I have always used the free security you can download onto your computer but sometimes some nasty virus gets in and i am now fed up with it. So today i bought Kaspersky internet security 2012 which should make it a lot safer and especially that i do banking over the internet as well.

Does anyone one else use Kaspersky software.

No, i use the built in hardware firewall on my router, Windows 7 Firewall and Microsoft Security essentials.

All free and I have 5 windows clients, imac, macbook and 2 phones connected, all virus/spyware/malware free......The macs and phones have no AV software, just rely on the firewall.

Kaspersky does get good reviews and is one of the better paid AV's but you simply don't need to pay for AV anymore.

been using Kaspersky for about 5 years now, not really had any issues with it, doesn't use as much system resources as some others.

been using Kaspersky for about 5 years now, not really had any issues with it, doesn't use as much system resources as some others.

It didn't, but I don't agree any more.

The later 2010 and 2011 versions made a netbook unusable, even though it was fine after with just a remove and install MSE in it's place.

I use Kaspersky have for about 5 years, I have had free for the last 3 years though as if you use Barclays internet banking you get free for 3 computers ( great as my 2 daughters at uni use my anti virus)

I purchased (in 2010), 4 copies of the 2009 Internet Security version (3 users - 1 year) from The Works at a rather good price as they were essentially a year out of date.

Not a problem for me knowing that the licence always updates to whatever the current version is.

MSE is superb for the money

After having problems with my netbook, many members on here suggested I transfer to MSE.

This I have now done and have not had any issues.

Have used Kaspersky in the past together with Avast.

I use Kaspersky have for about 5 years, I have had free for the last 3 years though as if you use Barclays internet banking you get free for 3 computers ( great as my 2 daughters at uni use my anti virus)

Same here I bank with Barclays now and have installed on 2 of my devices not bad for free

sooooo should he buy Kaspersky, or switch banks?

I have installed it and run a full scan which no threats came up. It is easy to use which is great as i am computer daft. So far so good.

I used to have Zone alarm, which had Kaspersky built into it but I found it made everything incredibly slow, so changed to Trend Micro 3 years ago and haven't looked back.

I have Zone Alarm & Avast, both free no issues for the year I've had them. Was running Bit Defender.. Soooo slow!

I use Microsoft Security Essentials, even cost aside I find it's light on system resources and has a simple interface to tell you what it thinks needing doing without nagging you. It's difficult to test their ability to capture malware but I support the commercial version at work where it generally does a good job, not much malware gets past it (considerably less than the previous major AV product) and when it does, MS are usually quick with updates to stop the malware.

John

Zone alarm firewall kills my works machine.

MSE is better than nothing, but personally I find free security apps often have flaws. Already used my spare Norton licence to clean a virus from a machine running MSE. MSE saw nothing at all. Dont even go there with the friends machines infected that had AVG free on.

If you do anything sensitive like online banking, then personally I would only trust a machine with a paid app from a main vendor like Norton, Mcfee, Trend, Kaspersky etc.

I've never found an AV product that is 100% reliable having supported most of them on a large scale, I've seen each and every one of them miss malware including Norton and Mcafee, also had to repair the damage from both of them when there's been no malware and they've screwed the machine up which is something I've not yet seen the MS clients do. I wouldn't count the fact MSE is free against it simply because the virus detection, updates and scanning system is the same as the paid one.

John

Zone alarm firewall kills my works machine.

MSE is better than nothing, but personally I find free security apps often have flaws. Already used my spare Norton licence to clean a virus from a machine running MSE. MSE saw nothing at all. Dont even go there with the friends machines infected that had AVG free on.

If you do anything sensitive like online banking, then personally I would only trust a machine with a paid app from a main vendor like Norton, Mcfee, Trend, Kaspersky etc.

On the contrary, I've had MSE pick up stuff that both Norton, and the Trend Micro House Call failed to pick up.

Norton is bloatware; as is McAfee and sadly these days, AVG.

Firewall is taken care of by my router.

Anti-Virus: Avast

Anti-Malware: Malware Bytes.

Rock and Roll, no issues for the last 5 years.

Norton is bloatware; as is McAfee and sadly these days, AVG.

Norton has never been anything else. Sadly AVG's stated aim was to be "more like Norton". hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :| :|

Yeah :(

I was a paid-for user of AVG the past 3 years, and it's just got bigger, and bigger, and taken up more resources. It's also fond of pop-ups.

MSE now just sits there, scans in the background with no noticeable performance loss, and only bugs me when it's found something!

I have always used the free security you can download onto your computer but sometimes some nasty virus gets in and i am now fed up with it. So today i bought Kaspersky internet security 2012 which should make it a lot safer and especially that i do banking over the internet as well.

Does anyone one else use Kaspersky software.

