This is an open debate, everyone is welcomed to post here as long as your post is constructive. Use some points to support your poll choice.

In other words, please do not post replies like "NOD32 Rules!", "I support AVG", "Kaspersky better la!" or anything else along those lines. Inappropriate posts will be deleted without prior notification. Warnings will be given to repeat offenders.

Your judgement can be made from:
- Detection rate
- Scanning/protection efficiency
- Impact on performance/resource usage
- Cost
- User Friendliness
- User Interface

For homepage/download links of the antivirus software in the poll choices, please refer to this post.

This thread will be archived at Essential Reviews and Guides forum when the timeframe for this poll ends (25th June 2005).

This post has been edited by shockw@ve: Jun 25 2005, 08:50 PM

i choose avast! av,because i dun like other av,but it take a long time to scan virus...

Vote for BitDefender,
although takes longer time to scan,

the interface is user friendly to me,
efficient enough, will not take so much resources like norton....
Just 1 thing bad, not freeware

Norton Antivirus take more resources, not that efficient.
That's just my point of view.

i'll go for pc-cilin..easy to use and good detection

F-Prot It had better detection rate when compare to AVG, Antivir & Avast meanwhile it still maintain minimum impact on performance of the pc....

- Detection rate ~ 4
- Scanning/protection efficiency ~ 4
- Cost ~ 3 (Quite Costy)
- User Friendliness ~ 5 (Not hard at all)
- User Interface ~ 5
- Performance impact ~ 5 (Low memory usage)

I like both Kaspersky and NOD32. But Kaspersky's realtime protection sometimes pain like in the ass. A folder with of files (especially big ones) may take longer to load since Kaspersky scanning it on the background. While NOD32, sometimes a crack files like key generators also considered as virus.

First of all, I feel ashamed of myself because I didn't know that LYN can support more than 10 poll choices

Okay, I'm not going to say it is the BEST, but kaspersky is indeed one of the antivirus that I trust the most. Here are the pros and cons for this AV

Pros:
- Very high (if not highest) detection rate
- Frequent virus definition update
- High speed when downloading definition (in comparison to antivir, which is extremely slow)
- Simple but somewhat atrractive user interface

Cons:
- Very slow scanning speed
- Affect OS operation when scanning for virus
- It's not free
- Relatively higher memory consumption in comparison to the like of Nod32, f-prot, antivir etc.

I voted for other, and mine is "none".

If you're careful enough, you won't need one, and your system will be much smoother.

Maybe. I think you are too dependant on your firewall. I know that email virus/worm/etc. is not a threat for you, and for many of us (that include me). and I vote for NOD32. Very good detection. Detect the notorious Java.ByteLoader at some site and many virus that I forgotten.

Nah, if you're careful enough and using anti spywares programs, its enough.

i dun agree,it is same as walking in street without ur skin....

seems like im the only one who voted for mcafee. just unistalled kaspersky [yes, u read right]. i find them basically the same, with kaspersky being abit more 'agressive', i figured mcafee has been keeping me safe for the past 2years, i think that the level of protection it provides is adequate.

edit: the reason why i went back to mcafee was because i like their 'silent protection' style, i dont have to care, everything is done for. kaspersky i do admit, is abit of a hog at times, but overall my system pulled though. i only noticed a <3% drop in performance, which is irrelevant.

This post has been edited by Silon: Jun 11 2005, 09:15 PM

I believe it is not that serious for experienced user to use PC without antivirus
I can't remember when was the last time my PC infected with virus. Usually a full scan detects no virus.

But then again, it's better to be safe than sorry, I install antivirus just for safety sake and I don't see any big performance implication on the OS as dead__man said even though I'm using "heavy" antivirus like Kaspersky (it only affects system performance when I do a full scan, otherwise it is fine)

currently using NOD32 if expire then uninstall
panda : delete my serv-U program grrrrrrrrrrrrr

norton: slightly slow ; norton 2005 very heavy not suggest on old pc
pc cillin : this got build-in firewall still ok

for me
i vote for NOD32 because it not heavy ,running program very fast



how about CA
i see my client using it ??


This post has been edited by CHAILEE: Jun 11 2005, 10:00 PM

Well, for ordinary users which doesn't really cares about privacy...it doesn't matter...however, since online-banking was introduced, it's important for users to have both firewall and antivirus....just incase trojan or keylogger retrieve some private information and the result is....

