Which Anti-Virus?

Gladys · February 27, 2007, 05:33 AM

After steadily degrading performance ending is total freezes I traced the problem to Norton Internet Security. Unfortunately it's the bloatware/do-everything problem endemic with a lot of software these days (your PC are belong to us) - so it's firewall/anti-virus replacement time.

Now the Norton does provide the sort of protection I need - so I need something similar. Freeware just won't cut it with my kids constantly hitting YouTube, etc. so I've got it down to 2 alternative products:

ZoneAlarm Internet Security
Kaspersky Internet Security

ZoneAlarm is cheaper and allegedly offers more protection, but I've seen gripes about it in reviews.

Kaspersky is alleged to be lightening fast and try as I might I couldn't find anyone complaining about it.

(I'm leaning towards the Kaspersky ATM).

So my question is this. Is anyone out there using Kaspersky or ZoneAlarm, and how well does WoW run with it?

Thanks in advance.

Swampish · February 27, 2007, 05:44 AM

i'm not upto date on the packages, i'm not sure if zone alarm pro comes with a anti-virus or not. the firewall is meant to be top notch though. kapersky is one of the best personal anti-virus' you can get, no complaints about that and i dont know if that comes with a firewall. i suppose its best looking into what each package contains and whether it suits your needs.

P.S Just checked up on the sites and they both have internet security packages the Zonealarm one is 50 USD and the kapersky one is 40 GBP, I personally would go for zonealarm, it has more features, parental control,game mode, spy blocker, spyware remover, seems like a much better package. plus the standard anti virus and firewall

tekniko · February 27, 2007, 05:52 AM

Scrath all those... My dad runs a computer repair shop and ive had a computer in my room for 8 years.. I know a thing or two about anti viruses and despite what the critics say about Nortons, its the worst out there...

Nortons tries to be the head honcho the best of them all.. but its too much, it takes way to many resources slowing down your computer like crazy.. it rewrites alot of valuable system files to fit its own prefrence and from experience trying to uninstall it will just screw your computer up even more...

I suggest you use McAfee 7.0 its easy to use its caught all possible viruses ive gotten and Ive never had a problem with stability... its even very light on the resource usage...

I suggest a format of your hard drive.. start off fresh.. download McAfee from a bittorrent website for free, install that. Go to downloads.com and get Ad-aware 6.0 SE install that... this will protect your computer from spyware and stuff like that... its the best out there and its FREE!

If your really nervous and think some hacker is out to get you I suggest using a router instead of a fire wall... A router is way more safe and all you do is plug it in.. No free downloads for that... so youll have to pick one up in your local FutureShop for about 40 to 80$

I hope this helped

Gladys · February 27, 2007, 05:53 AM

Thanks Swampish - after further checking the zoneAlarm product actually uses an anti-virus engine provided by....... Kaspersky Labs! (Apparently they used to use one from Computer Associates).

Both are similar products (with AV and Firewall) - my inclination would be to go straight to Kaspersky: then I know the Firewall and AV are integrated.

But any other comments gratefully recieved.

Swampish · February 27, 2007, 05:54 AM

I'm an IT guy and i can state right now, Mcafee and Norton both suck monkey nuts. corporate anti-virus Sophos is amazing, no doubt. I would definately get Ad-aware aswell, it is very good.

Gladys · February 27, 2007, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tekniko

Scrath all those... My dad runs a computer repair shop and ive had a computer in my room for 8 years.. I know a thing or two about anti viruses and despite what the critics say about Nortons, its the worst out there...

Nortons tries to be the head honcho the best of them all.. but its too much, it takes way to many resources slowing down your computer like crazy.. it rewrites alot of valuable system files to fit its own prefrence and from experience trying to uninstall it will just screw your computer up even more...

I suggest you use McAfee 7.0 its easy to use its caught all possible viruses and ive never had a problem with it... its even very light on the resource usage...

