people's computers locally (work is now picking up a bit as word of mouth spreads) one of the commonest problems is slow system performance and surprisingly less often actual infections.

My usual rule of thumb is dump Norton and install something lighter, use crap cleaner and a decent defragmenter regularly - and so far people have appreciated the speed gain.

I was reading a review today of the latest Norton Suite offering (see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330018,00.asp) and it looks like Norton have started to listen to performance complaints. I am always a bit sceptical of PCMag reviews but looking around reducing the performance hit of previous versions does seem to have been a Norton priority. Add to that the 2009 suite seems to be getting good reviews from the point of view of sorting out virus and other malware.

Is it time to revisit Norton or do you plan to stay with your current provider?

The other site I have been looking at is http://www.av-comparatives.org/ which seems to employ useful selective methodologies to test aspects of performance rather than just a bland overall assessment.

This is something I am thinking about currently as NOD32 quietly tells me every day that my subscription is about to expire. Having been stung by a couple of infection issues this year I am beginning to wonder whether it is worth a change.

The other company that seems to get good performance credit (in terms of system performance hit and also product abilities) is AntiVir.

What does you think?

tomos:
I've been using the trial of AntiVir "Premium"

@ 20euros it's the cheapest of the better AV's

I cant say much about it (good I think!)
One process running:   [EDIT/ 5 processes running (may depend on your settings) - SEE Reply #10 below]

* 3 to 4 MB "Private Bytes"
* 0% CPU
it regularly finds one file as dodgy - I tell it to ignore but it tell me again a week later

I'm pretty much the opposite of a power user re AV - I install and forget, rarely if ever scan so afraid I cant tell you much more

EDIT/ prompted me to go off & buy it - the trial had run out
20euro for 1 pc
50euro for 3 pc
with roughly 20% reduction if you get a two year subscription and a little more for a three year one

justice:
I use AntiVir Premium too and I'm a pc, eh I mean satisfied ;)

mnemonic:
Another vote for AntiVir here - I'm using the freebie version though.  Gets the occasional false-positive and the update is death-defyingly slow, but I've not had a virus infection in years.

I used to have a computer full of security software, bouncing from KIS to a whole host of security software (NOD32, online armour, along with various anti-spyware and HIPS solution) after being a bit of a wilderssecurity lurker.  Then, after getting sick-to-death of the constant pop-ups and interruptions, I swapped over to running nothing but AnitiVir free, no software firewall (sat behind a hardware router) and a weekly run of the free version of superantispyware.  Not had a single infection since.  Seems to be that the best form of stopping viruses is to be careful about what you download - if in doubt, you can always use sandboxie.

Admittedly, I don't have any outbound protection, but I haven't had a problem yet.

Paul Keith:
mnemonic, I actually have the same set up as yours until I read about the idea of Returnil + ShadowProtect which prompted me to make a topic here and now I'm reconsidering:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=226108

Couple this with the newly released PrevX Edge and I agree with Carol:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=225190

I think it's not so much that NIS 2009 has improved that warrants this discussion but the idea of a scan-less secure Windows that you can set up for the casual internet users that has me salivating for the day Windows becomes as secure as Linux. (not through architecture but through these new Shadowing technologies)

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