59 replies to this topic

[encryption]

Many people will tell you what anti virus is the best without having any knowledge of signature, heuristics or sand box , anti-malware cloaking techniques etc...  In my opinion , unless you have a working knowledge of bypassing A/V scanners and fire walls your knowledge would be severely limited . My point being , just because you blindly run "avg" or "norton" and keep your fingers crossed does not mean that you have a valid opinion in the matter . Getting past any AV can be done by testing your code on a online multi engine virus scanner , (the trick is using a scanner that does not save results so that your code is not in the database (click "do not distribute sample"), In other words I keep trying until the stub is undetected by the multi engine scanner,  If your code is picked up , you can change the stub until it is undetected . You can change the file entry point , (Entry point  contains the first instructions for the executable) you change the routine and trick the A/V) (you can use a disassembler to find and change your entry point) . Encrypted strings , splitters , there are all kinds of ways to trick a A/V , any one that is half ass at hex editing and or programming (building a crypter in C# , VB.NET , Delphi , Visual basic etc...)  can trick a virus scanner . Avast can be bypassed by hexing I know for a fact , not to mention privilege escalation and local kernel buffer overflow vulnerability exploits . AVG has to be the worst A/V period , (you can bypass with encryption) You stop AVG from updating signatures by adding your own entries in the host file and and the victim has no idea that there machine is infected . In other words , if you are using AVG , Im sitting around stealing your data (passwords , bank info etc... ) and you have no clue . Dont even get me started with the virus known as Norton or Mcafee .

You should acquire a machine for the sole purpose of testing scanners (or use a virtual machine), any piece of crap tower that you dont care about . Install whatever anti-virus scanner you are interested in on the machine . Learn how to send payload and you can actually see first hand what A/V scanners/firewall have the best protection .
In my experience Eset and kaspersky are the best on the market , except kaspersky will even slow down a quad core with 6 gigs of ram it runs so heavy .
As far as free anti-virus goes , Comodo's firewall and proactive security is the best thing out there , period .

[Enzone26]

for me it's

Avira Direct Download

simply the best.

[xs1]

as i said back in 2008 , i use avg free. Have forever and still do.   Hasn't failed me yet.

[mudmanc4]

Only reason it hasn't failed you yet , is either it has , and you don't know it yet, or you don't download everything you se just because it says it is for you , just my opinion.

Iv'e seen crap get through everything that someone claims is the best, over and again.

So imo you can easily go without an antivirus, makes no sense unless you have a virus anyhow. You only use it to remove something thats already there . And anymore , the better part of malicious code is so embedded in the system registry , not to mention self replicating , or to copy itself. Let alone he fact most people have either system restore or a ghosting program running where the bad code is stored intentionally to come back for a haunt later.

So it's nearly only way to truly be sure the infection is gone , is to wipe the drive when the system starts puking error messages or worse.

[EBrown]

I use Microsoft Security Essentials for the most part. It's actually one of the few decent AntiVirus' left. It catches almost everything I have seen.

Thanks,
EBrown

[tommie gorman]

Switched to Avast free from AVG Free a few years back, and have not been disappointed since. And now it even has a sexy girls voice for prompts.    

[Enzone26]

here are some anti-virus available and free to download it's free edition.

A V G free edition

Bit defender free edition

Cloud anti virus (free edition)

COMODO

AVAST

AVIRA


but for me avira is the best!

[mudmanc4]

I don't use any of them on my windows boxes. No need. Filter ports and IP access , go through level 3 email filtering and your golden.

[tommie gorman]

Nice list there Enzone26 . Good job.  

[Blako]

Spyware Doctor Starter Edition = Permanently free antivirus (and weblink checker)
MalwareBytes AntiMalware = Great free program
Microsoft Security Essentials = free for users of XP,Vista, and Win7
HijackThis = free and reports running programs, and registry edits. Tells you what is going on but not if its good or bad.
Comodo Internet Security = Very powerful application control, very professional firewall, can be very annoying on "paranoid" mode where everything is checked with the user first. (useful if you know your infected with something already)

[Enzone26]

i used avira free version

avira updated

[mudmanc4]

If you look into clamwin you'll notice these are the same people that work on snort

[mytestsfailed]

Well its too bad you don't like AVG cause now you'll have to settle for what is the second best free Anti Virus today. Namely AVAST.

