good point. The Spyhunter is nailing spyware, trojans, adware, worms and malware threats some of which are identified as viruses. I wonder about this crossover? Hmmmm.
I use ESET Smart Security product ( www.eset.com ) even though Symantec and McAffe are available to me for free.
ESET Smart Security includes anti virus, anti spam, anti spyware and a firewall which is much better than Microsft’s included firewall and the easiest one to use that I have come accross. We by the license in two year increments.
I have been working with PCs since they came out and this is the best protection product that I have used that is available to the consumer at an affordable price. The ESET NOD32 Antivirus software is available seperately from the Smart Security suite at a lesser cost.
I prefer to have a firewall running in addition to an anti virus. It provides better protection and also I use it to keep my software applications from phoning home (making an internet connection) to the vendors servers without my knowledge. Microsoft apps are notorious for this, but many other applications do this too.
For those with Macs, the Mac OS still has vulnerabilities. If I had a Mac, I would still have a firewall and make sure I downloaded the latest OS updates from Mac.
The Mac OS is Unix based. A very bright software engineer that works for me once demonstrated how he could penetrate and remotely gain access to files on a Mac in about five minutes earlier this year. A firewall would have prevented that. Mac OS updates since then closed off the vulnerability he found but other probably lurk.
I have the Mcafee suite. Ten years ago Mcafee used to slow my puter way down and give me no end of problems. They have gradually improved it so that now I almost never see it on there and haven’t had a problem for at least 4 years. I usually get one or two automatic updates per day from Mcafee. When there is a new virus out there sometimes There will be several updates per day.
I have not gotten a virus on my puter in the last 10 years. Except once when we had two darling teenagers who were visiting us ask to use my puter to check their email. I left them alone with my puter for about an hour while we adults went to sit out on the deck. Then I heard their mom start to yell at them for being on a porn site. I turned on my puter to discover that they had turned off my firewall and virus checker because Mcafee kept warning them that they were visiting a dangerous website. I turned on the virus checker and the firewall only to discouver that I had numerous virus and all kinds of spyware on my computer. I had to format the hard drive to get rid of all that junk. Now when someone asks me if they can borrow my puter to check their email I tell them NO, sorry it has a very bad virus and I don’t want you to get it spread to your email. If they insist I say No!!!
We are a converted Mac family (I came into the fold kicking and screaming) and have not seen a virus since our conversion about 5 years ago. We also use Firefox as the browser of choice for our Macs. We stay current on OS updates for the Macs and updates on Firefox. Is it perfect? I don’t know that answer, but I do know that we are virus free and pop-up window free, and that makes using the computer a lot more enjoyable.
Oh, and I’m thrilled with whatever the Apple engineers did that makes the batteries last so long on our MacBook machines. My previous PC laptops could not hold a candle to the long life I get on my MacBook. Pure genius.
We are a converted Mac family (I came kicking and screaming) and have not seen a virus since our conversion about 5 years ago. We also use Firefox as the browser of choice for our Macs. We stay current on OS updates for the Macs and updates on Firefox. Is it perfect? I don’t know that answer, but I do know that we are virus free and pop-up window free, and that makes using the computer a lot more enjoyable.
Oh, and I’m thrilled with whatever the Apple engineers did that makes the batteries last so long on our MacBook machines. My previous PC laptops could not hold a candle to the long life I get on my MacBook. Pure genius.
Joe -
I guess you are a really SERIOUS Mac user - posting the exact same message twice.
Or does your Mac stutter ??
John
My Internet connection has been goofy for a couple of days. When the message did not post, I hit STOP then resubmitted it. Never checked to see if it came up twice.
The Mac is fine, the operator is challenged.:rolleyes:
Joe
I got this too, it’s called Antivirus 2009
My computer hasn’t been right since
Antivirus 2009 is a new rogue anti-spyware program. It is also a clone of Antivirus 2008 - also a rogue, and one that’s produced more clones than any other recently. The list of these clones is long: System Antivirus 2008, Ultimate Antivirus 2008, Vista Antivirus 2008, XP Antivirus 2008 etc.
