What Anti-Virus Software Are You Using?
Thinking about the hype regarding Windows Vista and the statement made about Vista being secure enough to run without anti-virus software (more to come about that later, there is a lot of truth that needs to be published about how these comments were misrepresented, but later for that!), I thought it would be a good idea to remind people that anti-virus software is definitely needed on your computer, especially if you are running previous versions on Microsoft Windows, such as Windows Xp, Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows 2000.
If you own a computer and you go online, your computer is at risk. It is that simple. Even if you run anti-virus software, you are still at risk. The best thing you can do, is purchase anti-virus software and take preventive measures towards keeping your computer safe. Keeping your anti-virus current, updated, and paid for is one thing… but choosing which program to use is the most important thing.
Here are some programs available on Amazon.com that I would recommend purchasing. These programs will give you and your computer the ultimate in security, and by purchasing these programs through Amazon.com, you can receive special perks such as 30% discounts from the retail store price and free shipping!
CA Internet Security Suite 2007 provides you comprehensive protection against the many online dangers you can be exposed to, while enjoying what the Internet has to offer. Protect yourself against viruses, ID thieves, spy-ware, spam and malicious hackers that can jeopardize your privacy. These award-winning, business-strengthening tools will take the guesswork out of PC security, giving you a safer online experience. Anti-spam tools monitor inbound messages for spam, verifies the authenticity of messages and confirms whether spam senders are people or automated spam robots On-demand scanning for specific files, disks and folders Use Active Protection to collect & transmit your personal data, and update your protections to get proactive protection against new threats. One thing that I personally like most about this program is the $6500 Internet Protection Offer. This offer protects you against Identity Theft and Virus and Spy-ware damage. If the extremely rare situation occurs while using this program, Computer Associates have your covered up to $6500 in damages.
Norton AntiVirus 2007 blocks viruses and spyware with advanced protection. It helps protect your entire computer by stopping viruses, worms, and spyware. Norton AntiVirus works in the background so you can surf the Internet, read the news, play games, and download software or music without disruption. It also scans and cleans all email and instant messenger attachments, preventing you from receiving threats, or spreading them to others. With set-it and forget-it functionality, Norton AntiVirus checks for updates continuously and automatically blocks new and emerging threats from getting on your system. In addition to protection updates, Norton AntiVirus provides new product features as available throughout your subscription period.
McAfee Internet Security Suite 2007 is the protection you need to keep you and your family safe when surfing the Web. With the increase in viruses, spyware, hackers, e-mail scams, online predators and other online attacks, it’s more important than ever to protect you and your family. You need an easy way to protect your PC, files, identity, and online experience. McAfee Internet Security Suite allows you to back up your files, and restore lost or corrupted data. Get the confidence you need knowing McAfee shields your PC around the clock. Relax knowing that you always have the latest protection updates, software upgrades and enhancements automatically delivered to you.
Many people feel that there isn’t a need for Anti-Virus software. Many people feel safe running anti-software from the previous year. The titles I have included in this article are all great programs that will help you keep you computer secure and virus free. Purchase these items by clicking on their links above and the savings will be passed down to you. These are products direct from Amazon.com and your purchase will help support BTI.
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November 13th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
I use a Antivirus product called Nod32 which is very effective and very light on system resources.
November 13th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
I don’t know much about this program really… in fact prior to you making the comment about it, I never heard about it at all. With a little research, I found there site, and the version I would need for my system. After discovering the cost of the software, I would definitely NOT purchase this anti-virus program. It is equal to if not MORE expensive than the three recommended choices listed in the article.
I do appreciate your comment, and perhaps the program is right for many people. But I totally trust larger Anti-Virus companies over the smaller unknown companies.
As far as system resources are concerned… I don’t know about that. I looked at the system specs…
and it doesn’t make a lot of sense… I can’t remember correctly what the minimum specs were to run NT 3.0, but I am sure that you can run it on an IBM 386 with 30 megs of ram… but I do know that a 386 computer that came packed with 32 megs of RAM during that time was RARE. I am pretty sure NT 4.0 with all the service pack updates would need to be at least a 486 processor… In either case, what I am getting at, is that they say the minimum specs are a 386 processor or better, yet they don’t support any operating systems that run on such a slow computer??? What does that mean?
I am not trying to offend you, trust in that… but, I strongly trust the software I listed in the article compared to Nod32. I am always open to comments, questions, and suggestions. Until I am presented with software better than the three listed above, and within a similar price range, I have to stand strong by supporting what I wrote.
