What is the best program out there that does not rape your PC?

Currently using Zone Alarm Security Suite. PC non raped. Doesn't leave behind any hidden files and registry settings when you unistall like Norton does. Finds most spyware stuff before it has chance to do any harm. The odd really sly thing might slip through, but it's the same for any internet security suite. Specialised spyware programs are designed to deal with those.

Only thing I don't like about ZA is for some reason it steals focus from full screen programs sometimes when it updates or does something in the background. It has a game mode that you can enable to stop this though so it's ok. I just often forget to enable it before playing something and I'll be in the middle of doing whatever and it'll minimize, and I'll be like 'F*ck you Zone Alarm!!!' But I still wouldn't really use anything else.

Thanks Ice man, I will check Zone Alarm out. I am open to other suggestions too.

Zone Alarm is alright. Slows things down a bit for me though. I hear NOD32 is excellent. That and AVG.

NOD32 by a landslide as far as resource usage goes. It eats up nothing and protects extremely well.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Hmmm ill definately have to look into that. At least until I get a rig. I run 512 ram. Takes 10 min for the thing to get fully powered up. Zone alarm & spybot take forever to initialize and whatever.

I ditched ZA and Spybot. AVG works just fine for me. And it's free.

Oh yea... AND I have avg too. wanted to run the gambit.

AVG is inefficient:

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

I suggested ZA coz I'm assuming you need firewall as well. I like to have antivirus/spyware/firewall all in one. I may switch from ZA to something else in the future, but for now it's fine for me.

Kasparsky.
For everything else there is a f=-=ked computer.

I suppose you should have expected a load of different answers. Best thing is to use trial versions of each and see which you like best. Wouldn't it have been wierd though if everyone had posted saying the same thing?

I don't know what to do now.

If I were you, I'd get the NOD32. It's the highest recommended and has excellent reviews.

I would say that the best would be NOD; whether or not you should use 32 or 64 depends on your pc's architecture. Unfortunately, cracked passes and identities don't last very long so you may have to buy it if you really want the best av software.

Otherwise, avg free is adequate. Just remember to turn of heuristic scanning. (in b4 cinder)

I run naked with no problems for quite some time. but back when I was a scaredy cat I used NOD32. you do not need a software firewall if you are behind a router. a router IS a firewall.

yeah, I haven't used an av in more than a year

use a MAC, its like enjoying unprotected sex with your spouse

Third time is a charm:

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Over the last few years, this has been a tough issue for me as well. I've used several applications and this is what I've found:

Norton AV: Symantec has actually improved the product a lot, it doesn't suck up resources like it used to, it nags less and it installs/uninstalls much faster. The definitions always score well and it's fairly easy to use. On the downside (and the reason I stopped using it), the UI is over simplified and most control is taken away from the user. It basically knows what it wants to do and you're not going to tell it otherwise. I don't like tha type of design philosophy.

Kaspersky: Kaspersky is a tough one - their definitions are considered among the best as is their scanning engine. Unfortunately, it's issue is the polar opposite of Norton's. It presents too many options and by default it may not be configured optimally. Like many antivirus companies, they create their own terminology which can further obscure what certain options actually do. I've also experienced a plethora of stability issues and false positives using it and this eventually caused me to stop.

Windows Live OneCare: Utter crap. Luckily, it has been discontinued. It had some of the poorest definitions and it had some serious stability issues. This was actually my shortest antivirust stint.

Microsoft Security Essentials: I'm actually using this right now, simply out of laziness. On the plus side, it's almost unnoticeable as it never nags and doesn't seem to have any noticeable impact on performance... on the downside, that's probably because it's not actually doing anything. Seriously though, it looks promising and is a definite improvement over it's predecessor. You also can't argue with the price.

In the end, I really have to conclude that all of them suck. They are a patch to a problem that shouldn't exist and in order to function, they essentially need to exploit the host operating system much in the same way malicious software would. All of them have a tangible impact on performance by nature and have the possibility of detecting false positives and unintentionally damaging other applications. Antivirus is a bad thing, but it's unfortunately a necessary evil.

My suggestion would be to use the evaluation periods of any products you're considering and think long and hard before putting down any cash. I also wouldn't purchase any AV subscription for any longer than 1 year increments. You'd be surprised how quickly a good application can go down the toilet.

+1

works very well

I recently uninstalled Zone Alarm Internet security suite and am now running with just Avast! and Windows firewall. No problems at all. A lot less memory usage. Can be set to update only when you tell it to (Zone Alarm updates every two fucking seconds, slowing things even further). Avast! does most of what full security suites do, has a higher detection rate than all of the commerical avti viruses, and it's completely free. I'm glad I made the change.