Interesting AV Poll

Very interesting.

 

It does show what great esteme (sic) the McAfee and Norton programs are held in, by all the experts :)

Being unscientific, which is true, make it meaningless.  The numbers presented are that just numbers and not consistent with any statistical method known to man.

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msgale wrote:

Being unscientific, which is true, make it meaningless.
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I said that poll was interesting- nothing more. Polls are by definition nothing more than opinions from those who care enough to respond.

 

The fact is that many new members come here seeking opinions on "the best AV", and generally get at most a handful of responses (often from members whose experience with AVs is somewhat limited). How would you best answer them? With your "n=1" personal opinion? That's hardly scientific, and by your own criteria, "meaningless"! Or did you choose your AV by more rigorous scientific methods?

 

Obviously there is no "best" AV, yet one still wants to steer new users towards effective, safe, and user-friendly apps. The top 5 apps listed in the poll all meet these criteria, and are commonly recommended.

 

I would disagree that the opinions of a large number of informed posters at a reputable security website are "meaningless" to the new user seeking recommendations. Forget the rankings/stats of the poll. Read the thread I linked to, and evaluate the opinions posted for yourself. Those who do this will realise the wide diversity of opinion (even among 'experts') out there.

 

And if, along the way, they notice that very few are recommending McAfee/Norton/whatever ...

 

Very refreshing to see Norton and McAfee down where they belong......

Lets do our own Poll, what AV do DCF members like???

 

I use AVG network Edition, so far so good, was using a free edition of CA AV untill the free ran out, Installed AVG, ran a full system scan and found 2 trojan's the CA missed, I guess nobody's gets 100%

I used McAfee for three years... until they came out with that bloated "all in one" security package. In all honesty, it did run fairly good for me at that time. In my opinion, they ruined a pretty good av by tinkering around and turning it into a bloated whale. I didn't want it so I didn't renew my subscription.

 

So now I use the free edition AVG. I didn't like their mail scanner though, so I deleted that part. But it seems to run good for me so I'm happy with that. I haven't been stricken with any viri or trojans; knock on wood. I stay away from the adult sites... I left those way back in the 70's, lol !!!:smileyvery-happy:

 

And of course for my firewall, it's my trustworthy ole' friend Zone Alarm.

bought my WinME system back in '01 (I believe), and it came with 3 months Norton pre-installed.   Used it, then payed for a 1 year extension.

After the year, when I tried to renew again, I could not get Norton to acknowledge my home address (for confirmation of credit card payment).   Tried several variations of my address' notation/abbreviations, and several different credit cards.  (no, the cards weren't bad :smileywink: )

 

at the time, I believe forum members were recommending AVG... not sure if there were any other "popular" and FREE choices available back then.   I tried the AVG, and have stuck with it ever since.

 

of course, since I haven't tried/tested anything else, I can't call this a "scientific" recommendation.   Just saying that it seems to have worked for me, over the years.

According to my local newspaper, the top selling software in the nation is as follows: Top-selling software

1. Spy Sweeper

2. PC-Cillin AntiVirus

3. MS Office 2007 Home & Student

4. Norton Antivirus

5. Norton Internet Security

6. Norton 360

| NPD Group

 

I've read that NIS and NAV have been redesigned for 2007 to use less system resources.  This article in pcmag convinced me to buy NIS.  I've had no problem with it, but I know you have to uncheck "Turn On Protection for My Symantec Product" to assure that windows System Restore will work.  Also it's somewhat of a lengthy hassle to uninstall.  You have to uninstall all Norton and Symantec listings in Add/Remove, restart after each one, and sometimes you get a message it couldn't uninstall (or you try to reinstall and get a message it can't) and the online help says to download and run the cleanup tool.  Except for that, it seems ok.

 " (no, the cards weren't bad ) "

 

:smileyvery-happy::smileyvery-happy:  Like that is expected these days!

Many, many reported problems with NIS and Vista IE7, IE7 crashes mostly.

 

 

 

"Lets do our own Poll, what AV do DCF members like???"

 

I like (and can recommend) all of:

Nod32 (paid)
Avira's AntiVir PE Classic (free)
Alwil's Avast! 4 (free)
AVG Free 7.5

 

I've used them all; none has ever let anything slip past. None has ever given me grief, (unlike previous versions of both McAfee and NAV, in various versions). And all have a small footprint, no bloatware, and uninstall easily.

 

I use Nod32 on my work-related PC, primarily because of its track record at various test sites, but also because of this nagging feeling that you have to pay to get the very best. It's a small price to pay for peace of mind, when you can't afford to lose files.

 

For home PC use, I currently use AntiVir PE Classic (free).

I don't like Norton much.  They're always on forum posts or in the national news for screwing something up.  (Yes, the national news.  They sent out an update in China a few weeks ago that made computers unusable, and about a week ago they agreed to compensate all those computer owners.)  I got NIS free with another program, but I'm not using it now.  I'm using AVG Free Antivirus.

I have installed Spybot 1.5 beta on my VISTA box, nice improvements, it integrates into Vista's Security Center, can be set to protect the registry against changes and any new process that tries to start.

 

 

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5396.html

 

 

 

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,64950-order,1-page,1/description.html  Outbound firewall that integrates with Vista's firewall, nice utility.