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I'm going with my boss later to day to buy a new desktop computer. Her last PC pretty much died but when I was pulling her data off the hard drive I found a couple of trojans. AVG missed these.

I would like to know what A/V or Internet Security Suite I should tell her to install. I know of the good ones but I need one that is very user friendly. She's not very computer literate.

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It's pretty easy I think. The interface is clean and is not overwhelming unlike some other AV's such as Norton and Mcafee which are so cluttered with so many different options etc. With that said, I think NOD32 would be okay for any user. Not to mention it's also very light on resources.

Let me know though how it turns out if you do decide to go with NOD32 for her - I'm curious to know what the average/beginner user thinks.

B

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The most important thing for a noob to understand is keeping it updated and how to go about that. I had a friend set his to update at 3 AM but he always shut his computer off at night and ignored the "need to update" warnings during the day, because they were done at night

Mark

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I know being a Mac user my opinion on A/V software doesn't hold much weight. But the stand-alone Norton Antivirus 2008 is very good, it's not as overbearing as their Nortor 360. I just installed it on my neighbors Vista machine and it was simple to setup and pretty much stays out of the way.

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For ease of use and user-friendliness for the not-so-PC-savvy-amongst-us, I find that it is best to get a commercial product over something that is free. Although I'm not a big fan of all-in-one PC security suites, I'll admit that it from a functional standpoint, it is pretty much simpler than using separate free security applications that you need to run and keep updated independently. Don't get me wrong, there are good free alternatives such as Avast for an antivirus, which can be configured to keep itself updated, but for someone like your boss who just wants to be protected and not have to worry too much about it, the best route may be a security suite.

Some of the top commercial antivirus applications that I have heard about are BitDefender, Kaspersky and ESET NOD32 (the latest versions, of course). I believe BitDefender also provides an Internet Security Suite which includes a firewall, antivirus, antispyware, web filtering through parental controls and even performance tune-up software. Check out a review here. As you can see, the interface is very simple. So the only thing your boss would have to worry about is renewing the subscription after every expiration and ensuring that her security suite keeps its definitions updated.

If your boss doesn't play a lot of games or applications that demand a lot of CPU power, the slight performance hit of using a security suite shouldn't be very noticeable. With today's fast PCs, it is highly unlikely that she will notice any slowdowns. It's a small price to pay if you just need dependable protection. Just a reminder: if a security suite is your choice, realize that a part of it being effective is the ability to monitor in the background. Therefore, any other applications similar to itself that also run in the background may result in further slowdowns. Pre-configured PCs usually come with trial security/antivirus software so fully and properly uninstalling these before installing your new security/antivirus software is absolutely necessary to avoid conflicts.

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The most important thing for a noob to understand is keeping it updated and how to go about that. I had a friend set his to update at 3 AM but he always shut his computer off at night and ignored the "need to update" warnings during the day, because they were done at night

Mark

Very good point, Mark. That's very true. An Anti-Virus is useless without the latest definition files.

As for Norton, I wouldn't touch Norton with a ten foot pole. The issue with Norton is that they are now operating from behind a name (their last decent version was Norton Anti-Virus 2002 - in my opinion). Their software is bloated and their definition files are no where near the standard of NOD32's or Kaspersky's.

B

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Another vote for Kaspersky or NOD32!

I've been using KAV for the last year and a 1/2 and is really low on resources.

Install with default settings and it's set to go! Checks for updates hourly by default.

It also has a Proactive Defense that must be enabled within KAV which is like

Process Guard. Not for the novice user though!

I won NOD32(download only)on another site a month ago which I haven't received yet but am very interested to see what it is like. I think I haven't got it yet because the latest version is known to slow down, not all, but many PC's. I've read though their working on a newer version to be out before Christmas hopefully.

ESET NOD32 Antivirus Forum - Wilders Security Forums

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I'll stay with Panda. It has kept me clean for over 5 years and is easy to use. It updates at least once a day. As a security suite it uses more resources than a standalone application, but doen't seem to slow down my PC with only 768MB of RAM.

Is it Panda or just good surfing habits :thumbsup: I don't even run anti-virus on my main workstation at my shop. Maybe it si dumb, but I am pretty certain the computer is clean.

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I highly recommend NOD32 as well over any other program. Very easy to use, and just set it and forget it.

Also, it has great hueristics even if for some reason you can't get your definition files updated.

Thans for the code deaf girl, but I just orderd the ESET Smart Security Suite about a week ago! :)

Edited by MoNsTeReNeRgY22
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