Recommended Anti-Virus Software (Q4 2009)

[docboggle]

NOTE: This thread is a split of a old thread here, please refer to it for prior posts. ZH

 

Can I bring this thread back out of hibernation at the bottom of the boards?

 

My primary school is currently using Sophos to cover 60 PCs (Windows XP, CC3 network). It is now up for renewal at the end of November and I am unsure whether to renew, or look at a different AV.

 

As a lot of the comments in this thread are over 4 years old, I was wondering what people think is the best, or are the main contenders?

 

Has anyone got any thoughts?

Edited October 22, 2009 by ZeroHour
Adding split notice

[sted]

i personally think sophos is junk. It breaks on pcs requiring regular removal via script and reinstall on clients. for no obvious reason server breaks at times as well i have had to move it from one server to another in 1 school as it will update clients but try and install it on a new client it just wont do it says it cant download the files from the server (which are clearly there and readable by emlibuser1). it has a habbit of putting things in quarantine and saying ruin a full scan to see options (so remove delete etc) run a full scan and it still says you need to run a full scan.

[gshaw]

We moved from Sophos this year after a multitude of issues

 

- high resource usage on clients

- locked up PCs during updates (can't control when this happens apart from stopping services) and it nearly killed an online exam by doing an update!

- multiple program revisions meaning bigger downloads (around 30MB) leading to the above, when we used the stable package it expired and couldn't update to the newer program due to a certificate error so had to manually redeploy

- management console showed viruses on machines but no cleaning or quarantine log so we had no idea what was going on most of the time

 

We also had PureMessage that let through spam with low percentage scores yet blocked legitimate messages, also kept crashing the Exchange Transport Service until an update was released so that's gone as well.

 

Moved to Kaspersky now, better on resources but the version we run does bog down logon times, new MP4 version seems quicker to start up but other people seem to have issues with program speeds so need to test that more now. Admin console information is better but deployment can be a little flaky at times.

 

Seems very hard to find a product that just does the job with no aggro, bring on the new VMWare ideal of scanning VMs under the surface and kill of clients forever

[sandeep2504]

We use Computer Associates Threat Management Suite.

 

It's been great so far and had no real issues with it.

 

You get a lot for your money; anti virus, anti spyware, trojan, tracking cookies, host intrusion protection suite, content filter with updates, exchange protection, mac, linux protection and antispam.

 

I think when we priced it up against Sophos it worked out cheaper for us.

 

I find some aspects of it weird though.

 

It uses a web browser to bring up program controls, logs etc which i find strange.

 

At home i am currently using Kaspersky Internet Security 2010; free courtesy of this forum!

 

Been really impressed with it, low memory usage and just works.

 

In the past i have used AVG and Avira.

 

P.S i have heard Computer Associates is used by Microsoft as well

Edited October 15, 2009 by sandeep2504
additional information

[Great_Scott]

School uses Sophos from the LEA. Personally, I don't like it! I can configure it and use it to do what it is supposed to do and technical support from Sophos has always been efficient when required but for some reason I just don't like it, maybe it's a personality clash.... Anyway, in previous employment I worked with Trend Micro which was always okay. At home I have been using Panda AV solutions since 2001 and have only ever had one issue in that time which was easy to sort out with their support people and I've just upgraded to their 2010 solution - £30.00 for 3 licences. If I repair anyone elses computer or if I'm installing AV as a freebie I will go for Avira, AVG or Nod32.

I've noticed AVG 8+ seems to slow down older computers though and have seen trojans go undetected (but that could have been user orientated) and I steer clear of Norton - esp 2006v - and McAfee BUT, I would always advise people to take advantage of anything offered for free from their ISP even if it was McAfee in the short term until they could buy something better.

Free AV software such as AVG's are beneficial but I believe if you want long term full protection then you should be using the full product.

[Fuzzz]

I use F-Secure Anti-Virus (Antivirus Software and Internet Security Tools | F-Secure)

 

In ten years I had only 1 (minor) infection with a virus wich was unknown until then. I sent a sample to F-Secure and the next day the scanner recognised the virus and removed it. (And I got a free T-shirt )

 

F-Secure has been getting really good reviews lately.

 

I have the following editions:

 

• FSAV for Servers
  
• FSAV for Workstations
  
• FSAV for Exchange (With pretty good spamfilter)
  

There are also editions available for internetgateways, linux etc...

 

F-Secure can be managed by a (free) Management-server, wich can also deploy installations to other computers. Updates hourly.

 

Edit: typo

[garrya100]

I think the anti-Sophos guys/gals must have some configuration problems.

 

We moved from Symantec Endpoint to Sophos this year due to cost.

We could get a site licence for Sophos to cover all 190 PC's in the school (Mac's, Staff laptops, etc) for the same cost of 80 PC's from the big yellow monster.

 

Our site licence also allows us to install it on staff members home PC's and student personal laptops.

 

It does take a little setting up but all the documentation is on the website. We have it set up to automatically install on new PC's and basic application control. Next year we will also move to NAC.

 

The biggest issue we had was evicting Symantec. Even using their un-installer leaves the registry full of junk and PC's complaining about being unable to start services.

 

Sophos also found things that Symantec didn't.

