I am sure this has been asked before but if someone can point me to reliable information about antivirus software or personal testimonials. I would appreciate it. Is there a website/magazine (or?) that can be trusted? You never know who is on whose payroll.
I have been doing review searches and reading magazine articles and I can't seem to figure out which antivirus software is the "best" and I don't have the money or time to try them all.
This website
www.virus.gr has a list of virus programs that caught the most viruses. The top five are:
1) F-Secure version 5.41 - 99.63%
2) Kaspersky version 4.5.0.49 - 99.35%
3) AVK version 12.0.4 - 98.67%
4) McAfee version 7.03.6000 - 97.24%
5) RAV version 8.6.105 - 94.26%
... (Others worth mentioning)
7) Norton 2004 Pro - 92.35%
...
10) Bitdefender version 7.1.110 - 88.28%
...
13) PC-Cillin 2003 version 10.03.1072 - 86.94%
I have had trouble with McAffee in the past (about a year ago and prior) making a perfectly stable system unstable so I gave up on them. I am currently using Norton AV 2002 (w/ Windows XP Pro) but it seems to be a system hog and I am pretty sure it is the cause of the few instabilities I have (based on installing and uninstalling it).
What gets me is that one review will say that Norton is the "best", the next will say BitDefender is the "best", and the next will say PC-Cillin is the "best" and etc. Even some that are the "best" according to one review might be one of the worst on another review. What gives?
The main items I am looking for is:
1) Stability, I don't want it to interfere with my system,
2) Effectiveness at blocking viruses with realtime scanning (i.e. automatically checking email as it comes in and etc.)
3) Ease of use with scheduling system scans, retrieving updates, and advanced options to tailor the software to your needs.
One thing I like about Norton AV 2002 is that it will quarantine viruses in bad emails but you can still view them. I have heard a few horor stories about some antivirus software deleting emails making them unretrievable, even emails that didn't have real viruses (false positives).
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Fej
