IT guys and anti-virus software

[volcanicweather]

I work for a small company (7 workstations, 1 server) and our IT company want us to switch to McAfee and they want to charge us $500 in result of this.

Is there really a huge difference between McAfee and AVG/Avast or some of the other free anti-virus software around? Any other IT guys have opinions on this? I have AVG on my personal computer and granted I don't download stupid shit, but it works just fine.

Thoughts?

[Kriz]

Where I work we use McAfee, defaulted to only scan when files are written/read (not my decision). We get lots of users every week with virus problems.

With McAfee your company will get better "support" but that's all bull, you never will contact McAfee and you don't need their software. Especially if you aren't getting the enterprise version.

If I had my choice, I'd stick registered versions of MalwareBytes anti-malware on machines (registered gets preventative care). But I don't, and McAfee works well enough.

Can you technically use AVG/Avast on company computers for free? Just copy/paste from AVG wiki "AVG Free Edition is licenced for home and non-commercial use on one PC"

I'm sure your IT company wants you to not be liable for legal problems, and McAfee is a big name vendor they probably have contacts/deals with.

[Cephius]

Yes, there is a huge difference in a corporate environment. For the most part, McAfee has better 0-day protection than AVG/Avast ever will. For a home user this isn't a big deal, but in a corporate settings you want the best protection to stop worms and virii from spreading.

Also McAfee will come with server consoles that monitor each client to make sure they're getting the latest definitions and also to track infections. The free programs offer no server editions, making it nearly impossible for an IT department to manage the client computers.

It's just not just about basic protection in a corporate setting, you have to take management and monitoring into account, and paid antivirus is the way to go.

[volcanicweather]

Yes, there is a huge difference in a corporate environment. For the most part, McAfee has better 0-day protection than AVG/Avast ever will. For a home user this isn't a big deal, but in a corporate settings you want the best protection to stop worms and virii from spreading.

Also McAfee will come with server consoles that monitor each client to make sure they're getting the latest definitions and also to track infections. The free programs offer no server editions, making it nearly impossible for an IT department to manage the client computers.

It's just not just about basic protection in a corporate setting, you have to take management and monitoring into account, and paid antivirus is the way to go.

Thanks for this, good advice.

[Isiolia]

McAfee, and some others, offer managed solutions, which may be what they're trying to sell you on. Allows you/them to make sure workstations are getting updates, scanning, etc, and see the results without needing to go machine to machine, and so on.

Now, with as many machines as you have, that may be overkill. Or it might save you money if they don't need to spend as many hours on-site. Hard to say, probably something you'd want to talk more to them about.

Far as actual scanning...eh...most products are pretty close provided they're kept up to date and all that, and none are perfect. Virus Bulletin : News - AV-Test release latest results

McAfee tested there as having fewer updates than most.

In my experience though, it's a far bigger thing to have your users just be smart about what they click on. Viruses/malware are nearly always ahead of the programs used to remove them.

[Tythera]

The internet capable machines where I work are all set to Symantec 10, while the standalones and internal networked machines are all running Symantec 11. I have to say they made a large improvement in system resource use going from 10>11. I don't know how expensive it is but 11 is unobtrusive and gets the job done.

Edit: I should mention it's Endpoint 11.

[Day]

The company I work for has used Trend Microscan/Officescan for many years now, however we are currently switching over to endpoint/checkpoint.

[levish]

just a side note alot of the free software out there is free for only personal use, it is illegal (same as pirating) to use them in a business environment

[budd]

The company I work for used to offer Symantec/Endpoint, but now we offer Trend Micro.

No experience with Endpoint 11, but 10 was terrible. McAfee products are generally bad, also. My old job (a university) used McAfee religiously, and suffered many a virus outbreak because of it. Not to mention McAfee products are generally bad.


Trend Micro is a good product. Kaspersky and ESET Smart Security are also pretty good.

[Day]

The company I work for used to offer Symantec/Endpoint, but now we offer Trend Micro.

No experience with Endpoint 11, but 10 was terrible. McAfee products are generally bad, also. My old job (a university) used McAfee religiously, and suffered many a virus outbreak because of it. Not to mention McAfee products are generally bad.


Trend Micro is a good product. Kaspersky and ESET Smart Security are also pretty good.

We are going the opposite and leaving Trend. I am not really pleased with Endpoint thus far, we had very little issue with Trend, I don't even know why we are switching. Probably $$$$$$.

[budd]

I hear Symantec Endpoint 11/Norton AV 2009 are actually pretty good iterations this time around. Stick with what you know is good is my motto so I can't verify. (ESET Nod32 Smart Security user here).