Personal computing discussed
Antivir in fact has the best detection of any program free or paid according to AV-comparatives.org’s numbers.
AV-Comparatives awarded Avira AntiVir Premium with the highest score, the "Advanced+" distinction, in February, May, and August 2008, earning it the 2008 "AV Product of the Year" award. This large-scale comparative test saw Avira achieve an "excellent" score for its proactive detection performance. In the "Speed" category, Avira made it to the winner’s podium. In the "Summary Report 2010" it received the Silver award for 99.5% detection rate.[8]
In January 2008, Avira AntiVir was given a rating of 6.5 out of 8 in tests for detection and removal of rootkits and 71% for proactive virus detection by Anti-Malware Test Lab; both scores qualified for "gold" status, the highest award.[9] Avira achieved the highest Malware Detection rate, along with G-DATA Antivirus, 98%, and was one of five products that achieved a 90% or higher spyware detection rate in the latest AV-Test performed in February 2010.[10] AV-Comparatives also awarded Avira with an Advanced+ rating (the highest) in their latest test.[11] Avira had the highest signature and proactive detection rates in all major independent antivirus tests.[when?] In April 2009, PC Pro awarded Avira Premium Security Suite 9 six out of six stars and a place on its A-list for Internet security software.[12] In August 2009, Avira AntiVir Personal Antivirus achieved a 98.9% percent overall malware detection rate, and was the fastest for both on-demand scans and on-access scans conducted by PC World, who ranked it first on its website.[13] Neil J. Rubenking from PC Magazine gave version 10 3.5 out of 5 stars.[14]
Avira was among the first companies to receive OESIS OK Gold Certification.[15] This shows that both the antispyware and antivirus components of several of their products have achieved the maximum compatibility score with widespread network technologies (like SSL/TLS VPN and Network Access Control) from Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems, SonicWALL and others.
Avira has also received VB100 awards,[16] the most recent in April 2011 (Avira AntiVir Personal).
ordskiweicz wrote:Also - I've forgotten the name of the site that runs quality non-commercial tests of these programs? Google gives me pages of sponsored junk - was no help. Thanks.
JohnC wrote:Personally I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials as free antivirus for last year or so - it is extremely unobtrusive and maintenance-free. I've used AVIRA's antivirus before and I know that objectively (according to Av-Comparatives and my own tests ) AVIRA's antivirus (including free one) has overall better detection rates, but it also finds a lot of "false positives" and free version displays the Ad windows at random times, which is all kinda annoying, and it (as well as EVERY other antivirus program) still misses plenty of crap like "fake antivirus" programs (which can always be easily cleaned by free versions of MalwareBytes program and/or "ComboFix" progam), so I don't really see the point in using it anymore...
Skullzer wrote:MSE and Malwarebytes.
l33t-g4m3r wrote:I also don't like how MSE spies on your computer by continually checking whether or not you have a "genuine" copy of windows.
Ryhadar wrote:l33t-g4m3r wrote:I also don't like how MSE spies on your computer by continually checking whether or not you have a "genuine" copy of windows.
Do you have a source for this? I know for sure MSE checks that you have a genuine copy of windows when you install it but never heard about it doing it after it is installed.
Microsoft Security Essentials checks for validity of the operating system during and after installation. If the operating system is not found to be genuine, Microsoft Security Essentials will notify the user of the issue, and may cease to operate after a period of time
The WGA Validation Library is also included in the Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0
However, the validation by Microsoft Security Essentials can be erroneous, and inaccurate. For example, a genuine system can be incorrectly marked as non-genuine due to validation error by the MSE, yet on other Microsoft’s validation channels, such as web validation, the system is determined to be genuine.
kvndoom wrote:I used to have MSE on all the computers in the house, but for some reason it just wouldn't update automatically on all the Vista systems (worked on my XP computer). I finally switched to Avast Free on all computers, and it has worked fine thus far. It has blocked some downloads and drive by's on all the kids' systems and keeps itself updated.
Just my personal experience, everyone's mileage varies.
Captain Ned wrote:Please explain to me why someone running a valid copy of Windows cares if that validity is continually confirmed? Sorry, but the paranoia doesn't work for me.
Windows Genuine Advantage checks the following components:[14][15]
Computer make and model
BIOS checksum.
MAC address.
A unique number assigned to the user's computer by the tools (Globally Unique Identifier or GUID)
Hard drive serial number.
Region and language settings of the operating system.
Operating system version.
PC BIOS information (make, version, date).
PC manufacturer.
User locale setting.
Validation and installation results.
Windows or Office product key.
Windows product ID.
Microsoft "refused to comment on the rate of pure false positives" beyond saying it was "under 1%" (or as stated, at most around 5 million users affected).
On August 25, 2007, the Microsoft WGA servers suffered an outage, resulting in many legitimate copies of Windows XP and Vista being marked as counterfeit.[41] The issue was solved about twelve hours later. According to Microsoft, "fewer than 12,000 systems were affected worldwide."[42]
Captain Ned wrote:Please explain to me why someone running a valid copy of Windows cares if that validity is continually confirmed? Sorry, but the paranoia doesn't work for me.
l33t-g4m3r wrote:Ryhadar wrote:l33t-g4m3r wrote:I also don't like how MSE spies on your computer by continually checking whether or not you have a "genuine" copy of windows.
Do you have a source for this? I know for sure MSE checks that you have a genuine copy of windows when you install it but never heard about it doing it after it is installed.
There are multiple sources, including Microsoft.
http://bit.ly/LhpFxwMicrosoft Security Essentials checks for validity of the operating system during and after installation. If the operating system is not found to be genuine, Microsoft Security Essentials will notify the user of the issue, and may cease to operate after a period of timeThe WGA Validation Library is also included in the Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0
MSE is WGA 2.0. People didn't take too kindly to WGA and many just disabled the useless service, so Microsoft found another way to foist WGA onto you. Kind of like how Steam hides DRM with services. Make no mistake, MSE is a constant validation check, as that is it's primary function. AV is secondary, and it shows.
ordskiweicz wrote:The 'must have programs' pages being seriously rusty, I wonder what you find optimal in AV programs.
clocks wrote:
Flying Fox wrote:I cannot find the 2nd statement in the same article
Flying Fox wrote:I found one that mentioned after a hardware change WGA got triggered yes. But that check does not phone home. Hardware change and the rechecking of the hash is a local function. There should not be any data going back to the hive. Not sure if they do remote key revocation yet, ala Bluray.
On Windows Vista RTM, WGA validation failure has a greater impact. In addition to persistent notification and the disabling of non-critical updates, WGA also disables Windows Aero, Windows Defender, and Windows ReadyBoost. The user is given a grace period in which to then pass validation, after which most of the operating system is disabled and Windows reverts to reduced functionality mode. This behavior however has been removed in Service Pack 1 of Windows Vista in favor of prominent notices on systems believed unlicensed.
Microsoft has recently made some changes with a WGA update for Windows XP Professional, Vista Business and Windows 7 Ultimate as well that result in not just a pop-up balloon, but instead the wallpaper changes to black, and there will be a translucent notice in the lower right-hand section of the screen that the user cannot get rid of. However, the user can still interact with things placed behind it. There will also be a notification at the login screen. The user can change the desktop wallpaper to whatever they like, but the notifications will remain, and every 60 minutes it will revert back to the black screen. However, this will only happen to the first user in the computer where you log on to, so if you choose a different user, it will not turn black, and your wallpaper will remain.
some people compare WGA to time bomb software.