I voted for AVG since it is the only antivirus running in my comp.

Pros:
Light
Fast scanning
Frequent update
Enough to detect majority of the viruses
Free

Cons
Detection definitely lose out to others expecially to Kaspersky

AVG - Free

from samuraiKidz: This is an example of unconstructive post, please do not follow

Kaspersky

- Detection rate
Quite high detection rate with minimal FALSE detection.

- Scanning/protection efficiency
scans and prevents macros virus

- Impact on performance/resource usage
medium resource usage, lower than bitdeffender and norton antivirus

- Cost
high cost, around USD 66.50 (buy online)

- User Friendliness
not so user friendly, for more advance users. For more user friendly, suggest switch to pc-cillin 2005, has good detection rates, and a good clean engine.

norton corporate edition..
lite fast enough..and not eat up memory.
have been use it for 2 year in w2k no problem

Choose PC Cilin
- Detection rate - pretty good when compared side by side with norton.
- Scanning/protection efficiency - pretty good when compared side by side with norton.
- Impact on performance/resource usage - very small impact
- Cost - RM 99 during PC FAIR... for one year.
- User Friendliness - pretty easy to use.. manual is thin...
- User Interface - Clear. graphical UI is very friendly
- support - online support team is very responsive.

before this i'd used Norton for almost 3 years, switched to Kaspersky in August 04 and haven't looked back...

i use NOD32. quite light and very fast in scanning. and the detection rate is quite good too.

i use McAfee, overall a good antivirus software.......

from samuraiKidz: This is an example of unconstructive post, please do not follow

This post has been edited by samuraiKidz: Jun 13 2005, 08:35 PM

i have used many av before..my office use avg, me before norton now BitDefender

BitDefender
- Detection rate 9/10
- Scanning/protection efficiency 9/10
- Impact on performance/resource usage 10/10
- Cost 8/10
- User Friendliness 8/10
- User Interface 9/10

The topic title is 'Your favourite antivirus'. As such, we are not interested in the multitude of ways you can get infected by a virus and neither does the topic title suggest replies on why you don't need an antivirus or your heroics of not requiring an antivirus. Whether you would like to have an antivirus is your own preference, but this thread is to help those who have sleepless, restless, worrisome nights thinking which antivirus is the best for them to use and to prevent more new threads with regards to this matter.

That aside, my vote goes to NOD32. Previously used Norton Antivirus but performance takes too much of a hit and that made me switch. NOD32 seems to be much more efficient in that respect, so I've stuck to it since switching over.

-thread cleaned-

me from pc-cilin switched to norton but after tht switched to kaspersky coz norton eats up ram. after a few months using kaspersky, i switched again to NOD32. very light program! doesnt take much ram and scanning rate is very impressive ^^

i vote for NOD32

i use AVG7 for windows n AntiVir for Linux..
so far both r great, even sometime i do need stinger.exe
i use this 2 coz i feel its easy to use n config..n not memory hungry


i vote for AVG7

This post has been edited by e-jump: Jun 13 2005, 01:53 PM

AVG 7 free edition - lite & ez
AVG Pro version - with pop3 etc
Norton AV Corporate Edition 9.1 - most effective imho

Well, I using Norton Antivirus as far as I can remember. I'm not saying it the best but to be true I'm using because I use Norton Systemwork. I doesn't really care how it work. Installed and leave it.

That remind me it been a month since I updated my virus definition. Oh well, what the point since I don't have internet connection on my personal pc.

im really miss thunderbyte antivirus..very lite and better than norton(zaman tu lar)..but now TB tinggal kenangan huhuhuh

For me, i'm using clamwin coz it's free no money although it's free but it is the longest antivirus scanner that scan antivirus... but it's free "open source"

Norton antivirus 2005 comes with Internet worm protection is quite good for me...

from samuraiKidz: This is an example of unconstructive post, please do not follow

This post has been edited by samuraiKidz: Jun 13 2005, 08:21 PM

avast the best for me!

from samuraiKidz: This is an example of unconstructive post, please do not follow

This post has been edited by samuraiKidz: Jun 13 2005, 08:21 PM

Hands up everyone who actually BUYS their antivirus program? For home use I mean, not office use...

Anyone?

