The Best Antivirus Product of 2006

[JerryM]

jerry:You were correct it is virus only. It came up with the same link so I put my other home e-mail in there maybe I'll get lucky tonight and get one e-mail.

Great.I think you will like F-Secure. It runs well on my laptop, without conflicts. I do not notice the memory usage. I have KAV6 on my PC, and although I prefer it to F-Secure, I'll take the freebie which has equal detection rates on my second machine.I originally thought it only updated once per day, but now that I have kept a log I find it updates twice per day normally. I am sure if there were an outbreak it would update at that time.Best,Jerry

[Scot]

Not to beat a dead horse here, but everyone has their pet favorites for AV, AS, firewalls, etc. And if the product you have to have conflicts with this or that you have to make a decision. Now I know Eric Howes. He's a great guy. But I would urge you all not to fall in love with one pundit or set of research. That includes me. The reality is that there is no "right" answer. If you look at PC Mag and Consumer Reports, they pick ZoneAlarm 6 or 6.5, which many of us know that -- while, yes, highly protective -- gives your computer an instant labotomy. PC World, meanwhile, picked NIS. The same goes for McAfeeLilBambi, I agree that Nod32 is the the best pure low-overhead, works with everything antivirus program. I don't like the UI, but I agree with many of the people who say, who cares, you're only going to mess with it once or twice. Set it and forget it. For me, the combination of Nod32 and Spy Sweeper 4.5 is a desired protection set. But the outbound scanning thing -- and the fact that Nod32 does not scan Eudora mailbox files -- is a crying shame. And Eset isn't even working on this for 3.0. And has no definite plans as to when it will add that feature. Let me ask you a question: What AV product would you pick if you weren't running Nod32 on your Windows box? I'm interested. I'm guessing AVG or Kaspersky. Did you know that F-Secure uses the Kaspersky engine? Essentially it's Kaspersky 5 with SpyBot AV wrapped with a sound interface.I hate the installation pecadillos. But a few notes:1. 85% of the problems reported to me about F-Secure were from people who didn't uninstall another AV product, and about 90% of those were ZoneAlarm with Antivirus. Even Nod32's installation instructions tell you to uninstall other AV products. While the results are pretty bad with F-Secure, I think that's because of some system-boot-oriented features that F-Secure adds -- which are, I think, welcome features that you find on products like NIS and ZA.2. Many people have told me they were able to reinstall their spyware products after installing F-Secure. I haven't tried this. I still believe in one AntiSpyware product, one Antivirus product, one Firewall. I don't need any more than one of each. If you're going to overburden your PC with security products, I think you're better off with the big McAfee or ZA products.One last point: In my opinion, while all antispyware products aren't created equally, they're all pretty bad. I think you'll find that Eric H. agrees with me on that. The entire category really isn't ready for prime time. This is why I started with AV products. A solid AV product is your first line of defense. It will often capture spyware/malware attempts -- if it's a good one.Behavioral protections are going to be big, but not this year. A few products do it, and many more will add it as a bullet point in the 2007 editions this fall. But it's not going to be until the 2008 products that we're really going to see the benefits of that technology.OK, end sermon.I haven't changed my mind about F-Secure. I have an interview with the company next week. One thing I have discovered is that their tech support is terrible. But then, I'm not sure I'm aware of a security product company with good tech support. Still, F-Secure gets an F for support from me. I didn't test that aspect for my review, btw.One last point about F-Secure: I know many of you believe that F-Secure doesn't co-exist well with AV and AS products as some sort of anti-competitive stance. That's just hooey. I can see why people think that; but that's not the reason.Update on Kerio: I love the product, but it doesn't score that well on some Leak Tests:http://www.firewallleaktester.com/tests_overview.php(click the View Results button).I will also be testing Comodo, Jetico, LooknStop, Outpost 4, and probably Tiny Personal Firewall. I'm skipping ZA free, ZA paid, Norton Personal Firewall, Sygate, Windows Firewall and several others that are either no longer supported or just haven't tested well. I will not be testing the firewalls that are only available in multi-function security packages.I also intend to give a look at the next-gen AV products this fall, including Nod32, BitDefender, AVG, Kasperksy, F-Secure, and probably one or two others. I'm only planning to write about this if it changes my mind. Somewhere down the road I will be examining antispyware products too. Again, I will be using this empirical approach that combines researching security tests and lab reports, combined with real-world research and long-term testing of each product on multiple computers.-- Scot

[muckshifter]

Well, I don't know if you're interested but I went ahead and have a Poll going on my own Forum ... http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-2672621.php ... I would, if you conduct your own poll, leave out the 4th question though.

[zlim]

Nice site mucks, it earns a bookmark. Thanks for posting the link.

