Best anti virus for 64-Bit Windows 7 OS

[Mychael]

I wonder how much a particular internet provider influences exposure to viruses.
I visit many different and varied sites and up until recently only ran AVG free and malewarebytes, never got any viruses or alerts about intrusions.

 

[TrainableMan]

Well Mychael, maybe you are avoiding risky places, maybe it is set to work silently w/o notifications, or maybe your software just isn't catching the bad stuff.

A real problem are the predators who realize people are worried about viruses and they actually write malware (which is really just a virus itself) just to sell you worthless virus software. Basically they kidnap your computer and hold it for ransom until you pay up. "You have a virus! You have a virus! Pay us to remove it!" ... yeah right You wrote the virus I'm infected with, low life scum.

The truth is, if the software isn't bloatware - hogging your system resources, or destructive - deleting good files, or malicious - see malware mentioned above, then until you do get a virus, whatever virus software you are using WAS good software for YOU.

With as many new exploits as are created every single day it is impossible for any one provider to block everything, thus the reason for heuristic protection which is basically, hmm this is suspicious, I'll delete it just in case.

Sooner or later, with enough web access, you will get hit - that is why you should make routine back-ups, system checkpoints, and restore discs.

 

[Mychael]

Fingers crossed then as considering I've been online since win95 I've never had an issue. True though you never know how good an AV is till it has to do it's stuff in anger.

 

[catilley1092]

Well Mychael, maybe you are avoiding risky places, maybe it is set to work silently w/o notifications, or maybe your software just isn't catching the bad stuff.

A real problem are the predators who realize people are worried about viruses and they actually write malware (which is really just a virus itself) just to sell you worthless virus software. Basically they kidnap your computer and hold it for ransom until you pay up. "You have a virus! You have a virus! Pay us to remove it!" ... yeah right You wrote the virus I'm infected with, low life scum.

The truth is, if the software isn't bloatware - hogging your system resources, or destructive - deleting good files, or malicious - see malware mentioned above, then until you do get a virus, whatever virus software you are using WAS good software for YOU.

With as many new exploits as are created every single day it is impossible for any one provider to block everything, thus the reason for heuristic protection which is basically, hmm this is suspicious, I'll delete it just in case.

Sooner or later, with enough web access, you will get hit - that is why you should make routine back-ups, system checkpoints, and restore discs.

Well said, TrainableMan! With the options available today, there's NO excuse for not backing up. Macrium Reflect is one of the best free backup solutions on the market, it works with XP & up. I have used and recovered with this one. The one that ships with 7, not as good as Macrium, but the best that Windows has produced, and I've recovered with it, too. Whenever I add or remove a program, or a round of updating has taken place, I backup. With Macrium, a 50GB backup takes less than 10 minutes.

And as far as to what you backup on, if you have a good drive laying around that you pulled to upgrade, enclosures can be found for as little as $15. And even if you had to buy a drive, you can build a 500GB one for $65 to $75, mabye less. It takes less than five minutes to assemble the drive into the case. And if you have to, DVD's will work, too. Any backup is better than none, especially if you don't have a reinstall disc or your retail disc to fall back on.

One other thing, most backup programs have an option, or asks you to burn a recovery disc to access your files with. Make sure you do this, or your backup could be worthless in some cases.

Cat

 

[Sycthus]

I have Avast and Security Essentials both running real time scanning, both updating every day and a daily scan from MSE. Never had a virus on 7 so far
I haven't heard much of Comodo before. Would anyone recommend it over avast?

 

[Nibiru2012]

Both Avast and MSE are very good programs, Comodo released back in mid-April a free version of their Internet Security v4.0 software.

I personally haven't run it because I use G DATA Internet Security Suite, but what few reviews I've read give it good marks.

Check out this thread here where I posted some info about Comodo's new free IS suite: https://www.w7forums.com/best-free-anti-virus-programs-t6175.html#post44958

 

[catilley1092]

It's becoming obvious (through users & reviews) which AV's are good and which to stay away from. I've noticed one on the market recently, I have it as an online scanner in XP, is BitDefender. They have free and paid versions. Has anyone had positive or negative experiences with them? If so, I'd like to hear about it. I'm looking for a second (non-active) scanner to evaluate with XP. XP is no longer by far my main OS, but it makes for a great testing ground, because if there's a virus around waiting to plant itself on a system, XP is vulnerable to anything. I know this firsthand, and after the last two years of running it exclusively, I was ready for 7.

