Looking for antivirus solution, any suggestions?

[InlineFive]

Hello all.

A small business who I work for has five networked WinXP Pro computers. Their license with Norton AntiVirus 2004 has just expired and I want to get new antivirus software that doesn't hog as much resources as Norton (it almost makes Outlook crash on the older computers). Since they don't have a server the new software would need to be capable of standalone operation. I am currently looking at McAfee AntiVirus Enterprise 8.0i but I was wondering if any of you had other suggestions.

Here are some things I think it should have, please comment:
1. A high catch rate (since we can't have two solutions running at the same time)
2. Protected settings (to prevent limited users from changing settings or disabling active file protection)
3. Scheduled updates and scans
4. SMTP scanning (since we don't have a centralized mail scanner)
5. Being able to run somewhat smoothly on a 500Mhz P3. 🙂

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it! 🙂

-Por

 

[Schadenfroh]

Symantec Corporate Edition would be my choice

 

[mikecel79]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Symantec Corporate Edition would be my choice

Agreed but will you be able to lock the settings on the machines without the admin server?

We've been using CA eTrust AV for the past few years and have been happy with it. It's very lightweight.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: mikecel79

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Symantec Corporate Edition would be my choice

Agreed but will you be able to lock the settings on the machines without the admin server?

We've been using CA eTrust AV for the past few years and have been happy with it. It's very lightweight.

Why is Symantec Corporate Edition better? Won't it have just as much bloat to it since they also make Norton AntiVirus?

And doesn't Computer Associates run McAfee?

 

[KarenMarie]

Norton is great, but I find their products to be a resource hog.

We use Panda Corp. It does all that you require, is less expensive.

We use Panda Internet Security and find it reliable and stable, great value for $$$, and the tech people are wonderful.

🙂

edit: Link to Panda Internet Security 2005

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo

Originally posted by: mikecel79

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Symantec Corporate Edition would be my choice

Agreed but will you be able to lock the settings on the machines without the admin server?

We've been using CA eTrust AV for the past few years and have been happy with it. It's very lightweight.

Why is Symantec Corporate Edition better? Won't it have just as much bloat to it since they also make Norton AntiVirus?

No, their corporate version does not have any bloat when compared to their bloatware home versions.

 

[mikecel79]

Symantec Corporate edition is much different than Norton. They both share AV engines but the program around them is built much differently. Coprorate edition is much leaner than Norton.

Network Associates makes McAfee. eTrust is Computer Associates AV package. Link

 

[alm4rr]

read this link for great info

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...3&threadid=1375461

 

[mechBgon]

We use VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i at work. You can build a pre-customized installer using McAfee Installation Designer 8 so the office staff can do installations and not have to configure it themselves in order to get it right.

Among your pre-customization options, naturally you can schedule update tasks and scans, and you can also password-protect the installation to tamper-proof it, and make it not appear in Add/Remove Programs, so the only way to uninstall it (gracefully) is to run the installer a second time and choose the Remove option.

If you go that route, PM me and I can give you detailed configuration suggestions. For a Win2000 SP4 system with VSE 8.0i, you would want at least 256MB in the rigs, by my way of thinking (edit: since you've stated WinXP, I'd think 384MB for you guys). I have systems all the way down to 350MHz PentiumII's that are running it with Win2000SP4.

 

[kylef]

Another vote for eTrust. Runs on older systems quite well. And it's very stable, which is important considering that a buggy virus scanner can easily blue screen your computer. (Achem, NAV...)