Computer Power, Monterey, CA

Anti-Virus Programs

About.com summarizes Cnet.com and Scot Finnie Newletter and Webuser.com
summarized by Computer Power for MBUG

Price Maker and Product Rating
60 ish Kaspersky AV 6.0 Rated best overall
40 ish Eset’s NOD32 AV 2.5 or 2.7 Rated best for experts
40 ish Trend Micro Best for low conflicts
45 ish Norton 2007 Best selling but can be a pain to install; uninstall; re-install. Version 2007 is faster than 2006. PC Mag’s Best Buy.
Free AOL’s (free even if not AOL member) Active Shield Stripped-down version of Kaspersky. Checks hourly for updates. Must accept marketing email but can opt-out after one. Not yet Vista.
Free to indivuals OR Pro @ $40 Grisoft’s AVG Received low scores from reviewers
40 ish McAfee Security Center causes unacceptable drain on resources. Received low average ratings. 13% of the market.

Zone Alarm is clear favorite in the Suites (firewall, anti-spy, antivirus) but is faulted as conflict prone. AV component is Kaspersky.