Windows 7 WHICH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 which don't cause BSOD???

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

ESET NOD32 4/5 or Smart Security 4/5 has never caused a BSOD on any of my computers, nor did MSE & Avast when I used those. However, AVG Internet Security 2012, the paid version, did, as well as CA Internet Security 2010. Both on day one of installation. Out of the two, I'd have to say that CA IS 2010 was the worse, by far. It literally crippled my PC.

Note that AVG IS 2012 was a freebie with a wireless router that I bought from Newegg, I'd never pay for that crap, & CA IS 2010 was also a freebie from Time Warner Cable for subscribing to RoadRunner. Until a couple of months ago, I didn't even realize that CA IS was even sold, thought it was a cable company freebie for subscribers.

I've also tried the latest versions of Norton, although there was no BSOD, it may as well had been, as I've never until then seen an IS suite use 4GB of RAM at once (49 to 51% usage for nearly a minute), & I have 8GB installed. So much for their ads proclaiming less RAM usage.

Cat

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

I've also tried the latest versions of Norton, although there was no BSOD, it may as well had been, as I've never until then seen an IS suite use 4GB of RAM at once (49 to 51% usage for nearly a minute), & I have 8GB installed. So much for their ads proclaiming less RAM usage.

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Cat, that is very strange. I wonder how you managed that. I use NIS2012 on all my systems and RAM usage is very modest (Link RemovedSee atached pic).

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

catilley1092 said:

ESET NOD32 4/5 or Smart Security 4/5 has never caused a BSOD on any of my computers, nor did MSE & Avast when I used those. However, AVG Internet Security 2012, the paid version, did, as well as CA Internet Security 2010. Both on day one of installation. Out of the two, I'd have to say that CA IS 2010 was the worse, by far. It literally crippled my PC.

Note that AVG IS 2012 was a freebie with a wireless router that I bought from Newegg, I'd never pay for that crap, & CA IS 2010 was also a freebie from Time Warner Cable for subscribing to RoadRunner. Until a couple of months ago, I didn't even realize that CA IS was even sold, thought it was a cable company freebie for subscribers.

I've also tried the latest versions of Norton, although there was no BSOD, it may as well had been, as I've never until then seen an IS suite use 4GB of RAM at once (49 to 51% usage for nearly a minute), & I have 8GB installed. So much for their ads proclaiming less RAM usage.

Cat

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hey cat, as far as antivirus goes i have tried most of the free ones and some i just don't care for. i still seem to have some problems with mse and the MPKSL device driver issue that still trys to load. tried alot of the so called fixes and patches no good so i am using the new ad aware antivirus free and like it very well and so far so good. never ever had the bsod due to antivirus. i have also used avg which i read horror stories about but i have used it for years and have never had any issues with it. only complaint i have with it is all the BS that comes with it. but can't complain it is free. my choices altogether AD AWARE ANTIVIRUS FREE/COMMON SENSE ANTIVIRUS/ SUPERANTISPYWARE FREE/ they are all good and work for me. just my thoughts. poorguy

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

whs said:

Cat, that is very strange. I wonder how you managed that. I use NIS2012 on all my systems and RAM usage is very modest (View attachment 19769See atached pic).

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As I recall, the very high RAM usage was with a trial of Norton 360. The 2012 IS wasn't as bad, just had some updating issues with it.

Looking at the interface of both, it appears as though the settings needs to be customized for best results. To be fair, I didn't go through the trial period long enough to really learn how Norton works. I removed it quickly based on reputation, which Norton doesn't have the best of (except on PC World, where their advertising dollars are heavily spent) to begin with.

Peter Norton made a great product in Norton, but eventually the amount of money offered for his products was too much to turn down, & Symantec took them & ran them into the ground. It's far easier for an up & coming security solution to gain market share after positive reviews (like the rapid rise of MSE), than for one with a bad reputation to make a comeback. Users easily forgets the good, but always remembers the bad.

McAfee is in the same, if not worse, position. Especially after that huge blunder that lets millions of computers paralyzed. That will never go away.