[Corrine]

Did you know that F-Secure uses the Kaspersky engine? Essentially it's Kaspersky 5 with SpyBot AV wrapped with a sound interface.

Actually, from a screen copy I saw, its KAV and Lavasoft Ad-Aware definition files that are included in F-Secure.

[JerryM]

Actually, from a screen copy I saw, its KAV and Lavasoft Ad-Aware definition files that are included in F-Secure.

I copied this from a post on Wilders, but it is what I remember. F-Secure engines1. AVP (Kaspersky engine)2. Orion (F-Secure's own heuristic engine)3. Libra (F-Secure's own signature engine)4. Draco (Ad-Aware engine)Jerry

[Scot]

I too have been a Kaspersky fan. I still think their engine is the best out there (one of the reasons I was attracted to F-Secure). But I had the same reaction to 6.0. I'm really hoping that they listen to the criticism and make some changes to their package. Who knows? Perhaps 6.1 or 6.5 will be a great product.JerryM and Corrine ... right you are. Not sure why I wrote SpyBot. I was thinking Ad-aware when I wrote. Slip of the pen.-- Scot

[J-Mac]

A long-time Zone Alarm user and supporter, I finally divorved them recently. I was running Zone Alarm Security Suite on two PC's and Zone Alarm Pro on another. But it has become so doggone intrusive that I literally cannot take it anymore! No matter how many times you tell it to "remember" a setting, it invariably asks you again about the same application. I have deleted and recreated their database until I'm blue in the face, and I've finally given up on them. Still have a lot of time left on my subscriptions, too. Oh well.I am trialing Sunbelt's Kerio firewall. A few problems right off the bat, but I'll give it a little time.I use KAV6 on my main desktop PC and so far I am very pleased with it - especially after tolerating the CA antivirus in the form that Zone Alarm packages it. (Almost anything would look good after that!)Scot, I contacted F-Secure about pricing for two licenses, but they charge full price. And at $40 a year, it ain't cheap! If a company can't give a break to personal users of their applications for multiple licenses, they are a little too greedy for my taste. After all I am good to all of them - like most here, never an "unregistered" version of anything on any computer of mine, and I've been at it a long time. They can afford to give us a break!Seeing that offer for a 6 month trial - I think I'll give it a try at that price! Since uninstalling ZASS, my notebook has no AV on it!BTW, I decided that my "one anti-spyware" application would be..... Webroot's SpySweeper. Big mistake, maybe. It was at 4.5 when I purchased, but 5.0 right after I downloaded. 4.5 ran great for me; 5.0 is NOT running well at all. Their process ssu.exe uses 50% of my CPU all the time. So now I have SpySweeper on three PC's - and it is temporarily disabled on all three until they get their act together.Webroot has not responded at all to my support requests about the excess CPU usage. Plus their forum at Castle Cops is full of users who cannot use version 5. And they have removed version 4.5 from their server and will only make it available to users who get permission from them. Of course if they do not respond to support requests, it is difficult for users to get permission! So the troops are not happy with Webroot generally. (Fortunately I still have my 4.5 setup files! Just too lazy to reinstall them yet - I first must run a "cleanup" program from Webroot.)Anyway, that's where I am right now.

[J-Mac]

I decided to try the F-Secure 6 month trial on my notebook, since I had ditched my subscription for Zone Alarm Security Suite. Also, I do not have SpywareBlaster installed on my notebook.However near the end of the installation F-Secure informed me that it had to remove SpySweeper from my PC!Now I have been having some difficuly with SpySweeper's version 5, but after all I DID pay for three SpySweeper licenses - I am committed to at least give it a serious try. I am not going to remove it based on the idiosyncrasies of an unknown (to me, until now) anti-virus's trial! How completely presumptuous, to assert that, basically, they are so much better than all competing security software that I should let them remove those from my PC! I can certainly understand that another anti-virus present on my PC would be a no-no, but not software that is not directly related. (i.e. - antispyware).Though Scot gives F-Secure high marks, I haven't seen any other in-depth reviews that sing its praises. Granted, I have always respected F-Secure as a computer security authority on the leading edge. However that does not necessarily reflect on their ability to develop good software. Look at Symantec! Also a top security outfit, but their software's effectiveness has become suspect.Sorry, but any application that demands that I allow it to remove other industry-leading security software from my PC is seriously lacking credibility, in my opinion.

