anti-virus for gamers!?

megaflux19

i came across this today:

http://www.bitdefender.com/media/html/gamesafe.html

and what i am wondering is:

1. are we really that naive?

2. do they actually expect us to believe this offers as much protection as norton?

3. when you play do you use antivirus? or do you use antivirus at all?? my logic is if it is a "gaming rig" chances are people are not sitting infront of it looking for ways to get viruses. also i see TONS of problems from game to game with antivirus, spyware, firewall software being the root of peoples problems.

4. would anyone even buy this? i mean if it is equal to conventional antivirus then why use any of the others with their massive footprints?

and finally..

5. are you insulted by companies that put "extreme" or "gaming" or "sli/crossfire certified" on products thinking that the average gamer is just stupid enough to let THAT be the deciding factor in what products they buy? i know i am.

daelnor

1. Yes, many people are that naive.

2. You just showed how naive you are by thinking Norton is even worth mentioning their name. Norton is one of the worst out there...and you pay a subscription for it pffft!

Bit defender isn't terrible, but its not great either. It was, however, one of the first anti virus programs to make a 64bit compatible version. Now thankfully AVG and some of the others have caught up.

3. About the only time I am not running some sort of anti-virus program is when doing fresh installs of my software. I won't even turn it off to update games unless it is giving me problems, in which case I'll disable it until I am done. Connecting to the internet without an antivirus running is like having one night stands without a condom.

I wouldn't touch Norton or McAfee with YOUR computer.

skeaser

Norton sucks. I prefer Avast!, AVG is good too, but I just like Avast! better. Both are free and both just plain work. Unfortunatley, Vista has issues with some programs and I've been forced to use Microsoft OneCare, and I HATE it.

Lobotomist

Norton Antivirus , should itself be labeled virus !

 

It is impossible to uninstall it. You need special 3rd party program just to remove Norton

Atop of that , it does nothing, offers laughable protection , eats up ton of resources !

 

So please do not mention Norton never again.

 

 

I presonally am using AVG. Its completely free. And it among best antivirus software.

Kaspersky , that is considered the best, is also a system hog.. do not use it.

 

Bit Defender is quite good aswell.

spinach8puff

Anti-Virus Software Reviews

I currently use BitDefender, but I use the Internet Security version as I already know how to do the other cleaning tasks the Total Security version offers. I have also used Kasperksy and both programs are very good.

BitDefender Game Safe sounds like a good idea in my opinion. Ever happen to be in a group for somewhere and the tank goes afk or something? Instead of just staring at your computer some people rather alt tab and surf around random places. So if you stick BitDefender in Game Safe Mode it doesn't auto update while gaming or hog up your memory. Unfortunately Kaspersky did not have this option and while I did have automatic updates turned off it still slightly slowed down my internet connection as it scans everything coming in.

Xasapis

That list of features you linked is either wrong or outdated. The reason I picked Norton 360 v2 (and left zone alarm internet suite) is the guaranteed vista 64bit support, which according to that link, it's non existent.

Mahje

NOD32; get it and u will never again think of another one..

Norton aint that bad what i heard, back in the days there were alot of shit with norton and it used to be a system hog. Today Norton should be alot better but why settle with something less then the best.

spinach8puff

That link was just the first one I clicked on when I did a Google search. After looking around a lot of those sites I noticed are from either Jan. '08 or earlier. Here's a more recent list I found that ranks them: C-net Anti-Virus Software List

BitDefender isn't even up there, but I definately trust it as I go to a lot of non secure sites and have tested it quite a bit.

megaflux19

actually i use nothing, i havent had a virus in like 5 years at least. i dont know what kind of 1 night stands you go in for but if she is that much of a skank i stay way far away from it.

i used norton as a prime example since it is generally thought to be the industry standard (ya know for people who own pc's, not use them). to me ANY antivirus is a waste of resources, i can reinstall vista and all the drivers faster than i can scan 1TB and there is no less than #0 (which is how much sys resources are gobbled up by NOT using anything). of course THIS machine is a single user gaming rig, the others are 2 user and 1 is a media box the other is for web browsing and word processing. (so yea no kiddies looking for hacks or porn)

IF something is even remotely suspect i use this:

http://virusscan.jotti.org/

and nothing ever hits.

what im thinking more is would you buy special antivirus (based on that link) for gamers? whatever you use is...well i guess it must work for you (i think most of you are REAL paranoid). im sure there is a thread somewhere where people play the "my antivirus is better" game. thats not what i was going for, though i suppose i have learned some things.

now to my lab where i am going to cook up some "crossfire certified" energy drinks and "gamer edition" pork rinds, because it is so on!