Hehehe anyways I have switched to AVG Free... it's free, legal and updates are quite frequent. More frequent than Symantec in fact.

not onlyfrequent.. the update file is small..
so its 56kbps dial-up friendly

AVG 7 Free!
No cost + auto-update + low resource usage.
Best for those company who is NOT willing to spend!

This post has been edited by vwsung: Jun 13 2005, 06:03 PM

been using Norton for the past, 5 years? switched to Kaspersky.. much better than more stable than Norton.

Norton have a nice packaging..and thats it.. Kaspersky is much much more functional.

I'm currently using Kaspersky.

- Detection rate
This is the most powerful i've ever use so far.

- Scanning/protection efficiency
Very eager to scan everything.

- Impact on performance/resource usage
Quite heavy on RAM.

- Cost
Umm ..

- User Friendliness/User Interface
Clean and simple. A lot of customizable settings.

Kaspersky will be the best.. For me.

from samuraiKidz: This is an example of unconstructive post, please do not follow

This post has been edited by samuraiKidz: Jun 13 2005, 08:22 PM

I would vote for McAfee !

currently i'm using McAfee Home edition V9 + McAfee Personal Firewall 2005 , works great for my PC

i voted for AVG...

i dont know, mayb love it coz it's free n easy-to-use.

nod32 4 me.. fast scanning n very eficient too.. ive tried both kaspersky n nod32 b4, both r quite good actually, only thing the background scanning 4 kaspersky makes file loading slower..

Mind you, Free AVG is not Auto-Update...please make sure your facts is correct before you post, else it'd lead others into unsure situation

AVG Free is free for non-commercial use only
You still have to buy commercial license to be used legally in company.

so main difference is in licensing. AVG Free is only available for stand-alone home users... the full version can be used by anyone... (esp. in corporate/business environment)

This post has been edited by sKy_jAi: Jun 13 2005, 10:16 PM

antivir got updates.. and it's free for personal use.. it's light to.. dun have to wait when loading windows..

This post has been edited by [the][matrix]: Jun 13 2005, 10:16 PM

AVG Antivirus

Pros
-----
Its free.
Detect whatever there is to be detected .
Low ram usage.
Easy update and maintain.

Cons
------
Only will detect a virus when u open the folder the virus resides ,unlike some which will detect if it is inside the pc
No technical support ( which is fine with me )

avast, because

- free.
- has POP/Outlook support (other need to pay).
- from version 4.5 and above, they have really cut down resource usage.

haha , mind you .... pls learn how to use AVG schedule auto-update function b4 accused other ppls
i'm 99.9% sure that AVG Free Edition can set to Auto-Update , bcoz i'm using it in my office now and being auto-updated 10 mins ago

Yes, AVG Free Edition has automatic updating: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5643/lng/us/tpl/v5

So let's have replies on the topic and not regarding that issue anymore. Cheers.

Voted for AGV. Free and easy to download, since I'm using dail up. However recently I update few of its recommended upgrade (not priority), and its have been giving me wrong massege that the virus defination is out of date even though I just updated. Just uninstall AGV yesterday and trying Avast now. I notice Avast update is much lighter... maybe I'll change my vote later.

Another thing, once I got a trojan in my computer. It was infected before I install AGV. After I install AGV, it blocks the trojan activity, ie when the trojan download something from the internet, BUT it did not manage to remove the trojan itself. Later I reformat and reinstall windows so the trojan disappear.

Still recommended for poor people like me..... Will Kaspersky having promotion again, do let me know.

I vote for kaspersky. I tend to use it last time before the trial expired, but now I had switch to AVG cause it is free...

I find kaspersky loads much faster on my computer, and it happens to use less time to scan my whole computer.

Btw, both are not memory hungry too, unlike my norton previously, my whole computer will lag for a couple of seconds while it loads.

Forgive me, my computer is an old system, therefore you will be able to see a great significance in performance between different antivirus.

vote for BitDefender
-take less resources
-efficient enough
-Frenly user interface

Using AVG Free currently. User friendly interface, frequent updates and the most important thing - it's FREE!

avg was good but it fail my private test.. (i purposely visit a website that automatically dl trojan) so hv to unistall it.
i certainly vote for Kaspersky Personal Antivirus.. dem good and really2 protect the pc.. remember that antivirus is mean to blocked virus or trojan etc.. so i dun care oher thing as resource or scanning speed.. yeah..its not free (who care..paham2 la.. ) it had blocked over 400 dem trojan and virus since 6 month using it at home and college(lan)

hem... I just tested karsperky lately and it perform BETTER than NOD32 but I still prefer NOD32 because of the performance...

My pc was infected by Worm Blaster before. Even formatting the HDD (for goddamn 3 times) its still there. I tried many AVs but no avail. AVG couldnt remove that thing, AntiVir too. Norton? useless. Then I use Nod32. At first, no avail but then I tried to remove the bloody thing in Safe Mode. Woot! The WORM destroyed!

AVG and AntiVir couldnt be loaded in safe mode. AFAIK, Norton can be loaded in Safe Mode.

i like NOD32 but im using AVAST! now... coz it's the best free AV around!!

Absolutely NOD32.very protected with advanced heuristics scan+malware detection NOD32 also was awarded the VB 100% Award for June.very proud have this AV in my comp.for more prove about this go here www.av-comparatives.org .u will know the best av in the world maaaa

Symantec Antivirus... Co. s/w

from samuraiKidz: This is an example of unconstructive post, please do not follow

This post has been edited by samuraiKidz: Jun 17 2005, 10:36 PM

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Pro... is my choice... altought it takes long time to scan... but nevermind i find it realiable... and it really scan everything... that why it take so long!!! heheheheheee

NOD32 is my choice.very light and protected. with advanced heuristics scan.good job ESET.great software

I have used a wide range of AVs, from Norton, McAfee, Antivir, Avast, AVG, Kaspersky, BitDefender and NOD32, with the last two being my favourite.

Though one can argue that Norton, Kaspersky has very good detection rate, they are resource hoggers which was why i quitted using them. The others aside from BitDefender and NOD32 has various flaws which i do not care to elaborate.

BitDefender is very good for me, but the con-side is its not free, and using it causes my system to have veeeeery long booting time. But after booting it doesnt use too much memory though. It comes with a complete package, with firewall, spam filter an everything. updates are autamatic and very frequent. if only it's free, i would have stick with BitDefender. unfortunately i have only until tomorrow to use it as i cant affor it

but the one that beats them all got to be NOD32. it has among the best detection rate (you can check Vbuletin website for references), and so far it has the best heuristics, meaning even if you do not update your virus definitions, NOD32 above others most likely will be able to detect and recognize new virus or virus-like activities. this claim is confirmed by many review sites, and by many happy users like myself.

therefore, my vote goes to NOD32.

This post has been edited by shockw@ve: Jun 23 2005, 09:08 AM

Yeah NOD32 my choice:).used very2 low resource and protected.

i gotta say.. nod32 n kaspersky is 2 of my favourite.. but the supreme winner i would have 2 choose nod32, its juz a damn good av software.. very very very little resource usage, good n fast scanning ability (although in my opinion a bit too sensitive sumtimes), n also frequant updates.. i gotta put my 2 thumbs up 4 nod32.. bravo eset!!

n btw.. i hate norton av!! its like havin a second os in ur pc!!

This post has been edited by CooShyRee: Jun 21 2005, 03:01 PM

mcafee user here...love it..it has been protecting me for years on end..and its still doing its job..

well i only used Norton n Kaspersky b4, so cant give any solid comment on other AV. but my vote would b Kaspersky, got very high virus detection rate compare to Norton, all the shit Norton ignored been picked up by Kaspersky lol.

for the latest version of Kaspersky, v5.0 something it doesn't use up so much resource, n have a very clean interface too!!


Post edited. No warez talk thanks. Read the forum rules.

This post has been edited by shockw@ve: Jun 23 2005, 08:53 AM

For those who want to use free antivirus, I would suggest antivir

It doesn't have nice user interface but from my observation (in camparison to AVG and Avast), antivir detection rate is somehow higher...It consumes less resources than other free AV too.

It had slow update problem before, but I think it is solved already.

I love BitDefender... fast and reliable but suddenly i got probs with it so i change back to KASPERSKY PERSONAL PRO... Yeah it's SLOW but i felt really safe with the screeching sound coming out once a while... heheheh... "Eeeeeeek!!!"

Thank you for your comments on the various antivirus software available. The post on antivirus software in the Common Software Links has been updated to reflect the outcome of this poll and this thread will be moved to Essential Reviews and Guides for reference.