Best anti virus for 64-Bit Windows 7 OS

[Veedaz]

Well said Draceena..

Second that ... The Lady said it like it is.

 

[Nibiru2012]

ad infinitum, ad nauseum!

 

[Veedaz]

^

Comodos CIS Free also supports Windows 7 64-bit

 

[Nibiru2012]

I don't want anyone to misconstrue my "ad nauseum" post. It's just that AV and Firewall and internet security threads keep goin' and goin' and goin'. Like the Energizer Bunny!

Reminds of the days when theologians would debate for months on end about the number of angels that could dance on the head of a pin.

I'll say that the two I would recommend would be either Avira or ESET.

 

[Vince]

AVAST Free is great!

 

[catilley1092]

AVAST Free is great!

Avast Free is great, especially if you run it with MSE. I've been running the two together for a week now, and have Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware and stand alone scanners. Also, you can click Start, type "mrt", w/o the quotes, and manually run the Malicious Software Removal Tool on demand. A single AV is not good enough these days to catch everything, free or paid. You must have at least one more "on demand" scanner. Why? Because Microsoft downloads us the same security patches as XP and Win 2K. The first three months of using Windows 7, no problems. Then, about a week and a half ago, Malwarebytes found a rootkit that managed to breakthrough all of the "security" that 7 has. And unlike others, I've not disabled any of 7's security features for a performance gain, or whatever reason the user does so. But hopefully, I now have enough AV's and scanners on hand to catch the bad guys. Windows does make superb OS's, but like a car, you must take the responsibility of maintaining it.

 

[Veedaz]

Windows does make superb OS's, but like a car, you must take the responsibility of maintaining it.

Wise words there Cat and i agree 100% mate, so many blame Hardware / Software when something goes wrong without considering how they use them. :top:

 

[BevDaBronxbabe]

I use CA Internet Security Suite coupled with MalwareBytes paid version and happy as can be.

Can any one suggest me best anti virus for 64-Bit Windows 7 OS.

 

[celldweller1591]

Avast 5 works well in 64 bit os !

 

[Mychael]

I'd never known about the Start/run mrt thing. Just tried it. nifty, don't know how good it is but handy for a quick check.
So much stuff that we never know the OS can do, just undiscovered.

Mike

 

[catilley1092]

I'd never known about the Start/run mrt thing. Just tried it. nifty, don't know how good it is but handy for a quick check.
So much stuff that we never know the OS can do, just undiscovered.

Mike

You get an updated one every month. It does run once a month in the background. But you can manually run it, too. I discovered that you can run it in XP Pro, it's one of Revo's Uninstaller's functions. It doesn't work that way on Windows 7, I had to post a thread to learn how to access it. I think Dallas Dad pointed it out to me. You get it every month for free, why not use it?

 

[tsiwan]

Can any one suggest me best anti virus for 64-Bit Windows 7 OS.

Bit defender

 

[Mychael]

Bit defender

You must have had better luck then I did with it on XP. Couldn't fix a problem and customer support was non existent.

 

[green]

I have been using Norton 360, and I love it.Symantec must have finally heard the complaints, because the latest version is fast, light on resources, and it works really well.

 

[Jeffreyobrien]

Avast Free is great, especially if you run it with MSE. I've been running the two together for a week now, and have Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware and stand alone scanners. Also, you can click Start, type "mrt", w/o the quotes, and manually run the Malicious Software Removal Tool on demand. A single AV is not good enough these days to catch everything, free or paid. You must have at least one more "on demand" scanner. Why? Because Microsoft downloads us the same security patches as XP and Win 2K. The first three months of using Windows 7, no problems. Then, about a week and a half ago, Malwarebytes found a rootkit that managed to breakthrough all of the "security" that 7 has. And unlike others, I've not disabled any of 7's security features for a performance gain, or whatever reason the user does so. But hopefully, I now have enough AV's and scanners on hand to catch the bad guys. Windows does make superb OS's, but like a car, you must take the responsibility of maintaining it.

Catilley awesome post m8 I took your advice months back took Norton's $300 p360 off replaced that with MSE,Malwarebytes,and a third backup scanner Avast these together with both AV firewalls,& w7 firewalls wow I don't seem to be attacked as much & no UN Authorized access or changed toredo adapter IP address.very happy now
regards
jeffreyobrien

 

[Jeffreyobrien]

I have been using Norton 360, and I love it.Symantec must have finally heard the complaints, because the latest version is fast, light on resources, and it works really well.

