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The best form of defence
Using a computer without taking protective measures is a huge gamble. As security threats continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, anti virus scanners, firewalls, anti spyware tools and security suites provide indispensable lines of defense. But still there exists a lot of confusion in deciding which tools you need to incorporate in your defensive arsenal to ward off external threats. This article is an attempt to solve one of the biggest areas of perplexity in the computing world today: selecting an anti virus scanner.
Though there are far too many virus scanners available today, only a few are capable of annihilating all of today’s smart, stealthy and destructive viruses that arrive via email or file downloads.
Experts have estimated that new virus strains appear at an astonishing rate of about 200 per month. Furthermore, the probability of an average user falling victim to a computer virus runs about 1 in 30.
When it comes to eradicating germs, there are various possibilities. The most popular virus scanners available today differ radically in features just as they do in names: some have intuitive user interfaces and quick scan times while others have easily configurable update mechanisms as well as seamless virus detection.
Prominent names comprise the likes of Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus, McAfee VirusScan. Trend-Micro PC-cillin, Grisoft AVG Anti virus, Panda Antivirus and Eset’s NOD32 Antivirus. Before deciding on which one to choose, it is essential to consider the following:
Keeping threats at bay
However, even the best anti virus companies need a few hours to create signatures for their customers to download. Moreover, their products need to be adept at routinely checking for and downloading necessary updates. This is where most antivirus software falls out short, making the entire “automatic” update process so cumbersome that it gets very difficult to even download and incorporate the new signatures in the existing database. For instance, the stand-alone NOD32 antivirus requires you to provide a valid username and password every time you attempt to update it.
In stark comparison, McAfee VirusScan just requires you to register an account online after which it automatically updates itself from time to time, without any user intervention.
As a direct consequence, many firms rely on other techniques, such as heuristic detection, to catch infectors not included in their database. This works by analyzing the program code in a file for characteristic virus behaviour. However, since heuristic analysis is very time-consuming and dicey as compared to signature-based scanning, it isn’t recommended for ultimate protection.
False alarms
According to the tests conducted by AV-Test.org, a project of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, in Germany, and AV-Test GmbH, the antivirus program known as PC-cillin was the best in giving no false positives, whereas NOD32 was the worst, followed closely by Panda and AVG. As expected, Norton and McAfee were very good in this regard, giving only a few false alarms.
If you’re computer is infected, identifying the type of malady and making a diagnosis can be very complicated on the user’s part. That’s why many users prefer programs that by default either provide advice or automatically take an expedient action without involving the user.
Keeping this in mind, Norton AntiVirus, Panda, McAfee and PC-cillin, make the process look too easy and take the preferred action, such as repairing, deleting or quarantining, entirely themselves.
Other programs such as NOD32, are particularly ambiguous, requiring you to repeatedly dig into the program to make the appropriate adjustments every now and then.
Resource hogs
Different scanners have different impacts on a system. After extensive testing, Norton AntiVirus emerged as the most sluggish of all virus scanners as well as a major resource hog.
But how can you tell? It’s simple, with Norton Auto-Protect enabled, system startup and shutdown times increased considerably as compared to a system without an anti virus. Compare that with PC-cillin or NOD32, and you will see the difference immediately. To tell the truth, NOD32 is by far the only anti virus that has minimal impact on system performance, startup and shutdown times.
Scan times
Virus detection
Out of all the tests conducted by AV-Test.org, including those on malware, Trojan horses, polymorphic viruses, Backdoor channels as well as Visual Basic Script (VBS) viruses, there were two clear winners, with unsurpassed detection rates: McAfee and Norton. They were followed by PC-cillin, NOD32 and Panda antivirus.
AVG anti virus turned out to be a huge disappointment, mainly due to its severely crippled Trojan horse detection ability.
Final verdict
On the other hand, if you’ve been a die-hard Norton fan all your life, you are recommended to look elsewhere since the latest version of Norton, just like its predecessors, has adverse effects on system performance. If you have plenty of system resources in reserve and you don’t mind the your system going sluggish, Norton would be a suitable choice too.
Several firms have started developing complete security suites for a one-stop solution to all your needs. For instance, Trend-Micro’s PC-cillin Internet Security 2004 combines a spyware catcher, an anti-spam scanner, a firewall and an antivirus all bundled into one neat package. Symantec, McAfee as well as Panda have introduced similar packages too.
If you just need a capable anti virus, opt for McAfee VirusScan 8. Out of all its rivals, McAfee not only has the finest virus detection but also the best update mechanism that requires little or no involvement on the user’s part.
Free apps
— Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2004
— McAfee VirusScan
— Norton AntiVirus 2004
— Panda Anti virus
— Grisoft AVG Anti virus
Eset NOD32 Anti virus
The writer
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