What is THE BEST Antivirus program? Why? (1 Viewer)

[Rex Bachmann]

DaveF wrote (post #20):

[COLOR= rgb(51, 102, 153)]MSE tells me I should shut off all other A/V tools.[/COLOR]

What else is it gonna say? They all say (more or less) the same thing: "Turn off the competition!".

[COLOR= rgb(255, 165, 0)]What is THE BEST Antivirus program?[/COLOR][COLOR= rgb(255, 165, 0)] Why?[/COLOR]

A decent operating system; one designed with security in mind in the first place. The Unix-based or -compatible OSs (OSX, Linux (e.g., [COLOR= rgb(153, 255, 0)]Linux Mint[/COLOR]), the BSDs (e.g.,[COLOR= rgb(255, 140, 0)] [/COLOR][COLOR= rgb(255, 140, 0)]PC-BSD[/COLOR])) fill that bill. MS Windows does not. Never has. Never will.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Rex Bachmann

DaveF wrote (post #20):

[COLOR= rgb(51, 102, 153)]MSE tells me I should shut off all other A/V tools.[/COLOR]

What else is it gonna say? They all say (more or less) the same thing: "Turn off the competition!".

It might say: this is a firewall, you can leave on other anti-virus software. Or, this free tool works as a complement with other security programs. As MSE is a free program in a sector that MS has never cared about, I don't see that they have any compelling interest in crushing the "competition", as in other areas. In this case, I take it as a flat statement that this is an anti-virus program, and that dualing A/V programs may cause problems.


But if you've got actual information to the contrary, that would be helpful.

 

[mattCR]

The reason for MSE telling you this is that if multiple AV software are running, they can lock the same file, and thus it is often easier to get around a system with two anti-virus softwares vs. one good one.

In regards to "built for security" as a Linux advocate, I would agree with that. But I would also tell you it is a matter of will as well. There is a lot of "will" to making the effort to hack windows, it part because it's installed user base is considerably larger then the Mac base.. if you're going to hack people and you want get money, you go after the biggest target. Over the past few years, Apple has repeatedly issued out patches.. several as serious as MS.. but because there is less of a front to exploit it, less interest in doing it.. hackers etc. view MS as "The Man!". In regards to Linux, as someone who has run Linux servers for more then 15 years, I can tell you people who think 'secure like crazy' Never went through (90s) BIND flow attacks, zombie packages, Apache collapses.. and Apache hacks and takeovers still run rampant.. why Apache? Because it's dominant in it's field and so more people will attack it, so more will succeed.. and some of those have been DOOZIES. Look up "Apache" and I think it was "2009" or "2008" yous should get a flood of the attacks that Apache just sent users flipping out..


In the end, probably the only OSes I've ever used that were completely invulnerable were the ones where it didn't matter. No one was sending out Virus on the AppleIIGS. Or the Amiga ST. Mac has the benefit of being a smaller user base and good public perception which means that fewer hackers make the effort.. just not worth it. That's not a knock on Macintosh at all, just a cost/benefit analysis to those attempting to do the hacking.

 

[DaveF]

You left out the Timex Sinclair! I never had virus problems on that computer. It was never hacked from the outside!!!


Or, the only safe computer is a non-networked computer that never sees external media.

 

[Paul E. Fox II]

Another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials!

 

[SassyAtasha01]

Hi I'm currently using AVG AntiVirus Free Edition for a year now. and I recently downloaded the 2011 version. I don't have any problem with it and so far my computer is good. It is very easy to use and I just keep my it update.

 

[Citizen87645]

Thanks for the tip on MSE. I've been out of the Windows arena for several years, but just put Windows 7 on my iMac and was wondering about current options.

 

[toddbigeasy]

I was very happy with MSE, but somehow something got through, now MSE will only scan for ~ 6 seconds and freezes, then my computer is locked, I have to reboot. Can get past that 6 seconds. Also when I try to run "Add or Remove Programs" it freezes the system, It's like the virus won't let me run MSE nor let me look thruogh my computer manually.irritating! Todd