If you don’t mind, assuming that you aren’t mad at me (I hope not!) tell me more about your experiences with Nod32. How long have you used the program, what are the specs of the computers you have run the program on, etc… Also, tell me how you feel Nod32 compares to any of the software listed in the article.
I look forward to reading your response.
Garry
November 16th, 2006 at 12:19 am
I have been using Nod32 for the past 6-8 months prior to which I have used McAfee 9.0 and Norton Antivirus 2005.
I have used these products on a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz (Northwood core) with 1GB of RAM and still I found the McAfee and Norton greatly slowed down my system. After I switched over to Nod32 all these issues have been solved and it hardly consumes 24-32 mb of RAM.
I don’t mean to say that Norton and McAfee are bad products and neither is my aim to go against your article. All I wanted was to voice my opinion about Nod32 which is a very good product and sometimes better than these big shot anti viruses.
But this anti virus is not for noobs as you need to configure it which some users may find it difficult. I would rather put it this way, “Nod 32 is best suited for geeks rather than noobs but there are lot of help available”
In addition to Nod 32 I have heard that Kaspersky antivirus is also good but I never tried it. May be I will try once my Nod32 subscription expires.
Here is CNET review of Nod32:
NOD32 doesn’t include a firewall or even antispyware protection; it is simply an antivirus engine–and one of the best. On the maker’s Web site, you’ll find considerable evidence showing that NOD32 outranks the brand-name antivirus protection (Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro) in test after test. Aside from a quality engine, there’s also a high level of customization offered. Out of the box, NOD32 delivers superior protection, and the customization options allow you to turn on or off additional services, depending upon your needs. For a system admin or an advanced user, this is great; for novices these features will largely go unused.
Deep within NOD32 is its ThreatSense engine technology, which uses code analysis, emulation, and digital signatures to identify and stop online threats. Unlike other vendors that add antispyware and antiphishing technologies on top of their antivirus engines, NOD32 includes these within its basic scan engine, allowing NOD32 to be lighter and faster than the competition.
To fully appreciate NOD32 you need to learn Eset’s lexicon. Looking within the Control Center console, we found that AMON monitors changes made to the overall file system, and DMON monitors documents; EMON monitors e-mail transactions, and IMON monitors Internet port 80 traffic. Within each monitor there are various tabbed configuration options to tailor the various scanners to your specific needs. Most people will never touch these settings, but if you’re an advanced user, these settings allow you to customize NOD32 to your own liking.
NOD32 did well in CNET Labs’ performance tests and very well in third-party, independent antivirus testing using live viruses. On our iTunes test, NOD32 came in third, with a fast 194 seconds–32 seconds above our test system. On our Sorensen Squeeze test, NOD32 was again third, with 283 seconds–42 seconds more than our test system. For individual file scans, NOD32 came in the fastest at an amazing 101 seconds. And in boot speed, NOD32 again came in first at 60 seconds
Source: http://reviews.cnet.com/NOD32_2_5/4505-3513_7-32103849.html
What I would like to conclude is that Nod32 is sometimes a better product than those bigshots and we need to accept this whether we like it or not.
Garry, why don’t you consider including Nod32 antivirus in your amazon store? I did not mean to hurt you or offend you but all I wanted to say was that there is better competitor available to these bigshots.
Have a good day…
November 16th, 2006 at 1:40 am
Shivaranjan,
Thanks for the comment back. No way… you didn’t offend me one bit, I hope I haven’t offended you. But I wanted to encourage you to talk more about Nod32 because I never heard of the program. It is also funny how you suggested to place the product for sale on BTI through the site’s Amazon.com store. I checked on that prior to my first comment back to you, and from what I see, it isn’t available through Amazon.com.
I appreciate you taking the time to explain everything about the software. You did a great job telling me all about it. It sounds pretty cool. Anti-virus program for geeks! I like it. That is funny.
It would be great to have someone chime in to offer an added opinion about the software in this article and also the software mentioned by Shivaranjan, called Nod32.
Shivaranjan did a more than excellent job describing what Anti-virus software he uses and most importantly why. I invite more people to comment.
*I am still curious about Nod32 system requirements.
November 17th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Nod32 is good, but I am worried that it might be yet another flash-in-the-pan application, like Spybot has turned out to be.
For the Windows machines on the network, I use Norton Enterprise software, but it pales against the ultimate anti-virus protection on my machines - it is called the Mac OS.