The Best AntiVirus For a gamer and workstation

[HURRIC4NE]

Hi

i play a lot of games, edit stuff in illustrator and photoshop, and make websites and what not

what is the best antivirus for my system to use? i dont like checking up on the antivirus often and i dont like it hogging my system resources whatsoever

also i dont like it alerting me 24/7, i want it to be silent in the background making sure i dont get malware and other type of bs.

 

[wheels]

Microsoft security essentials

 

[Berryracer]

Best paid Antivirus = Bitdefenter Antivirus 2012 or Bitdefender Internet Security 2012, it is very light yet has the best detection rates

Best Free Antivirus = Avast! Free Antivirus 7

Forget about that crappy Microsoft Security Essentials, that's not even a real antivirus and according to tests i've made, it has missed many viruses

 

[dguy6789]

Microsoft security essentials

This. No reason what so ever to use anything else on any Windows machine no matter what you use the machine for.

 

[KeithP]

You could download VirtualBox and Ubuntu Linux (both free) and do all your web surfing and email in a virtual machine. In that scenario, you wouldn't need any AV software.

Barring that, I would go with Microsoft Security Essentials. Also, check out Mechbgon's page on Windows security:
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/security2.html

-KeithP

 

[Sephire]

Norton AV. It saved my system a lot of times.

 

[sandorski]

Never had a problem with Avast. Just turn off Notifications.

 

[thewhat]

I've read that some popups in Avast can't be turned off, though. That once in a while you might get an ad for the payware version.

 

[sandorski]

I've read that some popups in Avast can't be turned off, though. That once in a while you might get an ad for the payware version.

I have them off on the Free version.

 

[lxskllr]

FWIW, I just switched my mother to MSE from Avira. I don't feel too good about it, but she was complaining about the popups. There was a little one that was causing her issues, not the main big one, though I've gotten questions about that too. It's amazing. She loses all ability to read, and regresses to the the problem solving ability of a two year old as soon as she gets on the computer. I'd switch her to some kind of GNU/Linux, but I don't want to screw up a system that's kind of working. I've been real tempted though. She's an ideal candidate. Maybe I'll get motivated, and do some test runs to see if I can get it close enough to Vista, and get everything working on her laptop.

 

[NeoV]

MSE is by far the best free AV - in fact it's better than most pay-for-it AV software.

Matrix-Leader - you couldn't be more incorrect about this software - it may have MS' name on it, but it's some of the best software they have put out

 

[Albatross]

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_fd_mar2012_intl_en.pdf
They used MSE version 2,the latest is 4 so maybe now it has fewer misses.

 

[Cerb]

I've read that some popups in Avast can't be turned off, though. That once in a while you might get an ad for the payware version.

Only when your subscription is near expiring. Renew it, and they go away for another year.

 

[MustISO]

MSE is by far the best free AV - in fact it's better than most pay-for-it AV software.

Not if you go by actual testing done by third party labs.

From PCMag:

Mediocre Malware Cleanup
On the malware-infested systems where Microsoft Security Essentials installed and ran correctly, a full scan took hours. Scanning my standard clean test system took 72 minutes, about twice the average. And despite these lengthy scans, the cleanup wasn't very thorough.

Microsoft Security Essentials detected 63 percent of the threats, lower than any product tested with the current or previous set of malware samples. It left behind executable files for more than half of those it did detect, and several of them were still running after their alleged removal. Its overall score of 4.3 points for malware cleanup is the lowest of any current product.

40 percent detection of rootkit samples is also a new low. However, Microsoft thoroughly cleaned up all the rootkits it did find, scoring 4.0 points. Quite a few products tested with the previous malware collection scored lower, despite higher detection rates. Even so, I wouldn't rely on Microsoft to clean up a malware-infested system.

 

[NeoV]

that's an interesting test...looks like it scored very well in keeping a clean system that way, but not so much on systems that are already infected.

 

[NeoV]

"This free product scored better than the commercial competition in PCMag's hands-on antivirus tests, and it also gets high marks from the independent labs. It now integrates with other AVG products and includes useful bonus features. AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 is PCMag's new Editors' Choice for free antivirus"

Well there you go.

 

[carling220]

I use the Comodo suite. Whether it's any good i'm not sure. Anyone else use this? Doesn't slow my system down but it's packed full of stuff, not all useful i'm sure.

 

[Continuity28]

There is no "best", as they all have strengths and weaknesses, and detect/remove different sets of malware. It changes every update.

I use AVG currently.

 

[gmaster456]

I use MSE. I've used AVG, Avira and Avast and got tired with all of them. MSE is great. Just set it up and forget about it. No annoying pop ups or ads. And no subscriptions to renew.

 

[plion]

kaspersky's no good anymore? I tried the trial version I liked how it had a gamer mode and would auto disable when running a 3d app full screen

 

[NeoV]

Kaspersky is still very good, but it's not free

 

[Berryracer]

What I love about my new Bitdefender Internet Security is that when I launch any full screen app, be it a movie or a game, it automatically switches to Gamer Mode which has no notifications and enables you to play games or watch movies without any interruptions.

Furthermore, Bitdefender Internet Security 2013 has been improved so it is still one of the best Antivirus apps and has excelletion detection rates according to online tests i've seen, yet is still light on the system!

Worth every penny IMO

I have had many false positives from MSE and many times when it found viruses on my small sister's computer, when I click remove/delete, it says there were removed yet after 2 mins, it tells me again that it found viruses and those same viruses pop up again. They are simply tools to extract the Windows/Office product key so they are not really a virus yet it fails to even delete /eliminate such things

 

[FalseChristian]

Microshaft Insecurity Essentials is good enough for the PC user who doesn't have any enemies. AVG is free and regularly updates itself.

 

[HardWarrior]

Kaspersky is still very good, but it's not free

They've become a major player in the industry too. I've used KIS for about 6-years, and it's been a great product.

 

[KeithP]

Kaspersky is still very good, but it's not free

Check Frys.com from time to time although their site seems to be down at the moment. They seems to have various Kaspersky products on sale for free after rebate(s) on a regular basis. I just picked up KIS 2012 (3 user) for free a couple of weeks ago. Never had a problem with their rebates.

-KeithP