AVAST OR AVIRA

[Dave Davison]

Which of the following free A/V progs is regarded as the best please? Presently I am using Avira AntiVir Personal. 1 Avast... 2 Avira...3 AVG... The latter (according to cnetdownload.com) has three times as many downloads as the first two which might infer that it is the most popular but I would be interested to hear what the experts feel about the options available. I also note that the comment about Zone Alarm implies an AV is not enough so does that mean having Z A does the work of both a Firewall and an AV? Regards DD

[HansV]

AVG used to be excellent and popular, but it has scored less well in recent reviews. Avast and Avira both get good reviews, so I'd choose between those. I don't think there is a clear preference.

If your antivirus program doesn't include a firewall, you will automatically be protected by the built-in Windows Firewall (unless you turn it off deliberately), or you could install a free firewall such as ZoneAlarm Free (although I personally don't see any need for that).

[HansV]

Please note that the sentence "... because anti-virus is not enough" is part of an advertisement!

[viking33]

A lot of personal choice there. I have tried all three and OF the 3, I would probably rate Avast as the best and easiest to implement. I no longer use any of them for my Win 7 partition. I use IOLO System Mechanic Pro, which is a combination AV\Malware, system tools utility but it is not a free version. I use the built in MS firewall, in addition.
I think the reference to ZA is that you shouldn't use just an AV program but also use a firewall in addition to AV. ZA Pro is a combo that also has a firewall and AV\Malware feature. Again, not freeware.

[JoeP]

If you have not looked at it I suggest you check out Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection | Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free, lightweight, & easy to use. Now, it is all I use at home.

Joe

[Hey Jude]

If you have not looked at it I suggest you check out Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection | Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free, lightweight, & easy to use. Now, it is all I use at home.

Joe

I too was an avid Avast user until I heard about MSE on the forums that I frequent. I still have Avast on my XP desktop, but on my Win 7 laptop I switched to MSE and have been a happy camper. I highly recommend it :-)

[Bigaldoc]

My "complaints" about the unreliability of MSE's daily updates may be moot by now, but I've stuck with Avast for several years now and have not had any problems, system overload or anything I would complain about. I trust Avast and it has protected me WELL for the past few years.

[westerneagle]

If you have not looked at it I suggest you check out Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection | Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free, lightweight, & easy to use. Now, it is all I use at home.

Joe

I have been using MSE almost since it came out. What it is that a year or two????
Since that time it has NEVER, I say, NEVER found a item that it felt that it should report or remove or quarantine or etc.
Can I be that lucky??? NOw I will say that I am a careful browser but I do go to news sites and sometimes go to a link that someone will send me only to find that it is not a place I would rather be and etc. and so forth. I open most attachments that people send me and etc.

It just worries me that it has never found a thing. . . . . . I sometimes feel that it is not working. . . . . .
What do you think??

[HansV]

I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials (with the built-in Windows Internet Firewall) since I bought a Windows 7 PC in January. It appears to do its work silently and effectively.
For my own peace of mind, I run a scan from time to time with Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and with Hitman Pro. They never find anything, and since I don't notice any suspicious behavior myself, I assume that MSE works well.

[westerneagle]

Thanks Hans. . . . I will rest a little better now. . . . . . (I wish now I could just get a little virus just so I could see it do its thing. . . Naw, I like the clean history!)

[Dave Davison]

....thanks everyone for the responses....things are much clearer now about AVAST which seems to get the thumbs up from most. Took note also about MSE which seems to get favorable reviews... Regards Dave.

[Bigaldoc]

... I wish now I could just get a little virus just so I could see it do its thing...

There is a virus test file here: eicar - Home

I haven't used it for years, so I hope it's been kept up to date. It's for signature based virus programs.

[Leif]

...so I hope it's been kept up to date.

I don't think that's the point. It is simply a test file to see if you anti-virus software is working in the first place...
EICAR test file - Wikipedia

[westerneagle]

... I wish now I could just get a little virus just so I could see it do its thing...

There is a virus test file here: eicar - Home

I haven't used it for years, so I hope it's been kept up to date. It's for signature based virus programs.

Wow, I saw MSE in action!! Red flags, POP up boxes, smoke from the key board, the tv changed channels. . . .
Now I have something in the 'History' box.
So.....I guess it has been working along!

[Hey Jude]

So what kind of memory in your task manager does MSE use? On my 7 laptop it uses almost 60 MB which I just checked for a friend. Is this normal? The actual CPU usage is 0-2% without any browsers or other programs open.

[westerneagle]

I am showing 1248K in task manager using vista
2-6% CPU with Chrome running. (I like Chrome but it IS a memory hog. It uses a lot with every tab that you have open.....)

[HansV]

On my Windows 7 PC, MsMpEng.exe currently uses 89 MB, and CPU usage is constantly 0% unless it's running a scan. Browsing doesn't have a noticeable impact on CPU usage of MSE.

[Hey Jude]

On my Windows 7 PC, MsMpEng.exe currently uses 89 MB, and CPU usage is constantly 0% unless it's running a scan. Browsing doesn't have a noticeable impact on CPU usage of MSE.

Thanks for both of your answers. A friend is considering switching from Norton Suites to MSE but is concerned because MSE uses 45MB more than NS. I don't worry about it either as I have plenty of memory. I was just curious and read the other MSE thread so sent that to him as well. As always, your answers are thorough

[HansV]

My previous PC was from 2003, with Windows XP and only 512 MB RAM. Over the years, I pared everything down to the minimum to leave as much memory as possible for applications. Norton AntiVirus worked very well for me on that PC because recent versions use little memory and litte CPU time (despite what the Symantec-haters may claim).

[PaulB]

I am puzzled by the difference in memory usage reported by Hans and Mike. One claims 1,248 K, the other 89 MB. Are we talking apples and apples here?

Looking at Task Manager I see MsMpEng weighing in at 85,132 K and msseces at 4,848 K. Like Hans, my CPU usage for these is negligible.

Like Hans and many others members of the Lounge, I too use MSE as my AV tool and the Win7 Firewall, but only because they are there and introduce no discernible impact on performance. I too don't know if, or how well, it works because it has never reported any malware.

I don't want to go on a rant here, but I have long ago rejected all the FUD spewing from the so-called "Security" industry. By practicing commonsense safe-computing, ensuring all my ports are closed, being cautious with all downloads and accepting that no AV package can prevent a drive-by attack, I went for almost 3 years with no AV protection at all. Never had a single problem.