Xasapis

I would agree with you if all I had in my PC were games (which would suck to lose progression in any case, talking about single player ones). The anti-virus or lately the internet protection suites have the same purpose as a house door with a locking mechanism does. They will keep most threats outside, although a dedicated aggressor will always find a way in. I don't see people leaving their house doors open even if they live in the best neighborhoods.

daelnor

IF you have time to monitor your gaming rig 24/7 and constantly check for unusual things..sure, you can be relatively safe. Most of us have families and what not who also use our computers, which means you don't always know exactly what is going on with your pc at all times.

And if you've never gotten anything in 5 years, that's just luck of the draw, nothing to do with your "L337 Sk1llz".

skeaser

Originally posted by megaflux19


actually i use nothing, i havent had a virus in like 5 years at least. i dont know what kind of 1 night stands you go in for but if she is that much of a skank i stay way far away from it.
i used norton as a prime example since it is generally thought to be the industry standard (ya know for people who own pc's, not use them). to me ANY antivirus is a waste of resources, i can reinstall vista and all the drivers faster than i can scan 1TB and there is no less than #0 (which is how much sys resources are gobbled up by NOT using anything). of course THIS machine is a single user gaming rig, the others are 2 user and 1 is a media box the other is for web browsing and word processing. (so yea no kiddies looking for hacks or porn)
IF something is even remotely suspect i use this:
http://virusscan.jotti.org/
and nothing ever hits.
what im thinking more is would you buy special antivirus (based on that link) for gamers? whatever you use is...well i guess it must work for you (i think most of you are REAL paranoid). im sure there is a thread somewhere where people play the "my antivirus is better" game. thats not what i was going for, though i suppose i have learned some things.
now to my lab where i am going to cook up some "crossfire certified" energy drinks and "gamer edition" pork rinds, because it is so on!

 

If you don't have an antivirus, it's quiet possible your PC is infected right now and you have no clue at all. Not all viruses are easy to spot.

Drafell

For most gamers a good firewall is more important than AV software. There is very little need to have AV software itself running if you use the internet sensibly, keep windows updated, and don't download lots of questionable software. I would still recommend running an AV scan every month, but there is little need to have it running 24/7 as most of these utilities seem to want.

There are a lot of all-in-one suites out there that cover both AV and firewall protection, but in terms of firewalls I would recommend Comodo Firewall Pro.

It's fully featured, free, and is one of the most secure products out there for the home user. The latest version also has the obligatory inbuilt malware/virus scanner, although I can really say how this part compares to other products on the market. It seems to work well enough.

Just remember to un-tick the browser bar plug-in when installing.

CleffyII

I got NOD32.  Its simply incredible.

maskedweasel

Originally posted by megaflux19


actually i use nothing, i havent had a virus in like 5 years at least. i dont know what kind of 1 night stands you go in for but if she is that much of a skank i stay way far away from it.
i used norton as a prime example since it is generally thought to be the industry standard (ya know for people who own pc's, not use them). to me ANY antivirus is a waste of resources, i can reinstall vista and all the drivers faster than i can scan 1TB and there is no less than #0 (which is how much sys resources are gobbled up by NOT using anything). of course THIS machine is a single user gaming rig, the others are 2 user and 1 is a media box the other is for web browsing and word processing. (so yea no kiddies looking for hacks or porn)
IF something is even remotely suspect i use this:
http://virusscan.jotti.org/
and nothing ever hits.
what im thinking more is would you buy special antivirus (based on that link) for gamers? whatever you use is...well i guess it must work for you (i think most of you are REAL paranoid). im sure there is a thread somewhere where people play the "my antivirus is better" game. thats not what i was going for, though i suppose i have learned some things.
now to my lab where i am going to cook up some "crossfire certified" energy drinks and "gamer edition" pork rinds, because it is so on!

