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I'm maintaining around 10 PC's with Windows XP as their Operating System. Currently we're using antivirus within each PC. Now I want to upgrade our antivirus. I'm searching antivirus with these criteria

  1. Network based
  2. Beside virus, can handle worm, and trojan
  3. If possible also built in firewall

So which antivirus match with my criteria?

Thanks

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10 Answers 10

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I have used Symantec Antivirus Endpoint Protection on nearly 500 workstations. There are problems here and there -- but once you know the few minor annoyances, and the Symantec way to manually remove the software (which is just a series of registry entries) it is great overall.

Symantec AV is nice when you need to manage tons of workstations, and don't want to have to manually ever touch workstations. The push deploy is amazing.

Trend Micro is good too.

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  • I've used this as well and like it. It works great the push deploy is awsome. I've also used their push deploy tool to deploy other non-symantec software. As long as it's a setup.exe and can do a silent install, it appears to work. Aug 2, 2009 at 7:05
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    Symantec Antivirus 10 was decent. Symantec Endpoint Protection (a product that Symantec acquired when they purchased Sygate) was a nightmare for us, and we started getting Customers off of it as quickly as possible. The initial releases didn't appear to be beta tested at all, and we had horrible problems with servers losing network connectivity (thanks "teefer2" driver!). The "Maintenance Releases" got somewhat better, but the program still sucked RAM and CPU like a 1960's American car sucked gasoline. We've moved everybody over to Trend Micro as their contracts w/ Symantec expire. Aug 3, 2009 at 0:17
  • I agree, the original Endpoint Protection was a disaster. However, Symantec release new major software updates "MR2, MR3,..." that optimized the whole AV engine and reduced memory consumption. symantec.com/connect/forums/… And of course, you could download MR for free from Symantec support site as long as you have a valid licences.
    – SZayat
    Aug 3, 2009 at 3:28
  • if you go to any symantec events about endpoint, they will readily admit how much of a black eye the original SEP was for them. the current version is night and day compared to it.
    – Keith
    Aug 4, 2009 at 12:59
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Stay away from the "big" companies, as much as they generally work, I have had so many headaches with Symantec and Mcafee.

I personally found Nod32 to be the best at speed and memory however the latest version is not as good as it used to be - I think they are now going down the Symantec trap and spending more on marketing than product development.... It is still better than a number out there, however, I just hope I can say that in 2 years time

If you can not wait, the ones I have found to be best (in no order)

Nod32

Bit Defender

Kaspersky - (again, going down hill)

AVG - (with link scanner disabled - memory/speed hog)

If you currently have no antivirus and can wait, I would take a look at Microsoft "Morro", (or try to find the beta) I have been using it for the past couple of months and have been VERY impressed. It uses next to no memory (even less than nod32), and is fast... As far as I know, it has no central management, but it is a very good bit of kit.

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  • Yeah, the beta of Morro (or google on "Microsoft Security Essentials" and Softpedia for a direct download) seems neat enough - for the computers where I don't have a NOD32 license already ;) Aug 1, 2009 at 18:45
  • Microsoft's network AV program is called Forefront Client Security (microsoft.com/forefront/clientsecurity). My understanding is that Morro is based on FCS, so I'd assume that FCS would be just as fast if not faster than Morro. Aug 3, 2009 at 2:38
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We've been using the Trend Micro "Worry Free Business Security Suite" and have been reasonably happy with it. It's inexpensive compared to the Symantec / McAfee / CA offerings and appears to suck less. (All antivirus sucks, to some extent, just by the nature of the problem it's trying to solve. Having operating systems that did a better job of not executing arbitrary code would be a better thing, but that's better left for a [SOAPBOX] post...)

I question the need for third-party firewall functionality on top of what Windows XP already provides, but Trend Micro handles that, too.

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  • We were using Trend OfficeScan and Server Protect. We switched to Sophos Endpoint Security. We wish we never switched. Aug 2, 2009 at 6:01
  • +1 for "Having operating systems that did a better job of not executing arbitrary code". That is after all is the real problem. Aug 3, 2009 at 0:12
  • @John-I'd disagree that's the real problem...you can email a virus in an email to a user (if the mail admin allowed it) with a simple message of "run this!" and most users will. I think that is the real problem! Oct 26, 2009 at 19:03
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I've always liked AVG antivirus. Free for personal use and cheap for business.

http://www.grisoft.com

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    I think AVG is the most affordable business antivirus there is. They provide good support too. on the other hand, I am not a big fan of the admin console nor the built-in slow database.
    – SZayat
    Aug 3, 2009 at 3:30
  • +1 I absolutely agree. In my experience most companies today are looking for ways to save money every little place they can. Many desktop PCs in use today are under utilized in terms of performance. I haven't seen AVG's console be much of an issue (because most users don't even know its there) and haven't had any issues with the internal database because most PCs have plenty of power and a scheduled scan at 2am hurts no one. :-)
    – KPWINC
    Aug 3, 2009 at 19:19
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I've had problems with every antivirus I've had to use except AVG and ClamAV (although Clam is designed to be used on Unix systems to scan email more than anything else; it's an on-demand scanner that is best used in systems as a plug-in such as having your mail agent call the scanner to scrutinize incoming files).

In other words, no antivirus is foolproof. Just a side note.

A nice site for getting some test results can be found at http://www.av-comparatives.org/ so you may want to look there for some stats and information on some big-name company offerings.

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We've tried them all and the winner is Trend Micro Worry Free for small biz. Their OfficeScan client server for med biz is the same thing but for larger groups. From a single Windows console running some flavor of MS Server, you can deploy all of the clients at once throughout multiple domains (if you have more than one) via the domain administrator acct/pwd. After all deployments report back successful, the software is completely self-managing. All you need to really do is tweak some of the settings like update/scan schedules, scan type (intelli/full/full+heu), and quaran/del priorities. The software tracks expiration dates and autoreminds you via email with hyperlinks to the renew webpage for your account with all fields auto-populated for simple hassle-free renewals. Appears to catch 100% of viruses/spyware and blocks known websites with live virueses. Even a rigorous test through many porn and crack/keygen sites yielded a clean workstation with full transparency (because we turned off the big red alert option in the domain policy) as hundreds upon hundreds of virus/spyware were quietly deleted in the background. A nice feature for IT admins is the blocked website entry where you can add your own list of sites to deny in addition to the built in, updated list. Appears to use very little CPU resources (except for scanning of course) and does not interfere with games, dvd ripping/burning and video production.

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If you are running XP Professional in a domain environment, Symantec Endpoint Protection meets the criteria.

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I've been very happy with the latest Outpost Security Suite from Agnitum. It has antivirus and a firewall. After having fought with significant problems in the offerings of TrendMicro, McAfee and Norton, I have been very happy with my choice. In my limited need for their customer service, I have been satisified.

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Forefront Client Security is stupid cheap, but incredibly time consuming to setup. Maybe most of them are.

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I have used Avast Home antivirus. It works great. You can try it for free. There are also professional versions with network management.

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