I suggest a format of your hard drive.. start off fresh.. download McAfee from a bittorrent website for free, install that. Go to downloads.com and get Ad-aware 6.0 SE install that... this will protect your computer from spyware and stuff like that... its the best out there and its FREE!

If your really nervous and think some hacker is out to get you I suggest using a router instead of a fire wall... A router is way more safe and all you do is plug it in.. No free downloads for that... so youll have to pick one up in your local FutureShop for about 40 to 80$

I hope this helped

Thanks Tech -

Looked at the McAfee - but I've had problems with thier AV in the past and the footprint doesn't seem to be much less than Norton.

Got a router, software firewall is a backstop (I'm a database/IT consultant, paranoia is a job requirement). Already use Ad-aware.

I'm trying to avoid a re-install, my PC is a bit of a monster with all the work software on it. That said i may have to rebuild just to get rid of Norton from all accounts

.

Norton did use to be good software - was certainly the best a few years back (OK, the 20th. Century, last time I looked hard at AV software). Trouble is, with the last few releases thier product has got fatter and fatter and way over the top.

Gladys · February 27, 2007, 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swampish

I'm an IT guy and i can state right now, Mcafee and Norton both suck monkey nuts. corporate anti-virus Sophos is amazing, no doubt. I would definately get Ad-aware aswell, it is very good.

For a corporate setting Sophos is good - for game playing, err, not so good

.

Swampish · February 27, 2007, 06:11 AM

true

that's why i dont use sophos at home... you have actually made we want to buy a proper one now instead of a "free" one.

Dapox · February 27, 2007, 06:17 AM

I'm running zone alarm on my computer along with 3 others on a small network at home. It works very well as a firewall for the internet but I tend to have random access problems on the local network from cumputer to cumputer.

The anti virus option can simply be checked out in the options and seems to keep completely inactive, so perfect to run with a dedicated sofware as a anti-virus.

It works very well with WoW and about any other game I have played so far.

Muertela · February 27, 2007, 06:29 AM

As an ISP Owner I have to agree that Norton and McAfee suck.

3 programs that we have found to be reliable are Ad-Aware and Hitman (multi program scanner) and for Anti-Virus I use AVG Free, yes it is free but have found it is just as good as Norton and we use it on all our systems.

Hope this helped.

February 27, 2007, 05:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
Gladys Member Character Info Gladys 70 Human Warlock Bronzebeard Euro PvE Guild: Angels From Hell Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 26/35/0	Which Anti-Virus? After steadily degrading performance ending is total freezes I traced the problem to Norton Internet Security. Unfortunately it's the bloatware/do-everything problem endemic with a lot of software these days (your PC are belong to us) - so it's firewall/anti-virus replacement time. Now the Norton does provide the sort of protection I need - so I need something similar. Freeware just won't cut it with my kids constantly hitting YouTube, etc. so I've got it down to 2 alternative products: ZoneAlarm Internet Security Kaspersky Internet Security ZoneAlarm is cheaper and allegedly offers more protection, but I've seen gripes about it in reviews. Kaspersky is alleged to be lightening fast and try as I might I couldn't find anyone complaining about it. (I'm leaning towards the Kaspersky ATM). So my question is this. Is anyone out there using Kaspersky or ZoneAlarm, and how well does WoW run with it? Thanks in advance.

February 27, 2007, 05:44 AM	#2 (permalink)
Swampish Member Character Info swampish 70 Gnome Warlock Killrog Euro PvE Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 42/8/11	Re: Which Anti-Virus? i'm not upto date on the packages, i'm not sure if zone alarm pro comes with a anti-virus or not. the firewall is meant to be top notch though. kapersky is one of the best personal anti-virus' you can get, no complaints about that and i dont know if that comes with a firewall. i suppose its best looking into what each package contains and whether it suits your needs. P.S Just checked up on the sites and they both have internet security packages the Zonealarm one is 50 USD and the kapersky one is 40 GBP, I personally would go for zonealarm, it has more features, parental control,game mode, spy blocker, spyware remover, seems like a much better package. plus the standard anti virus and firewall Last edited by Swampish; February 27, 2007 at 05:51 AM..