Cat

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

I cannot speak for all Norton products. But NIS I use since 5 years and especially now (NIS2012) is an excellent product. I never caught a nasty - it has always protected me very well and it is not at all intrusive. Scanning is done during idle time and resource usage is minimal. What else can you ask for.

Granted, learning all the setting options is not easy because there are so many. Mine is more or less vanilla and when I need to make a special setting I go on the Symantic chat line. Those guys are always very helpful. Plus I usually pay very little for the license. The big electronics stores offer it sometimes with a full MIR refund. Thus I only pay the sales tax.

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

Yes, Newegg offers Norton 2012 IS regularly for free, after the MIR. Even the 3PC version has this offering, which is handy for many users, as many of us has more than one computer, or there's others in the same home with one.

The thing that I really like about the 3PC pack, one PC's license covers every Windows OS installed on the PC, even on multiple HDD's, w/o affecting the other 2 licenses. Great for when being a TechNet member & has several OS's installed on the same PC (my desktop has 7 Windows OS's installed across 3 HDD's).

I probably would have stuck longer with the trial period of NIS 2011 that shipped with my MSI notebook, but I already had a 3PC pack of NOD32 AV4 at the time, which I was already used to. The resource usage wasn't bad, not much different from the NIS 2012 that I had a free 6 month trial of, which I used on XP Mode (the same license of NOD32, Norton, or any other AV/IS solution only allows for one to be ran at a time). It was also a decent IS, having a resource usage meter for those who are concerned about this & was very compatible with XP Mode. Probably would be just as good with a regular install of XP, Vista or Windows 7.

Norton 360 is another matter altogether. Had a free 6 month license for it, but it had to go, & fast. My RAM usage was almost constantly 50% with 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM, that's way too high to be acceptable, imagine it on a low-spec computer.

Cat

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

I suggest people BUY themselves a security pack, because that offers certainty of updates, and everything. And it's really not a big cost, some 30-40 of any major western currency right now per year, whereas a Big Mac - who eats them??? - is 4-5 in cost, per piece? Not a big cost for security, is it?

I used to have Filseclab Twister and Firewall, but since they didn't develop anything for 64bit, I went over to Avast Internet Security. I've been very pleased with all of them.

Although there may be a best Antivirus for 7 that doesn't cause BSOD, I don't believe there is A best Antivirus. And like the Security Chief of F-Secure once noted, "It's best you get the whole package from one house".

I also suggest a Moderator or someone changes the topic to "Which".

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

I disagree w/ part of what 'titanic' has said.... namely, it is unnecessary to BUY security. MSE, for example, is excellent, including updates & real-time protection AND it is FREE; in other words it is not necessary to PAY for good security. I used to use Avast & recommend it to clients, until MSE came along. I, also, feel the OS firewall in Windows7 & 8 is fine and, again, it is not necessary to PAY for a firewall.

Cheers,
Drew

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

I just renewed NOD32 Anti-Virus for three computers. I was using MSE on my old computer I gave my grandmother. Version 2 was fine but when I put version 4 on there not even a half hour later it blue screened. Last week it blue screened again. I don't know if it is the cause but me and my mother don't want to take a chance with MSE 4 so we are sticking with NOD32 Anti-Virus.

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

Drew, I also have some reservations on MSE. The short time I tried it (last year) I collected 2 viruses. I quickly went back to NIS2011 at the time. Now I have NIS 2012 which is superb.

NIS2012 (3 users) was just offered by Newegg for free (if you claim the MIR) Newegg.com - Symantec Norton Internet Security 2012 3 User

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

Elmer said:

All AV programs can, to more or lesser degrees, cause issues.

This is my list of Saints n Sinners after being involved in BSOD's for over two years and is not comprehensive by any means.

The Saintly
Link Removed due to 404 Error

The Good
Kaspersky
ESet

The Not So Good
Avast
Panda
Trend Micro

The Bad
AVG
Avira
McAfee
Spyware Terminator
Symantec Norton
PC Tools
Zone Alarm (Firewall)

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Is that list in relation to how likely they are to cause issues or in relation to their quality as anti-virus software?

