Anti-virus compartions and Vista Firewall?

November 11, 2007 2:44 PM

Where can I find detailed information on anti-virus software comparisons? I've heard of and seen some charts that display details such as catch rates and etc but have never known the exact source. Something like this perhaps: http://virus.untangle.com/ but a more broad spectrum, preferablly one that includes AVG and Avast! Also what is the best firewall for Windows Vista?
posted by meta.mark to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Like this? It states where it got all the information. This, for example, is the more complete chart for the first data set presented.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 4:00 PM on November 11, 2007

av-comparatives.org
is helpful.
posted by doncoyote at 4:10 PM on November 11, 2007

Some of the more credible AV benchmarking sites are AV-comparatives, Virus Bulletin, AV-test.org, CheckVir, ICSA Labs and West Coast Labs.

If nothing radical has happened in the AV market for the past year, I would recommend Kaspersky or NOD32, both very reliable AND resource friendly solutions. You might not have heard about NOD32, but it really is the power user's choice of AV; it has a very good track record and consumes very little CPU/RAM.

As for firewalls, I prefer Sunbelt Personal Firewall. It gives you the right balance between usability and power without being bloated, dumbed down or a resource hog. You can download the trial version and when it expires continue to use it minus some features such as pop-up blocker, ad blocker, etc. You don't need those features anyway.    On preview: Arggh, SPF will get Vista support first during dec. 2007. What a shame. The alternative is Kaspersky Internet Security which comes with firewall and antivirus.

By the way, Virus Total is really useful if you want to check out a suspicious file. It allows you to upload and scan files against the latest versions of some 30 different antivirus programs.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:32 PM on November 11, 2007

I have to agree with Foci for Analysis,... I did some research a while back and made my decision to go with NOD32. I had been a lifelong Symantec/Norton user, mostly because i got it free from work, but now am in a different job where thats not possible. I used AVG Free for a bit after that, but from what I read it didnt rate very high in the reviews.

After some research, it looked like NOD32 was very much worth the money. I'm using it now and am impressed. It doesnt use alot of resources.. it pretty much stays out of my way and does its job.

Course that doesnt solve your firewall question... I depend on my Linksys router (w/ DD-WRT firmware) as my firewall and occasionally use Windows firewall but then I dont take my machines out in the wild much.
posted by jmnugent at 6:09 PM on November 11, 2007

http://virusscan.jotti.org/ likewise.
posted by flabdablet at 6:13 PM on November 11, 2007

Free? AVG hands down.
For a little cost? NOD32.

This is directly from Gartner as of two weeks ago.

Supposedly, Symantec is about to release (or has already, not sure) a new end-point security product that is supposed to have a much smaller footprint on the desktop. Normally I wouldn't recommend a Symantec product to my worst enemy but it might be worth looking into. All of these types of products offer evaluation periods.
posted by purephase at 5:08 AM on November 12, 2007