[JerryM]

Hi J-Mac,I understand your irritation. Although I am using SuperAntiSpyware, and at times Counterspy with F-Secure, I would take your approach if I had paid for Spysweeper. There are several excellent anti-virus programs, and one might as well find one that is compatible with the whole system. I am also using KAV6 on my PC, and it has not caused conflicts. I am under the impression that NOD is about as compatible as any AV. It ran well on my systems when I trialed it.I had an even worse experience with another top rated AV that required that I remove almost all other anti-malware. I removed it instead.So far I am pleased with F-Secure. It's spyware definitions are not updated as often as others, but I am not concerned about that as I use SAS for that protection. As of now the last update of spyware definitions was 7Aug. I have found that the virus definitions are updated at least twice per day except week-ends. It did update Sunday.Regards,Jerry

[J-Mac]

Hi Jerry. Thanks for the reply.I am considering AVG Pro for my other two PC's. KAV is working out OK, but purchasing additional licenses is not an inexpensive proposition. 2 add'l licenses for 2 years is a pretty big dent in the wallet!I have used AVG Free in the past, and other than the lack of scheduling capabilities in the free version, I was always pleased with it otherwise. Scot gives them a thumbs-up in his review, also.

[JerryM]

Hi Jerry. Thanks for the reply.I am considering AVG Pro for my other two PC's. KAV is working out OK, but purchasing additional licenses is not an inexpensive proposition. 2 add'l licenses for 2 years is a pretty big dent in the wallet!I have used AVG Free in the past, and other than the lack of scheduling capabilities in the free version, I was always pleased with it otherwise. Scot gives them a thumbs-up in his review, also.

Hi J-Mac,I can certainly relate to the cost. KAV is relatively expensive in my opinion, although I have a 2 year license for one computer.Although I have not used it, and in the past it has not had a high detection rate on AV Comparatives, F-Protect has a following, and permits (I think) 5 computers on one license. It costs $29. https://secure.f-prot.com/cgi-bin/buyI am going to be interested in how it does in the nexr AVC test.Best,Jerry

[FuzzButt]

I did a clean install of WinXP Pro SP2 on a new drive yesterday for my main PC. I installe dthe 30 day trail of F-Secure. I like it so far. It is fast. Not to intrusive and easy to configure.It's kind of nice to get a eval though 30 day's is a bit short. I can't say it will be staying but so far I like it. Of course now I need some sort of spam protection for Outlook and a firewall.

[JerryM]

I did a clean install of WinXP Pro SP2 on a new drive yesterday for my main PC. I installe dthe 30 day trail of F-Secure. I like it so far. It is fast. Not to intrusive and easy to configure.It's kind of nice to get a eval though 30 day's is a bit short. I can't say it will be staying but so far I like it. Of course now I need some sort of spam protection for Outlook and a firewall.

If 30 days is too short try the 6 month trial.http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/v...us/default.mspxJerry

[FuzzButt]

Thanks Jerry. I did not even look there.

[JerryM]

Thanks Jerry. I did not even look there.

My pleasure. Regards,Jerry

[pierrejamme]

I did a clean install of WinXP Pro SP2 on a new drive yesterday for my main PC. I installe dthe 30 day trail of F-Secure. I like it so far. It is fast. Not to intrusive and easy to configure.It's kind of nice to get a eval though 30 day's is a bit short. I can't say it will be staying but so far I like it. Of course now I need some sort of spam protection for Outlook and a firewall.

Jerry I finally gave up after five tries filling out a request and never getting an e-mail from them. so I went directly to their web-site and downloaded a trial, which is probably 30 days. I have no problem with that as i will probably purchase a license sooner anyway. Not a big believer in shareware or trials.My question is this though, has anyone else been snubbed by F-Protect and never received a response? Is my e-mail being lost somewhere? I had Mcafee 2005 Suite with Spamkiller disabled, did they go into the spam box anyway? The reason I turned it off as it didn't work with Incredimail and was losing all my e-mails even the ones in my address book.I guess I better go back to Outlook

[JerryM]

I usually use my Yahoo email address for such things. It has no spam filter, and I never get spam there. I tried to get a license on my Gmail, but it never came through.Not sure what the problem is. I moved to the 1 year trial, and that is where I am now. It is hard to imagine a years trial, but at least one other AV gives such a trial.Sorry the trial license did not work out for you.Jerry

[Scot]

J-Mac,F-Secure Anti-Virus 2006 includes its own antispyware module. I agree that it should be more tolerant of other anti-spyware products. However, you really do not need two AS real-time monitors running at the same time. I keep multiple AS products around and ready to install on any product that gets a malware flu.I don't blame you for not adopting F-Secure given that you have three Spy Sweeper licenses. I'm a big Spy Sweeper fan. (Version 4.5 though; there are still issues with 5.x.)But bottom line: As a first line of defense product, F-Secure is a great compromise between the high footprint packages (Norton, McAfee, etc.) and the continually emerging blizzard of barely known products. I've been highly critical of the email scanning functionality and Eudora support of Nod32. But if you read my entire review, you'd see that I give Nod32 high praise -- even after being critical of it. It works great with Spy Sweeper, and if you're not using Eudora -- and especially if you are using Outlook -- Nod32 is your best choice.-- Scot