Yes, I know we've had two threads about this in the past. One from 2009, the other from 2012. But, programs change and people's opinions about them change. Programs have to be constantly reevaluated.
So in 2014, what program(s) are you using?
On my main computer, I've been using a combo of Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Pro. But, I'm thinking about ditching MSE after reading recent reports about it. It continually gets bad performance ratings compared to other AV software.
Norton gets a lot of crap, but I've been reading up on it (as well as other AV programs). Guess what? Norton is one of the best AV programs out there. It's always in the top 10, and most cases in the top 5. I feel like McAfee is in the same boat as Norton. Bad rap, but top rated. The top rated programs always seem to be Trend Micro, Kaspersky, Norton, McAfee, Bitdefender, Avira, Comodo, and BullGuard. The only bad thing I hear about Norton and McAfee these days that seems true enough is how malware might be written to target them since they're so popular. But even that being true, they're still continually rated high in independent tests such as AV-test.org and others.
Speaking of the ratings from independent test sites, your favorite AV software might not be as good as you told yourself it was. AVG Free and Avast! don't score nearly as well as the above mentioned. They're still better than Microsoft Security Essentials, however.
I recently tried Norton Internet Security 2014...
So I rebuilt my Mom's computer and I wanted to give her stronger protection. Let me put it this way: She recently clicked a link in an email from a "funeral home" because it said some one she knew had died and click the link for more information. An allow/deny window was flashing for "fakeflashplayerupdate.exe", and AVG was flashing red windows "threat detected", but she moved them out of the way to watch some funny cat video on Facebook.
Anyway, I went with Norton Internet Security. It was only $25/year for 3 users on Amazon, so I figured what the hell. It gets great reviews for it's protection. Well, I've come to find out that the program (at least in 2014) isn't as bad as every one says. It's not a resource hog, at all. Idling my mom's computer, it uses 0-2% CPU and maybe like 20MB of RAM. I understand how it was a hog back in the XP days when you only had a 2Ghz single core CPU and 256 or 512MB of RAM. But this isn't the case anymore. I find it to run great. I was playing around with it and I was kinda impressed. And it gets great ratings, so that kind of gives me piece of mind.
Anyways, I was impressed enough with Norton to consider putting it on my laptop. I don't use my laptop very often, so I just had Microsoft Security Essentials on it and the free version of Malwarebytes (didn't wanna pay for a second license since I don't use the laptop often). But after reading how MSE is pretty shitty, I wanna swap to something else. I've thought about AVG and Avast! free versions, but they seem to be only mediocre compared to Norton. And the version I bought for my mom is 3 users, and she's only using it on one computer, so why not?
So what AV are you using? Or tell us how awesome you are because you don't use one, or you use Linux or a Mac and don't need one.
MSE, CCleaner, and Malwarebytes if I need it. No problems so far, unlike my previous issues with AVG that would cause driver conflicts and other annoyances. Free works for me. I don't go to sketchy places on the internet (except here), and all weird e-mail (which ain't much) goes straight into the trash.
Since Hazerd brought up NoScript, I'd also mention that using tools such as that and ad/pop-up blockers is a good way to avoid malicious code coming in from those things in your browser. I just use AdBlock Plus, myself. Certain sites I trust and care about their ad revenue, like here, get whitelisted, but otherwise it's always on.
I was using Norton 360 until it expired. It uses less and less system resources every year, which is nice. Now on my new Win 8.1 laptop I'm sticking with the stock Windows Defender, now that it's essentially the new name for MSE. For free, it does the job, and as long as you got good browser protection and a knowledge for web safety, it works out.
I also like Malwarebytes and ADWCleaner for a quicker clean (no installation needed, just the executable). CCleaner is also one I always install for anyone.
As far as Firefox security, AdBlockerPlus, NoScript, Ghostery, and Disconnect.
Xeogred wrote:The obvious answer is that it's time for the Dreamcast 2.
MSE and CCLeaner mainly for me too. I honestly haven't had problems in a long time since I made the jump from XP to Win7. Don't even get me started on XP... haha.
I get to encounter all sorts of AV on customer computers and fighting to make them allow SQL so our software will work. Let me say this, AV program interfaces are absolutely fucking terrible. They're counterintuative disasters that usually hide anything that's not an automatic control and even hide logs so you can see that they blocked your program you're trying to figure out why it isn't working. Norton and Mcafee are the worst offenders with having different versions as well. I swear every problematic SQL install has a version of N or M that looks completely different than the last one I looked at.
I've still been using Eset Nod AV. I've got AVG on this new PC at the moment, but when my renew comes up in a month for my old PC I'll jump to this one.