February 27, 2007, 05:52 AM	#3 (permalink)
tekniko Registered Character Info Tekniko 62 Undead Warlock Mug'thol US PvP Guild: Shadow Syndicate Talent Spec: 41/5/15	Re: Which Anti-Virus? Scrath all those... My dad runs a computer repair shop and ive had a computer in my room for 8 years.. I know a thing or two about anti viruses and despite what the critics say about Nortons, its the worst out there... Nortons tries to be the head honcho the best of them all.. but its too much, it takes way to many resources slowing down your computer like crazy.. it rewrites alot of valuable system files to fit its own prefrence and from experience trying to uninstall it will just screw your computer up even more... I suggest you use McAfee 7.0 its easy to use its caught all possible viruses ive gotten and Ive never had a problem with stability... its even very light on the resource usage... I suggest a format of your hard drive.. start off fresh.. download McAfee from a bittorrent website for free, install that. Go to downloads.com and get Ad-aware 6.0 SE install that... this will protect your computer from spyware and stuff like that... its the best out there and its FREE! If your really nervous and think some hacker is out to get you I suggest using a router instead of a fire wall... A router is way more safe and all you do is plug it in.. No free downloads for that... so youll have to pick one up in your local FutureShop for about 40 to 80$ I hope this helped Last edited by tekniko; February 27, 2007 at 05:54 AM..

February 27, 2007, 05:53 AM	#4 (permalink)
Gladys Member Character Info Gladys 70 Human Warlock Bronzebeard Euro PvE Guild: Angels From Hell Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 26/35/0	Re: Which Anti-Virus? Thanks Swampish - after further checking the zoneAlarm product actually uses an anti-virus engine provided by....... Kaspersky Labs! (Apparently they used to use one from Computer Associates). Both are similar products (with AV and Firewall) - my inclination would be to go straight to Kaspersky: then I know the Firewall and AV are integrated. But any other comments gratefully recieved.

February 27, 2007, 05:54 AM	#5 (permalink)
Swampish Member Character Info swampish 70 Gnome Warlock Killrog Euro PvE Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 42/8/11	Re: Which Anti-Virus? I'm an IT guy and i can state right now, Mcafee and Norton both suck monkey nuts. corporate anti-virus Sophos is amazing, no doubt. I would definately get Ad-aware aswell, it is very good. Last edited by Swampish; February 27, 2007 at 06:00 AM..

February 27, 2007, 06:11 AM	#8 (permalink)
Swampish Member Character Info swampish 70 Gnome Warlock Killrog Euro PvE Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 42/8/11	Re: Which Anti-Virus? true that's why i dont use sophos at home... you have actually made we want to buy a proper one now instead of a "free" one.

February 27, 2007, 06:17 AM	#9 (permalink)
Dapox Lurker Character Info Dapox 70 Undead Warlock Euro RP PvP	Re: Which Anti-Virus? I'm running zone alarm on my computer along with 3 others on a small network at home. It works very well as a firewall for the internet but I tend to have random access problems on the local network from cumputer to cumputer. The anti virus option can simply be checked out in the options and seems to keep completely inactive, so perfect to run with a dedicated sofware as a anti-virus. It works very well with WoW and about any other game I have played so far.

February 27, 2007, 06:29 AM	#10 (permalink)
Muertela Member Character Info Foulmood 70 Undead Warlock Staghelm US PvP Guild: Advent	Re: Which Anti-Virus? As an ISP Owner I have to agree that Norton and McAfee suck. 3 programs that we have found to be reliable are Ad-Aware and Hitman (multi program scanner) and for Anti-Virus I use AVG Free, yes it is free but have found it is just as good as Norton and we use it on all our systems. Hope this helped.