Green,I paid $300.00 for the same Norton's 360 version 4 it appears to work but I read your opinion & so here is my honest 8 month opinion,Mate it's USELESS all bells and whistles yes shows you huge amounts of information,configured correctly YES collect the cookies very well here is a real test for you,turn on all your w7 firewall settings to be ON same as Norton's 360 turns them OFF by default as well as defender NOW re-Boot your PC and allow that to run for 1 hour then click on One click support.Results will be ""Firewall Conflict"",then go and see your security history click it onto full history you will see what I am talking about History will not record windows firewall being off it doesn't even update the firewalls rules when turned off,HOW GOODS THAT for security you see Green I have worked tirelessly with Norton support trying to show them that the AV Just was not ready for w7 nor will it ever be.I was like you totally trusted that AV because it has all the reports indicating your system is secure,when in fact it blocks a few things but as far as Norton's are concerned they will escalate your support case up to the moon before they actually repair anything try the On-line remote connections with them and you will see about 20 or so UN AUTHORIZED ACCESS ATTEMPTS & their favorite WELL KNOW SIGNATURE ATTACK & THE IP LISTED IS YOUR IP & YES NORTON'S IP ADDRESS
so without malice my view with regards to your AV if you think you are secure well you are not as secure as you might think?download malwarebytes update its defs then run a full scan twice I will bet you are surprised what you will find especially Hijack this? check it out it will show you if your clean or not.
all the best
respectfully
jeffreyobrien

 

[catilley1092]

Glad to have been of help, Jeffrey. One thing that I done (having two active AV's) was in each one's "ignore" folder, I selected to ignore the other AV. I haven't had a virus in months now, and I also run Malwarebytes weekly (full scan).

However, please take note of this, I DO NOT recommend to others to run two active AV's at once. I do it on my own, of my own free will. Running Windows, you'd better be secure, or be ready to be burned. I scan every attachment downloaded to me, using both AV's + Malwarebytes. I do love Windows, I really do, but the constant routine of scan, scan & scan again can get to me at times.
A full scan with each AV weekly, as well as Malwarebytes. Windows Live Safety Scanner every two weeks, and there's a tool that you can access by typing "mrt", w/o the quotes, a full scan in weeks between the Windows Live one. And at any suspicion of anything, a full scan with all.

And this is where Mint comes in, to give me a much needed vacation for a week out of the month. I do have Clam AV installed, but don't really need it. You run Firefox with Adblock Plus & No Script (and use them), you're good to go. And fast, too.

But this thread is about the best AV for 64 bit Windows 7. My suggestion is, the one that you will use, keep updated, and stay on top of at all times. And a second malware scanner, such as Malwarebytes (there are others, too). Use all of the tools at your disposal, there's never enough of them on hand. There are good online scanners (such as Bit Defender) to use. Use Bing (or your favorite search engine) for more tools, there are many to be found. But stay away from unknown ones (especially those whom you can't verify). Verify any that you're unsure of, there are many lookalikes to the real ones. Many of them. Stay away, they have password grabbers, software that records every stroke on your keyboard, all kinds of rouge software, and after they get what they want, the destruction of your OS is next, and some even embeds in your RAM, making a reinstall worthless.

And last, the best AV of all, the one between the desk chair and your keyboard. That would be the user. Opening spam, many of which promises riches, is not good, neither is opening any email where you don't do business with. Never click onto "flash ads", many of which looks good, but don't deliver what's promised. How many of you fell for the "free macbook ad", where you had to answer one survey after the other, only to find out you don't qualify. All that you've done is opened the door to a ton of spam to come to your box. Another popular scheme, is the male enhancement scheme, a multi billion dollar per year one. Anything and everything that sounds unbelievable, usually is. Hopefully, this will help some users, and if only one user is not infected by implementing my advice, then I consider my post worthwhile. Prevention is always better than cure, every time.

Cat

 

[TrainableMan]

Nib's energizer bunny thread just got fresh batteries ...

I find it hard to say what AV program is the best, for 64 or 32,
but I can tell you what I would NOT recommend. Nortons NIS (and 360 to my knowledge) are not 64-bit applications, they run in 32 bit mode under a 64-bit OS but if you use IE 64-bit it will not function so you have no protection until the file gets on your PC.

