Antivirus programs for Windows 7?

I was curious in what antivirus programs is everybody using? I have been using Kaspersky for awhile on my XP systems. When I got my G73JH I switched over to Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). It's free. I started to get these sudden Win 7 restarts every now and then, and sometimes when shutting down it would go to blue screen. I checked the event viewer and everytime before an unexpected shutdown the "mpfilter" would do something. I read it's related to MSE. So I think it's time for a change. Any suggestions?

 

The best free security software

 

norton 360 2010 is unbeatable. the bigger the company, the bigger the budget for r&d thus having a better coverage. norton used to be awful, so heavy and slow...nowadays its a bombshell, and ive tried them all, kaspersky, avg, avast, avira...if youve got the money, its worth it, havent had a virus in almost 2 years
There are many different sites out there that supposedly review anti-viruses...but most of these are actually sell outs that promote a certain company. To correctly review and anti-V, you have to purposly infect a computer with multiple viruses and see how it deals with them. This website did just that and its one of the most honest reviews i've seen.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5775&review=Best+Antivirus+2010+Buyers+Guide
Although Norton didnt come out the winner, it did place in the top, give or take a point or two. One thing also to understand is a key part of an anti-virus is nto only dealing with a virus once its on the computer, its preventing the virus from ever infecting the computer. This website only tested norton's anti-V, but in fact norton has many different other version such as Internet Security or 360. I have 360, and i've got to say that im impressed. The new sonar technology constantly scans and monitor your computer for new files being added weather from the internet or hardware and quarantines every single file, scans it and then releases it to be copied into the computer. This allows to eliminate the virus befor eit infects you because we can all agree that once a virus has already infected you, no matter how efficient your program is to delete it, those nasty ones will have already caused damage.
This is where big budget comes in, norton has a community watch that allows user to report false viruses, bad websites, they have an active forum, they have people working 24/7 to create updates to new viruses. Norton is updated every 10 minutes and scans your computer every single seconds its on, all this descretely, without even taking memory away. It adapts to the way you use your computer to do some heavy scanning when your not using it and switched to light scanning when you are. Also if you purchase it legaly, you can connect to norton live chat and have one of their techs take control of your computer in case you come across a nasty virus and need help to remove it.
Just about 2 years ago, i would have NEVER recommended norton, but i tried it while the 2010 version was in beta and as soon as it came out, i bought it. I definitly recommend it to everybody who has the budget for it, its maybe not the less expensive, but it worth it. It works well, easy to use and is extremely efficient.

P.S. in the first battery of test, norton scored a 24...it would have scored a perfect note if it havent let the user download the infected files, instead it let the user download them, but automatically quarantined them. Personnally, i find this a but stupid, because what if you were downloading a file you know was safe but the program prevented you from even downloading it, at least like this, you can take the file out of quarantine and use it.

 

Heh,

I'm the opposite. I always recommend avoid Norton like the plague, along with McAfee.

For free I'd go with Microsoft Security Essentials. It has the least false positives and it's detection rate is as good as any of the other free solutions.

For paid, I'd go with either Avira or ESET Nod32

 

Ya well, if you are still avoiding Norton then you obviously haven't used their latest versions.

Give Norton IS 2011 a try for 90 days...no strings attached.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/535009-nis-2011-90-day-trial.html

It's great. IMO, the best security suite out there by far.

 

Apart from the free one' mentioned in that sticky that I wrote in my prev message, if you're looking for a paid AV suite, I'd recommend Norton Internet Security too. It's super good and does the job very well.

 

Avira free has been working fine on Windows 7

 

I go by results on the Virus Bulletic.

Eset continues to have the best record and results on their testing for the past 10 years.

Here is ESET results, passing like always.
Virus Bulletin : VB100 results - Eset

 

Norton or MS essentials if you need "free". Norton is better (having used both). But you can live with MS essentials if money is tight.

 

ESET +1
KASPERSKY (used to be good, detection rates suck now)
NORTON (might as well be a 200 meg virus)

 

ESET +1 (I used to hate this product, but to date it's the best)
KASPERSKY (used to be good, detection rates suck now)
NORTON (might as well be a 200 meg virus)
Sophos (meh, unsure)

 

You need to register.

 

I personally use ESET Smart Security 4 however also highly recommend Norton (Internet Security and 360) and Kaspersky. Excellent products.

See our buyer's guides here:
2010 Antivirus buyer's guide:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5775&review=Best+Antivirus+2010+Buyers+Guide

2011 Internet Security buyer's guide:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5948

 

I've used ESET, good results. I also use Avast primarily. I've found that with the one virus I've gotten recently, no single product could get rid of it, I had to download various specialized programs and follow a ladder of troubleshooting to get rid of it.

 

Did you try creating a recovery disc in ESET? You can boot to that and it will attempt to remove viruses.

 

For free antivirus you really can't go wrong with this combination.

Free Microsoft MSE and free Malwarebytes. Whatever MSE won't catch, Malwarebytes will. And just use Malwarebytes for a weekly manual scan. With Malwarebytes it's designed so it should catch anything with Quick Scan. I don't know the details, but it delves further if it needs to with Quick Scan. So between that, you should be fine and Quick Scan only takes minutes and just leave MSE to do what it does.

 

Avira is probably the best free antivirus.

Norton and Kaspersky are the best if you have money to spend.

 

Microsoft Security Essentials + Windows Firewall + Router Firewall + Smart Habits = Virtually Impenetrable Safety Net.

 

I recently switched over to MSE after using AVG for the last 8yrs, too soon to vouch for it but so far so good.

 

You made a smart decision because MSE has a higher detection rate and is lighter than AVG.


Regarding the OP...

There are plenty of antivirus programs.
From the paid solutions, stick with latest Norton and Nod32.

For free solutions, pick either one of the following: Avira, Avast, MSE.

I stick with free solutions since they are just as good (if not better) as paid ones.

 

After this debacle with AVG i searched around for another option among free anti-virus programs and settled on MSE. http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/537579-help-c0000135-hs-missing.html