All antivirus softwares are good, because today all comply with its function. However, we must not forget that every moment is being released a new virus on the internet. Thus, it is difficult for any antivirus to detect all existing virus. Even the most expensive paid antivirus does not detect all viruses. The ideal therefore is to use an antivirus that updates its virus database by once a day.

Yes I totally agree with you that for as long as the anti-virus has a daily updates were secure already but I believe that having an anti-virus plus a anti-malware makes us more secure then. Just a thought..

The best antivirus for you is one that is easy for you to use, is updated regularly, and scans files in "real-time" when they are put on your computer. You should have a real-time antivirus if you use the internet. One of the AVs used by the Jotti or Virus Total free scanning services would be a good choice. ClamWin makes a good "backup" AV because it only scans when you tell it to (it is an "on-demand" scanner), does not use many computer resources until it scans, will not conflict with a real-time AV, and is updated several times per day.

Some AV companies will let you try out their AV for free for 30 days or so.

Regards,

Warning: Be wary of antivirus programs that are not on the Jotti or Virus Total scanning services. If an AV is not there, it could be okay, but it could also be one of the many fake AV programs that sell useless security software to unwary users or that are used to distribute malware. There are 20 AVs on Jotti and 43 AVs on Virus Total. I am sure one or more of these AVs will satisfy your needs. Clam AV furnishes its scan engine to ClamWin, and it is on both Jotti and Virus Total.

Also, check out downloaded software on Jotti or Virus Total before you install it. When downloading, use the right click button on your mouse to Save As and put it in a folder you can find. After downloading, do not install/execute it. Visit either Jotti or Virus Total and upload the file to them. If several AVs there say it is infected, it probably is infected. If 2 of these AVs say it is infected, I will take it as the truth: Avira Antivir, Bitdefender, Nod 32, Kaspersky, or Sophos.

Regards,

Hi all
I work as a computer technician, and use NOD32 Antivirus for our clients, we really worked very well, have greatly reduced the incidence of virus infection and personally use it, I can say that only shows when you start windows because doing a scan of the system, but then goes unnoticed, which is agredece.
You can install the latest version 5.0 as a 30-day trial.

Even the very best anti virus will not always catch a new virus, as it will only recognize one that is in its database. One way of protecting ourselves is to watch the what we download, especially the free stuff. Personnel experience has taught me that nothing is totally free. It is the free stuff that spy ware, Mal-ware and viruses are attached to. I have had problems where I download a free software, once installed it attaches a toolbar and my regular home page is changed to some, other homepage. So be careful guys.

I don't have an antivirus software installed and I've been fine until now. I think it generally takes too many cpu ressources at least if it's active all the time, and once in a while i use one of the online free scanners available.

But I have a firewall installed on my computer and I obey a strict policy of not opening any files etc. from people I don't know or in emails that look suspicious.
But I'm wondering if i'm taking too big a risk?

Even if you are careful, you can get a "drive-by download" or get hit by an exploit that takes advantage of your browser, your operating system, your pdf reader, java, javascript, and other applications. You use lots of software to get around on the internet, so I think you need an AV even if you are very careful. Some AVs use more resources than others. ClamWin is light on resource use until it scans because it does not scan all the time (real-time). It just scans when you tell it to (on-demand) or when it does a scheduled scan.

Panda Free Cloud AV is pretty light for a real-time AV, and Microsoft's free Security Essentials is okay--you can change the resource use on it.

Regards,

ClamWin does not cost anything, ever. Many commercial AVs have a free trial--usually 30 days or so. Some commercial AVs have a free version. Microsoft Security Essentials is free to Windows XP and newer users with genuine Windows. Panda free Cloud is free. Avir Antivir has a free version for home users. Avast has a free version for home users. Sometimes free AVs come with a web toolbar (ClamWin has the Ask toolbar) that changes your search engine, but you do not have to select the option to get the toolbar--just de-select it during the install process. The AVs get money from the toolbar provider when you install the toolbar. Sometimes the toolbar has web protection, which is useful. The Ask toolbar supports further development of ClamWin.

Regards,

What would be the best AV product and easy to install in all windows version?

All of the AVs used by the Jotti or Virus Total scanning services are good AVs. They include Clam AV for Linux, which furnishes the scan engine and database for ClamWin, which is what these forums are dedicated to. Some AVs have 30 day (or longer) trial versions, so it is easy to try them out.

Regards,

I have been using Avast free version now for some time, it works very well and it updates daily.
I would like to add that Emsisoft antimalware free version is the best I have ever used at finding virus, trojans, ect.
There is another very good free version of Malwarebytes that has found and removed a lot of malware on my computer.
Try either or both you will be glad you did.

Yes, their Anti Virus is a good program but I suppose if I had a wish list it would include some of the following:

If there was an option to intall Clamwin on a network of computers with Auto Install that would save some time and come in handy.

If there was an Auto cleaning and quarantine before installing without removing any files.

The ability to connect pop email accounts would be nice.

I realize these are not easy tasks and I am likely asking for too much, nevertheless I am happy with what you have so far, particularily the scanning scheduler and database virus updates.

I don't think you will see much work on the use of ClamWin for networks. That would entail lots of code and testing. Those users who would like to see improvements to ClamWin for network use would would have to contribute time, knowledge, ability, or money toward the effort. Not much ClamWin code is being written except what is needed to perform the port of Clam AV over from Linux to Windows for each Clam AV update. With regard to testing, the recentl beta version of ClamWin .97.5 was tested by only the two ClamWin developers and two users.

As for auto clean--either before/after installation, that too takes lots of code and testing. Many AVs do not do a good job of cleaning, which takes good reverse engineering capability. The best they can do is to clean up completely the simple, uncomplicated malware and delete the infected files/hit the high spots for anything else.

I also think that the MS Outlook plug-in for ClamWin is all you will see for email scanning. You can scan pop/other email with a normal ClamWin scan, of course.

ClamWin is Open Source, and anyone with programming/coding talent is very welcome to improve it.

Some related development work is being done on the Open Source Clam Sentinel real-time program, which uses ClamWin and its signatures for scanning but includes a separate heuristic scanning engine to make up for the relativley small number of Clam AV signatures/heuristics. Clam Sentinel is a separate project from ClamWin, however, and it too does not have any staff. It is programmed in Delphi, and ClamWin uses C. Development is primarily related to the heuristic scan engine and modifications as-needed to efffectively support Win 98 use.

Regards,