Probably most of popular are good like Symantec, Kaspersky, Dr Web, Trend, Panda etc. I tried most of them during a years and there is no absolute 100% winner in this area (but luckily we have some leaders !!!) and it always base on your own preferences and needs. In critical situation sometimes I installed two or three antiviruses and sometimes the only solution was to format a system partition and to install a new OS. So my advice is to make a system partition image and keep it on HDD - you will save a lot of time
Anyway I can strongly recommend:
- Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic from
www.free-av.com website (cause it detects very quickly a threat and it is free !!!)
- NOD32: try the newest beta of SMART Security (with firewall integrated) available from Eset.eu website. It has a nice VISTA style interface and a lot of settings for advanced users (which affects on threat sense efficiency !!!). What is the most important they work excellent even on old PC machines and laptops.
I try many products and always back to this software because it do not kill my PC even with new release like version 3 (poor programmers always create big and heavy application and can not optimize them !!!).
- Kaspersky Internet Security 7: quite good, but it failed where Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic made a job better (I like webfiltering function dependent on PC user account, but it is still not a perfect; firewall should be definitely improved - too many questions !!!).
- Norton Internet Security 2007: Symantec made a HUGE improvement in this release - it is much faster than previous releases (please note that 2008 version is available now) If you do not want to worry about settings and strange questions this is for you. Interface is nicelooking, but not efficient for more advanced users (try to copy IP of firewall intruder from this swedish-barbie-looking window
)
Please note that better choice for a company (even small) is Symantec Client Security (Antivirus Corporate version+Firewall) - it is a good for network administrators (important if you have more PC seats). Our company use Symantec products and it is international standard, but try to ask IT guy what they think about Symantec products ;-)
Regarding McAfee products - I do not have much experience with antivirus, but firewall could be compared to famous Zone Alarm Pro (nice intruder IP tracking function). Unfortunately I can not recommend newest ZA Pro due heavy PC load (compare a boot time with and without) (4.5 version was the best, but now you could have some OS compatibility issues).
Well, have a good day and to conclude that both of McAfee and Symantec antiviruses will be OK, but if you want to do not slow your PCs check an ESET NOD32 - it is a unbeaten in this area. And some important fact:
"ESET has achieved 46 Virus Bulletin VB100 Awards, more than any other vendor. In Virus Bulletin's comparative tests, ESET NOD32 Antivirus has not missed an 'In the Wild' virus sample since May 1998."
I checked stats and it is better than Symantec
If you still do not believe in this european product please compare 100% VBA monthly awards and from stats you will see that it is even better than Symantec Corporate
I should mention that antivirus users sometimes think that if product has a new virus definitions each day it is good because it is safe. Unfortunately mostly they download EMPTY virus definitions and this "sense of security" is a fiction :!: