Bitcoin Forum

Hi, since many people are having problems with Microsoft Security Essentials, why not making a thread about good anti-virus alternatives.

I'm currently testing the free version of PandaCloud Antivirus.
It's an anti-virus tool based on cloud computing so information about newly recognized malware gets instantly streamed to all peers, so its up to date at any time. And it doesn't interfere with bitcoin :)

As far as I can judge now, I will keep PandaCloud on my system.


I had Avira Antivir Personal Edition before, but with every new version they released it got more and more bloated and slower (personal impression). It still is a good tool which I used for many years now, so, if you don't trust the new "cloud-technology-antivirus-systems" it's a good choice for you. Didn't have any problems with bitcoin either.


Now its your turn:
Which antivirus solutions can you recommend ?
Which are no-gos ?

F-Secure is in my opinion one of the better ones, I've almost never had problems with that. (Note: It's commercial, Arrr!)
But then again, last I seriously used Windows was when XP was the current, and Longhorn/Vista wasn't even heard of.

Norton, now that's a no-go.

you could try avast anti-virus?
i've installed that on a couple of systems.
seems ok!

plus, it always helps to have malwarebytes anti-malware and ccleaner.

I think that avast requires 'registration' ?

AVG Free is a 'Top Ranked' anti-virus. It won't cause any issues with Bitcoin usage and it's my choice for a free Windows Anti-virus.

yes.
in a way.
asks for your email address.
never had any spam coming my way from them though.

or any other sort of email come to think of it!

personally, don't like AVG.
don't think it's as good as it's cracked up to be.
not my own personal experience.
but from people who have had it installed, and it didn't work that well :)

The problem with bitcoin and Security Essentials is easily remedied, and Security Essentials has worked flawlessly for me. I don't feel a need to go looking for something to replace it. If you're going to run Windows (which I don't necessary condone :P), you might as well use Microsoft's free virus protection offering. As far as I can tell, it's waaaaaaaaay better than Norton or McCrappy or any of the expensive stuff, and since it's made by Microsoft you know that it'll cause lots of problems - I mean - you know that once they've attached their name to it they're going to be careful not to make it too crappy - well - they're going to... I don't know where I was going with that. I just think that I'll stick with Microsoft Security Essentials for now. That's all. B)

=/ I've always just run a single program, Avast... Never malware bytes, avg, etc. etc. etc.

I've never had a virus, except once, and I can't really count that because I intentionally infected my computer to watch what the virus did heh.  I never understand why people have such trouble with viruses, since I run with very minimal protection and get away scott free...

I like Kaspersky Internet Security it catches all malware and viruses and rarely ever has false positives.

Sleep with the dogs, you're gonna get fleas!

There are a couple of reasons to use Micro$oft products, like if your work requires it, or if you want to play the newest games. Otherwise, try a Linux or BSD live disk--Knoppix, CrunchBang, MEPIS, PC-BSD, or SLAX--and watch the cruft disappear. You don't have to be a digit-head, you just need to boot from the CD.

I'd add to fresno. You can avoid most of internet threats by switching to *nix desktop instead of windows. Ubuntu is one of easiest distributions and works right away usually. There is tons of software to replace windows software. Believe me, I work in company where everyone use MS stack, including exchange server, iis etc. =)

If you have to keep windows, from my experience working AGAINST AV software:
The best: Antivir, NOD32
Better: Kaspersky

The rest was junk. Kaspersky was slow. NOD32 and Antivir had really close quality of detecting my code.

I'd add that I had this experience 2-3 years ago. Probably something changed, but I doubt it.

Nobody has said it yet? Ok, then Ill have to:

The best anti-virus is linux.

You must have heard about BitDefender Antivirus. Try it out !

If you catch a virus? Best thing you can do is find a doctor
Can't see how a computerprogram can help you get rid of a virus. :)

...ow wait, yeah right... windows

Delete that thing and install a *nix, if that is not possible I would suggest NOD32 ;)

Windows 7 + monthly CureIt (http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/?lng=en) check = sufficient stability for average user.

P.S. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to switch to other OS. :(

Free isn't affordable???

Yes, because the user has to spend time (and maybe money) for retraining. :-\

I am using a paid antivirus which is the Kaspersky. This is very sensitive antivirus because it detects all the latest viruses like the Trojan horse or the other deadly viruses. Although, this antivirus is heavyweight so it is necessary that your computer must have a good specification.
 

I have to agree 100% with this.  http://www.ubuntu.com has my favorite flavor of Linux.  I've lately been playing with MeeGo http://www.meego.com on one of my netbooks and it's got a great UI (even runs on mobile devices) there's not many apps out there for MeeGo yet but I have found apps (like Skype) will work if you download the Fedora RPM packaged versions if you can find them.

I DO also run some PC's and a netbook on Windows 7 where the free Avast! anti-virus has worked great for me.  http://www.avast.com (YES, you have to give a valid email address to register for FREE..and YES, you do have to kind of read the page and registrations/renewals to find the FREE download because they do try and sell you on the upgrade BUT it works great on Windows 7 without hogging up resources and I don't get spam marketing from them).

For those who don't understand how Linux solves their anti-virus problem let me just say this: I don't know of anyone who runs an anti-virus program on their Linux based PC whereas everyone I know with a Windows PC runs anti-virus (or they have a broken PC lol).  I encourage a visit to http://www.ubuntu.com where you can download a "live cd", popit in your drive and startup/try out this Linux O.S. without installing it onto your harddrive and/or messing with your other OS installation(s).  Cheers for the nice "off-topic".

Donations of bitcoin always appreciated!  183DFFQXR4xCyseBXzmh3XWc22izDWE5Dw

install virtualbox and run bitcoin in ubuntu in virtualbox under windows