 

[Mychael]

It's becoming obvious (through users & reviews) which AV's are good and which to stay away from. I've noticed one on the market recently, I have it as an online scanner in XP, is BitDefender. They have free and paid versions. Has anyone had positive or negative experiences with them? 7.

Cat, I had a paid version of Bitdefender which I'd purchased and registered online.
Initially I thought it was ok till the time it began to give problems, not updating properly, telling me I had a trojan but not removing, file issues. Stuff like that.

Online support was, crap basically, everything was done via email, their customer support links were hard to navigate and I never got timely nor helpfull results.

To highlight how dumb they were even after I deleted the program and told them what I thought in the customer satisfaction survey I still kept getting emails telling me my program was out of date and to renew subscription.

Like a lot of things with software they can evolve or de-evolve with time and depending on if the original company still markets it but based on my experience with Bitdefender I'd advise you give it a miss.

 

[Nibiru2012]

I used BitDefender for two years and had no problems with it at all. It's a very good AV program and firewall.

I used their internet security suite version and never suffered any problems. It was pricey though about $50 for a year subscription.

I recently started using G DATA Internet Security Suite and it is very reasonably priced at $29.95 per year. In addition, it is one of the top two rated AVs out there.

Thrax gives it a "two thumbs up" recommendation, and that's good enough for me, along with the reviews and tests from: www.av-comparatives.org

 

[catilley1092]

That chart looks fairly in order, but AVG in front of Avast? Get real! I've removed all kinds of crap that AVG missed from four different computers, three with MSE & Malwarebytes, and the other with Avast and Malwarebytes. AVG is usually "giveaway" software that comes on many refurbished computers sold on eBay, and other resellers. I wouldn't run it on anything after seeing the damage on other's computers. But, there's other's that swears behind it, however, the numbers are dwindling.

 

[draceena]

I have to agree with you Cat. I've had negative experiences with AVG as well (not catching viruses) but to each his own.

 

[TorrentG]

As far as stability and AVG goes, last year, I would say that 7 out of every 10 crash dumps I've looked at were caused by it. I think they have gotten better since I haven't seen it as much, but AVG is also known to slow down a system way more than an antivirus should. If it's one software I always recommend to stay away from, it's this one.

 

[Nibiru2012]

That chart looks fairly in order, but AVG in front of Avast? Get real! I've removed all kinds of crap that AVG missed from four different computers, three with MSE & Malwarebytes, and the other with Avast and Malwarebytes. AVG is usually "giveaway" software that comes on many refurbished computers sold on eBay, and other resellers. I wouldn't run it on anything after seeing the damage on other's computers. But, there's other's that swears behind it, however, the numbers are dwindling.

Whoa there Sparky! Don't shoot the messenger... please?! :ridinghorse:

Post a response at: www.av-comparatives.org

Yes, the attachment has the AV software listed in a order from top to bottom. This website is very thorough and reading about their methods and testing is quite interesting.

 

[roban]

I like Norton IS 2010. I was definitely not a Norton fan but with this release they have me hooked. It's unobtrusive and it works.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Perhaps Norton did as Microsoft and started listening to their customers.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Perhaps Norton did as Microsoft and started listening to their customers.

Cliff - I believe you're correct on that one. I heard some good things about Norton 360.

 

[TorrentG]

Just did a crash dump analysis which was being caused by Kaspersky. I myself use Kaspersky as it is integrated in my ZoneAlarm Extreme. I absolutely love this software and it has been perfect stability for me on multiple machines for many years.

There is only one antivirus solution out of them all that has never been shown to cause any bsod.

It's Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE.)

 

[Veedaz]

Perhaps Norton did as Microsoft and started listening to their customers.

Norton 360 is on version 4 ... may be worth having a look at

 

[Fire cat]

Hey! What about ESET NOD32?

 

[TorrentG]

Hey! What about ESET NOD32?

Two recent examples from the top of my head:

http://windows7forums.com/windows-7...7-x64-fresh-build-random-bsod.html#post156240

http://windows7forums.com/windows-7...-causing-bsod-sleep-hibernate.html#post155536