 

After all the little issues were sorted it been a good move

[Guest TheLibrarian]

I think Sophos is pants myself. We have a the same arrangement as Lancs, that all the schools get Sophos for free, and it's not worth that! The remote admin thingy has never worked, and I know it's not just me, because techies from other schools have offered advice & looked at it & can't get it to work. I've had to install it manually on every machine.

 

And it's always stopping because of a virus that keeps attacking the machines that Sophos can't stop.

 

The only plus point is that the lightening bolt greys out, so you know that the machine is infected.

 

Having said that, in Sophos defence, the kids do keep de-activating it, because the ICT teacher told them it was like a VNC type of program (pillock), and they won't believe me when I tell then it's not!

 

 

Stewart Knight

Network Manager

Appleby Grammar School

 

Check the users in the client PC's "SophosAdministrator" group.

Anyone in this group has complete control of the Sophos client.

 

FWIW We use group policy to restrict / set this group to "NT Authority\SYSTEM", "Domain Admins" and "Network Admins".

[CraigM]

The school I am at now are using NOD32 v4 and it is working much much better than the previous F-Secure solution was. F-Secure was chewing 400+mb of ram after start up, and it got totally lost at combatting those horrible flash drive trojans.

 

Before F-Secure, I've seen documentation that the school was using eScan and various versions of Norton and Symantec.

 

I honestly urge people to use NOD32 whenever I'm asked, even for home use. I'm tired of free anti virus suites now, even Avast is starting to annoy me.

[bossman]

SAV corporate edition vitualised server with version 10.2 client and in 8 years no virus has ever gotten through. Lots have been caught and deleted or centrally quarantined and if set up right is not resource hungry.

 

I feel that most corporate AV if set up properly should be able to give good service no matter which one.

Anyway stay safe all of you no matter which one you use.

[Fuzzz]

F-Secure was chewing 400+mb of ram after start up, and it got totally lost at combatting those horrible flash drive trojans.

 

Had the same problem with F-Secure using a lot of RAM at startup, until i disabled the 'Scan computer at startup'-setting.

Never had any problems with flash drive trojans.

[gshaw]

 

I feel that most corporate AV if set up properly should be able to give good service no matter which one.

Anyway stay safe all of you no matter which one you use.

 

That element should be a given as you say but I find the big difference between them is the performance and ease of management

[mattx]

/me wonders if he is allowed to comment on Sophos.....

[Edu-IT]

/me wonders if he is allowed to comment on Sophos.....

I've just took the plunge and updated, it was relatively smooth. I'm a bit confused as to why they don't auto update the EC or the program on the machine, or at least notify you that there is a new version. I only found out through reading this thread.

[ZeroHour]

NOTE: I have split this vampire thread into a new thread of its own.

 

Enjoy

Edited October 22, 2009 by ZeroHour

[mac_shinobi]

I know sophos console is meant to be good in comparison but I would go with NOD32 or mcafee AV all the way.

 

Those would be my suggestions

[gshaw]

The new Kaspersky one is quite nice graphically and report-wise... only early days testing it out though...

[KWestos]

Anyone know where the best place to buy NOD32 is? Also, if I buy the 10 user pack, can I install this on 10 Xenapp servers. Or do I have to buy the numbers of licenses to correspond with the number of connected clients.

 

many thanks

[Haptic]

Anyone know where the best place to buy NOD32 is? Also, if I buy the 10 user pack, can I install this on 10 Xenapp servers. Or do I have to buy the numbers of licenses to correspond with the number of connected clients.

 

many thanks

 

We are a Nod reseller fella will give you a buzz:cool:

[User3204]

We use Mcafee and have done for some time, it was here when I started and I've had no issues with it, apart from the usability of the old EPO v2 (the central console), the EPO is now upto version 4.5, and is browser based, LDAP integrateable, blah blah...

 

If you have as many machines as we have (over 500 but less than 10,000) they just sell you a site license which is about £3k a year.

 

 

I know someone who recently moved from Sophos to CA, as they got a good deal from some reseller - possibly Dabs.

[Michael]

All the schools I support use Sophos as it's included in costings which are very, very cheap, however I am a big fan of AVG. The latest version 9 was released and is very good, fast and easy to use.

[PEO]

Kaspersky enterprise here. love it

[leco]

Another school here using NOD32 and have done for years. Needed only a little persuasion for SMT to approve the change from (very cheap LA provided) Sophos. I guess they were fed up with the slowdowns, crashes and "Why doesn't my computer work?" type questions.

 

I did have a few issues with NOD when I upgraded to V4 with server settings etc, but a stable platform now. Small footprint, non-intrusive unless it has to be, works a treat on laptops, desktops and servers.

 

I use it on my home machines as well and always recommend it if anyone asks which AV.

[PEO]

 

We are a Nod reseller fella will give you a buzz:cool:

 

Hi mate, How come your not a Kaspersky reseller? you guys have given out free Kaspersky install disks on two occasion.

[llawwehttam]

Personally I've always used various versions of AVG at home after abandoning Norton. AVG do a business edition which seems quite good but I have never used the business version so I can't say for sure.

What is surprising is that they now do a linux / FreeBSD version so obviously the viruses are starting to migrate.

 

AVG buisness edition