What anti-virus program do you use?

[Drake498]

Originally Posted by RMJ

I still suggest you to backup everything important... because someday you are gonna cry hard...

I agree man, back it up, its usually good to play safe... (especially with computers ) and if you don't RMJ is right, youre gonna take an ass-whoopin from something sooner or later...

[marik]

mine is Norton,Spybot search and destroy,Ad aware SE personal,Registry Mechanic,and Startup Mechanic thats all

[espire]

Originally Posted by RMJ

Windows of course gets more since it's more used. Altho, nowadays virii are very rare anyways. It's more about worms nowadays. And they are crappy ones too... full of bugs... where ever went decent virii.

But anyways, point was that you can wake up anyday to reality that your OSX has hanged itself and all your Lili stuff is gone.

Though it's true that anything could happen, even on OS X, the reason it gets viruses is not because of it's lack of popularity. OS X is built on Unix, just like Linux is, and all three of these are simply built in a way that security is much tougher. I'll explain:

The Kernel of an OS is the process that really does the low-level stuff. It talks with things like the graphics driver, GUI, and all the hardware. To take over an OS, you have to take over the kernel.

There are two main kernel types: Microkernels, and monolithic kernels. A monolithic kernel is one huge single entity that is in charge of all this. Though a monolithic kernel is easier to maintain and improve because it is all one and together, it also has a big problem with security. See, if a virus manages to exploit a security bug in the graphics engine (say, DirectX), it can metaphorically walk right over to the hard disk controller and tell it to wipe everything, or do something of equivalent evil.

A microkernel is worse than a monolithic kernel in that it is harder to maintain. It is made of many separate parts, and all of them must be worked with together, ensuring that each part will seamlessly communicate with the other parts. This hard work brings the benefit of performance, as each part of the kernel is very small, but it mainly gives security. If, again, a virus got control of the graphics engine (say, OpenGL), it would not have control over the other kernel modules, such as the hard disk controller. It would have to get past metaphorical checkpoints along the way, and though the virus was able to exploit OpenGL, it would not be able to exploit a security hole in every single process or module which it requires to do its mischief.

You probably guessed that Linux/Unix/OS X use a microkernel, while Windows uses a monolithic one. If so, you're right. It's unfortunate that a monolithic kernel is so hard to keep secure, but that's just the way things are. Until Microsoft makes a complete rewrite of its operating system (Like Apple did in ~2001), it will be plagued with security issues that the other operating systems avoid.

[Sir Wood]

Originally Posted by FLAlizeeFan

Avast Home Edition. It's free and works great. Everyone I told about it who tried it love it. Check it out...

http://www.avast.com/

I don't like how you have to register. But it's a good alternative.

Originally Posted by Luc

I use AVG Anti-Virus, the free version. I'm satisfied with it.

Ditto. I've used it for a couple of years and have had no problems. I previously used McAfee and then Norton, but they do seem to slow the PC. I have Comcast broadband and they offer free McAfee for customers but I'll stick with AVG.

Originally Posted by RMJ

Still, there can be virus any day for either platform, as well as for linux or any other OS. Windows of course gets more since it's more used.

I agree. If you were to write a virus or worm, you most likely go for the platform that will give you bigger target (user base). As I recall from an article, every platform is vulnerable because of the human component.

[neoteny]

AVG all the way baby. and i also use "spybot search and destroy". you wont believe how many cookies youd fine. and zone alarm. oh and ad-ware SE. i think thats all of 'em.

[riva2model64]

Originally Posted by Jess

I'm whith you guys (Mac)..... . I have never had a need for antivirus since my first Mac, 7-8 years ago......... As far as backing-up, thats a good advise, you never know what else could happen (hurricane, earthquake, etc,.).

I'm sure if evry'one switched to Mac, it would get the attention of them virus-makers?

RMJ is right though, if you use your brains you should be able to avoid viruses and stuff on Windows. Still, Windows is far more vulnerable to viruses, esp. if you download a lot using P2P stuff. And RMJ's made another good point, the viruses that get you are probably the new ones that get to your system before you can update your anti-viral solution.

Still, is good to have anti-virus. I use AVG because it's free and fast.

[painbringer]

Originally Posted by neoteny

AVG all the way baby. and i also use "spybot search and destroy". you wont believe how many cookies youd fine. and zone alarm. oh and ad-ware SE. i think thats all of 'em.

so you tech guys like AVG... i read on PC World site that its not so good? that the only reason i switched over to the free AOL anti-virus but its slow as molasses. the other stuff that u use they all free??

[kdn]

1 vote for Kaspersky AV. Fast and effective.

Although I don't use any kind of anti-virus or firewall currently.

[Uméesha]

Originally Posted by kdn

1 vote for Kaspersky AV. Fast and effective.

Although I don't use any kind of anti-virus or firewall currently.

KDN virus will be there hiding behind the files.... you dont know and kaspersky also unable to find and destroy.... some sort of files might be captured and hoisted the flag as virus but that software kaspersky detects only some sort of virus not all.... i believe it! any how you are satisfied with it!

[aditya8617]

Originally Posted by marik

mine is Norton,Spybot search and destroy,Ad aware SE personal,Registry Mechanic,and Startup Mechanic thats all

your pc must be really slow!