Best 2010 Antivirus Software

[hardy]

I have been using Norton Antivirus 2010, but it slows down my computer. What are you using? And why...

[racer-x]

None..........don't need any.

any problems and I just restore my system from externally stored images.

[MOVIEGEEK]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/319603-Need-advice-for-free-antivirus-free-firewall-combo

[creamyhorror]

I went without an antivirus for years, after finding Norton and McAfee too slow. Then I used NOD32 for a while because of its top ratings on antivirus comparison studies. Then a year or two ago when my NOD32 subscription expired, I did my research again and found that the free software Avira was better than most other free and paid antivirus packages, so I used that instead. It served me well.

I just switched to Ubuntu so I'm again not bothering with antiviruses any more.

[freebird73717]

Avast 5 antivirus - free fully functional resident scanner
Malwarebytes - free manual scan
Superantispyware - free manual scan

All light on resources. Works well for me.

Friends don't let friends use Norton

[lordsmurf]

Avira, if I use one.

[16mmJunkie]

Avira on my Windows PCs and nothing on my Linux PC.





If the Light ain't Bright, It ain't Right!!

[budz]

Avast, Spybot Search, Spyware Blaster, Superantispyware & Malware Bytes> ALL FREEWARE!

[edDV]

NOD32 if you are getting viruses. I use it on my laptop.

I'm mostly using MS Security Essentials on the desktops these days (free)

[HotDamn!]

I agree 100% with budz and freebird. If you dont use those then you don't have the best. Avira is good but doesnt supply as much as Avast such as email and im scanners and more. For the free versions anyways.. check the link for more details on which one offers what, you'll see if you read it all.

Check this link for more details and the list for the best av's of 2010.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/kill

I've been using what's listed by budz and freebird for a while and have NEVER had a problem.

[creamyhorror]

I don't even bother with antispyware, to be honest. I barely/never get spyware, for some reason. (Adblock might be part of that?) I used to use SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes but they were curative rather than preventative IIRC.

[lacywest]

I checked your PC details and you have none posted ... my PC uses WIN XP Media Center 2005 and I have a AMD 5800+ running at 3GHZ ... I use Norton Internet Security 2007 and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and PC Tools Spy Doctor 5.

... If I am in Windows 7 ... I use Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.

Pehaps a way to combat your PC slowing down is to speed up your PC with a faster CPU.

[hardy]

I had Malwarebytes, but after performing a full system scan with Norton, there was a lot Malwarebytes was missing. I saw pretty good reviews for Avast, I might give it a try.

[freebird73717]

Malwarebytes is just a malware/spyware scanner and needs to be used in conjunction with an antivirus.

Don't just rely on one piece of security software. Use a good A/V scanner then follow with a scan from a couple of malware/spyware scanners.

[Jeremiah58]

I wouldn't know about Norton Antivirus 2010, but 1.5 years ago I bought a new HP laptop with Vista Home Premium pre-installed and with Norton Internet Security (NIS) 2009 pre-installed.
NIS 2009 performed well, but when it upgraded itself to NIS 2010 - I couldn't believed my eyes. Just like I picked up several major spywares. It installed some Norton toolbars, pop-ups anywhere and everywhere... I didn't want to renew my subscription and I removed NIS 2010 from my system.
I have replaced it with NOD32 (anti-virus only) and a neat little freeware firewall Privatefirewall from http://www.privacyware.com/personal_firewall.html
I'm very happy with both programs. Both are very light on the system resources and do exactly what I expect from them.

[hardy]

I just installed Avast, the overall file itself is bigger than Norton, but it runs a lot smoother. I might also keep Malwarebytes installed to have more protection.

[slickster]

AVG Free Edition, Malwarebytes, and Spybot Search and Destroy.

[jmohn]

AVG Free, Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware.
I tried Avast a couple years ago but it did seem to place a larger "footprint" or "overhead" on the system.
It's probably time to take another look at Avast, it did get good reviews; on the other-hand, I've, apparently, been well served by AVG (no infections).

Jerry M

[CSULB71]

I used to use AVG Free 8.5. Then I updated to version 9 and found it has a very annoying habit of doing unrequested scans of my system, quite often, with high CPU usage. No way to turn it off. So I dumped AVG and went with MS Security Essentials -- so far I'm pleased with it.

[MJA]

Avira Free, Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware.for paid one NOD32(when it's on sale for $10)

if you are a high risk net surfer .nothing will work .there is always new virus AV software will not catch

[t0nee1]

Avast and Malwarebytes..They work for me, so far ( knock on wood)!..

[TimA-C]

Any antivirus/internet security package that is doing it's job and actually protecting your PC will slow the PC down. Fact of life, get used to it! The least resource hungry pay for internet security packages around at the moment (in my experience) are the Norton 2010 suites.

After many years of using ZoneAlarm antivirus and then security suite I'm switching back to Norton and am loving the performance boost! Yes, there is a toolbar but then most security packages (free and pay for) want to install a toolbar and at least you can reduce the Norton one and have it sharing the same row as the Google toolbar (and probably other toolbars as well) so it doesn't take up any additional screen space. It's also configurable enough to allow for the paranoid and not so paranoid amongst us, and to cut down on the 'look at me, I'm doing a scan in the background!' types of message.

McAfee is just cr&p and has been for many, many years. The last time I looked at NOD I seem to remember that it was incompatible with several packages I was using so didn't look at it further. ZoneAlarm used to be very good but then slumped badly. It's a lot better than it was a year or two ago but still not as stable, or as small and lean as I would like and the latest version was just one step backwards too far for me, oh and the program update mechanism is far from seemless (definitions updates are OK). ZoneAlarm is OK for a reasonably techy user but not so good for a 'civilian'. I couldn't get Kaspersky to run reliably on my system the last time I looked at it (about a year ago), it kept locking up. AVG free is a lot better than nothing but doesn't give the protection I'm looking for and, even with the scans set to the lowest priority or even switched off, it still hogs the CPU for quite a time on boot-up. If you haven't got at least a dual-core processor then be prepared to be patient! I can't remember why I didn't like Avast a year or so ago, I think it was something about the firewall I didn't like.

I realise that all of these packages have probably changed dramatically in the last year, what with Windows 7 etc., but as Amazon is currently selling Norton Internet Security 2010 - 3 license pack for £22.97 delivered, it's quick, it doesn't hog resources (on my machines, anyway), and it doesn't bombard the user with questions that he/she probably won't have a clue how to answer, I would definitely urge you to have a look at it. Try the free 30 day trial version from Symantec and see how you get on. Also, if you're currently using the 2008 or 2009 versions of Norton and have an active subscription, you can probably upgrade to the the latest 2010 version free of charge for the rest of your current subscription, check the symantec site and see if you're eligable.

To the OP, if you find Norton is really slowing down your system, learn about cleaning/tweaking your system and removing those unnecessary background processes, turning off some of those indexing options you've probably got running, turning off some of the waste-of-time options in the google toolbar (e.g. page rank, sidewiki, location, pre-load pages, save searches, set and keep google as homepage, and desktop) and configuring norton for your needs. Good luck with finding something that suits you and let us know how you get on.

[MOVIEGEEK]

TimA-C,
Do you work for Norton?
I haven't used Norton in 6 years but it slowed my system down considerably. I do agree that Zonealarm isn't as good as it once was, now it's bloated and buggy.

What I recommend for all AV users is to turn off resident scanner, there's no reason to scan programs and files already on your PC.

[TimA-C]

Nope! Don't work for Norton but do build & support PCs for a living. Yes Norton was VERY bad 2004/2005 and that was around the time I switched to ZoneAlarm. I was quite surprised by how much better the Norton 2009 products were compared to earlier years' offerings, but am really impressed with the current 2010 versions. I'm not saying that they're the best out there, but they're a heck of a lot better than they were and I haven't had to uninstall, clean out, and re-install a Norton product for getting on for a year now - something I was doing pretty regularly for clients before.

Just sharing my experiences and trying to help our online community!

[liquid217]

I mostly use Security Essentials, and have been quite pleased with it's protection. With that said, I am testing ClamAV's newest antivirus solution (not to be confused with Clamwin).
http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/about/win32/
It supports realtime scanning.

[Baldrick]

I use www.virustotal.com . It doesn't slow down my computer at all. .

[TBoneit]

The New 2009/2010 Nortons install much quicker and loads down the system much less than the older versions.

Over on download.cnet.com
Avira "the 2010 edition isn't quite as good as it could be. Both longtime and new users alike will note the pop-up ad that appears whenever a program update is downloading etc."

Avast " Avast is remarkable for both its effectiveness and arguably providing the most complete free antivirus on the market. etc."

AVG "AVG Free provides the bare necessities when it comes to security, but that should be enough for savvy Windows users. You'll get a combined antivirus and antimalware engine, LinkScanner, and e-mail scanning. etc."

I still have some time left on my AVG IS subscription... I did change over to Norton AV/AM despite that. After a oops event on my home PC when I upgraded from a Q6600 to a i7-930. It does encode much faster. TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress encoder with cuda turned on took approx 22 minutes to encode two 1 hour avis to DVD Mpeg2 using the sharpen filter as a test. They looked OK when I played them to a 32" hdtv. Another test I did encoding a wedding video from PAL to NTSC went very fast too.

I'm thinking of getting Norton 360 and setting it to back up My documents.

Call me not completely happy with win7 pro. What brain dead person decided to ship it with no email client? I'm still trying to set the desktop icon size and spacing.

Bottom line if you were using the older Norton the new one is much improved

[HotDamn!]

AVG Free, Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware.
I tried Avast a couple years ago but it did seem to place a larger "footprint" or "overhead" on the system.
It's probably time to take another look at Avast, it did get good reviews; on the other-hand, I've, apparently, been well served by AVG (no infections).

Jerry M

Do you have less then 512 mb of ram??? Avast is a much better program. I used AVG then switched to Avast because of the crap that AVG missed.

Unless you have 256MB of ram I would go with Avast.

I have a crap system that has 512MB of ram and it runs Avast like a champ, no problems and I still have other programs running on it.

[hardy]

I have an older computer, and Avast is working great so far.

[usually_quiet]

I'm using Comodo's free firewall, Avast 5 free, and Malwarebytes free. None of them is perfect, and even using them together I'm missing a few security features that the paid versions offer, but they do an adequate job for websites I visit. I also use Google's Chrome browser because it offers a sandbox, which can be helpful for keeping out malware too.