Hi, I play some MMOs and some PC games in general and wish to know what are the best (more complete/more friendly/less resource demanding) antivirus to use, as I might buy a new desktop pc (not specially powerful 4gb of ram and AMD).

Thanks!

Common sense, don't clikc shit like "you won a free Ipad".

Well I usually do that, but I believe that having an antivirus is usually a good idea anyway...

ESET Smart Security 5 (NOD32.)

There is a thread about anti-virus stuff in general:

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/325042/page/1

Here is my response from that thread and I am a big gamer and wanted the best av with lowest resources:

I used to use Microsoft Security Essentials, but in the last 6 months it really tanked in terms of protection. I switched to NOD32 and love it.

MSE used to be great, but recently I know a lot of people who got viruses with it. I decided to use a crappy machine to test MSE, Symantec, Avast, Kaspersky and NOD32.

Symantec and NOD32 were best, but Symantec used a lot of system resources. In the end NOD32 was best. Now I didn't test a ton of viruses, but I tested quite a few. Sadly, MSE let almost every virus through. Avast stopped some, as did Kaspersky, but Symantec End Point Security and ESET NOD32 were by far the best.

PS. it was significant enough that we dropped our current AV at work and moved to NOD32. I am a Sr. Systems Administrator at a marketing company, so protection is important to me. Less virsues = less work for me ;).

Thank you very much for your answer, you seem to be far more qualified than me in terms of anti-virus programs, one more question, does ESET also excel in protection agains keylogs/trojans?

Thank you very much for the answer.

I can't say if it excel's over others in keyloggers as I didn't test that, but trojans and such it will find for sure. It's got amazing on-demand protection. It should find keyloggers though -- I just mean I can't say if it's necessarily better at finding those than other companies.

It's been like about 5 months since I moved my company to NOD32 with over 100 users and no viruses troubles :)

Originally posted by JayFiveAlive

There is a thread about anti-virus stuff in general:

 

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/325042/page/1

 

Here is my response from that thread and I am a big gamer and wanted the best av with lowest resources:

 

I used to use Microsoft Security Essentials, but in the last 6 months it really tanked in terms of protection. I switched to NOD32 and love it.

MSE used to be great, but recently I know a lot of people who got viruses with it. I decided to use a crappy machine to test MSE, Symantec, Avast, Kaspersky and NOD32.

Symantec and NOD32 were best, but Symantec used a lot of system resources. In the end NOD32 was best. Now I didn't test a ton of viruses, but I tested quite a few. Sadly, MSE let almost every virus through. Avast stopped some, as did Kaspersky, but Symantec End Point Security and ESET NOD32 were by far the best.

 

PS. it was significant enough that we dropped our current AV at work and moved to NOD32. I am a Sr. Systems Administrator at a marketing company, so protection is important to me. Less virsues = less work for me ;).

I run Kaspersky and am OK with it I have not run NOD32 but it sounds interesting. Dose it come in 64 bit? Also dose it have a virtual keyboard for protection against keyloggers?

I think you need to change your habits. :)

I can't remember the last time I had a 'real' virus and I'm not averse to the odd visit to 'PB' etc.

I've used  Microsoft Security Essentials exclusively since shortly after it came out. It's low on resource usage and free.

I'm also the 'IT' guy for a couple of companies, friends and family who I've encouraged to go down this route and they have had no problems since.

Don't be fooled into paying for something you don't need.

EDIT:

http://dottech.org/freeware-reviews/14151/avira-vs-avast-vs-avg-a-comprehensive-comparison-to-help-you-decide-which-free-anti-malware-security-software-you-should-use/

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/smb-security/articles/65083.aspx

I think one of the best is the paid AVG

Originally posted by Isturi

I run Kaspersky and am OK with it I have not run NOD32 but it sounds interesting. Dose it come in 64 bit? Also dose it have a virtual keyboard for protection against keyloggers?

It doesn't have virtual keyboard that I know of - no. It does have both 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

Originally posted by jacklo

I think you need to change your habits. :)

I can't remember the last time I had a 'real' virus and I'm not averse to the odd visit to 'PB' etc.

I've used  Microsoft Security Essentials exclusively since shortly after it came out. It's low on resource usage and free.

I'm also the 'IT' guy for a couple of companies, friends and family who I've encouraged to go down this route and they have had no problems since.

Don't be fooled into paying for something you don't need.

 

EDIT:

http://dottech.org/freeware-reviews/14151/avira-vs-avast-vs-avg-a-comprehensive-comparison-to-help-you-decide-which-free-anti-malware-security-software-you-should-use/

 

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/smb-security/articles/65083.aspx

I can tell you from experience that my company had a ton of problems with viruses starting around March/April of this year with Microsoft Security Essentials. I am talking like at least once every week or every other week I had to do some massive virus removal. Granted that was 100 people, but still, it was getting so bad that I had to start looking into alternatives that actually worked. Try some known viruses sites and MSE will gladly let you install the majority of them. Our biggest problem was the Google Image search viruses. MSE just lets those in :(

I use to same the same thing as I loved MSE when it first came out, but they have slacked with it and it really doesn't do its job anymore. It may catch some, but I promise you NOD32 will out perform it in everyway. Yes, you need to pay for it, but it's worth it I think. I've seen deals that werelike 45 bucks for 2 years. That is nothing :P

I use Security Essentials and it works great. Uses few resources too unlike most anti-virus programs.

MSE.  I recommend it frequently if you want to use an AV.  It's not very intrusive, it's not a resource hog, no false positive bs, it's free...and best of all it just works well.  I will add that Avast is not too shabby.  it's a llittle more intrusive with update spam, but I believe it can be turned off. 

There are others I am sure that work fine.  I don't really like Kaspersky or AVG tbh.  Kaspersky doesn't seem to be maintained very well, and at my work I actually have to uninstall it from users computers due to it interfering with some web-based software we use (i do remote and on-site tech support for hundreds of contractors).  AVG is ok, can hog resources sometimes. 

Really, the best AV is just being careful, and not clicking on bonehead links.

Eset Nod32 is the best premium antivirus there is.  If you want to go free,  Microsoft Security Essentials is the best option..don't go AVG anymore as they are now bloatware and won't run with combofix.

Source: 5+ Computer Repair experience in a professional environment.

I use Avast! since years, it is for free and i have never had any trouble with it.

AVG is way too resource intensive to make it worth it in my opinion. Plus, AVG's option for temporarily disabling AVG is ridiculously stupid. You can only disable AVG for 15 minutes at a time. Before the 15 minutes is up, you have to go and reset the 15 minute timer. Why not just let you turn it off and keep it off for as long as you want? If you are playing a full screen game or trying to watch a movie, it's ridiculously to have to alt tab out just to extend the timer.

I switched to Avast. Less resource intensive, and much easier to disable when needed.