 

It has been known that some Antivirus programs do hinder some games.  I don't know what BitDefender is playing at, but it is one of the top Anti-Virus programs out there believe it or not.

Norton is slowly creeping towards being the new AOL, it was great at first but then they just got cocky and now the only reason people use them is because they don't know anything else.

However, having an AV installed is great because it does allow for added protection for a number of things.  Having a firewall (comodo is one of the best) is also really helpful, but that requires more user interaction and some people might have a really hard time configuring certain things if they don't know what they're doing.

So do you need and Anti-Virus program?  Perhaps, if you have children, download anything, surf porn, use outlook express or the office suite, if you like myspace..... ya maybe then.  But if you use your computer just to play games then probably not... unless you download nocd cracks.. then you should be careful.

Even surfing this site could be an issue!  I don't know if anyone remembers a month or so back someone planted a trojan on this site?  Ya, without an anti-virus you probably would've gotten it and been screwed.  Alot of the time online scans won't remove everything and they're more to pinpoint where they've found problems.  One of the best is housecall.trendmicro.com but even that won't remove everything.

 

StinkyPits

Check out Whizzo CleanSuite Ultra.  It's what I use and it cleans all kinds of things.  It's like Norton on crack and it uses the Kaspersky engine.  Check this out:

 

http://www.teamwhizzo.com/product.php?productid=16

zantax

Originally posted by skeaser


Norton sucks. I prefer Avast!, AVG is good too, but I just like Avast! better. Both are free and both just plain work. Unfortunatley, Vista has issues with some programs and I've been forced to use Microsoft OneCare, and I HATE it.

 

Sorry just have to ask this, What programs does vista not like in reference to antivirus.  I have run Vista x64 ultimate since release with Avast loaded on it and never had one issue, well ok only 1 issue but that is with a very old game.  For some reason Asheron's Call doesn't like almost ANY antivirus on Vista, but I am working with the Avast team to get that fixed.

As for myself I use Avast, for the simple reason it seems like the first one that was x64 compatible, took me 2 days to find it after x64 xp came out and I haven't looked back.  Other then that AVG looks good but I personally don't like it for some reason.  All the other AV programs out there just seem to tank a system to bad, they affect performance and that bothers me, I hardly know Avast is running until it updates.

megaflux19

1. i am not infected with anything according to trend micro or panda.

2. 5 years without a virus has nothing to do with luck, it has to do with knowing what i click, not being a f-tard, and more importantly not even going to sites like youtube or myspace (got 0 life?)

3. why the hell would anyone attack me? this mirrors reality in a way, but lock the door, stay armed, and never let a stranger in the house.

4. the question i have is how many STD's have you had?! i have never had any, of course i have never been to a titty bar (or a gay bar... i have my suspicions they are not disease free places) much less looked @ a skank and said "i can hit that". nothing "1337" was ever implied, i think its a trust thing.

5. i do do little scans while servers get maintained, more out of boredom than anything else. if YOU control your machine there is really no need to have tons of added security that does.... what? oh nothing right...just like i dont hire a security detail to patrol my house (besides the neighbors thinking im a damn freak) if i worked for the nrc, fbi, nasa, the aerospace industry i could see worrying about it, or if i used ANY wireless devices, but i dont.

do you steal these non-free antivirus programs? i would kind of hope so.. i mean i pay for garbage games every now and then but i would be real pissed if i paid for norton and still got a virus. the only people i know that get viruses are people who use the antivirus programs! most everyone i know uses a c: for the os and drivers, backs that up, and installs any other app or game on other partitions. doing it this way you just wipe c: and can be back up and running in no time. no stupid definition updates in the middle of raids, no smart scanning, no increased boot time or any other (what i see as) negative effects. i dont see how a firewall helps either, seems kind of like the next thing is to say "use the longest ethernet cables you can find, that way you are far away from the internet and it will take hackers longer to get in so you have a better chance of stopping/catching them".

