Seeking recommendations for anti-virus and/or anti-pest software for Windows XP VM

S

sallyg

Bit poster
For those running Windows XP VMs on their Macs, I would appreciate your posting here which anti-virus and/or anti-pest programs you have purchased and why you chose these particular programs among the plethora available.

Thanks, Sally.
 
Hello Sally,

I would recommend using a combination of these "free" software, instead of Norton, Symantec and McAffy. IMO, these freeware works equal to or better.

For Spyware:
Spybot Search and Destory
Spware Blaster

For AntiVirus:
AVG
Avast
 
More Free Stuff

A couple of other suggestions:

CCleaner is a good free utility

ClamWin is a good free antivirus program
 
I'm using...

I'm using PC-Cillin on XP.
But no idea for on Mac OS X.

Do you have any recommendation?
 
sallyg said:
For those running Windows XP VMs on their Macs, I would appreciate your posting here which anti-virus and/or anti-pest programs you have purchased and why you chose these particular programs among the plethora available.

Thanks, Sally.
Click to expand...

Norton SystemWorks, AdAware and SpyBot.
 
Another vote for the AVG Free Edition! I do remember reading something about the free version being discontinued in the future but they must have changed their minds as I was pleasantly surprised when I went to their site and there was no sign of it being discontinued:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

They also have a Spyware removal tool available for free but I have personally never had a need for something like that as I use Firefox for the majority of my browsing and only use IE for those sites that require it such as video.ufc.com and other DRM laden sites. I'm also careful on what I download and run from the interwebs too so I never really have a Spyware problem. I have AntiVirus just to be on the safe side especially with receiving files from colleagues and the like you can never be sure.
 
AVG is good.

No need for all the fancy active virus scanning though, I've never heard of a worse way to waste your memory and cpu utilization. If you use a good firewall (ZoneLabs Zone Alarm is a great free firewall) and dont allow anything inbound/outbound access that shouldnt have it; then at worst you wil have to deal with spyware once in awhile.

I run a virus scan a few times a year on XP (cant remember the last time i actually had a virus) and run a spyware cleaners probably once every 1-2 months.



People overreact about viruses worse then boston did to a marketing stunt. Firewall, and dont be stupid. That's all you need...
 
I would like to add that, indeed AVG won't be free after mid Feb this year. That's too bad. It was the best Anti Virus software out there!

I fix PCs part time (but I use strictly Mac for myself), I recommend staying away from Norton and McAffy.. they are resource hog and virus/malwares actually targets these commercial software. If you don't mind paying, get AVG and Sygate Personal Firewall along with Spyware Blaster (free) and Spybot Search and Destroy (free).
 
Copilot said:
I would like to add that, indeed AVG won't be free after mid Feb this year. That's too bad. It was the best Anti Virus software out there!

I fix PCs part time (but I use strictly Mac for myself), I recommend staying away from Norton and McAffy.. they are resource hog and virus/malwares actually targets these commercial software. If you don't mind paying, get AVG and Sygate Personal Firewall along with Spyware Blaster (free) and Spybot Search and Destroy (free).
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The reason that I like Norton is precisely because it is so well supported and I like the security of that. I don't like McAfee because I've found it to be an enormous resource hog, compared to Norton. I've not really had problems with resource allocation in Norton as I know how to "tune it" so that it really does work quite well.

Yes, there are some very good free-ware programs out there but I prefer having a company behind what I have to use -- or choose to use -- for professional systems. it really is just a preference but I'd rather pay the money and know I have the resource to call upon when needed.

If I were to choose one of the free options it woudl be AVG; however, it is going to become a "pay per view" product soon. Given that, and given my very special needs, Norton SystemWorks is a clear asset.
 
i am running AVG free which is nice with low resource usage. however i have another machine running antivir which also provides a free version that seems pretty good to me.

clamwin is another free option however there isn't an on-access scanner, so you are not protected in real-time, you have to run scans.
 
sallyg said:
For those running Windows XP VMs on their Macs, I would appreciate your posting here which anti-virus and/or anti-pest programs you have purchased and why you chose these particular programs among the plethora available.

