Antivirus/Antispyware - What's the best?

[jjam]

Seriously. I am aware of the ones you can find at stores, like Trend Micro, Live One Care, Zone Alarm, Norton, McAfee, CA, Webroot and so on...

Which one or combination is the best?
I have someone who wants to scan for spyware, viruses, and adware... She is running XP (not sure what SP level). I'm trying to make a recommendation, but I honestly don't know which one to recommend infatically.

What really differentiates these programs?
I know resource drainage is one.
Then there's what some can detect over others.
But I swear I've never understood how to determine which anti-virus/spyware/adaware program is best aside from doing what I'm doing now. They all are "award winners". I just figured people had their preferences and there really wasn't necessarily a "top dog".

Help!

[MiNiMaL_sAnItY]

Get AVG, its free and robust.

[jjam]

Well, it's free, but you're missing some stuff. Anti-spyware, for example. She's willing to go in and pay for something. What would be the best? And what about adware? I see a lot of these anti-virus programs include anti-spyware, but would she need to get another program (like Adaware or something better?) to cover ad-ware too?

[MiNiMaL_sAnItY]

Theres AVG anti-spyware. But spybot:s&d is also good. Both will cover adware and spyware.

[Ball3r]

Personally I would recommend what I'm using: Ad-aware 2007 and Avast Antivirus. They both remove viruses, spyware and adware, they're free and they have be doing a great job for me since I got them (a few years ago).

[tuaamin13]

The school here hooks us up with McAfee resident protection and Webroot Spy Sweeper (w/ Antivirus). Spy Sweeper is on demand virus scanning though, which is why we still have McAfee floating around.

Personally I hate both. Spy Sweeper always pops up with stupid stuff and the scans take quite a bit of time. I like Spybot Search & Destroy better, but it doesn't have the same instant-blocking protection Webroot does [Yes I tried TeaTimer, but found it annoying when the registry: ie installing normal stuff]. So I mainly use Spy Sweeper for protection, Spybot S&D for scanning.

I like Adaware, though I haven't ever tried the pay version that runs in the background (free version is scan only I think), but that's a decent program.

I've used AVG on my 2 home PCs for quite a while now, happy with both of them.

I actually think Consumer Reports reviewed antivirus/spyware programs in the last 6 months. I remember seeing that when I went home to visit my parents. I'm thinking Trend Micro was the best, but I could be mistaken. It's worth picking up the magazine though. They had a pretty comprehensive breakdown of what they liked and didn't like about the UI or protection or scan speed or whatnot.

[GuitarrassDeAmor]

AVG Free. Use CCleaner sometimes too.

[RotaryKnight]

There are 3 antispyware programs that I use, Adaware, spybot, and superantispyware.
For virus I just run AVG.

Usually before I run a virus or spyware program I run ATF Cleaner, combofix, and cureit. I sometimes run vundo fix, but thats only when I know I have it.

For the serious ones, its just easier for people to run hijackthis and post the results on antispyware, virus forums to ask for help.

[InfernoReaper]

AVG for anti-virus. (Avast!'s user interface sucks.)
Ad-Aware for anti-spyware.
Spybot for anti-malware.
CCleaner for cleaning unneeded files.

[Psypher]

AVG for anti-virus. (Avast!'s user interface sucks.)
Ad-Aware for anti-spyware.
Spybot for anti-malware.
CCleaner for cleaning unneeded files.

.

I know you didn't ask about firewall, but I use Comodo's.

[MiNiMaL_sAnItY]

Yup, comodo firewall is the best right now!

[aayman_farzand]

i use bitdefender internet security suite, never had a problem regarding viruses, spyware, adware etc

[Recipe7]

I like BitDefender. Kaspersky is also good, but seems to slow down my computer AND internet.

I'd go for bitdefender

[EVILPS3]

I use Kaspersky and have done for a year now the firewall is good and i would recommend it.

[hockeydude30]

I am using trend micro because it came with my computer but will switch to AVG and commado when my subscription runs out.

[BingBing]

Avast its free and well i dont have virus yet. Its been 2 years since i started using it.

Www.download.com

[Soviet-Messiah]

Avira AntiVir has the best detection rate compared to ANY antivirus on the market, free or otherwise. So what are you looking for, a pretty GUI or to keep your computer clean? Oh yeah, it's free too, just google it.

[gruddy]

Free:
AVG anti virus
AVG anti spyware
Spybot S&D

Paid:
kaspersky
nod32
avira

just watch these videos: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=56E0F42078DFCD56
everything you need to know about spyware :)

[MjW]

I've been using a ton of this apps for the last few years and at a point I was wondering that I might be overreacting putting more and more load on my computer when I never really had any serious threats I did not ask for.


Now I have only 2 applications to rule them all. Simple & tidy.

Zone Alarm Internet Security (Includes Firewall, Antivirus, Spyware scan)
Advanced System Optimizer (Includes a Spyware Scan, Registry Fixer, Registry Defragger & Optimizer which are the most important to keep the computer fresh plus a bit of everything you will ever need to optimize windows to your liking.

[crongcrang]

Antivirus software review at http://www.blockvirus.info