Hi,

What is best antivirus for professional desktop systems.
I have selected norton 360 & it gives very good performance.

But on internet people usually prefer kaspersky or bitdefender

 

I am beginning to think anti-virus software is a big waste of time greedy scam.
I stopped installing AV software and just use good sense, avoid opening files from unknown sources, etc.

No problems yet.

You absolutely know that the virus writers are employed by the AV companies, the incentive is too great for it to work any other way.
A perfect scumbag symbiosis.

 

Microsoft's own free Widnows defender, or whatever they call it these days. It just works, no fuss, no bother, no getting in your face

 

Not precisely an answer to your question: all antivirus I used, became more and more invasive along months, every time taking more memory and using more time to do its thing.

Changing to a different AV and starting afresh seemed the way to a certain (temporary) relief.

The old " Microsoft Esential?" from Microsoft worked, obviously seamless but ended being very invasive and obstructed my work rather often.

Nowadays Chrome and Firefox started to behave like that in my both PC with Win XP.

 

What do you mean by a professional desktop system? Most commercial AV systems are comparable. I differentiate them by their central control features. The ability to upgrade clients from a server; to be able to report on the signature status of individual machines; to be able to report on machines who are not running the client; to be able to report on malware caught; to be able to isolate machines; etc…
To this end (and this is not an endorsement, but a statement) we used Symantec Endpoint Protection.

 

I like what Microsoft provides for free. Also AVG's free version works good as well.

 

AVS? Is that different than AVG? I also use the latter.

 

AVS? Is that different than AVG? I also use the latter.

Opps sorry typo, AVG

 

What is best antivirus for professional desktop systems[?]

Linux.

 

You beat me to the draw joeyd999.

If you must run Windoze, run it on a VM inside Linux. Better yet, don't run it at all.

GNU/Linux aside, I ran Windows without anti-virus for well over twelve years. I ended getting a nasty one due to my own stupidity. Ironically, at the time, even if I had been running an A-V app, I would've still caught the garbage. Therein lies the real problem with A-V apps and services (besides slowing down your system). By the time a particular infection is detected and addressed by the A-V developers, the threat is usually long gone.

More often than not, I found that malware/adware and a messy registry caused most of the problems I encountered.

Nonetheless, if you are concerned, other than Linux, I suggest a three-pronged strategy: Microsoft Security Essentials, Malware Bytes, and CCleaner.

 

It would help to know what Operating system you are using. Based on market shares, odds are you are using a Windows based operating system. I believe Norton 360 is also available for Macs . . . but I will assume for now you are using a Microsoft product.

. . . Nonetheless, if you are concerned, other than Linux, I suggest a three-pronged strategy: Microsoft Security Essentials, Malware Bytes, and CCleaner.

I'd toss Spyware Blaster into that mix. It hardens browsers against malware and virus attacks. No matter how "careful" you are when surfing, you can still succumb to a plethora of net-nasties, like cross-site scripting and "drive-by" attacks, to name a few.

Suggesting someone use Linux is beyond the scope of the Ops post, and pointless. I like Linux based operating systems too, but they are not right nor possible for everyone. If you think a Linux based OS is impervious to attack, you are sadly mistaken. Like the Mac OS, the larger share Linux takes of the market, the bigger target they become for thieves, and the more they will be subject to attack.

I am beginning to think anti-virus software is a big waste of time greedy scam.
I stopped installing AV software and just use good sense, avoid opening files from unknown sources, etc.

No problems yet.

You absolutely know that the virus writers are employed by the AV companies, the incentive is too great for it to work any other way.
A perfect scumbag symbiosis.

I absolutely know this is a totally absurd claim, like all blanket statements are, and I hope you are kidding.

So, you are saying there are no criminals out to get your pin numbers, or hacking into a company server to steal trade secrets? Or script kiddies out to cause mischief and gain some street cred with their peers (other script kiddies)? Nope, according to you it's all evil anti-virus companies and their hired thugs . . .

Your good friends and business associates may not be as careful as you, and get mail accounts hacked. You open an attachment from one of them, possibly even an expected one, and you are infected.

You may be expert enough to avoid most net-nasties, but the average user isn't. To suggest someone not use any anti-virus at all is just bad advice.

 

AVG works well. As a secondary antivirus, you can try Immunet as it will provide an additional layer of security.

 

I absolutely know this is a totally absurd claim, like all blanket statements are, and I hope you are kidding.

So, you are saying there are no criminals out to get your pin numbers, or hacking into a company server to steal trade secrets? Or script kiddies out to cause mischief and gain some street cred with their peers (other script kiddies)? Nope, according to you it's all evil anti-virus companies and their hired thugs . . .