what is on your computers that you think a hacker would want to steal? and lets not overlook what a "secure site" is before we answer that since ..well you would have to be a real tard to have a txt document with your credit card numbers sitting  im your shared folder.

miagisan

avast! is by far the best, regular updates, free, and uses almost no resources. Very great AV

banthis

Originally posted by megaflux19


1. i am not infected with anything according to trend micro or panda.
2. 5 years without a virus has nothing to do with luck, it has to do with knowing what i click, not being a f-tard, and more importantly not even going to sites like youtube or myspace (got 0 life?)
3. why the hell would anyone attack me? this mirrors reality in a way, but lock the door, stay armed, and never let a stranger in the house.
4. the question i have is how many STD's have you had?! i have never had any, of course i have never been to a titty bar (or a gay bar... i have my suspicions they are not disease free places) much less looked @ a skank and said "i can hit that". nothing "1337" was ever implied, i think its a trust thing.
5. i do do little scans while servers get maintained, more out of boredom than anything else. if YOU control your machine there is really no need to have tons of added security that does.... what? oh nothing right...just like i dont hire a security detail to patrol my house (besides the neighbors thinking im a damn freak) if i worked for the nrc, fbi, nasa, the aerospace industry i could see worrying about it, or if i used ANY wireless devices, but i dont.
do you steal these non-free antivirus programs? i would kind of hope so.. i mean i pay for garbage games every now and then but i would be real pissed if i paid for norton and still got a virus. the only people i know that get viruses are people who use the antivirus programs! most everyone i know uses a c: for the os and drivers, backs that up, and installs any other app or game on other partitions. doing it this way you just wipe c: and can be back up and running in no time. no stupid definition updates in the middle of raids, no smart scanning, no increased boot time or any other (what i see as) negative effects. i dont see how a firewall helps either, seems kind of like the next thing is to say "use the longest ethernet cables you can find, that way you are far away from the internet and it will take hackers longer to get in so you have a better chance of stopping/catching them".
what is on your computers that you think a hacker would want to steal? and lets not overlook what a "secure site" is before we answer that since ..well you would have to be a real tard to have a txt document with your credit card numbers sitting  im your shared folder.

Uh anyone that games has plenty a hacker wants to steal..especially if you play a popular MMO game.  All they have to do is find a way to infest a gaming website with keyloggers and BAM they have your account and if you have a worthy account to steal they'll sell it in a heart beat or just maliciously delete all your toons.  This is a common occurance and worth having an anti virus to run in the background.  Norton sucks though I caught a virus on a work computer once and Norton never even noticed it, luckily it was just an annoyance and I removed it myself.

 

skeaser

Originally posted by zantax

Originally posted by skeaser


Norton sucks. I prefer Avast!, AVG is good too, but I just like Avast! better. Both are free and both just plain work. Unfortunatley, Vista has issues with some programs and I've been forced to use Microsoft OneCare, and I HATE it.

 

Sorry just have to ask this, What programs does vista not like in reference to antivirus.  I have run Vista x64 ultimate since release with Avast loaded on it and never had one issue, well ok only 1 issue but that is with a very old game.  For some reason Asheron's Call doesn't like almost ANY antivirus on Vista, but I am working with the Avast team to get that fixed.

As for myself I use Avast, for the simple reason it seems like the first one that was x64 compatible, took me 2 days to find it after x64 xp came out and I haven't looked back.  Other then that AVG looks good but I personally don't like it for some reason.  All the other AV programs out there just seem to tank a system to bad, they affect performance and that bothers me, I hardly know Avast is running until it updates.

 

I had issues with Asheron's Call as well, and another older game I went back and tried, think it was UO, but I could be wrong. I've been replaying all the classics lately.

cukimunga

I use AVG for Virus, Comodo for Firewall I like it alot. 

Orca

Norton is a virus in itself. It clocks up systemresoures meaning, and it spams your screen everytime it finds a virus.

Get BitDefender, I heard it is one of the best.

Currently, I don't use Anti-Virus, but I often use the One-Care Live service Microsoft has... And it works perfect.