Best Antivirus for Alienware Computers

BEFORE YOU READ:

If you are a Windows Defender/Microsoft Security Essentials user, then please happy with it and do not read this post. IMHO, that is not an AV, it is just a name, doesn't do anything, doesn't have any kind of protection to new threats. I have cleaned many PCs in the past year which all had MSE or Defender installed . Just check out Windows Defender/MSE score here at the end of this page and you will know what I am talking about. But hey, if you're happy with it and feel safe, by all means, do use it.

This is NOT a technical review of the below AntiVirus solutions, I am sure professional virus testing labs such as AV Comparatives or AV-TEST do an excellent job at testing antivirus programs hundreds of malware samples and many AVs look great in those tests. Using that AV in your daily workflow as a user is a totally different subject. That's what this post is all about, call it USER EXPERIENCE with different AVs if you will.

I have a license for almost every well known Antivirus out there as I am a perfectionist and wanted to try each one to find the perfect balance between security, not being very heavy on the system, and most importantly, no quirks or false positives that would only hinder the user experience!

ESET NOD32 Antivirus:

This has been my favorite AntiVirus for more than 7 years. Back then when it was still at version 2, it was known to be the only AV that does not miss a virus in the wild for many years consecutively. Yet, it was super light. It was the Antivirus for gamers!

Unfortunately, with each new version, it just kept getting heavier, and heavier!

The last light version was version 4, then 5 was heavy, 6 was the same as v5 in terms of heaviness, but again, it only brought a few improvements of how it handles HIPS and 0 day attacks. Version 7 came to destroy NOD32 completely. It is the heaviest Antivirus I have tried out of the whole lot!

Installing programs would take double the time they regularly needed! I am talking about small 5-6 MB programs! Let alone big programs like Microsoft Office or Nero Platinum Suites!

When I raised this concern on the forums, they told me that's probably because NOD32's scanning engine is checking each file. Well that's good! but so does every other AV, and it doesn't yield this huge performance impact! Now I don't know how it would affact playing games or running resource hungry programs, but just as I started to install a few programs I could tell this is not the Antivirus for the performance enthusiast or gamer!

Want more proof? check out its performance rating here under ESET ... AV-TEST - Jan/Feb 2014
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Kaspersky Antivirus:

It has improved vastly over the years in terms of system impact. It was one of the heaviest AntiVirus programs out there along with McAfee, but now it is actually very light!! Also, it has for many months and consecutively scored the top ranks at AV Comparatives!

So why don't I use it? It has many quirks! I want an Antivirus to protect my system not to give me headaches. For a long time, it had problems with Nero Platinum Suite 2014, it wouldn't allow the burn process to complete successfully. They claim to have fixed the issue in update Patch G but while things did improve, I was able to complete burning an Audio CD the first time, then reburning that same project of that Audio CD again failed the next time.

Additionally, just browsing their forums scare the living hell out of me! So many problems it is beyond normal, ranging from the Antivirus program not starting, not updating, not allowing some other program to work properly, it's the best Antivirus in terms of detection rates, but the worst in terms of system stability.
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Bitdefender Antivirus:

One of the top antivirus programs when it comes to detection rates consecutively each and every month! But it acts as a virus on its own! Just head to the Bitdefender forums and read their horror stories, slow internet, slow system, unable to boot, etc.

Another issue is with its updates. You install the AV, then perform your first update, then it shows you a red exclamation mark in its desktop widget and you think "oh my! what the hell is this now" It is simply telling you to reboot to complete the update! oh well, I reboot, then update, then again, and again, and again, then sometimes I get problems with AutoPilot not running properly and I have to enable the real time AV component manually.

Additionally, it requires you to create an account and keeps nagging about it. I hate all these new AVs that seem to be like you are registering for some social network rather than simply installing an AV and forgetting about it.
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Norton Antivirus:

One of the former heavy Antivirus programs out there, that has improved vastly over the years. In fact, it is one of the lightest that I have tested! It has a few false positives, but nothing to complain about. What I don't like though if it detects a virus or an FP, the file just vanishes from your system! it doesn't ask you what you want to do whether you want to clean, quarantine, delete, exclude from detection!

A big visual bug in its interface is what stopped me from using it completely and never buying anything from Symantec anymore...

