Question

What is the best Antivirus for Vista Home Premium?

Asked by: jgohil

What is the best antivirus for Vista Home Premium?  I've been using BitDefender av 10 for XP SP2 and it worked really well in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, and while it technically (via a recent update kit) will work with Vista, I've noticed a huge decline in the speed of web browsing.  I wouldn't mind if it was a matter of seconds, but I'm talking about hitting refresh on a page and then watching it take over 10 seconds per image on the page.  As a web developer, this basically cripples my workflow.  I know the problem is BitDefender because I first thought I screwed something up  while installing all my Firefox extensions or other software.  So i did a clean install of Vista and then proceeded to reinstall each of my programs, checking for the problem between each.  I was able to conclusively isolate the problem to BitDefender.  It really is a shame, because I've been so pleased with it.  Googling turned up little to nothing.

Oh, also I'm not interested in anti-spyware or malware or firewall, just AV.  

One final note... Please don't recommend Norton or McAfee as they both suck.

Thanks,

J. Gohil

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Asked On
2007-02-22 at 13:47:48ID22407754
Tags

vista

,

best

,

antivirus

Topics

Desktop Anti-Virus

,

Security Utilities

,

Windows Vista

Participating Experts
6
Points
500
Comments
17

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Answers

 

by: simpswrPosted on 2007-02-22 at 14:20:43ID: 18592116

I uer and reccomend AVG . . either the free or paid versions.  You can also download a trial if you want to give it a test drive . .

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1

 

by: simpswrPosted on 2007-02-22 at 14:21:30ID: 18592123

. . I use and reccomend  . . .

 

by: younghvPosted on 2007-02-22 at 16:37:37ID: 18592839

For 32 Bit, I use AVG-Free.
For my Vista 64 Bit, I use AVAST-Free.
When I first loaded Vista, AVAST was the only free AV program I could find.

There may be others, but I haven't looked.
Works fine so far (knock on wood).

Vic

 

by: PowerITPosted on 2007-02-22 at 23:45:15ID: 18594377

Idem, AVG Free.

J.

 

by: jgohilPosted on 2007-02-23 at 08:43:40ID: 18597291

I appreciate the input.  I should have noted that one of the best features of BitDefender was that it didn't sap all of my system resources like Norton or McAfee.  My laptop is no slouch (Core Duo 2.0gHz, 2GB RAM), but I'd still prefer a reasonably lightweight AV.  Could you give me an assessment of AVG's resource footprint?

Also, I'm going to leave this question open just a bit longer to see if anyone else weighs in.

Thanks again for your input thus far!

 

by: younghvPosted on 2007-02-23 at 08:59:14ID: 18597412

AVG has almost no footprint - very resource skimpy.
That is why I like it on my 32 bit boxes.
I don't know if they have it (free) for 64 bit yet, but I need to check.

Vic

 

by: younghvPosted on 2007-02-23 at 09:07:37ID: 18597481

For right now, you have to buy the AVG to get 64 bit support - from their users forum:
"the current facts that for 64b support currently the users will need to purchase one of the AVG Pro products."

AVAST is still free.

AVG is good enough to pay for if there were no alternatives, but AVAST has worked fine for me since last Summer.
I don't see any reason to change - if I can save some money.

Vic

 

by: flycomanchePosted on 2007-02-23 at 17:01:41ID: 18600450

Another nice 64bit is NOD32.  www.eset.com.  They offer a trial so check it out.  Good Luck.  

 

by: 5t34lth_G33kPosted on 2007-02-26 at 05:10:00ID: 18608730

I was going to suggest NOD32 too - Im running that on Vista Ultimate, havent tried any other AV software, but other Vista users have reported acceptible performance as well as unbeatable virus protection.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

check out their comparitives link - NOD32 is rivalled only by AVIRA Antivir with 53% new samples detected from their November 2006 tests.

 

by: jgohilPosted on 2007-02-26 at 12:20:12ID: 18612050

Thanks everyone for responding!  I checked out the various alternatives and settled on AVG Professional.  I don't think I needed to pay for it, but I did so anyway since it was reasonable.  It indeed has a very light footprint and doesn't seem to add any time to my normal tasks.  I realize that the question is quite subjective so rather than deem one answer 'correct' I awarded points based on the solution I chose and the direct reply to my question.

Thanks again.

 

by: simpswrPosted on 2007-02-26 at 13:31:53ID: 18612684

Hmmm . .

 

by: younghvPosted on 2007-02-26 at 16:52:50ID: 18613960

jgohil,
I know the scoring/closing of questions can be confusing, but you totally ignored simpswr's answer.

He was 'fustest with the mostest' on the AVG recommendation.

Please post a free question in the Support Forum to re-open this question for proper scoring.

"Splitting Points" is an option when you want to share the wealth a little bit, but his response was over 2 hours before mine.

Thank you.

Vic

 

by: simpswrPosted on 2007-02-27 at 05:35:47ID: 18616593

Vic is being a good sport ( as he always is ) but don't worry about the points . . I am pretty sure I got lucky and ran off with points that belonged to him in the past . .

Rich

 

by: jgohilPosted on 2007-02-27 at 08:57:12ID: 18618459

Oops!

Sorry guys, I am aware of how the point awarding works but I was just being a bit daft.  Thanks to all for being good sports about it.  I'm sure Karma will kick in and everybody will get their just deserts.

Thanks,

j. gohil

 

by: rookie_inPosted on 2008-07-10 at 14:25:53ID: 21977541

I read a lot of reviews, against AVG for vista and the newer AVG being almost a failure. This is 2008, July, so is there any update on the best antivirus for Vista Ultimate?

 

by: PowerITPosted on 2008-07-11 at 01:18:36ID: 21980739

rookie, this is not the way Experts Exchange works. You need to start a new question to get such answers.

kr, J.

 

by: rookie_inPosted on 2008-07-11 at 09:45:32ID: 21983943

My bad, I saw the rule after I posted the comment.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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