I can also tell you that Norton has trouble hearing the word no, if you have a file that is perfectly valid but his heuristic protection catches it he will find ways to delete it at every turn even when you add it to the excluded list. I have a password recovery program that requires me to disable Norton every time I want to use it.

I had an incident just yesterday where the background scan ran and deleted a file from my harddrive and my backup copy from my portable that was also plugged in, even though this file was specifically listed in my exclusions. And it didn't even Quarantine, the program DELETED instead, even though every setting I have says Quarantine first. While trying to contact support I found there is a patch so SONAR doesn't quarantine programs you have excluded - now why wouldn't they add this to the regular updates as it seems pretty important? And when I ran it it got an error and couldn't install. When I did reach customer support they claim they fixed it but my file is gone and can't be recovered so how can I believe them?

When my subcription to Norton expires, knowing what I know now, I will not be renewing. Symantec sucks!

 

[Jeffreyobrien]

Glad to have been of help, Jeffrey. One thing that I done (having two active AV's) was in each one's "ignore" folder, I selected to ignore the other AV. I haven't had a virus in months now, and I also run Malwarebytes weekly (full scan).

However, please take note of this, I DO NOT recommend to others to run two active AV's at once. I do it on my own, of my own free will. Running Windows, you'd better be secure, or be ready to be burned. I scan every attachment downloaded to me, using both AV's + Malwarebytes. I do love Windows, I really do, but the constant routine of scan, scan & scan again can get to me at times.
A full scan with each AV weekly, as well as Malwarebytes. Windows Live Safety Scanner every two weeks, and there's a tool that you can access by typing "mrt", w/o the quotes, a full scan in weeks between the Windows Live one. And at any suspicion of anything, a full scan with all.

And this is where Mint comes in, to give me a much needed vacation for a week out of the month. I do have Clam AV installed, but don't really need it. You run Firefox with Adblock Plus & No Script (and use them), you're good to go. And fast, too.

But this thread is about the best AV for 64 bit Windows 7. My suggestion is, the one that you will use, keep updated, and stay on top of at all times. And a second malware scanner, such as Malwarebytes (there are others, too). Use all of the tools at your disposal, there's never enough of them on hand. There are good online scanners (such as Bit Defender) to use. Use Bing (or your favorite search engine) for more tools, there are many to be found. But stay away from unknown ones (especially those whom you can't verify). Verify any that you're unsure of, there are many lookalikes to the real ones. Many of them. Stay away, they have password grabbers, software that records every stroke on your keyboard, all kinds of rouge software, and after they get what they want, the destruction of your OS is next, and some even embeds in your RAM, making a reinstall worthless.

And last, the best AV of all, the one between the desk chair and your keyboard. That would be the user. Opening spam, many of which promises riches, is not good, neither is opening any email where you don't do business with. Never click onto "flash ads", many of which looks good, but don't deliver what's promised. How many of you fell for the "free macbook ad", where you had to answer one survey after the other, only to find out you don't qualify. All that you've done is opened the door to a ton of spam to come to your box. Another popular scheme, is the male enhancement scheme, a multi billion dollar per year one. Anything and everything that sounds unbelievable, usually is. Hopefully, this will help some users, and if only one user is not infected by implementing my advice, then I consider my post worthwhile. Prevention is always better than cure, every time.

Cat

cat,the best post & advice I have read for a while,I really agree with you on all of your post Especially the best AV of all, the one between the desk chair and your keyboard. That would be the user. Opening spam, many of which promises riches, is not good, neither is opening any email where you don't do business with. Never click onto "flash ads", many of which looks good, but don't deliver what's promised. How many of you fell for the "free macbook ad", where you had to answer one survey after the other, only to find out you don't qualify. All that you've done is opened the door to a ton of spam to come to your box. Another popular scheme, is the male enhancement scheme, a multi billion dollar per year one. Anything and everything that sounds unbelievable, usually is. Hopefully, this will help some users, and if only one user is not infected by implementing my advice, then I consider my post worthwhile. Prevention is always better than cure, every time.

my parents taught me that Prevention is always better than cure, every time,they were right as are you catilley.

Respectfully
jeffreyobrien

 

[TrainableMan]

Gotta love those old lessons "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

Yeah the best antivirus of all ... unplug. Everything else is a crapshoot.