Antivirus suggestions?

[Moniker]

Getting in a new laptop tomorrow, w/o any packaged antivirus. Any recommendations? McAfee has been alright but a pretty big resource hog. Are either Norton or AVG any good?

[Damocles]

I use Avast. The company I work for uses AVG. Both work well as far as I can tell.

[shmuppyLove]

I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials for a while on all my machines, no complaints.

[Casey120]

I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials for a while on all my machines, no complaints.

Me too, it's totally free and comes out as one of the best on several tweaker test sites .

[Hagane]

Stay away from Norton. It's pretty crappy.

I use Avast and it's very good and free. I think it's the only antivirus that scans before startup, and it's a great feature as it allows you to clear a lot of annoying viruses that infect system archives or copy themselves to the RAM. ESET/NOD32 is really good but it's not free. Probably the best out there if you are willing to pay for an antivirus though.

[DirtyMonk]

Kaspersky Internet Security has been good to me.

[gabe]

ESET Nod32. To my knowledge, it's the most effective and least invasive solution.

http://www.eset.com/us/

[KAI]

AVG. No viruses on my PC so far.

[Ed Oscuro]

I thought that AV-Comparatives had a test a while back showing that Symantec Endpoint Protection (the corporate version of Norton) used less CPU time than Microsoft Security Essentials, but their October 2012 performance report shows Microsoft tied with three other suites for top speed (no metric on how slow it makes your system, though quad- and hexa-core CPUs probably will make this matter less than it once would have, while speed to finish a task is still important). However, MSIE isn't covered in the real-world detection tests (I seem to recall reading something about companies declining to participate in certain tests) and only achieves the third ranking, "standard," for the "on-demand protection test" in September.

For speed, October: Webroot, ESET, Avast, and Microsoft got top rankings. Others weren't far behind - F-Secure only scored lower than the top four on one metric, so others include: Kapersky, AVG, Panda, McAfee, AVIRA, Qihoo, BitDefender, Sophos, eScan.
For file detection, September: Avira, Trend Micro, F-Secure, Kapersky, BitDefender, BullGuard (lol), Fortinet, eScan, McAfee, and Avast got top rankings.
For the real-world protection test, August-November: Bitdefender, G DATA (however G DATA missed the most samples in the file detection test), Qihoo, Kapersky, and Bullguard achieved top rankings, and Microsoft wasn't tested.

Another simple view is here, showing Microsoft in a July test of heuristics and achieving three stars.

I've been rocking Symantec Endpoint Protection 64-bit since I got the download a couple years ago but it looks like it might be time to give it up. Actually, I've tried to update it, but while the protection license doesn't run out, they won't offer the executable update. Detection libraries and heuristics get updated regularly though.

[null1024]

I use Avast. I've heard things about AVG recognizing an awful lot of false positives, but eh.

[KAI]

Every keygen is a virus for AVG.

[njiska]

I had been using NOD ESET 32, but then my license ceased to function, so now I'm running Avast and it seems to work pretty well.

[jonny5]

Avast

[Raytrace]

I used to use AVG from it's early days when it was seriously thin feeling compared to other AVs, in the last few years though its gotten pudgy, I then went to Kaspersky, which I did really like and didn't seem to slow down my PC at all, however next time I reinstalled OS I gave MSE a try and tbh I haven't renewed my paid Kaspersky licence, MSE seems very fast to me.

[Ganelon]

For a Mac, having no antivirus is actually OK. I survived years with no issues. To be safe, it's smart to download the free ClamXav though.

For a PC, if you don't know what to use already, then it sounds like you're looking for something to just leave on and forget about. In that case, I'd just recommend Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) because you're practically ensured quality service for the lifetime of the operating system and don't have to worry about fees. Anti-virus performance changes too fast for any recommendation based on findings a few years back to make sense now and any recommendations now to make sense a few years later. Believe it or not, there were actually times in the past when McAfee had the best detection rate. Last time I tried a few years ago, both it and Norton/Symantec were bloated messes but that could certainly be different today. The problem with free antivirus software is that they inevitably get memory-intensive after a few years of development. AVG, Avira, and Avast used to be some of the leanest AV software around but just a year ago, all had become huge strains on my old PC.