Your good friends and business associates may not be as careful as you, and get mail accounts hacked. You open an attachment from one of them, possibly even an expected one, and you are infected.

You may be expert enough to avoid most net-nasties, but the average user isn't. To suggest someone not use any anti-virus at all is just bad advice.

It's all of the above, I have just found that antivirus software can be more trouble than it's worth, slowing a machine to a useless annoying brick.
Ever tried to remove Mcafee antivirus? http://service.mcafee.com/faqdocument.aspx?id=TS101331 - nightmare city.
Sure, there are all kinds of threats out there, but I think it's hopelessly naive to expect some antivirus software to protect you from all nasties, it just creates a false sense of security. Sure, there are probably some antivirus companies out there that have no association with virus writers, but I'll bet the ones that pay for viruses get the new virus definitions way before the others- it's just common sense capitalism at work.

Do the simple and obvious things to protect yourself- get a beater disposable laptop for porn, practice common sense for the rest.

 

Oh, I quite agree there are bad anti-virus programs. Some are more effective than others, and some totally free ones are more effective than some commercial ones. I don't like McAfee at all (it does suck to remove) or Norton . . . but to decry all anti-virus software because a few are bad doesn't make any sense. To not use any at all is ill advised. A person should do their research on what anti-virus programs are considered good and go from there. If you are on a single machine that no one else uses, then your position might make marginally more sense (for you) . . . but in the case of the OP it seems he may be in a networked business environment.

At any rate, using anti-virus is far, far better then not using any at all . . . no software is 100% effective, but using no software at all is 0% effective.

 

Right now I'm using Avast and Windows Defender because AVG got to bogging the system down. My ultimate defense is a back-up copy. I used to use Norton Ghost, now it's Acronis True Image. I can whack the O.S. and re-install in 30 minutes, except I haven't had a virus since Windows 98.
Files that need security (like a list of my passwords) are encrypted (Axcrypt).

 

Right now I'm using Avast and Windows Defender because AVG got to bogging the system down. My ultimate defense is a back-up copy. I used to use Norton Ghost, now it's Acronis True Image. I can whack the O.S. and re-install in 30 minutes, except I haven't had a virus since Windows 98.
Files that need security (like a list of my passwords) are encrypted (Axcrypt).

I've always disliked AVG for that reason - way too much of an impact on system performance. I've used Avast since around 2003 and swear by it, but of late it has been increasing its resource usage, but not to the level of AVG. Been testing a cloud based AV called Panda . . . so far so good. Very basic interface, but as it does most of it's grundge work in the cloud it has very little impact on a computer's performance. Still testing it, though . . . I haven't enough usage data to recommend it yet.

 

AVG works nice, it's not too invasive however it is sloooow. My computer starts up like a cow when it's on. As someone mentioned earlier the Windows based antivirus is quite alright too. Not the best of course but alright.

 

Linux.

Joeyd999 that was 100 stars answer,i also only Use Linux for watching Streaming video from the most shady sites in the web, Download stuff and for peace of mind on any site and not to worry about to be infected with virus,i also have a laptop with win7 with no Virus protection that i use just for program that are free of virus and malware like UTUBE,XBMC,my legal payed Sportv,Espn3,Slingbox media player, a music notation program.

 

You beat me to the draw joeyd999.

If you must run Windoze, run it on a VM inside Linux. Better yet, don't run it at all.

GNU/Linux aside, I ran Windows without anti-virus for well over twelve years. I ended getting a nasty one due to my own stupidity. Ironically, at the time, even if I had been running an A-V app, I would've still caught the garbage. Therein lies the real problem with A-V apps and services (besides slowing down your system). By the time a particular infection is detected and addressed by the A-V developers, the threat is usually long gone.

More often than not, I found that malware/adware and a messy registry caused most of the problems I encountered.

Nonetheless, if you are concerned, other than Linux, I suggest a three-pronged strategy: Microsoft Security Essentials, Malware Bytes, and CCleaner.

faley you trying to say Windoze has virus?i understand! you say to try to run windoze on Linux?ofcourse if Windoze is for Win it wont run on Linux properly,that's why most people special me have a few Linux OPS Pcs based so you can go on line without worrying about virus malware special on shady streaming site and download movies and music and other stuff,and A PC with Win OPS for work and for sites that are free of virus, my son had a Win OPS with AVG virus protected but he use to download stuff from shady sites and his PC was so infected that even the hard drive didn't survive,Virus Protection is a scam,they protect nothing, i think Virus and malware protection programs give more Virus and malware so you go buy more advanced antivirus protection that's how they operate,

 

AVG preferably. But be careful. Don't keep two anti-virus running simultaneously. Keep just one.