Saturday, February 17, 2007 5:39 PM jesper
64-bit Anti-Virus For Vista
One of the (few) security tools that does not come with Windows Vista is anti-virus. Tons of people have asked about which one to use, and which are available. The answer is: most are available for 32-bit Vista already. Malke, a Windows Shell MVP, put together a list of 32-bit anti-virus programs that work on Vista.
Fewer of the programs area also available in 64-bit versions. I was able to confirm availability of the following in 64-bit versions:
Name
Cost
Notes
Avast!
Home edition is free.
AVG
$38.95 for two years
CA eTrust
$29.95
Primarily designed for businesses and sold via site-licenses but can be bought stand-alone too. The consumer version is not available in 64-bit yet.
McAfee
$39.99 for one year
The web site claims the enterprise version works on 64-bit, but McAfee technical support is adamant that they have no versions that work on 64-bit Windows. I would recommend you stay away from McAfee until they figure out what products they actually make.
NOD32
$39 for one year
Trend Micro
$39.95 for one year
If you know of a 64-bit anti-virus for Vista that is not listed above please file a comment and I'll verify and add it to the list.
Oh, which one do I use? None. I do not open e-mail attachments that come with a subject line of "This is so funny" or "ILOVEYOU" or "Naked tennis player". I do not use copyright violation software (a.k.a. file sharing software). And, I run as a standard user. The last time I had a virus that got flagged by a virus scanner was in 1992, on a lab machine used by a student; on an Apple Macintosh. Yes Steve Jobs, the Macintosh has had viruses for as long as Windows.
I figure I'm pretty safe without stuff looking at every file on the computer every time I use them.
Update February 20, 2007Upon receiving a report that Panda is not compatible with Vista x64 after all I have removed them.
Share this post: email it! bookmark it! digg it! live it!
Filed under: Windows Security, Least Privilege, Windows Vista
Ouoted from Jesper's Blog
Friday, March 02, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)