Thanks, Sally.
Click to expand...

Certainly, treat your Windows or Linux/Unix environments as you would stand alone systems. Running in a vm under OS X conveys no special immunity to the vm. A minor exception is when you elect to use shared networking. In this configuration the vm is not directly attached to the internet, or what ever the level is the OS X system touches. It has a layer in OS X between it and any hostile environments. It is a NAT connection

Consider for your own purposes the possibilities global sharing introduces. Global sharing allows Windows read/write access to your OS X hard disk at the root level, and to all attachments to remot systems you have established. This may or may not be important in your security model.

Certainly user all the Microsoft tools for proctecting the Windows environment including spyware, etc. And make liberal use of the Windows firewall.

After that what is left is a cacaphony of tools from reputable vendors and charlatans who would like what you have in your wallet. Get and install a good anti-virus tool that provides regular updates. ClamAV was suggested - there is a Windows specific version of it, Winclam. Free, schedulable, effective. Look also at Symantec, McAffee, Norton, etc. Can't hurt and demo ware is available. Crawl google to see what people are saying about any product you find applicable.

Use the Microsoft and Mac updates tools and keep your systems current on patches, service packs, and security compliance.

If you don't need your computer to be on - turn it off. If you can't do that, then get one of the packages that disables your network connection automatically when the system is idle for a period of time (Google). These wake up when email comes in so you won't miss that, and other services that are on-demand, but prevent hackers from crawling your system while you're away. Very nice peace of mind.

Enjoy Parallels - it's a very nice tool.
 
Spysweeper

I'd strongly recommend Webroots Spysweeper - it constantly wins magazine 'head to head' tests and you can get it with built in Antivirus as well now.

I'm not a fan of the Norton products because they seem to have a far more detrimental impact on the machines performance than any of the other products I've tried.
 
^I also HATE norton, It's like a cancer, slowly pulling life from your machine. An anti-virus virus almost!

I find NOD32 to be an excellent AV program. It runs flawlessly and uses next to no system resources.
Check out some online reviews!
 
drval said:
If I were to choose one of the free options it woudl be AVG; however, it is going to become a "pay per view" product soon. Given that, and given my very special needs, Norton SystemWorks is a clear asset.
Click to expand...
Where did you hear this about AVG?
 
palter said:
Where did you hear this about AVG?
Click to expand...


I don't remember precisely but I can try to dredge it up if it's crtiical. You might also ask Copilot, as he posted something similar.
 
According to the news page on AVG's site the 7.1 version will be discontinued mid-February but it looks as though the new 7.5 version will continue to be free.
 
jeffadams said:
According to the news page on AVG's site the 7.1 version will be discontinued mid-February but it looks as though the new 7.5 version will continue to be free.
Click to expand...

But you may want to also look at:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

to see if the list of included/excluded features creates any limitations for your particular use of the free version. The exclusion of their firewall from the free version may be a concern for a number of users who think they are getting that function automatically from AVG free.
 
chrisj303 said:
^I also HATE norton, It's like a cancer, slowly pulling life from your machine. An anti-virus virus almost!

I find NOD32 to be an excellent AV program. It runs flawlessly and uses next to no system resources.
Check out some online reviews!
Click to expand...

I'll second Chris's reccomendation for Nod32 from www.eset.com. My last work place used it and I now use it on my own machines because as mentioned, it is very light-weight resource wise and not very expensive also. And form the reviews of it seems to be very good at detection also.

Cheers

Russell
 
Well if you use Shared Networking with Parallels as recommended (although by default mine was set to Bridged when I believe it should have been set to Shared) then you are NAT'd anyway and a firewall is pretty much redundant.

I was just doing my own due diligence about AVG and whether it was continuing to be free or not and it made me realize just how slanted headlines on Digg can be, yes support for the free version of 7.1 is being discontinued but 7.5 is fine so I don't know what all the drama was about unless AVG changed their minds somewhere along the line otherwise it was just another sensationalist headline from Digg.
 
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