What makes them so different?

I have both AVG and Norton installed on my one computer and McAfee, AVG and Norton on my other, but there's one thing I don't understand. What makes them so different? i know they all have different options and some work better than others(Norton sucks), but why is that? AVG works the best for me. Another thing i was wondering was about the different types of viruses. Is it coding that makes them different? Why were they created? I did try to google it, but my school computers won't let me access the sites, and AOL decided to be the worst its ever been and not allow me to access with some 504 timeouts. thanks in advance for any help!

Im not sure if there are alot of differences on the different AV s/w.
Different GUI's, functionality and features would be the main distinctions between the different AV s/w.

A virus is a program, coded in the authors favourite language, so yes it is code that makes them different. Different code does different things!

Virii have been created to wreak havok!

I know some are faster than others and find the viruses more quickly.I believe Norton is the slowest,but is more thorough and PCcillin found viruses faster and was less thorough. It was a TSS show from months ago. They also tested AVG and it found all of the viruses that the others did. (I believe Norton takes up more resources than most others).

I honestly prefer nav, although i hear that panda has a pretty good product as well. eh. regardless, use whatever makes you smile.

as long as you have a 'major' company, and you keep your definitions up, you shouldn't really have a problem. my virus scan runs at some odd time when i know i won't be using my machine, so speed isn't a concern.

answer me this....y do you need to scan your computer for Viruses IF:
* You have active search on (Searches all files that are on the screen and that are run)
* The AV scan's memory and boot sequence on boot.
* You keep your AV Up-to-date

If you havea virus on your Harddrive..it won't do any thing untill you open it...therefor...if you can monitor all files that are opend....just kill the ones that are viruses and forget about the rest....thats just my 2 cents.

- Noia

statistical did u even bother to read the post?! Sygate and Zonealarm are FIREWALLS and do not stop viruses (Cept a few Mail ones/Dial-home's/Trojans).

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Originally posted here by Noia
answer me this....y do you need to scan your computer for Viruses IF:
* You have active search on (Searches all files that are on the screen and that are run)
* The AV scan's memory and boot sequence on boot.
* You keep your AV Up-to-date

If you havea virus on your Harddrive..it won't do any thing untill you open it...therefor...if you can monitor all files that are opend....just kill the ones that are viruses and forget about the rest....thats just my 2 cents.

- Noia

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I'm not exactly sure what you were trying to get at here. From your post you make it sound like you don't need a virus scanner? Correct me if I'm wrong.

But here's the thing I have to say to those who still say you don't need a virus scanner, what about internet cache that you download off the Internet? You can't exactly jusr delete the files that are "bad, because how could you tell. I've gone to a few sites off of AO that has pissed Norton off to come up and say there is some sort of virus being cached (it was awhile ago, I don't have the log anymore). So I think that's a big reason to have a virus scanner, and not just delete files that MIGHT be viruses, sometimes you just can't tell.

Plus that's the other thing, how do you always know a virus? What about word docs and such that float round the office. Wasn't there a post up just the other day about a nasty Word 2000 virus?

I think Noia was saying that if you have your AV proggie, set up to constantly monitor new files, run a scan at boot, and keep your virus definitions up to date, you don't really have to do periodic scans, since the AV proggie will be scanning any new files anyway.

~edit, forgot the last part. . .most people don't know about new viruses until their AV company updates there sigs for the new virus, only other way to know is to go through the virus code and look for mallicous activities, unless the new virus's sig is similar to another virus that is already out, which wouldn't really be a new virus at all..~

Oh yes I totally agree. The only time I really stress to have a computer virus scan daily (like over night) is on someone's computer who has like an FTP server, web server, or uses any type of peer to peer type of software. Because that way you can get viruses caught ASAP!

Any antivirus prog is good as it keeps updated....
So make sure you update often, and you should be pretty safe ......
And if pretty safe why bother which prog....

It's like choosing a linux distro, choose the one you think would best fit in ...

Greetz

Ok can I ask what this is:

What makes them so different? Today at 03:14 PM
Topic Started By: JenaLynn | Last Reply By: .: Shrekkie :.
Thread Is In: AntiVirus Discussions | Total Replies: 10
The AntiPoint Status Of This Thread Is Currently: very negative

Ummm, why is this negative?

AcidriveHB,

No offence, but did you even bother to read other posts ?

As you could see there was a not so thoughtfull post in it..... ;)

Greetz

Thanx for all the help so far guys. Mostly I wanted to know why there are such large discrepensies in the NAV system compared to AVG. I update all three every 5 days, but AVG has been the only one to catch ANY virus or virus-like activity. The other question was why viruses are different, and what makes them so. I know part of it is programming, but is that it?

Quote:

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Originally posted here by AciDriveHB
Ok can I ask what this is:

What makes them so different? Today at 03:14 PM
Topic Started By: JenaLynn | Last Reply By: .: Shrekkie :.
Thread Is In: AntiVirus Discussions | Total Replies: 10
The AntiPoint Status Of This Thread Is Currently: very negative

Ummm, why is this negative?

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More than likely, there were some not-so-postworthy posts earlier in this thread that were negged, and later deleted/removed by moderator. However, the status that those posts received stays I'm assuming, hence, the negative status of the thread...

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The other question was why viruses are different, and what makes them so. I know part of it is programming, but is that it?

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A virus is, as i mentioned earlier, often a disguised program (ie. a set of operations for a computer to carry out, written using code) used to cause damage to computer systems

So in response to your question

Why are virii different?

Because they are different programs.