Kaspersky Anti-Virus

[psp83]

Has anyone got this installed? especially the 2014 version.

How good is it and does it bug you alot ?

How is the memory usage on startup & does it slow the system down ?

Sorry about the questions, I'm getting a list of AV's together for a client.

[Simon]

I've used various versions of KIS over the years, the last time being the 2013 version, and have always found that it slows the machine down, particularly web browsing.  Admittedly, the last time I tried it was with Windows XP, and I haven't tried it with Windows 7, which I currently have, but also, it was terribly slow to start up on my machine, and often triggered the "Your computer is at risk..." alert.  Apparently, protection is active immediately - it just takes a while for the UI to kick in.  This is just my experience, of course, and it may behave differently on another machine. 

I'm currently using F-Secure, which I would personally recommend, although, it doesn't come cheap, and some people may not be happy that it doesn't have it's own firewall, but uses the Windows Firewall.  It has a feature called DeepGuard which monitors applications, and they claim that this, along with Windows Firewall, offers good protection.

[psp83]

Thanks Simon, I'm currently testing Bitdefender 2014, it gets the highest ratings.

I'm not liking the lack of options though, still can't find how to run a scan on it...

I will maybe come back to Kaspersky.

[Simon]

I tried Bitdefender 2014 too, and I agree about the lack of options.  They've tried to make it as 'set it and forget it' as possible, but I think they've gone too far.  Also, the alerts system isn't great, and if it blocks something or finds a virus, you get a pop up for about 5 seconds, then it disappears, so if you don't happen to be sitting at the computer, you miss it, further to which, it doesn't give you any options as to what to do if it finds something malicious, so false positives could be an issue if it decided to delete something without asking you.  Further to this, if you check their forums, you'll find several complaints about promotional pop ups from within the program, for which there is no easy opt-out option.  To stop receiving the pop ups, you have to raise a support ticket, and wait until they deem to respond, which isn't very satisfactory to me, given the length of time they take to respond to support queries.  Bitdefender is a good product, especially for those that don't want to have to interact with the software, but support is practically non-existent.

[psp83]

Think I'm going to uninstall it to be honest, I've had it installed for a few hours and I just don't like not being able to run a manual scan or change options.

Oh well..

Does F-Secure have a free or trial option ?

[Simon]

Yes:  http://www.f-secure.com/en/web/home_gb/internet-security

Click the Try For Free button. 

[psp83]

Thanks, Think I'm going to download a few trials and see how they go.

http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php

Panda and Trend Micro seems a good option to go with, depends on if they cause slowdowns.

[Clive]

Don't touch F-Secure with a bargepole!  Simon persuaded me to buy it and it behaved itself for the first year.  But when I had to renew it it acted like a virus on my old XP desktop and brought it to a standstill.  Task Manager showed that F-Secure was hogging literally all of my memory within a few minutes of going online.  I now use Avira which is much more friendly and free!   

[psp83]

I just installed f-secure trial, rebooted (just incase) ran a few speed tests, couldn't get higher than 30 Mbps.

Uninstalled, ran a few more speed test, got 60 Mbps + every time..

[Simon]

Odd.  Can't see how it would affect download speeds. 

I think they've moved on a bit since you last used it, Clive.  But it does go to show that products behave differently on different machines. 

Paul, I just wonder if the other ones you tried have been removed properly?  Did you use the vendors uninstall tools for each?

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/wiki/mse-protect_start/list-of-anti-malware-product-removal-tools/2bcb53f7-7ab4-4ef9-ab3a-6aebfa322f75

[psp83]

Odd.  Can't see how it would affect download speeds. 

I think they've moved on a bit since you last used it, Clive.  But it does go to show that products behave differently on different machines. 

Paul, I just wonder if the other ones you tried have been removed properly?  Did you use the vendors uninstall tools for each?

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/wiki/mse-protect_start/list-of-anti-malware-product-removal-tools/2bcb53f7-7ab4-4ef9-ab3a-6aebfa322f75

I'm using fresh vm's, will never install and uninstall loads of AV's on the main OS 

[Simon]

I've never known F-Secure to affect download speeds.  In fact, after using the other two mentioned above, I actually found it quicker, particularly when using the internet. 

[mervl]

The trouble with the testing labs is they all do things differently. I've gone back to Agnitum's Outpost on one of my laptops, I like it for its configurability and reporting - though you need a bit of intelligence. It's tested well this year (but doesn't submit to all labs if you're suspicious - but name one that does, and came out well against Kapersky and F-secure). Apart from that I've been with Norton for a few years and no trouble at all, though it's hard to find out what it's doing (if you're interested). Costs a lot, if you renew at the due time. Agnitum do, I think, a limited free version and a full 30 day trial and flash deals (got a "lifetime" licence for price of 2 years cover so if I like it will supercede Norton). Neither cause any slowdowns to me nor hog memory, unlike a few years ago.

[psp83]

I've never known F-Secure to affect download speeds.  In fact, after using the other two mentioned above, I actually found it quicker, particularly when using the internet. 

Yeah its weird, its the first AV I've had do that in years.. I just tried it again on a clean VM and it did it again. Perhaps its a Windows 8 problem.

[jane]

I use KIS 2013 (as it's free from my bank). It has the fastest start up than any others that I have tried on Windows 7 (32 bit). It doesn't slow down my browsing but I have turned off System Watcher, Network Attack Blocker and background Idle Scan and Rootkit Scan. Secure Keyboard Input doesn't work too well on some sites so I have disabled that as well. The Secure Banking option is very good though.
The bad news is that KIS 2014 is a big let-down. Some options for finer control have been removed but a lot of people are complaining so there might be an update in the future to remedy that. There is a double confirmation screen that pops up if you want to allow something or change a setting. Because I use a custom cursor (cursorFX) the screen freezes and I get locked out because my cursor won't work and I have to start the task manager and log out.
For now I am quite happy using 2013.
Jane

[pctech]

Using Avast Free on this machine (though if your client is a business they need the Pro version)

Traditional regular download plus streaming signature updates.

I do find it slows startup quite a bit but I do have quite a bit on my desktop at the moment which it will of course scan during startup.

I just then have Windows Firewall and the firewall on the Billion router to protect the machine.

[Den]

I use Bullguard on all my machines after recommendations from a couple of computer tech's I work along side of on my CCTV installations. It does not seem to intrude and sits in the background running away.

[Simon]

Haven't tried that one for ages.  You used to be able to pick up licenses for that dirt cheap.  Historically, it used the Bitdefender detection engine, so good detection, but lots of false positives.  Not sure what it uses now.

[Clive]

I had it with a Win 95 Time machine that cost me £1500.     It used to bark each time it found anything untoward.   

[Simon]

Mind you, Kaspersky squeals like a stuck pig! 

[Clive]

 

[Gary]

sits in the background running away.

How can it sit and be running away at the same time? Sounds like your guard is full of bull to me 

[Ray]

 

[stevenrw]

ESet Smart Security 6 works well for me, and they have a UK based (and very helpful) tech support.

[psp83]

This is on hold at the moment as I've got a lot of client work on at the mo..

I used to be a NOD32 user myself and although it was good, I didn't quite believe it fully protected against infections... Also when infected it didn't like removing it.