I've just got out of a very dissatisfying Chat session with a McAfee "support" technician. See here for the problem report.

So I'm looking for new scanning software. Any recommendations? I've used Norton AntiVirus in the past, and it was OK, but not spectacular.

Ideally, I'm actually looking for a server-side solution, but as soon as you say that, they assume "commercial", and that's big money.

What version of McAfee were you running?

8.0.20

< blink >

Okay. That is not a version number I was expecting... We use McAfee mixed with Outlook here - I am going to check to see if we had any known problems.

I'm all about free software and I like avast! antivirus. Home edition comes with a free license. I like it so much that I'm thinking of buying it for all the machines in the office.

Norton really is the standard. I'm not sure how to go about it, but you really want the corporate version, which has a normal interface and all the right options. Of course, not needing to pay for updates is great too.

Matthew

I went with Nod32 www.nod32.com There was a PC Magazine article about anti-virus software a while back and they concluded that nod32 had the least performance impact on a system, was at least as effective as the big names, but wasn't the most wizardly, bubble help, user-friendly package.

If you want to do email virus/spam checking on your debian box, have you looked at amavis? I'm pretty sure that it was originally meant to do email virus checking, it's just that spam assassin made it famous.

--Nathan

I use AVG http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php which is free and works. That is only the client though, I too would like a good, affordable server side solution (RedHat Linux in my case).

Agreed, AVG is great, and it's caught a lot of things on computers I've installed it on (my own, friends and family, my old school's computers...)

Rob, have you compared Avast to AVG?

I've got AVG on my home machines and haven't tried Avast yet. Was wondering if you had any insights.

I have used AVG, but the UI always seemed to lack polish to me. I have no problem with how each one works, I just prefer Avast's interface (not that I need to use it that often). Avast also has a P2P and Instant Message virus checking service. That is something that I don't remember being in AVG.

I am not sure about AVG's licensing, but I'm pretty sure the license for Avast lasts about 15 months then you have to get another key. I have not had it that long to see what happens after that time.

I'm pretty sure the license for Avast lasts about 15 months then you have to get another key

/me drags the Avast installer to the recycle bin.

I need something I can leave unattended on my wife and daughter's computers and not worry about it.

Yeah, I understand. It works for me though.

I've never had to do anything to AVG after installing except that once a week I will manually check for updates. AVG still finds things my ISP (speakeasy.net) doesn't sometimes. I don't know what they run, though. I do get the same notice from speakeasy at least once a week about an email with a virus from someone I don't know and they block delivery of it.

I've never had to do anything to AVG after installing except that once a week I will manually check for updates.

Which is my only complaint... It seems as though the free version of AVG isn't doing its automatic updates despite the checkbox being checked for this feature in the user interface.

Avast home edition checks for updates everytime the machine is booted. The pro edition apparently uses push technology to send you updates as they're released.

Which is one reason I was considering using Avast.

Of course, it's all moot anyway since I'm running Win2k Server now, and Avast free edition won't install on Server. (And my old tricks for modifying the install files in that situation weren't working.)

It seems as though the free version of AVG isn't doing its automatic updates despite the checkbox being checked

It does work, but isn't consistent because sometimes it is up to date, but I think I get more times that it isn't. The once a week manual check for virus and Windows updates has become a habit for me. But I know what you mean by wanting it totally automated for the other users in the household.