Whatever antivirus you choose, it's helpful to have Malwarebytes for anti-spyware. I don't believe any solid anti-spyware software still offers free updates (SUPERAntiSpyware was the last I'm aware of) but Malwarebytes seems to be updated the most (10 times a day isn't unreasonable) and have the most accurate detection. Best of all, it has a low memory footprint and appears to coexist fine with the major antivirus programs, despite what many folks claim.

[drauch]

I mainly use Microsoft Security Essentials myself, along with occasionally Malware Bytes and Ad-Aware. AVG can be good, but it's a huge system hog and it doesn't always do well with some computers. AVG completely shut down my computer and wouldn't let me boot up windows, forcing me to get out my Windows start up disc, creating a program CD, and going through a bunch of registry files. Not a common problem, but many others have had it happen as well with AVG. Also, AVG forces you to download a program to rid the initial program from your system, otherwise you're stuck with it. Plenty of other free Anti-virus software out there that does a better job and isn't quite as flakey.

[ZacharyB]

I use a heavily modified HOSTS file in order to block most or all virus vectors. A side effect is that most advertisements are blocked as well. This works well on computers running operating systems that can't support most modern antivirus protection.

[GaijinPunch]

Never used AntiVirus other than a few trials and they always fucked me. A smart head is the best AntiVirus software out there. Beyond that, some disk imaging software and roll backs every X weeks is not a bad idea either. It's more cumbersome, but all in all, not a bad move if you partition your system separately from all the data.

Note: I've not used PCs actively for years though.

[xbl0x180]

I use PC-Cillin. It's really cheap at Target... 30 bucks or somethin' or you can download it for 60

[Nasirosuchus]

Another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials.

[Bloodreign]

Microsoft Security Essentials, replaced AVG with this, AVG in turn had somehow missed a virus I had and MSE quickly picked it up and removed it. Malwarebytes for spyware is also nice to have.

[Astraea FGA Mk. I]

Malwarebytes

[Ji-L87]

AVG Free for me. Aside from a few annoying things I can't complain. Haven't had a proper virus in ages, though the program has actually warned me about files a few times so maybe it actually does work too

A smart head is the best AntiVirus software out there.

True. I use the no script extension for Firefox as well, and I believe it has saved my hide a few times too, though it can be cumbersome to deal with some times as well.

[Hagane]

A smart head is the best AntiVirus software out there.

I said the same thing until a friend put an infected pendrive on my PC. It had a nasty virus that rendered all .exes useless, didn't let you install new programs and was hard as hell to get rid of. Since then, I always use an antivirus.

[Ed Oscuro]

Never used AntiVirus other than a few trials and they always fucked me. A smart head is the best AntiVirus software out there. Beyond that, some disk imaging software and roll backs every X weeks is not a bad idea either. It's more cumbersome, but all in all, not a bad move if you partition your system separately from all the data.

Note: I've not used PCs actively for years though.

GP rolls with a TI series graphing calculator

[PC Engine Fan X!]

That's rolling in retro-style with old-tech.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[null1024]

A smart head is the best AntiVirus software out there.

I said the same thing until a friend put an infected pendrive on my PC. It had a nasty virus that rendered all .exes useless, didn't let you install new programs and was hard as hell to get rid of. Since then, I always use an antivirus.

This. Hasn't happened on my machine, but getting an infection from somewhere that would be "trusted" is more common than one would like.
My buddy got a virus like this on his old computer back in 2005 or so, we had to rename .EXEs to .SCR to get them to run. We ended up just formatting the disk.

and this is how we learned that Windows screensavers are ordinary programs with a different extension, even the behavior to close on input is program determined

[Moniker]

Never used AntiVirus other than a few trials and they always fucked me. A smart head is the best AntiVirus software out there. Beyond that, some disk imaging software and roll backs every X weeks is not a bad idea either. It's more cumbersome, but all in all, not a bad move if you partition your system separately from all the data.

Note: I've not used PCs actively for years though.

GP rolls with a TI series graphing calculator

I still have my old TI-89 with a pretty damn good Scorched Earth clone my friends and I made in high school. Gave it a spin after finding it in a box in the basement a few weeks back. Ahh memories...

[Ed Oscuro]

I still have my TI-83, non-Plus, non-Silver; haven't turned it on in years though

I have an even older Casio fx-7400g I found lying around somewhere...makes the TI-83 look high-tech, that one does

[trap15]

TI-81, bitches