best antivirus? [merged]

WOW,sorry weaker, i don’t mean to insult anybody. (maybe “crippleware” is too rough, i’m so sorry). all i wanna say is, a free software gives all its capability,functions, resources to their users (no priority) unlike a free edition (aladinonl said “carrotware”),i think a free edition is a teaser to encourage us to buy the full/paid version. i really don’t think using a freeware is a greedy behavior, i’m under tight budget here, small company, and i need to reduce the cost to get more profit (i think it’s normal), anyway i admit “crippleware” is very inappropriate, so… again, i’m sorry.
peace & love
(:LOV)
ganda

p.s. and still CAVS is the best ;D

Hmm, very strange. ???
I’m quite positive that I always use the advanced settings when using Avira. Anyway, I’m glad that the feature obviously is present.

Thanks,
LA

@aladinonl: This wasn’t about liking different pieces of software (which is absolutely ok) but about the terms that were used.

@ganda: I didn’t say that using freeware is greedy behaviour. Using freeware is fine. What I wanted to stress is that to always have the latest virus definitions, somebody has to pay the server costs. Avira is giving not only their software for free but they also give the server traffic for free. This is more than just freeware.
I used the word greedy to describe that you expected that the servers for the free version should be treated the same as those for the paid version. I absolutely don’t think that the terms freeware or free software cover that additional service.

I hope what I meant is now clearer.

[ at ] aladinonl: This wasn’t about liking different pieces of software (which is absolutely ok) but about the terms that were used. (SOLVED ===>my bad, i apologize).

“you expected that the servers for the free version should be treated the same as those for the paid version.”===> who didn’t ;D (kidding)

“I hope what I meant is now clearer.”===> very clear.i get it now (sorry again for the misunderstanding).
but this is exactly what i mean.we can’t expect paid version services for a free version product (carrotware;D).
in my opinion, free version is a full/paid version minus some of its functions, like email scanner on avira(cripple?).
but in an absolutely free product, no cut off services/functions, there’s no “free version server” and “paid version server”, it’s just SERVER, no priority level based on free users & paid users. it’s 100% services for 100% users.
anyway, i’m just a fanatic comodo user.
let’s not divert this thread to off topic ;D, (:LOV) love is in the air.so…
.




CAVS is the best AV ;D (V)

Ganda

Yes, we can consider that topic now as finished. I defended AntiVir because I think they do a great job with their free version. When CAVS will have better detection rates than AntiVir I will switch.

Cavs will be a great anti-virus program when all said and done. But they have a long road ahead i say it will happen in the next year or two. Will they be better then the top av’s like antivir who knows. I try cavs about 2 months ago,besides detection improvements. The scanner speed needs improve badly. It’s by far the slowest scanner i have ever used,over 3 hrs scanning that is bad. I will stick with antivir pe classic for now and distant future,and have my trusty comodo firewall also.

So there’s obviously people out there who dare to call Avira Free “Crippleware”…
That somehow makes me sad.

  1. I don’t like the term crippleware, reminds me somewhat of a similar term used by strange people for human beings that have no legs or something because of war or illness (right now listening to Metallica: One)

  2. If there has ever been something like “crippleware” out there (oh, how I hate that term…, no, don’t judge me wrong, still got all my limbs), Avira has to be the best “crippleware” out there.

  3. Maybe the people using the term “crippleware” here are paying Kaspersky or NOD32 customers? who knows? Then it may be allowed to ask the following question: where are the free versions of Kaspersky and NOD32? Ok, at least there was a “crippled” version of Kaspersky out there, given for free to all of us (or let’s better say some of you) by AOL. (WHO EVER WOULD TRUST AOL ever again after all that privacy related news?)

  4. Avira has the best detection rate for known Viruses. Yes, it’s free. Yes the servers are sometimes slower than an ol’ hag. If this, in your opinion, defines “crippleware”, well, just let me know. I am really glad that the free version lacks the firewall of the Avira Premium suite, cause the latter is rather a newbie, and really not good, maybe even ■■■■. But it’s the oldest Antivirus Company and the best. No, not Kaspersky. The origins of Avira are in 1986. The origins of Kaspersky are in 1996.
    Pardon me. I just fell into a burning ring of fire…:slight_smile:

Cheers boys and girls

By the way, thanks to “Weaker”, he said it really well.

1& 2) (:TNG) it seems i’ve made a terrible mistake. once again, i apologize guys. sorry for the “crippleware” term (i think i’ve heard this term from somewhere).

