Corporate AV software

[Exterous]

The new place I am working currently has Kaspersky but our contract is up soon. I have not been very happy with their management console and installation method is much clunkier than I am used to.

My last company used Trend Micro and I am leaning towards them as the install was very easy (I was there during the switch from another AV) and the console made it very easy to see who was infected. I think I have done more AV management in the month I have been at my new job than in a year at my last

I wanted to see if anyone had any other recommendations. I was going to look at Sophos as well and maybe Symmantec

Any thoughts on those or other solutions?

 

[darkamulets]

I inherited a Vipre system here, management console is quick and easy to use once you setup the profile. I believe you can do deployment through AD but I've never used it to much. We use them for our servers, mail server & 70~ users. They can update from definitions on the main machine or update to the main vipre servers when on the road. Only gripe I have is a known bug that will occasionally cause memory usage to spike to 100% on the mail server for a few moments, but they're aware of it and working on it.

 

[Exterous]

Interesting I have not heard of them before

 

[Emulex]

SEP 12 SMB is great for small compares 0-250. highly recommended. host-based IPS is great with modern systems. Same software runs on your servers as well. Nice central configuration management server to keep track on those who aren't updating.

Management and overall userbase make a product good. I'd say microsoft but i can't say i recommend their management software. SEP 12 SMB is alot lighter on system requirements - i generally put the SEPM server along with print server and some very light file sharing in a VM - works great. SEP 11 was a nightmare for management server. Now is a good time since 12 just came out - you will be on 12 for the next 2-3 years.

Deployment and upgrades are super easy with SEPM - you just assign a new package to the group and tell it to do an interactive update and they reboot (i make everyone reboot nightly to keep the microsoft monsters at bay) so it all works out good.

very happy with the product. Of course you should always consider other products like SECUNIA OSI, Malwarebytes,spybot - to go with antivirus. Don't expect any one product to keep it clean.

You should consider an IPS for perimeter security as they tend to block out alot of bleeding edge security issues.

Sophos is okay (great pricing) but has no email and it is very windows centric. maybe they've added other products but mac/linux was not part of the sophos family before and is standard now last time i checked on SEP.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Mcaffee is ok but not my favorite. The management is confusing. But I have to admit, it works. The best one I've ever used was ESET NOD32. We deployed it for a school board and it went pretty smooth.

 

[NeoV]

stay away from McAffee - as far away as possible

Kaspersky is actually very good, surprised you didn't like that.

 

[corkyg]

Sounds like Vipre Enterprise is worth a look. It is pretty good. Been using it for alomst three years now. And, MS Security Essentials is good when you combine it with Malwarebytes.

 

[Lifted]

Haven't used McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator in a while, but what I do remember of it, I'd say it's a bit cumbersome and has too steep a learning curve for a small shop to bother with. NOD32 has been working well for me, from both an endpoint and management side. There was an issue with one of their signatures a year or so ago, but that even happens to the big boys. Nothing bad since, so I assume they've tweaked their QA process in that regard.

 

[Exterous]

Kaspersky is actually very good, surprised you didn't like that.

We have random issues with laptops updating automatically. I don't know if its because they are off the network occasionally or what but every couple of days I have to go in there, snag about 5-6 laptops (as far as I can tell its random - the only thing being in common is that they were taken home at the end of the night) and force update them. I had Kaspersky look at it but they couldn't figure out why.

I also have issues getting it to see new computers to deploy to - even when I specify the IP address. I had a new replacement computer that I deployed with the same computer name as the old one (after deleting the old one from AD and following Kaspersky's instructions for deleting a computer 3 separate times) When I tried to load Kaspersky on the desktop Kaspersky insisted it had the old IP address even though the workstation was at a new location, nothing was at the old location and everything else was happy with its new IP address. I eventually gave up trying to get Kasperky to see the new address and moved the system to the old location to install. After that I could move it anywhere I wanted and Kaspersky updated the IP address properly

For all I know it could be a setup issue but if Kaspersky can't figure it out...*shrug*

 

[Exterous]

Thanks for the recommendations guys!

 

[blure007]

Mcaffee is ok but not my favorite. The management is confusing. But I have to admit, it works. The best one I've ever used was ESET NOD32. We deployed it for a school board and it went pretty smooth.

I second ESET NOD32. We've used McAfee for 2 years, Kaspersky for 3 years and now ESET for a little over a year now and couldn't been happier.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Symantec is decent, but i have version 11 so i'm not sure how the new one is just yet.
I am considering switching to Forefront when the 2012 version comes out.

I've also had some experience with sophos but i can't recommend it because it has had trouble removing viruses and malware in the past that other programs have no problems with!

 

[classy]

I like Symantec the best. It is very mature, good administration, and pretty effective. Eset, is decent, but it didn't seem to work as well. Easier on resources though. I use Symantec now at work.

 

[classy]

Here is a pretty good site that may help you make the best decision for your company.

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

 

[GeekDrew]

I used CA's eTrust for years. If you switch to that, you're completely off your rockers. I switched to Kaspersky this past spring, and it has been absolutely AWESOME compared to eTrust. Perfect, no. But so much better it's unbelievable.

 

[AFurryReptile]

Trend Micro is pretty good. My company uses it exclusively for all of our clients, and we've had very few problems, if any.

The centralized management console (a web interface) is super easy to use, and comes pre-configured out of the box. Deployment to clients is quick and easy, and it does a good job with malware in particular.

I've used Vipre, Symantec, and McAffe, and would recommend none of them.