Hello Mica Mijatovic & everyone else, on 02-Apr-2005 at 10:11 you (Mica Mijatovic) wrote:
> AntiVir Every time someone asks for an AV program recommendation, the answers contain things like "it always worked for me" or "I had zero issues" or "its fast and resource friendly" or even "the best thing: its free!" (if thats the best thing for you about a virus scanner, you have to seriously think about what your intentions are when using the program!) In other words: answers that IMHO have *nothing* to do with the choice of an AV program. Please, stop it. This is about security, privacy, preventing damage to yourself and others, and not some personal preference. The FIRST question for a virus scanner IS and must always be: how good is the scanner? (there are dozens of tests out there to find out, and I'd advise anyone looking for a virus scanner to read at least three different tests, and not ask in a newsgroup or mailing list). Second question is: how often do I get updates, and along with that, how easily can I get the updates, do I get small update files automagically in the background every time I connect to the internet, or do I have to manually download and install a big file? Only *after* these two things like resources and cost for the program can further add to the consideration which program to choose. A piece of (worthwile?) information maybe. Just for your consideration. The following is plain simple FACTS. Last wednesday, one of our customers brought his laptop computer, he said that whenever he connected to the internet, the machine would almost stall and be totally unusable (typical sign for heavy virus or adware infection when you're using a small band internet connection). Looking at it, I found a *totally* outdated Norton AV on it, so I removed NAV and installed AntiVir free edition (downloaded the *most* recent version). I intentionally did not fix things manually (like HKLM/run entries removal, checking the BHO plugins, etc.) but let only the scanner work. First scan with AntiVir - it found 87 malware files (worms and adware droppers) & removed them successfully. Sounds good, does it? After that, I removed AntiVir and installed GData AVK (which uses the Kasperky + Bitdefender engines). I scanned the machine again. AVK found another *NINE* malware files of different types - amongst them one Internet Explorer BHO adware dropper, that would install itself again every time you start IE. To make it clear: AntiVir removed 87 malware files, but it did not clean the machine. I want to add my very personal opinion here: the program may be free, but it is useless. 'Nuff said. -- Best regards, Alexander (http://www.neurowerx.de - ICQ 238153981) I have kleptomania, but when it gets bad, I take something for it. ________________________________________________ Current version is 3.0.1.33 | 'Using TBUDL' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