3&4) i’m using COMODO (which is 100% free), i used the term “crippleware” to define a "FREE EDITION"software, coz this kind of software has cutoff functions, (like email scanner on avira free ed, antispyware on AVG free ed), no offense guys.
so once again i’m sorry,i apologize. (let’s use “carrotware” instead ;D )

ganda

I weight what I get relative to the cost. The cost of Avira for me is the ad (equals 0.0 for me buy opinions do vary), the cost of the pay version is really really cheap anyway.

Actually Melih talked about this very enlightedly. He said that he provided free programs in exchange of trust, trust may be intangible but so are copyrights and believe me it’s worth money for a security company. And in the meantime he helps to secure computers worldwide thus reducing the overall problem, what is good for Comodo and for everyone else, everybody wins (except the bad guys of course). So Comodo you alrealy have my trust, if I needed certificates I’d of course consider yours reliable, and if you do as terrific a work as usual with CAVS I might be switching from Avira some day.

:BNC

JUST TO TELL ANYONE HERE… oh sorry the big letters are not nice I know…

The Avira nag screen can be stopped/forbidden by any capable HIPS…(even by old DCS PG)

i think the nag screen exe, if I remember right, was called AVNOTIFY.EXE, when I first blocked it.

No Nags anymore then. Great(est) freeware, but you really should do your updates manually as well, and allow your firewall each time…

As with every great prog out there…

Stay secure.

The REBOL

And…another one… the last one for today.

Avira free supposedly does lack an e-mail scanner (in contrast to the “paid version”). What does that mean for the average user?
Avira will only warn you if you try to open an infected attachement. It will ask you to quarantine the virus, to ignore it or to delete it. Now, that is really, really bad for an AV lacking a free email scanner, isn’t it?

In my opinion, this should be called “Heuristic malware e-mail attachement recognition system” or something like that? You DON’T, and won’t ever need an e-mail scanning AV. Would you really want one? Maybe. I’m not sure what you are into. But it is simply NOT NEEDED. ANYONE (Melih included) agree with me here? (Hope so…)

The second one:

Avira Free lacks Spyware detection…

Is that true? Only in parts. If you set the heuristics of the free version to “HIGH” it will recognize more than you’ll ever want. Combined with COMODO Firewall this would mean: Almost no penetration possible.

Third question: or rather an unsolicited answer:

There ARE programs (even free ones) available out there who don’t allow spyware to either ever be installed or to be executed.

It is NOT, and never has been, the job of an AV to replace an AS.

But maybe this is just my opinion…

AVIRA FREE does not lack anything a FULLY FLEDGED AV SHOULD HAVE.

and it has now better detection than KAV.

WOW, this simply has to be the worst free prog cast on you…

Please don’t use it, because it simply is way too perfect for a freebie.

Cheers.

Avira free supposedly does lack an e-mail scanner (in contrast to the “paid version”). What does that mean for the average user?
Avira will only warn you if you try to open an infected attachement. It will ask you to quarantine the virus, to ignore it or to delete it. Now, that is really, really bad for an AV lacking a free email scanner, isn’t it?

well, for a paranoid average person like me, it’s better if the infected email blocked before it enters my computer.

The second one:

Avira Free lacks Spyware detection…
Is that true? Only in parts. If you set the heuristics of the free version to “HIGH” it will recognize more than you’ll ever want. Combined with COMODO Firewall this would mean: Almost no penetration possible.

heuristic is one thing. but still the cut off antispyware makes it lack of spyware detection.

But maybe this is just my opinion…
AVIRA FREE does not lack anything a FULLY FLEDGED AV SHOULD HAVE.
and it has now better detection than KAV.
WOW, this simply has to be the worst free prog cast on you…
Please don’t use it, because it simply is way too perfect for a freebie.

mmm, i smell a sarcasm here ;D, but nevermind. i don’t specifically point this “cr***ware” term on AVIRA, and like i said, it’s just a terribly bad (yes, i know, i’m sorry, apologize, i ask for forgiveness) term for "free version"software that has cutoff functions.
once again i’m sorry for this ugly term. no hard feeling Rebol. can we just stop it?
love and peace
(:LOV)
Ganda

ps. i’m using SuperAntispyware free ed too.it lacks of realtimescanning & automatic update , then i categorize it as cr***ware too.it’s just a (bad) simplified term, coz “cut off functions free edition software” is way too long, i don’t mean to insult anybody.
.






and to make this off topic post can be accepted here…CAVS is the best AV ;D

“cut off functions free edition software” makes “coffes” as abbreviation. It’s just missing another ‘e’ for “coffees” :smiley:

hey kool, i like it (:CLP)

Well, believe it or not, I somehow feel able to live with those terms… :slight_smile:

At least, better lingual expressions than before…

So, let’s never use the term “crippleware” again, ok? or, if, only relating to progs that, by self definition, deserve to be called like that…

I really think we should take care of what words we are using here… Maybe we are influencing other’s people’s words. Remember that.

