AV: Database scan accuracy or heuristics more important?

[JamesW1984]

I have been using the free version of AVG for a couple of years and like it, however it's out of date and I couldn't find a free, newer version. Consequently, I logged on to sysopt and found this link: http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/09/04/and-the-best-antivirus-is

That review doesn't list AVG very highly, so I'm thinking about a new anti-virus program. Kaspersky or the free AOL version looks like a good one as far as catching virii that are listed in the database, but should I be concerned about their heuristics(being able to find a virus not in the database from identifying certain characteristics)? NOD32 looks to be pretty good at both, but they give up 4% in accuracy from the database side to kaspersky.

Decisions, decisions. I guess anything is better than an out of date AV :eek:

My email inbox suddenly displays recent read mail from November and then mail from January 06, but doesn't list anything in between. However, I can search and find mail sent and received between those dates, they do not show up in my in box. I figured it might be a virus of some type, so now I'm hesitant to use online banking until I figure this out.

Any help or direction would be appreciated. :t

[BipolarBill]

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

Still free.

I like NOD32, but I use AVG only because it has a small footprint and updates itself quickly. I don't have bad surfing habits, so I'm not concerned about absolute performance.

[Comage]

Been a user of AVG for the past one year, and I have to say that their "good" lies in what BipolarBill has mentioned.

Their bad, is that AVG's resident shield does not catch embedded trojans in HTML pages most of the time.

Not that I have bad surfing habits, but protection is always better than cure.

I have since switched to Kaspersky, and its real-time scanner works pretty good for me. :t

[G]

NOD32 with a 3-year license is the best option.

[JamesW1984]

G, do you like NOD32 because of their good heuristics? Kaspersky placed top in the actually finding the virus if it's in their database. I'm on a free trial of Kaspersky now (it found 3 supposed adaware files that AVG didn't find - I think the adaware was something to do w/ people pc, so it may not actually be adaware although I don't use people pc).

I'm thinking about getting the free AOL one if it's made by kaspersky - they have the same (99.62%) detection rating.

[G]

AOL did a smart move using KAV. But it may have been a smart move for Kaspersky too.

If Kaspersky got $1 for each AOL member they are in the money. If Kaspersky gave it to members AOL free in the hope those members would go with the full online version then they are in the money.

I cannot recommend AOL with the limited functionality of KAV as it is not online. Yet, for anyone who does not wish to pay or cannot pay for the full online version of KAV then is will be fine, just scan manually regularly and be careful where you go.

I would recommend AOL with a full version of KAV but…

Both Kaspersky and F-Secure are tip-top. In fact F-Secure and a number of other AV developers use the Kaspersky database.

The problem with KAV and F-Secure, the only two I would recommend besides NOD32, is that they really hurt system performance.

NOD32 is so light while online and active you will not notice it is online at all.

Now the question is does one go with KAV and its performance hitting package or the slightly less statistical effective NOD32 that is super light.

Well, my vote went to NOD32 with their 3-year software, support and definition license. I’m very really happy with it.

Also I would recommend CounterSpy as it has the most extensive malware database. I’m just about to give them over 2GB of infections that they cannot detect at the moment. Sending it by DVD direct to the Head of Sunbelt Research Eric Howes.

So, get NOD32’s 3-year plan and rest easy. Get CounterSpy as it is really cheap and any yearly update is only 50% of the purchase price and you will have the best defence around.

Now, get a router and activate The Windows Firewall and that will be enough.

Your get 30-days free trial with NoD32 and 15-days with CounterSpy – see how you get on.

Here is an excellent guide to help you understand NOD32. It doesn’t cover the new anti-stealth rootkit setting so make sure that it ticked.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=37509

Let me know what you think, and if you get stuck get back to me.

[JamesW1984]

G, thanks so much! :t

I'm not an AOL member, so it sounds like the AOL version of Kasperksy isn't for me. I'm on a dial up connection currently, so I've been told that perhaps a software firewall is sufficient. I was using ZoneAlarm, and tried Kerio for a while, but uninstalled it for some reason (I forgot why). I guess the windows xp firewall is still active, though.

I guess I'm not worried about a light-running program. I have a 2 ghz machine w/ 512 mb ram and I don't really doing anything intensive. I mainly read on message boards and watch an occasional video, maybe play some mp3's, and do word processing. Occassionally, I'll do some photo editing, but rarely any video editing or gaming.

I'll check out counter spy though, it sounds cool.

One thing about Kaspersky though is that it does take forever to scan. Perhaps that's what you mean by it hurting system performance. It took around 25 min for it to scan yesterday. I'll set it up to scan when I'm away and I'll be good to go.

[G]

A software firewall is sufficient on dialup but unless you pass-as-you-go it is just as cheap nowadays to go broadband. Then I would recommend a router and The windows Firewall as sufficient.

You misunderstand me when I say that NOD32 if light on resources compared to KAV. I mean as soon as you install KAV it will have an impact on system performance while online, not only if you carry out a manual or scheduled scan. In this case you would not be able to do much on your machine in the mean time.

NOD32 is light on resourses while online and does has perceptible system performance hit.

Incidentally, I have a P4 D 3.2GB, 2GB RAM 2TB using a top of the rang SCSI storage subsystem and F-Secure hurt my system performance so much that NOD32 was online and F-Secure was offline and I simply used as F-Secure aa second opinion on a manual scan. KAV is probably the same. It was the last time I tried it in V4+ Pro. I know it has an omproved interface but that is all I know.

So I say again, go with NOD32 and CounterSpy.

Try them all and then make up your mind.

[JamesW1984]

I went back to that link mentioned above http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/0...st-antivirus-is and read the comments at the bottom. Many people criticized that test and said to only trust the tests administered by http://www.av-comparatives.org

I visited the tests by av-comparatives and, while Kaspersky and NOD32 are ranked well, they also rank Norton fairly high, which surprised me.

The main reason I'm even looking at this is because my aunt asked me which AV to use (she currently uses Norton) and I'm trying to review for her. Norton would probably be the easiest for her because I doubt she wants to buy anything online. If it's performance is nearly the same (her surfing habits are probably not bad), Norton seems fine w/ me (for her).

[BipolarBill]

Norton *is* fine, but she will have to renew it with an online purchase after a year anyway. Otherwise, she will have to purchase another box off the shelf. That means that the new installation has to uninstall the old one and this is where Norton almost always chokes. If she has Norton, the safest bet is to get a renewal. Norton does not offer multi-year subscriptions. All shelf-bought AV programs are 1-year only,so the best way to buy is multi-year online.

IMO, users should avoid Norton security "suites". That means NAV alone - no "Internet Security" or Systemworks. Their other programs just multiply the chances of FUBARs and are too intrusive and needy (resource-wise).

I like NOD32 for it's small footprint and the multi-year discounts.

[G]

Go with NOD32 3-year license and receive three years of free updates, upgrades and def files.

Do not get Norton or McAfee as they are resource hunger. Especially do not get their suites as they will bring your system to a crawl even more so.

Simply uninstalling Norton and McAfee products is like a system performance boost.

Go with NOd32 3-year (like me) and CounterSpy (like me).

Then enable The Windows Firewall and ensure Automatic updates is set to Automatic. There can be problems with this selection but for newbie’s it's a must. For users that are more experienced they can simple download and be notified.