I install Kaspersky on computers that others bring to me with virus problems, and have done so for many years. I used it for around 5 years on my own machines that had Windows on too a few years back. I don't use it now on my machines as I use Linux throughout my own network at home and we use Linux at work too so Kaspersky just won't work on it and it's not needed anyway.

The problem I've continually found with 'FREE' AV, is that it will mostly detect malware, but often it won't remove it without doing major damage to the system. This makes a hell of a lot of work. Kaspersky (and other good paid for av) will normally remove the offending files without doing major damage or indeed doing any damage at all. I think that's the main difference between to paid and free stuff. But yes, kaspersky is brilliant and proven to be one of the very best by all the mags. Better still, install Linux and be done with security threats and don't pay for good software ever again.

I install Kaspersky on computers that others bring to me with virus problems, and have done so for many years. I used it for around 5 years on my own machines that had Windows on too a few years back. I don't use it now on my machines as I use Linux throughout my own network at home and we use Linux at work too so Kaspersky just won't work on it and it's not needed anyway.

The problem I've continually found with 'FREE' AV, is that it will mostly detect malware, but often it won't remove it without doing major damage to the system. This makes a hell of a lot of work. Kaspersky (and other good paid for av) will normally remove the offending files without doing major damage or indeed doing any damage at all. I think that's the main difference between to paid and free stuff. But yes, kaspersky is brilliant and proven to be one of the very best by all the mags. Better still, install Linux and be done with security threats and don't pay for good software ever again.

Yes. Just Mac's, Linux PC's are completely immune to security threats...

Nothing is 100% and you can't run more than one on a single machine. At work we have have layers of AV each using different AV engines but that's with enterprise budgets.

Pick an AV in a colour you like because that's about as good a way of picking one as anything else. You can't even trust magazine reviews now since many of the AV producers are major advertisers in the same mags.

Me I used Panda Cloud Av on an older box because it was super lightweight. Previously I've used AVG, Avast and Comodo, all ok but all with issues.

On my new lappy I'm using the free McAfee but normally I hate that because it's so lardy, machine seems powerful enough to cope.

I don't have any software firewalls on the machines other than the built in Win7. I use the hardware firewall on the router.

Tips not to get viruses.....

1) Don't download shiote. Nothing is really free

2) Scan things you download before you open them

3) Don't download anything that come in an email with a password. There is no point in sending a locked attachment in the same email as the password other than to evade the AV

4) Don't use Outlook, use webmail. Webmail providers have more money for better AV than you can afford. Plus when you open it, it opens on THEIR machines not yours

5) Don't plug in USB sticks you find in the street unless you know what you're doing (and have auto play turned off). Especially at work. Probably someone like me has paid someone else to seed the car park with dodgy sticks to test the staff.

Better still, install Linux and be done with security threats and don't pay for good software ever again.

........when (if) Linux ever catches up with the breadth of software that is available for Windows, that statement will be true. Sadly, Linux-based PCs won't allow me to play Portal2* on them.

At the moment Linux is like the electric car: it has a lot of potential, just not very practical..........yet.

*other games are available.

2) Scan things you download before you open them

Any half-decent AV software is scanning as you process files, so this is already covered.......prevention being better than cure. All AV should be pro-active, not re-active.

3) Don't download anything that come in an email with a password. There is no point in sending a locked attachment in the same email as the password other than to evade the AV

File security would be one reason. People feel secure if there's a password on the file, especially if that data is sensative.

Don't open mail from unknown sources or that lack the personal touch. I always start e-mails with a greeting and sign-off with my name. Any attachments are explained, not just "here's the info you wanted" as the body of the mail.

4) Don't use Outlook, use webmail. Webmail providers have more money for better AV than you can afford. Plus when you open it, it opens on THEIR machines not yours

Outlook provides more than just mail, especially in a corporate environment. Any half decent AV software will Outlook integration by default (inc the free ones). If you're in a corporate environment and using Exchange, you should be scanning on the server-side to start with, so the mail will have been checked on arrival at Exchange, not at the desktop.

When you open an attachment using webmail, you are opening it on your machine, not theirs. Webmail is not RDP-based, so attachment processing is at the client-end. If you receive a Word file and you don't have Word on your machine, it won't open. Webmail providers may have more money, but they won't be spending it on licenses to run software because you haven't got it.

Anything that requires a special "viewer", ditch it. If someone wants to show you some naked pictures of Anna Kournikova, then they'll use JPG, not some obscure format. No "format" will look better on your screen than any other.

When it comes to viruses, the internet is like STIs. If you want to guarantee you won't get infected, don't do it, else all you can do is take precautions.

Edited 11 June, 201214 yr by RainbowFore

Talking 'bout home not enterprise.

And no one sensible sends a password protected file in the same email as the password itself.

If you've got a sensitive file forget passwords unless its acting and an encryption key. Passwords by themselves don't do jack.

Most webmail will scan attachments before allowing you to download and you're avoiding something like outlook with autodisplay firing up the virus before you get a chance to delete it.