Antivirus Benchmarking v1.0

[c627627]

There is simply no comparison to
http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html

I just scanned some of my archived files from years ago and AGAIN it found malware others simply missed.

It again found malware others missed.

Avira AntiVir is the best Antivirus software because
a. It finds most virii
b. It does not slow down your computer as much as most others.

 

[richklein]

Does it scan your emails (I think I read somewhere that it doesnt).

 

[RollingThunder]

Does it scan your emails (I think I read somewhere that it doesnt).

Rich,

The free version does not. The pay version does it all.

 

[pik4chu]

PIK - Which AV software are you using after all your tests & a few months later?

At work we still use symantec corporate because after fighting with Trend Micro it is still the best one for that side.

I personal now use Antivir with some minor hacks to remove the pop-ups. Info on how to do that can be found in the big antivirus software thread which is also a sticky in this forum. It stays out of my way, it does a great job at catching things and has low memory usage so it doesn't hog things away from my games or folding.

 

[stratcatprowlin]

Now that you finished this test maybe when you have more time you could try the same thing with anti spyware software.I know it was rough so take your time if you want to do it.Thanks for your time and dedication

 

[c627627]

I personal now use Antivir with some minor hacks to remove the pop-ups. Info on how to do that can be found in the big antivirus software thread which is also a sticky in this forum.

Copy-paste that info to this thread, people may have trouble figuring out which sticky, what page.

 

[pik4chu]

Copy-paste that info to this thread, people may have trouble figuring out which sticky, what page.

Ok let me find it real quick. It only works in XP and maybe vista.

Ok I found it and I also found a way to make it work on non XP machines. First the XP way

First goto the Group Policy Object Editor.
goto Start>Run and type in mmc and hit enter
then goto File>Add/Remove Snap-in, choose add and select grou policy object editor and be sure it says 'local computer'

Now in here goto Computer Configuration>Security Settings>Software Restriction Policies>Additional Rules.

Now in there right click on the additional rules section and choose "New Path Rule" and on the new path rule wizard choose browse and go to the directory where you installed antivir and select the file avnotify.exe and make sure the security level is at "Disallowed" and click ok. This will prevent it from running on windows XP machines.

For non XP machines.

Browse to your antivir directory and rename the avnotify.exe to avnotify.old and avnotify.dll to avnotify.old Then create two text files named avnotify.exe and avnotify.dll and put them in the directory. This will keep the files from getting replaced and will keep the popup advertisement from appearing.

nevermind this does NOT work, if you do not have an OS that can do software secuirty policies you cannot remove the popups from antivir. Recent updates to antivir update the dummy files you created and the popups will return.

Note that the Windows XP thing is a garaunteed fix but the problem with replacing files is an update of the software could require you to do it again so just keep that in mind.

 

[RollingThunder]

Copy-paste that info to this thread, people may have trouble figuring out which sticky, what page.

c627627,

I use Antivir Classic free version on this computer, it does not have email. My old Dell server has Norton AV, and while we all know it's a resource hog, it works very well and always has. This is the main reason this computer does not do email with Norton AV.

My biggest gripe with buying the paid Antivir for this machine is that it doesn't do IMAP email which I have, Antivir only does POP3. This is very disappointing for what is an otherwise a top rated paid antivirus program.

The free version of Antivir is very fast and I assume the paid version is similar but without IMAP, I'm not buying it.

 

[benbaked]

Interesting thread pik4chu, thanks for the hard work you put forth.

I just switched all of the PCs at my work to Kaspersky. Kaspersky has one extremely powerful feature that both Symantec and McAfee have forgotten about - Kaspersky can run TOTALLY silent.

No annoying pop-ups above the taskbar trying to sell me more **** or trying to warn me about the virus-of-the-hour.
No bundled firewall crapware or anti-spyware junk.
It updates and runs in the background like a champ, nobody even knows its there.
No distractions for employees.

Just what I was looking for in an anti-virus program.

 

[c627627]

Yup, AntiVir can & needs to be modified after installation to get rid of the pop ups.

Here's what I had to do that, but have never tested it. Maybe someone can test it and see + see pik4chu post about it to see if this works.


To disable Notifier nag screen: Windows 2000/XP Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Local Security Policy > Right click on Software Restriction Policies > Create New Policies >
Right click on Additional Rules > New Path Rule... > Browse... to the path of avnotify.exe (default is C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe) >
Set the security level to Disallowed > OK

For Windows XP Home you would need to boot into safe mode and log in as Administrator, then
go to C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe and right click on it >
Properties > Security > Advanced > Edit > Select options not to let it execute for all users.


RollingThunder,

Post here to see if/when AntiVir can do what you want it to:
http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html

 

[c627627]

Other modificiations of AntiVir:


Options:
C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avcenter.exe
> Configuration (Right middle part of the window) > CHECK: Expert mode > Scanner > Files > Action for concerning files


To disable AntiVir splash screen: right click on its shortcut > Properties >
Next to Target: add /ns to the existing path.

To disable AntiVir splash screen if it automatically starts at bootup, use program such as
Startup Control Panel > HKLM / Run TAB > right click on AVGCtrl > Edit... >
add /ns to the existing path of the program so that it reads
"C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVGNT.EXE" /min /ns


It is possible to transfer virus definitions between systems but the scan engine needs to be copied too, including:
antivir0.vdf up to antivir3.vdf
avewin32.dll
avpack32.dll
avrep.dll


Using two AntiVirus programs at the same time:
If there are two AntiVirus programs installed, you should not have two AntiVirus *Guard* programs active at the same time because this would slow the system down, Windows may even have problems booting with two AntiVirus guard components being active. So if installing AntiVir on a system where there already is an AntiVirus program installed, do not install AntiVir guard.

Also disable the guard component of one program if using another program to scan an entire disk drive.


Default log file location is
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\LOGFILES

 

[joneser101]

Still junk at Ghost 14.

Check out this problem:

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&message.id=11491#M11491

There update program has crashed systems all the back from Norton SystemWorks. Remember that scourge?

Symantec makes Junk, garbage, useless tech support, difficult to navigate knowledge base (that often doesn't provide any use either! OK, I feel better.

Try Macium Reflect. Does the trick at a cheaper price.