Which antivirus software are you using with x64 Vista?

I was wondering if your using an antivirus program on a Vista x64 OS and a thinkpad (T400/T500). I have get a free copy of Symantec Endpoint for Vista from school but it has problems with the fingerprint reader.

What are you guys or gals using?

 

None, Firewall and firefox does well for me. Anti Virus programs tend to slow systems down and it is more likely that spyware will infect your system than a virus.

Just my opinion though.

 

I would agree with that but I would also say it depends on your system. If you have a slower system, then running an antivirus software will slow it down almost as much as if you had a virus, so it's kind of a waste. However, if you have a more powerful system (like 3 or 4gb ram, maybe even 2 gb with a 2ghz or more processor) then running the antivirus software is worth it because it will have negligible or no difference on your system performance.

Of course, it also depends on which AV software we're talking about. My personal mention would be Avira AntiVir, which is highly rated not only for its large detection rate, but for its low impact on system resources. The free version is great, but you can actually get the premium version for free for 3 months here

 

Which antivirus you use depends on you--are you careful or careless? Will you manually scan your computer regularly or will you forget? Do you engage in high risk activity or not? Do you want additional protection (malware, spam,firewall, etc) or just antivirus?

If I don't know a person and he asks this question, I always assume the worst and suggest Nod32 or Kaspersky security suites. They are top of the line products and light on system resources, comparatively speaking.

McAfee and Norton are system killers. I think they do an excellent job, but you need a powerful system to run them and I have run into more computers where these two programs spontaneously decide to go in the crapper and drag your system down with it.

Norton has recently rewritten its code from scratch and is supposedly much improved--I have not seen a recent Norton product cause trouble so I am at least optimistic, but I fixed two computers this week where McAfee was just going insane in the background making the systems completely unusable, and one older Norton product last week.

 

avg free .

 

I use Avast on all the PC's in my house. Its fast and catches pretty much everything I have come across.

 

I personally can't wait for Morro, the free Microsoft antivirus in Vista and Windows 7, coming by the end of the year.

In the meantime I use OneCare (which is to be discontinued), and have found it the least intrusive antivirus around (and I've tried them all).

Allegedly Morro has an even smaller footprint and will use fewer computing resources.

 

For me Opera and Outpost Firewall do fine. I think that the most important is the correctly configured firewall. But you need to know what are you doing, so for most people I wil recommend Kaspersky

 

I use Avira, very low on system resources and does a good job, very good ickup rates in tests, i think was the best performer in 2008.

 

I've tried two trials with two different versions of Nortons products, and I have found them to be a lot better then they used to be. I don't notice any real performeence loss in day-to-day, seat-of-your-pants benchmarking.

Scientific no?

Anyways I am running one of those Norton trials right, but when that ends I will probably go back to Avira.

 

Kaspersky (only the anti-virus, Windows Firewall works fine). Works great and doesn't slow down your computer. Firewall and browser isn't enough.

Some websites tend to install stuff that your firewall doesn't block (websites evolve too).

 

arlab. yes Windows Firewall doesn't block. but other 3rd party firewalls do. Actually now on a market you'll find that most of security solutions include firewall, antivirus, atnitroyan, antikeylogger and so on. all in one so to say

 

avira free edition and malwarebytes free edition work well for me

 

Eset Smart Security x64

 

Kaspersky IS, of course!

Really, is there any other? (rhetoric)

 

ESET Smart Security.

 

NIS 2009. Very light on resources. Norton has a real winner for 2009. Check out the various reviews and ratings, it is an excellent product.

 

avast pro 4.8

 

Norton Internet Security 2009.

 

Kaspersky internet security.

 

Sophos AV version 7.