DD_545i

+1 on the bogus infection messages trying to provoke you into clicking so that you can really get infected.

I used Norton for about 5 years and McAfee for about 3 years and then I discovered the FREE program Avast Basic. It's beaten Norton and McAfee in numerous tests. A lot of people swear by AVG Anti-Virus too, and that's also free. Both of these are easily as good as Norton/McAfee. They make their money by selling their professional versions to companies, and give away their free version to home users.

As well as having a good protection, you really want a good backup system in place too. I use Acronis TrueImage for making clone images of my entire hard drive. When the worst happens, you can just swap in the backup drive and you're up and running in a couple of minutes (minus whatever you installed/downloaded in the days since your last backup).

As I also use my main laptop for work, I'm using Microsoft Virtual PC and I have an XP VM that I run work stuff in. I simply backup the virtual hard drive of it every night onto a USB Flash drive. Takes about 15 minutes.

Blunt

+1, best one I've used, Mcaffee and Norton slow everything down and don't always catch everything, Eset Nod 32 has never let me down....yet!!

ron_cb550

Are any of these OK for commercial use? Just wondering!

DD_545i

I don't know about that eset one (I never heard of it or tried it) but the two I mentioned (Avast and AVG) are free only for home users. So commercially you're "meant to" get a multi-user license for your organization. Not doing so puts the employer/employees in a situation where they're all breaking the terms of an agreement that was clicked on and a dodgy legal position. I'm sure there are plenty that take that risk. The company I work for ensures we all have licenses for every single thing we use. The work's computers all run Computer Associates eTrust anti-virus.

ron_cb550

Exactly my point. I'd rather get clearance before installing a program like this.. always better to be safe than sorry!

I only know of one free antivirus that's been OK'ed for commercial use. It's called Comodo, and while it is a bit of a resource hog, it gets the job done.

Always open to suggestions,

Ron

Da_Meister_22

I used PC-Cillin for my laptop, worked great.

sixcard

I use WebRoot. Works well for me.

Is set to full scan nightly.

sixcard

Rudy

I use CA eTrust exclusively as well (both at the Enterprise level as well as at home...) It's a bit cumbersome to configure and deploy for the average consumer user but beyond that, it works very well.

acuteperformance

Yes ESET NOD32 Business Edition. You get a nice server administration interface that can control your clients. It's what I use.

vlad_b

in my opinion, best anti-virus is NO anti-virus. All these anti-viruses just make your computer slower. if you don't download exe. files from porn website, keep your pops up blocked and firewall on, you should be ok. I never use antivirus and all my computers are running fine. Once in a while I clean them up, and sometime reinstall OS. My wife's computer, however, is always slow and weird, with anti-virus. She always clicks yes on such things like "download new toolbar" etc.

I really don't think this heavy anti-virus programs are necessary