Anti-Virus Solutions?

First, ALL antivirus solutions are rear-guard actions, closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

Second, you get what you pay for (ALWAYS) and invariably, good commercial, paid anti virus solutions are superior to free consumer versions.

Then look for a good overall solution.

Others may disagree, but I have had my clients on Symantec Endpoint Protection for years and ZERO virus outbreaks in over a decade.

I like SEP because CPU resource is low - I rarely see it running although it always is.  Symantec logs need to be managed lest they chew up disk space but we manage them without issue.

And I definitely disagree - Symantec has been the worst product I've been forced to use (at one large client) and the worst company I've dealt with - FAR more interesting in confirming you're licensed before helping you stop a recurring outbreak.

I find VIPRE to work very well and have used it at most of my clients for the last 4-5 years or so.  It's been very reliable and in most places, users commented that it found things their prior solutions missed.  It's also inexpensive with an EXCELLENT management console.  And it happens to be the GFI Max provided antivirus solution if you use GFI as your RMM.

Otherwise, keep in mind - best antivirus is like asking for the best ice cream flavor.  Everyone has an opinion.  I have tried MANY other products including NOD32, McAfee, AVG, Avast, Kaspersky, and others and I'm very happy with VIPRE.

You have always disagreed with me on this :)  But over a decade of successful experience is hard to argue with :)

It's EASY to argue with it when I routinely clean viruses from "protected" by Symantec systems.  (though I will say the last few months I haven't had to do so much... But as I've said, a short term change in their quality doesn't mean long term will be the same.  In 4.5 more years, if they haven't done something stupid like breaking DHCP on an Essentials server, I'll reconsider them.  Until then, they've burned me way too often for me to trust them.  And EVEN THEN, I wouldn't change unless VIPRE starts routinely failing me.

I had too many issues with Symantec, both support wise and bug wise.

I really like System Center Endpoint Protection, which goes as part of System Center Configuration Manager (which goes as part of System Center Suite).
Though it might be pricey (as just an antivirus solution), but it can be used in many different ways.

Thanks Everyone! Management Console is important and I have had many issue with Symantec as well.

You can always use what you think is best. Keep in mind my first two points as they override the particular choice. Then choose carefully.

Here are my "rules":
- NONE of them are perfect and ALL of them let things through.  Rely on this as fact.
- Performance is highly user-dependent.  So, if you have good experience with one product it may be because of the users or population of users or corporate culture or ....   Ditto, bad experience with one product.  Well, I would rely on the first result much more than the second here.  But, if I quoted all bad experiences then almost nothing would be deemed good enough.
- Defense in depth is always better than having a single-point of defense.  This means use edge virus scanners when it's feasible.   And, it likely means using per-computer add-on scanners like Malwarebytes.