Like any other of it’s predecessors, Antivirus2009 uses trojans, such as Zlob or Vundo, to spread. These trojans lurk in porn/warez websites disguised as video codecs, and, upon entering the system, floods the user with popups and fake system notifications, supposedly to inform him of an infection. While the system at hand may indeed be infected, Antivirus 2009 will inform the user of this regardless of whether it’s true or not. The point of this disinformation is to convince the user he is infected and therefore needs an antispyware program to dispose of the threat. The user might click on one of the popups or notifications, all of which claim they will take him to a legitimate security tool, but try to make him purchase Antivirus2009’s “licensed version” instead.
Antivirus 2009 is a scam and should be treated as such: do NOT download or buy it and block it’s homepage using your HOSTS file.
ANYTHING is better than Norton!
AVAST is good.
tailingloop,
I use a wireless router that I got from Mac called the Airport Extreme. It serves as a “hard” firewall. I agree, a firewall is important. Best Regards…
Just like flyfishing products there are lots of opinions on software. 
I had and hated most of the big name programs. Getting completely rid of McAfee is a tricky proposition but it can be done without reformatting your hard drive. It takes some registry work and some clean-up programs but after it was completely gone; I went with what was recommended to me by a Microsoft tech support person from Hotmail:
Trend Micro
It doesn’t hog system resources, it includes a full suite of products like spam blockers, spyware, firewall, kiddie protection, key logging protection and lots more and is boxed as a three licence copy at WAY less than McAfee or Norton. I get a discount each year for a new license and pick up my copy at Staples.
[quote=Bamboozle;249196]Just like flyfishing products there are lots of opinions on software.
[quote]
boy is there!!
after reading all of the opinions/suggestions on this thread, i’m still not sure which one to go to.
thanks to all who responded.
avast = 2
avg = 6
macafee = 3
norton = 2
ca = 1
microsoft = 1
trendmicro = 1
mac = 1
spyhunter = 1
eset = 2
I am switching to this;http://www.eset.com/
Thanks tailingloop!
Doug
Normand,
Just to add an additional .02 to the mix. You have recieved a ton of good suggestions. I’d advise trying a few and see which one fits your needs. Most if not all of the recommended solutions have a trial of some kind (30 day, 60 day, etc.) so you can see if they work for you.
Better than anyone on the board, you know what your situation is, and what will work best for you (sounds like a rod recommendation doesn’t it?). Download a trial of one of the recommended AV solutions, install and see if it works for you. When the trial is over uninstall and download another and so on. In the end you may have tried 6 or seven products and then you can decide which one fit you best.
In the end, any reputable AV solution is better than none at all.
Brian
I use Windows One care. I like it, pretty neat.
While this is a good suggestion it may not be an easy one. I can’t speak to personal experience with any other program except McAfee but COMPLETELY uninstalling some virus programs can be EXTREEMLY difficult.
While a complete uninstall may not be necessary; some software for the same purpose may have conflicts with incomplete uninstalls. I had a HECK of a time getting Trend Micro to work properly until I completely vanquished McAfee from my system which wasn’t a simple one step process.
YMMV
Bamboozle,
In my experience (going on 10 years as an IT guy in a variety of capacities), I have only seen one product which subornly refuses to uninstall and that is McAfee. Over the past year or so I have been researching various products trying to find the one which best fit my performance needs but also provided high quality protection. As a result I had to have installed/uninstalled at least every one of the mentioned products from my Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 system. None of them (McAfee did not make the cut on even getting a trial install) caused any system problems on uninstall and none caused me to revert to backup becuase of an issue.
As you noted YMMV and this is true with anything. As I noted, it was just my opinion based upon my experience.
Brian
thanks to all that responded. i went with Computer Associates and really like this program.
I have used AVG, Zone Alarm, Mcafee, and Norton. I am now using a trial version of Micro Trend. It doesn’t use the resources of my computer, like the others did. Hence, no slow down in computer performance. They are a little shy on the Tech support though. My recommendation is to download the 30 day trials, and see for yourself which one works for you.