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

I've also had my problems with MSE, it was during depending on it that I caught the nastiest infection of my computing life. And MSE was updated daily, right before it's scheduled scan.

Since then, I've used first ESET NOD32, then ESET Smart Security 5, along with MBAM Pro. What one doesn't intercept, the other does. That's what I want, is known malware laden pages to be prevented form opening to begin with, not a cleanup attempt after the fact, with 15+ pages open.

And I'm not totally knocking MSE, in fact I'm beta testing the newest version that I got yesterday on XP Mode, as well as beta testing ESET Smart Security 6 on an extra Windows 7 Pro install. But out of the two, I can say, ESET 6 is far more polished than the next MSE is & has caught 2 potential threats to my OS.

Drew, you've stated that you're an IT man. Are you serving home customers (as someone we both know does), or are you serving professional/corporate users? It would seem strange that a business who handles potentially millions of dollars per year (or even month), as well as confidential customer/client info, to be depending on free security software. If there were a breakdown in security, these companies would have a lot of explaining to their customer base. I mean, for a business, it's a tax write off anyway, my landlord owns a local furniture store & a carpet/flooring business, as well as owns a few rentals.

The back office in the furniture store is the main office to all. I don't know all of the details, but they spend over $200 monthly for security software (sold & managed by a local IT woman) to safeguard their finances, customer data, tax data, everything. This does include 24/7 non-stop backup software to a NAS device for total computer backup, to which she can respond in an emergency, if needed, to recover.

I suppose one can manage a business with Windows Defender/MSE & Windows Backup, but I'd be leery of it, not to mention having someone on hand to constantly manage this task. The cost of that extra employee would pay for a qualified IT professional to provide & manage quality security/backup programs to meet the needs of the company.

Free may cut it at first, but if the business becomes successful, it won't for long.

Cat

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

Elmer,

Great list! You should have included Norton w/ The Bad.

PS: "The Saintly", lol, that's very good, I like that.

Cheers,
Drew

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

Elmer, show us the data that supports your ranking. Btw, you left out the program that is usually ranked the highest: G-Data.

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

hey all, i am just going to say that i am glad that MSE has finally fixed their MPKSL problem. i have tried most of the free antivirus software and have liked some and hated others.all the horror stories that alot of people have posted. any virus that i ever caught was due to my own stupidity.most free antivirus that i have used has done what it says, BASIC protection. i believe it was stated in an earlier post COMMON SENSE and some form of antivirus freeware or paid. i am back with MSE just because for me it works.just my opinion. poorguy

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

Has the bug with AVG have been fixed for 64bit?
Currently I am using comodo, but it has a lot of false positives.

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

Save yourself wondering about any of that or anything like that... just use MSE & the world will be good

I recommend this quite seriously; it's way better (& problem-free) than both of those others, you mention, put together.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows

Cheers,
Drew

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

I just like having another client on standby just in case, I already have essentials installed thank you.
Not being paranoid, more or less cautious and I am not entirely trustworthy of Microsofts directly availible softwares.
Old habits are hard to break you know, having an alternative on standby is not a bad idea.

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

I've debated about the best antivirus / security program on many Forums, and nowhere has a definite solution been found. I don't believe there is a definite solution, because it's really a battlefield, and situations vary. In antivirus program tests the Victors change, from test to test, from year to year. It's a bit like politics - whom can you trust? I've taken the rather phlegmatic view Choose the one you like. Sincerely, I don't think the main question is which program you have, the main issue is that you have a program.

And BSOD... will we ever get free of them? Linux has them too. It's not a Windows problem, it's a computer problem.

Re: WHITCH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 whitch don't cause BSOD???

Titanic said:

And BSOD... will we ever get free of them? Linux has them too. It's not a Windows problem, it's a computer problem.

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Linux never has had many crashes for me like that though (but that hinges on what you do with it), windows however I have seen bluescreen for no reason even if the hardware is fine.
And this includes 7