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Oct
9
I’m often asked this question. I cringe when I hear it. I’d rather be dragged into a religious battle, less blood is shed over the arguments. For many computer users, the choice of which antivirus program to use is engraved in stone and to suggest they use anything else is somewhat akin to heresy.
I don’t take an inflexible attitude towards protection. I consider the customer - their level of technical skill and what their panic level is like. I also consider what they have in their computer, who their provider is etc. Here is a good example:
Are they a Sympatico customer? Then they may encounter problems with Norton down the road. Norton and Sympatico have some well documented conflicts when it comes to the SMTP (send mail) protocol. Norton interferes with Sympatico’s security settings and blocks outgoing mail. Norton says the problem lays with Sympatico, Sympatico says the problem is Norton’s. So Norton is not the top of my list for antivirus protection.
I find some antivirus programs are just too slow as well. I don’t want my antivirus checking to see if I flossed in the morning - just keep the viruses out. Do one job and do it well. Unfortunately many of the big commercial packages suffer terribly from BLOAT. Some of the packages have such a degree of feature bloat, they slow down the computer’s performance until it seems to crawl. This is hardly useful. If I can’t use my computer, or have to wait endless amounts of time while the antivirus does it’s job, then the software is not efficient enough for me to recommend to my customers. Sorry, but I live in the real world, not in a lab. I’m not willing to wait forever.
I also take into consideration that most of my customers are of the “don’t tell me the gory details” mindset. “Just make the software work so I don’t have to worry and don’t worry me with endless details”. Some of the packages are so big and unwieldy, they intimidate customers. If I have to search around to figure out how to do a simple update, the software gets tossed. If I have a problem with it, then I know my customers will as well.
2 packages for PC users and 1 for Mac users have passed my test for ease of use and reliability.
For Mac users, I always install ClamAV or Clamshell. I love this program. Easy to use, takes up minimal space and isn’t a program hog. You never know it’s running. It may not be fancy, but it does the job of protecting your Mac well. Clamav is donation ware. Although it is being offered free, I encourage my Mac customers to send something via PayPal to the developers. I tell them, either send them something of put up with bloatware - there choice.
For PC users, I use either Avast! or Grisoft’s AVG, depending upon the system. If the customer is running Vista, then Avast is the better choice. AVG seems to have a quirk that shuts off email scanning. AVG has a slightly simpler interface, a lot less intimidating for my senior customers. They love AVG because there is no learning curve. It’s very basic and simple for them. Avast! has a few more bells and whistles but the interface is not as straight forward. I am using it with customers with more computer savvy and who are also doing more than emailing and light internet cruising.
If you have kids at home using P2P software (downloading music etc) or Internet Messaging software, then Avast! is perfect. It comes with P2P and IM shields already installed. Even with these 2 features, there is no appreciable decrease in speed.
Both packages come in 2 flavours - free for home use and the upgraded pay for professional use. Again, while most of my customers are using the home version, I have some who I have encouraged to purchase the full version. I have had them spend the money because they like to have a few more bells and whistles to play with (home versions are much more basic).
If a customer insists upon Norton or McAfee, I’ll put the software in - its just I prefer the above one’s.
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One Response to “Which anti-virus program is the best?”
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To my mind, avast has the most user-friendly interface out of all free antivirus programs I know of, and its updates come absolutely silent. Some PC users insist that it has a poor detection rate, but AV comparatives lists avast! over Norton, so there must be a sound reason behind that. Since version 4.8 avast! claims to have anti-spyware protection included as well. I personally know a home user who switched from ESET (paid) to avast! (free), and not because NOD’s subscription expired.