Antivirus and framerates

[Big Bottom]

I've been a user of Norton for many years but it seems it's hogging more and more resources every year. I'm giving serious thought to trying to find an alternative that I can actually exit before playing games...with Norton you can disable it but it still sits in the taskbar. So, which one is going to help my PC run NWN2 the most?

[LadyCrimson]

My husband likes Network Associates McAffee Antivirus - except he uses a corporate version. He's of the opinion that the ones packaged and sold for home users "suck." I have no idea about frame rates tho.

 

I've heard about Norton and it's 'not really turned off' thing. Sounds annoying. You can't even get it to go away per session by ending the process in the taskmanager, or something? SB's taskbar volume control is kind of like that - I had to use that services.msc area to get it to stop loading.

[mkreku]

One antivirus that's extremely unobtrusive and doesn't hog your system resources is called Eset NOD32 Antivirus System. It's very efficient, extremely quick and actually quite cheap! If you buy it online from their own store, that is.

 

They have a 30 day demo for you to try out, to see if you like it. I'm sure you will, as it is perfect for gamers. Not only is it MUCH smaller than most of the AV's out there, it's also very easy to turn off if need be. You probably won't have to though, since it's so small and discrete. Highly recommended!

 

Edit: Found a comparison against the top names in the AV business:

 

http://www.eset.com/products/compare.php

 

Check out the speed and footprint graphs!

Edited November 8, 2006 by mkreku

[LadyCrimson]

Interesting link, I'll forward it to hubby, he's always intrigued by new possibles for business.

 

I'd be curious tho, if they used home versions or office/network versions when comparing to their product. They're often quite different things. Ah well, I'm no expert...hubby can research it himself. "

Edited November 8, 2006 by LadyCrimson

[Diamond]

Just something unrelated: whatever antivirus you choose, stay away from top 3 sellers: McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro. Malware authors test their work with the most prevalent antivirus software, that is why hit rate of popular antivirus software with new variations of malware is abysmal. So, as a rule, antivirus quality has little to do with the quality of actual engine.

 

 

Also, mkreku, a chart about NOD32's performance taken from NOD32's website is not really indicative of its quality.

Edited November 8, 2006 by Diamond

[mkreku]

Also, mkreku, a chart about NOD32's performance taken from NOD32's website is not really indicative of its quality.

Correct. If these were charts based on tests conducted by Eset. But they're not. These are charts taken from tests conducted by Virus Bulletin, an independent source. You can of course choose to not believe them either, but I see no reason not to. Eset simply brags about those tests on their page. I would do too, seeing as how well they're doing in them.

[kalimeeri]

I'd rather run several small, light apps than a heavy integrated one any day. Symantec lost me as a longtime loyal customer several years ago because of performance, footprint, and overall intrusiveness in every part of the OS. McAffee went that way several years before. After sorting through various issues with most everything else on the market (AVG included), I'm happy with NOD32. Mostly because it's possible to just forget about it.

[Kaftan Barlast]

I do a virus search using Symantecs free online thingie now and then, if it finds anything I remove it manually. AV programs usually do more harm than good really.

 

 

The only time Ive got a virus or Trojan was out of sheer stupidity a while ago. I had my computer behind two hardware firewalls so I had mine turned off, then I moved it to a network that was unprotected and forgot to turn the firewall back on. Wham! I got so much crap into my system that I had to format C: and reinstall

Edited November 8, 2006 by Kaftan Barlast

[Ummi]

NOD32 is pretty good, i recommend it like mkreku. It's good at protecting your computer, easy to turn off and doesn't hog system resources.

 

I still recommend occasional scans with some online scanners though cause noone's perfect. Recently we discovered an email spammer virus that NOD32 and many other antivirus programs out there were unable to discover. Kaspersky Antivirus found and removed it in the end which is surprising since my other experiences with their software have been less than stellar.

Edited November 8, 2006 by Ummi

[WITHTEETH]

Ill have to look into it too. I have MCaffee Right now and its Sacks! It hogs my resources up, and i can't find a way to completely shut it off.

[metadigital]

I'm using Kaspersky, as it comes bundled with System Mechanic Pro 6.

 

As Kaftan said, AV is not an essential part of your PC as long as you keep it behind a firewall. I'd recommend a hardware firewall (most broadband routers can be bought with a firewall now). Just don't detach any virus-infected mail! ) I went for years without an installed AV.

 

I must say the only problem I have had is when my laptop is docked in the port replicator (which has my monitor, mouse and keyboard and a couple of printers attached). I worked out that turning off the System Guard (when I was an air gap away from the internet, and therefore it was not needed) was the main culprit: it was causing literally everything to clobber everything previously loaded into memory!

 

Sophos is the best AV available, but they don't do home versions.

[LadyCrimson]

Ill have to look into it too. I have MCaffee Right now and its Sacks! It hogs my resources up, and i can't find a way to completely shut it off.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's why hubby doesn't like the home version I guess.

 

And I'm w/meta on the hardware firewall. We have a really good one, although it's starting to age a bit. I haven't used an AV ever. The only problem I've ever had in 12+ years is one of those adware things that takes over your browser. Not that I think I'm 100% safe or immune, of course; stuff happens. But I don't do things that put me at much risk so...