Freeware, e-mail-ware, letterware, crapware, shareware, careware, payware, etc… etc… well, isn’t it enough now?

Either a prog is given free for all people out there (and therefore deserves to be called freeware) or it is some demoware (i.e. 30 days or so to evaluate it and then either buy or kill it…) or it maybe is pure payware… (i.e. some proggie with no option to try before buy, so why not call it “cat-inside-the-sack-ware?”…

Of course there are companies out there who offer (and I’m glad that they do so) versions of their PAYWARE progs who lack something, but nothing essential… I would call Avira Free such a thing. Offering the best possible detection rate, but lacking a reliable spyware detection. Same with SpywareTerminator. Offering fine AS shield, but lacking a reliable AV detection. Now, come on, you won’t tell me that ClamAV or ClamWin are reliable AVs? With 156.000 Virus detections at the mom or so, compared to emsisoft a squared (keeping a database of about 895.251 malware definitions at the moment, and now having surpassed former ewido/now AVG by means of detection rate, whilst both are not really antivirus proggies…), I really think Clam is rather an experiment than a kind of true shield. Someone correct me please, if I’m wrong here.

But, what I really tried to say is, that, even if SpywareTerminator lacks a fine AV, and even if SAS lacks any real time shield, compared to the former, no one ever would try to bash on both of them. Bashing Avira, at least to me, means bashing the best free possibility of having a reliable AV shield.

Does that make sense?

LOUD & CLEAR. i assume we’re cool now ;D.thx

Ganda

Independent of which AV is the best, I found a solution today which I like and I’ll use until CAVS 3 arrives: on demand scanning only! I installed Avira Personal Edition, but without real time protection. This way I save resources and I can scan once in a while to see if anything has sneaked in, or if a certain suspicious file contains malware.

LA

Freeware, e-mail-ware, letterware, crapware, shareware, careware, payware, etc.... etc... well, isn't it enough now?
i like some funky names like "honeyware","carrotware","begware" or "lameware".. hey just joking :)
I really think Clam is rather an experiment than a kind of true shield.
no no, ClamAV is a true AV for email server and Linux machine.

So besides a firewall, u definitely need a HIPS to stay safe. R u usin CPF3, LA? dun tell me u r stil w 2.4 and get rid of ur real-time AV shield.

I’m using 2.4, though I tried the newest 3.0 beta today. Uninstalled, because the Defense+ didn’t work well on my system.

I don’t consider my choice as silly (or likewise) because I’m extremely careful. Hardly visit any websites except for my well known bookmarks (which I do with Firefox w. NoScript - sorry Soya, I’ve given up Opera now, because of paranoia). Never use cracks, warez or stuff like that. Also, I hardly receive unknown files.

If any malware by any chance would enter my system, it would not be able to access the internet because CPF 2.4 blocks it. The other kind of threat would be a complete destruction of my system, but that’s no big deal because I make double backups, as soon as I’ve changed any file on my system.

For several weeks now, I’ve used only CPF and BOClean. BOClean has not caught anything. Today, when I installed Avira for scanning - not monitoring - I made a complete scan and nothing was found.

I’m not into any virtualization, the setup I’m describing is for my one and only machine, which I use for everyday production. The risk of a hard disk crash, and losing all my stuff, would probably be bigger than getting any malware. But again, with those backups, I’m safe.

Still, this is probably not a setup I will continue to use forever. I’m still paranoid, thus I’ll be glad when CAVS 3 arrives, as well as CPF 3. At the moment though, I don’t like CPF 3 because I’ve never got along with its HIPS. Especially not the latest beta, which didn’t remember my rules.

/LA

I've given up Opera now, because of paranoia
Seems nice, you say almost that you want to be paranoia ;)

When it comes to antivirus I rather believe in on-demand scanning than on-acces becouse all virusses still get tested by the makers on the now know database :slight_smile: so mostly it’s quite useless.

So just keep your hands of the warez, cracks, patches, etc. and the chance something comes in is pretty low :). Unless someone really tries to hit you ;D.

Xan

P.S. I don’t really get the point of firefox, it’s slower than opera and less secure ??? ? so why use it ?