[tommie gorman]

I disagree, AVG messed up too many times for me. Only once did AVAST fail me in the last few years.

[mudmanc4]

mytestsfailed, on 23 November 2011 - 05:43 AM, said:

Well its too bad you don't like AVG cause now you'll have to settle for what is the second best free Anti Virus today. Namely AVAST.

tommie gorman, on 26 November 2011 - 09:10 AM, said:

I disagree, AVG messed up too many times for me. Only once did AVAST fail me in the last few years.

If you trace who writes the "fixes" for the destructive code , you'll find that none of the above actually have nearly as much clout in the industry as the people of  clamAV  , the same people write for clamXAV , clamWin , and the most impressive part of this , is they also work predominantly within snort . If your not sure what snort is , really it might be the engine that helps most in resolving who and where the virus's come from as well as searching them out , storing databases and looking for patterns in release , snort is used by most is not all governmental ( not just the US ) locations that need the highest forms of security. As well of course as many other objectives.

[ericz]

Using WinXP SP3 32bit - most browsing with Firefox, having NoScript installed. I have Avast installed. It seems okay, but how can I judge really?? It has given one consistent false positive, which I whitelisted. I had used MSSE - Microsoft's [currently] free "Security Essentials." But I decided if any malware author were to aim to circumvent or spoof an antivirus MSSE has gained big Win market share so it would be the main target, just as MS Win systems are. So I switched. For those not wanting a realtime monitor, Malwarebytes, when downloaded, will put a context menu option to check a file, directory, etc. with it, making the process easy. It is slow to launch, but consumes no steady realtime bandwidth. As to Virus Total, the Spybot people have a "FileAlyzer 2" utility, free, where you can poke around looking at a file, etc., AND an integrated link to using Virus Total - to send out the file. It makes sense to me to launch that utility, and if desired use Virus Total that way. There is Clamwin, open source, free, and scan on demand as Malwarebytes. I sometimes use different free online scan services, varying which to use when, in case some malware exists that some detect while others miss it. The advice to access only trusted sites is sound, but I don't do as I preach that way, and I guess others don't either. I find it interesting the words "Symantic" and "McAfee" are absent in the thread.

[CA3LE]

ericz, on 28 November 2011 - 06:30 AM, said:

I find it interesting the words "Symantic" and "McAfee" are absent in the thread.

That's because there are qualifying words in the title, like "best" and "free"...  

Welcome to the site by the way...

[milahenner]

I am using Norton anti virus for more than 3 years its the best antni virus software. And also it protect from harmful websites which we browse.

[lessidor]

I like Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) as it has caught viruses that Avast could not. I did a full scan with Avast on a laptop. Had some problems that seemed to indicate a virus present. Installed MSE, ran a full scan, there was the viruses that Avast did not see. Avast needs a lot of room to operate as does AVG. MSE is sleeker. Once in a while I use Trend Micro's House Call to double check.

[Roco]

the best is the one that works for you , IMHO ,

I use Avast free , coz I like the sexy female voice , but AVG also worked fine for me ,
but none of them are 100%, it takes time to update against the latest threat ,
I rely on knowing whats running on my box and a check with Hijackthis .de from time to time,
and the monthly back up ,
mind you I haven't had a problem for 8 years ,maybe I don't surf on the wild side ? ,
I don't see virii as the big threat , more likley key loggers these days ,
BTW, I still use a combo of  keyboard and on screen mouse keyboard for bank details ,

P.s anyone using Glary ut's , works great for me ,   http://majorgeeks.co...ties_d5870.html
??? but then WTF do I know ,I was still getting teenage spots at 40 yo ,