AV Comparatives Results- Best and Less AV’s

Looks like I will be evaluating Avast now!  Thanks for the link.  great topic!

Since it's not immediately obvious which scoring is better,

InTheLink: Standard < Advanced < Advanced+

Weird measuring range... sort of "three products rated blue, one rated grey and one rated neon".

I fix PCs as a side job--including debugging, removing malware and recovering lost data and one thing I like about Avast free is that--its free--but it also updates FREQUENTLY.  Not just updates of the virus/etc. definitions but updates of the program itself.

This is a big plus because whenever AV software become ubiquitous or makes a list or review regularly like this, that AV usually gets targeted by the hard core (organized for money) hackers.

I won't name particular products but it is quite common to see systems with a free AV (or even a paid one) where the program is in place and appears to be functioning but has actually been co-opted by malware  and will no longer alert to it or particular malware programs.

One of the best ways to guard against this is to get an AV program that updates the actual program and not just the malware definitions.

No single AV package is sufficient alone to cover against everything (nothing can) sop it is good to have programs with different strengths that can run together.  At the moment, MAlware Bytes is a prretty good partner program with most Av software an does a decent job.

A couple of good programs on this list also have some compatibility install/uninstall issues on occasion and particularly with an older machine.

FYI--everyone thinks the AV software they run is 'the best" but these opinions are usually derived from their perceived experience with it and not necessarily how well it actually works in the real world.  What is best today, is second best tomorrow--that's how it goes.

 Safe place to download AV is always the home site of the company or a safe resource such as snapfiles.com, download.com, cnet, etc.

A tip: Avast has a silent gaming mode and the sound files can be hand edited as well if the voice prompt update bugs you.  I have it on a machine and mine is modded for Star Wars./  nothing like Darth Vader and Yoda warning you of danger or completed updates

I've run BitDefender more recently, but cycle through depending on the cost efficiency at the time.  Its almost at the point now, though, where it is easier to pull off problems as they happen as opposed to dealing with an anti-virus program all the time.  Part of this feeling is from using Norton at work, though, and putting up with its constant nagging, virus-like tendencies.  

edited cause i commented when i was half asleep

double post

^ That means Fistalis is now fully asleep...

I still think McAfee and Norton are too bloated for an AV program.

Picking the A/V software that you run really comes down to whether it does one thing and one thing only, will it protect your computer from............you.

I like to take the approach that all testing and evaluating of software, in this case A/V software is nice, and should if done properly give you a baseline.  Now, how does it work on your computer in a non-test environment.   You now the environment I'm talking about, the one where your brain is just a little too slow in sending the signal to your hands that says 'Dummy, don't click that button!'. 

Yes I understand that you can practice safe surfing on the net and still pick up crap, it happens.  Most of the times it comes from your friends that don't practice safe suring and good security practices.  No piece of software is out there to help with that. 

     When you get right down to it there is only one piece of software you need. Its called a brain built on a foundation called common sense. All the rest is icing on the cake. Knock wood I have never had any kind of virus, ad-ware mal-ware, trojan or what have you on either of my machines. 

*now watch me get hammered lol*

Common sense? I know that! For things you know nothing about, it works about as good as the ol' "some bloke tole me down the pub" and "it stands to reason".

Actually, it's more complex than "Don't install that." and "Don't visit that site." Those are correct, but you can get emails which look completely genuine and might even be from a trusted friend, or a totally benign appearing ad.

You need protection, and that's a simple fact. This is a quaterly result. The results fluctuate for a variety of reasons, not all of which I mentioned.

Well technically Windows itself calls home so it could be classified as Spyware. (LOL)

The question is not if a program calls home, but that kind of information about you does it send?

As a note of interest there are a suprising number of smart phone apps that listen to you through the built-in microphone. and send info about what they hear to a central database.

Or even one from a trusted vendor (Epsilon hack).  I have gotten one already.

Absolutely correct, Gwenio1. As to the 'listening' part, they say it's only to backgraound noises like TV and ads, but as far as I'm concerned that is illegal wiretapping, and the Justice Dep't. should be doing something about it.

Absolutely.
 

Yeah, I figured AVG was considered bad these days.  A friend of mine has shockingly poor common sense when it comes to the Internet, and AVG completely fails to stop his computer from getting cancer every 2-3 months.  Though in fairness with the amount of careless torrenting he does I'm surprised his system hasn't burst into flames yet, AV or not.

Norton should be rated 'bloated trash'.  My company used if before I started, and all I can say is that it slows system to a halt during scanning while failing to actually clean or often even detect anything.  The company switched to Trend (which is in FAIL tier on that list, lol), which while much less of a resource hog it still sucks ass at actually doing the whole 'anti-virus/malware' thing.  On one infected computer Trend reported 6 problems, 0 of which it was able to fix, while Malwarebytes found 18 and fixed 18.  Ugh.

Best free ones are Common Sense 2.0, Avira, and MSE.  Malwarebytes is the grand king of fixing existing issues IMO.  I've heard Kaspersky is the top paid AV, though paying for home AV when perfectly capable free ones exist is lol.  And as Sinperium said, no AV suite is 100% fullproof protection.  Nothing will save you if you're still running Common Sense 0.9 beta.

Funny. I have been running AVG for years. Never got a virus.

'careless torrenting' will get you every time....;p

"Hi.  I am a virus from County Cork.  Please send me to all your friends and then reformat your 'C' drive.

Thankyou."

Like I said, I don't think any AV suite matters if someone is careless; which my friend certainty is.  I had no AV suite on my system for years and never got a virus.  If you avoid using IE and don't click/download stupid things you should generally be okay.

Of all the computers I have had to delouse because of what has been termed malware (the viruses that are downloaded from a browser and pretend to be AV), I have yet to find a single common product to blame.  I think every AV product failed in that regard.

I am going to make that statement into a rubber stamp and start stamping the foreheads of those like your friend who call me to delouse their computers!

Here's another set of tests that I came across........

http://www.av-test.org/certifications

Avast flags my DX gadgets and widgets as malware and deletes them. A huge minus in my book. As Jafo once said, this is probably as result of heuristic scanning.

I am hanging tight with MSE, ATM.

Kaspersky might be a good addition to that Jim, or MSS or Antmalware Bytes.

Don't you mean "Malewarebytes"?