We have not found any AntiVirus software that is 100% effective.  However, we do feel that it is important to have current antivirus software running on your computer. Our opinions are based on experiences with computers that come into our shop for virus removal and with AntiVirus installed on our business clients' networks.  We do not perform any independent scientific analysis.

The things we look for in AntiVirus software are:
1.  Affordability
2.  Degree to which is slows down the PC
3.  Frequency of conflicts between the AV and other programs
4.  Effectiveness at detecting and removing all malware; viruses, spyware, trojans, etc.

For Home Use we recommend  Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials can be downloaded for free for home use so it scores high in the price category.  Our recommendation of Microsoft Security Essentials is a change from our prior recommendation of AVG.  Although historically AVG has not had a significant impact on system performance, the latest version performs poorly compared with prior versions and some competitive products.  For this reason, we are now recommending Microsoft Security Essentials.  Judging the effectiveness of Microsoft Security Essentials is somewhat difficult because it doesn't have a long track record.  For this reason some home users may prefer a different product such as ESET NOD32. 

For Business Use we recommend ESET NOD32

We recommend ESET primarily for it's performance in two categories.  First it has a very low impact on system resources so it won't slow down your computer.  Second, it has always rated highly on effectiveness of detecting & removing malware.  The price is a bit higher than some alternatives but we don't see that as significant for most businesses. 

Other Products

We are frequently asked about other AntiVirus Products.  Here's our view of a few of the most common:

AVG Historically we have been very pro AVG and hope to be in that position again soon.  The 8.x series has been a solid performer in both the free and paid versions.  Several performance issues in the 9.x version have been a cause of concern.  We've found that these issues are do not occur in all cases and we still recommend AVG in some situations.

Norton  Historically we have been very anti-Norton.  It's been a huge resource hog and frequently conflicts with other software.  When a PC comes in with severe performance issues we generally recommend removal of Norton.  We're told that the resource issues have been addressed in Norton 2009.  We hope this is true but we're not ready to change our opinion just yet.

Symantec  Symantec is the business product line from the company that sells Norton.  Like Norton products we have found significant issues with Symantec and generally recommend against Symantec.  Symantec seems to recognize their issues and has made some steps to address them.  We hope so and have taken a wait and see posture on Symantec.

McAfee  We're neither pro nor con on McAfee.  For home use, we see it as comparable to AVG on all criteria except price.  For business use, we find ESET and AVG easier to administer.

TrendMicro  Like McAfee we're neither pro nor con on TrendMicro. For home use, we see it as comparable to AVG on all criteria except price.  We like it better than McAfee for business use but still prefer ESET or AVG.