Randomly, you will get 2 icons of the AV program in your taskbar. Many users complained about this on their forums since 1 year and all the support people say is it will be fixed in the future but is not one of the top priorities on their list since it is just a cosmetic bug! Really? Well I paid for a fully functional and working product I don't want some buggy fugly icon in my taskbar appearing twice! Terrible reasoning and customer service!
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BullGuard Antivirus:

Uses the Bitdefender Engine BUT minus all the Bitdefender quirks! Was great when I used it, light on the system, until they decided to mess with its simple interface and make it all tiles and big boxes. What's worse, is the person who created the GUI sort of forgot to add extra space to fir all the icons, you will see a few icons and then the next ones are chopped off the screen until you scroll down or to the right! Wow! what a professional look. I know one needs an Antivirus to protect and not for the looks, but still, I cannot live with such an ugly user interface
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avast! Antivirus Pro:

avast! Antivirus both Free or Pro was one of the very light AVs out there that had excellent detection rates and 0 false positives. Only until the recent changes where they decided to make the interface resemble the Metro interface of Windows 8 did things start to go bad.

Not only is the interface a joke to look at as if some 10 year old child designed it, but not you keep getting random security message which you never asked for, keep getting spam offers, even in the paid version. What really made me stop using it was it has become very very heavy. I mean heave to the point where even a simple task such as opening a new tab in Firefox was jerky and slow. My internet became slower and so did my entire system.

I head over to their forums to make a complain, and I get banned + my post deleted for no reason! Then I read other users' complaints and with the myriad of problems + horror stories you read, you don't even wanna get close to this marketing spam Antivirus.
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Webroot Antivirus:

This was my favorite AntiVirus until recently! When I first discovered it, I was shocked by how light it was! It seemed as if I didn't even have an AV installed! so light and yet very secure...but here is the problem...it is very secure that gets in the way of your daily workflow!

I got over 30 False Positives with it, ranging from legitimate programs being flagged as a virus, all the the way to websites being marked as malicious! I am not talking about some new unknown website, I am talking about popular sites being flagged as malicious! It seems like Webroot blacklists every website on the web and every file, and only unblocks them one by one when a customer complaints or submits a false positive! wow! great way for detection! Block the whole world and let your customers tell you what is NOT a virus!

I made many complaints on their forums, and all I got is promises that things will be better and I was told that I could be part of the solution rather than complain! So now I have to work for them for free and keep reporting FPs rather than use my PC normally!
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Emsisoft Anti-Malware:

After almost giving up on finding a light AntiVirus that has no quirks or so much false positives, I was checking detection rates/FPs on AV comparatives and noticed Emsisoft Anti-Malware.

I installed it, it started its first deep scan which took about 10 minutes to complete since it was checking every single file of my 3 TB data. It only came up with one false positive which was Private Internet Access (a VPN service installer) but not a big problem since it's only one which I quickly excluded from detection.

System impact is very low, close to how light Webroot SecureAnywhere was but without 10s of false positives! The interface is very clean and easy to use and I cant probably say that out of the whole bunch I've tried, this one's a keeper as it doesn't interfere with my daily workflow, doesn't slow my PC down, and has excellent detection rates where at the time of typing this, it had a 98.8% detection rate at AV Comparatives and 0 False Positives.

 

Windows defender isn't that bad imho, it's not the best, but it does work most of the time and it's free.
(More or less on par with Avast which isn't that great tbh)

NOD32 is by far the best though.
No AV it's perfect however.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

`I respect your opinion. It's all about USER EXPERIENCE, not any review you read online and what I posted was my personal experience

 

Since I have a paid AOL account I have been using McAfee Security Center. Its been beefed up from the past and no viruses in the last 3 years. With new Alienware it breezes through the scans as the fans rev up. Its all automatic and I don't have to activate anything to run scans. You don't want the free McAfee antivirus that is attached to something like Adobe updates, you want the full paid version that scans outgoing and in-going emails. Just don't run a heavy scan if you gaming. It kicks out windows firewall and Defender to use its own complete system. MSSE is a good free one I use on a 5 year old PC because its light.

 

Kaspersky and MalwareBytes Pro. The best combination, in my opinion.

MSE is something I have used and never had issues with, but it misses things every now and then during scans that other programs don't. It's a free program, though. So, I don't expect it to be superior. It's just "good enough."

MalwareBytes is something I always have in tandem with other software. It catches a lot, and I've never been hacked or had any unwanted activity while using it. It's also a very light program and doesn't bother you with nonsense.

That's my stance on AV software.

 

crApafee is terrible. It gives tons of false positives, misses bad stuff, and has very few user configuration options for file and folder exceptions. I have fixed more infected systems with updated McAfee security products than any other. Looks like it gets better ratings than it used to (probably Intel's doing) but the lack of configuration options (unless they fixed it since 2013) makes it one that I refuse to use. I actually regard this so-called security product as malware in and of itself. Here is a link to the tool to completely eradicate it from your system: http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe

ESET was really good... I used it for years, but it's way too expensive (most of the paid-for options are grossly overpriced). It used to be light on resources, but I stopped giving them money about 4 years ago and never looked back. Sounds like a resource pig now.

