How well did your antivirus software do?

[Raverez]

A-V was recently tested by A-V Comparatives. Here are the results.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/avc_rem_201411_en.pdf

I use AVG. scored an 88 on their test. Bitdefender also scored an 88. Those were the two highest.
Most are good, but none are excellent.

[ricoman]

will have to look into that
I tried giving my laptop a flu shot-don't think that'll help.

[Black Pearl's Captain]

Good to know my choice has a triple star rating. Bad to know it completely failed one with a DD zero score. But they all had one DD so none will work 100% of the time.

[Fathertime]

Don't forget, no anti virus will protect you from yourself.
Watch what you click on and only download from trusted sites

[Black Pearl's Captain]

Don't forget, no anti virus will protect you from yourself.
Watch what you click on and only download from trusted sites

Not quite. You can't tell a site that's been hacked from any other. Worst virus I ever had came from a TV personality recipe site. 2 days of work to recover my PC back with full control.

[BonS]

It's interesting to compare the recent results from two different non-profit independent organizations. I have a  personal interest in this as I use both Microsoft Defender (aka Security Essentials) and MalwareBytes. The two play well together and give me greater coverage than either alone. Microsoft Defender is free and MalwareBytes lifetime subscription can be found on eBay for around $15.

The results below are from AV-Test.org as well as AV-comparatives.org

[Robert]

Ive been using ESET for years and am very happy with it and its 2 star rating. The ratings are not the only story either, the use of system resources and how intrusive it is in the programs running. Some cannot be removed easily either almost to the point of crashing the system and leave traces of their program in the registry. configuration of what you want is also a major issue when setting up how you want the program to work.

[BonS]

All very true Robert. I've suffered through removing Avast and AVG and it's not fun. I also like to use anti-virus/malware programs that are not used by the majority as these programs become the target of AV/AM hackers themselves. I stay away from Microsoft Internet Explorer for the same reason - and more.

[Jess from VA]

No computer expert here.

My experience is that my (present) computer occasionally gets kicked in the balls, but never gets killed.

In 15 years or so, I have done complete destructive reboots several times on several computers.

I hate doing it, but with limited skills, it's the only sure method of resurrection of the (essentially) deceased.

[Crackerborn]

Do NOT use Bitdefender under any circumstances!!!! I recently made that mistake and it crashed two AMD systems and slowed the other Intel systems (I7 and I5's) to a P1 load speed (over 2 minutes). Their no-customer service took over 24 hours to respond and once they did, they wanted a screenshot of the directory. Hello.... it's blue screened and you can't open anything even under prompt!!!!!! Lucky for me, almost everything was backed up to a separate hard drive so the only thing I lost was the time to re-format and reload everything on two systems, including the drivers and updates. I would love to know how these labs test since if the system isn't working, you sure can't get a virus or malware. I had purchased a multi-license package and even though I removed all licenses from all systems in less than two weeks, there is no refund coming and since they are an Eastern European company, I am SOL.

[Fathertime]

Don't forget, no anti virus will protect you from yourself.
Watch what you click on and only download from trusted sites

Not quite. You can't tell a site that's been hacked from any other. Worst virus I ever had came from a TV personality recipe site. 2 days of work to recover my PC back with full control.

Actuality, quite.
If you insist on going to a known hacker type site, the AV may ask you if you're sure you want to goto that site.  If you tell it yes, then off you go to Hackervile.
  Get a false update flash message from a bad site and you insist on downloading it there you go,  malware.
  Fall prey to social engineer sites to give up information, you Falk into the trap.
Your best (not only) protection is yourself and knowing where you're going.