I have lifetime subscriptions to Vipre (like it, super light on resource utilization and "good enough" protection for me) and Malwarebytes (love it to death), but for a while now I have been using nothing. All of my important data is backed up and frequently accessed data/content is stored on different physical drives than my OS. I have drive images for my Windows 7 and 8 installations that I can use in case I get hit by some crud and just decided to see how long I could get away with no system overhead from security bloatware. I also do not allow any Windows Updates on my system. It has been quite a while now... so far, so good.

My days of random web surfing, torrent downloads, searching sketchy web sites for modded game exe files, etc. etc. are long over. I examine emails in plain text format before enabling HTML, usually delete them in plain text without looking at images or HTML, and I delete unread emails in gigantic batches. Anything with FW in the subject line, or an RE that is not a reply to a message I sent, and messages sent from an entity I do not have a close relationship typically with gets wiped out en masse without even checking the content.

This no security approach certainly isn't suited for everyone, but I'm sure liking it.

 

How do you feel about AVG? I just installed it today.

 

I was really trying to go straight I swear, but there is just some games (Wolfenstein 2009) that you cannot even buy.

 

i don't have any issues with avast....i hardly see any pop ups from it - probably cos i put it into silent mode.

 

This one? Amazon.com: Wolfenstein - PC: Video Games | Release Date: August 18, 2009

 

Thank you for this in depth review. You have just answered a question I asked 3 days ago on the Norton forum. I sometimes end up with 2 Norton icons in my task bar. It's annoying as hell. From someone who suffers with OCD, I would recommend that Norton gets this bug fixed as it's really irritating.

 

I'm using Norton 360 along with Malwarebytes . Been working great with this combo for years .

 

I do suffer from OCD, and that's why I ditched m 2 year license and let it burn 2 hell! Bloody clowns can't fix such a simple bug, they never compete in the AV Comparatives test results, wonder why, I can't trust such a company anymore for my security

 

Honestly, I think the best thing is to not be an idiot. That'll prevent 95% of problems from happening in the first place. For the other 5% I suppose you could use MSE or Avast or something.

 

^^^^Exactly right... ^^^^

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Mse just plain doesn't work and avast itself has advertisement popups even in the paid version

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

http://mobile.pcmag.com/?origref=https://www.google.com/#!/article/536a5da0ec0691f16d0002dd
(Even with the snarky title there's a real meaning behind what they are saying)
Even symantec is giving up

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

I've used AVG Free with no issues and now, we have just implemented Kaspersky at work. They offer a free client for your home machine so I've started using it and like it. But, just as Serephucus said, don't be stupid and you won't get a virus.

 

Agreed; well there's always those bad browsing habits too... I suppose that's what Linux is for

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

Oh, and I try to steer clear of anything and everything created by Symantec...and that includes Norton. My experience with them at work has always been terrible whether it's been support or even the product itself.

 

Lol my dad is a programmer for them. He's a and I wouldn't trust him with your security.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

Hahaha, well nothing against your dad my friend! I just hope he doesn't program for the Backup Exec side of Symantec...lol

 

Personally i use Bitdefender its cheap ( $40 AU for 3 user 3 year licence) it works very very well and makes a really nice stability testing program too,seems to stress certain cpu instruction sets that none of my other programs do:thumbsup:

 

I've just used MSE and Malwarebytes for what seems like eternity. Never had an issue under Windows 7 with that combo, using Windows 8 now with Defender and Malwarebytes again and no issues that I am aware of. As pointed out earlier in the thread, the best form of protection comes from your own intellect telling you what NOT to do. Common sense can be a great tool........if I were to go back to using a 'paid for' AV suite, I think I would go ESET again - that was the last suite I used, and again, never had a problem.

 

Common sense isn't common!

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Hahaha, yeah.....sad but true....

 

I have been using Norton for about 12 years and I am currently using Norton 360. My experience has been overall very good.

The only time I got a virus was about 8 years ago and Norton's response was excellent. I had not been connected to the internet for over a week and when I did connect I immediately started downloading and reading emails while Norton did an update. Unfortunately I was reading faster than Norton was updating. I got infected by an email attachment. Anyway Norton provided clear and concise instructions on what to do and how to do it. The virus was painlessly removed.

These days I don't even notice it working in the background which is exactly what you want from an AV program.

The only thing I don't like about it is the built-in back up software that once it is installed and has set up a backup drive it is almost impossible to remove. I like to be able to customise my computer experience by picking what features I want to use and either removing the icons so I can no longer see them or preferably deleting the feature entirely. When I complained to Norton and asked for help to delete the backup drive their response was "why would I want to delete the drive", not how can I help you achieve what you (me the customer!!!) want.

Are there better programs out there; maybe. I tried Kaspersky once many years ago and found it difficult to use because it stopped me doing the simplest things so I promptly got rid of it. I also tried McAfee a couple of years ago when it came with a new computer and again I found the learning curve fairly steep so I reverted to Norton again.

I guess that I have stuck with Norton for two reasons. Firstly it does the job well and secondly because I don't want to go through the process of learning how to fine tune a new AV program to work the way I want it to work. The same reasoning is why I am sticking with Win7 and not moving with the times to Win 8

 

Norton is a very good Anti Virus program but my issue with them is that its not easy to remove you need their permission basically to remove it from your pc emphasis being personal computer,none of their business if i want to remove or not!

 

McAfee shares that same problem. It's so bad that both of them have special utilities to assist with remove everything. Their hooks get very deeply embedded and it can sometimes be very difficult to fully recover from having them installed. Even using their special uninstall utilities I have ended up with an unstable OS after trying to remove their crud. In fact, I have needed to do a clean OS install more than once after having McAfee software installed.

 

Comodo is another one i tried and that did completely destroy my windows installation

 

As far as opinions go

MSE and MBAM for me in win7, don't use 8 as much so nothing more than MSE by default

I agree McAfee has to be the worst AV in my book, I remember when I bought the17R3 the machine used to BSOD the moment after I had clean installed Mcafee, figures out it was doing something with killer's drivers, despite the fact 15mo of the thing was preinstalled in my rig, I refused to EVER install it, and still get "spam" from mcafee asking me to renew their subscription, ha...fat chance of that, mebe if intel does some of its voodoo and makes it better, you never know, hope springs eternal

As far as others go, ESET is número uno in me book, seconded by NIS 2009-2011 an
awesome and light AV

But at the moment I am good with MSE/MBAM combo, despite having to download updates every arvo.

 

I am using Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 and been using them for years now. My brother was using Bitdefender, which I tried for 30 days and it seemed like a good internet security software as well. The main reason I use Kaspersky is - cheap (you can buy older version and upgrade for free to the newest), does not have huge impact on the performance of the laptop.

 

That was certainly the case a few years ago but the few times I have had to remove Norton more recently the process was painless and the removal tool was readily available.

I have seen various posts where someone will argue that Windows Defender and Firewall + Malware Bites + common sense are all that is needed to keep yourself virus free and that might be a valid point where we are talking about a home computer that is used to play games / surf the net / do some shopping etc. where if you do get a virus a clean install is not a big problem. But where we are talking about a computer that is an essential part of your working day that is a very different thing. If I had to take a day off work to do a clean install of my computer because I have a virus that is one days pay that I don't get not to mention the lost work since my last backup.

For me a professional, good quality AV program with on-going support is just common sense and the money I pay for it I view as just insurance. I would not go with out insurance on my car or my house and I view the AV program just the same.

 

After seeing this, I will never even touch or consider Windows Defender as an Antivirus:




Source: Home: AV-TEST - The Independent IT-Security Institute

 

Funny though how the test results above have the likes of Norton, McAfee and Kaspersky amongst the top products for protection.......McAfee? - Really?...... - McAfee Internet Security 2014 review

 

Interesting Bitdefender rates extremely well,no surprise really:thumbsup:

 

Avast! (ARRRR) all the way.
Free, resource light, detects most antivirus plus its an spyware detecter, and it really got a good UI

Also that test posted above: I call BS.
Numerous tests that reveals that Avast detects in the 85-95% range.

 

Avast is a good option. I use the free version on my android. It's probably just as good on PC as mobile devices.......and it doesn't cost a bean.

 

You use antivirus on the phone?
I like living in danger there

This is also very interesting regarding resource usage
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/2/

 

Does it really matter how much memory you AV uses? Most computers these days have at least 8GB RAM often more....

 

I find it really stupid when people judge an AV by its memory usage! As you said, most people have 8 GB+ RAM these days! I want my AV to use as much RAM as it could to make it work faster. At the end of the day, it's how it impacts your computer that matters. How heavy it feels, how it scans file upon access. not how much bloody RAM it uses!

Webroot SecureAnywhere uses 300MB of RAM sometimes? so it's heavy? heh! it's the lighest AV out there although I don't use it now since it has too many FPs

I use Emsisoft Anti-Malware and it uses 64 MB of RAM. But that doesn't matter, it's light as hell

 

I guess everyone here on the Alienware forum has a fairly high spec machine with a decent amount of memory but not everyone is so well off and I guess for them the amount of memory used could be important. For me though I don't care how much memory is used so long as the scan is done in the shortest amount of time possible so that I am not even aware that a scan has taken place.

 

And with Bitdefender its a bonus stability test for us overclockers:thumbsup: