In reply to a post by undecidedadrian:

I can't remember the last time I paid for AV as Barclays give me a 3 PC license every year for Kaspersky.

Interestingly, I've just checked with NatWest, & they DON'T offer any AV/Firewall progs - they expect you to provide it yourself!

Comodo is very good but as far as not slowing things down is concerned, FSecure, KIS and Sophos are top ranked in the AV Comparatives tests whilst Avira attains a slightly above average score (Higher the better).
MSE slightly outscores Avira but in my personal experience (AVC no longer include it in their tests), it's extremely poor in all other aspects.

They offer that dreaded Rapport and that's your lot! However, KIS licences can be obtained for as little as a fiver on Amazon. I bought a 5 user 1 year set for £11 a few weeks ago.

Edited by Deadbeat (Mon 17-Jun-13 15:38:27)

I can't see any good reason NOT to use it. It's true that I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of significant threats or issues it's detected over the years. But it might only take one to cause a whole load of hassle and heartache.

Similarly, I've only claimed on my household insurance once in over 20 years. But I don't think that's an argument for scrapping it.

3rd-party AV such as Sophos and Kaspersky, has caused a number of stability issues as of late.

Sensible behaviour, software patching and application hardening will do a much better job than any AV.

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/03/help-keep-threats...
http://blog.malwarebytes.org/whats-in-the-news/2013/...
http://blog.malwarebytes.org/intelligence/2013/06/se...

To be fair, I wouldn't really see it as your bank's responsibility to provide the security arrangements for your end of things. It's just an optional thing Barclays happens to offer, but which I've never yet taken them up on. It wouldn't sway my choice of bank at all.

Like, I suspect, the majority of bank customers, I'm only with them because I always have been, since the age of 17 or 18 - well before the advent of online banking. I find them mediocre at just about everything, but luckily, my banking needs are rather basic - I don't want loans, overdrafts, or complex financial products. I just want to be able to pay in and draw out, which mostly goes without a hitch. I suspect if I had more complex needs more frequently, we might part company pretty soon.

T.

I do all that stuff, but don't consider myself infallible. I may have had only three or four alerts in over a decade of online "life", that weren't false alarms. But the fact there were any at all illustrates that "being sensible" isn't always enough.

In reply to a post by TLM:

Is there anything to stop me just buying it new and reinstalling, rather than paying the extortionate "renewal"?

Nowt at all! Just buy any new unused version of Norton 360 (upgrade or full version) for any recent year not later then your current year, from Norton or even eBay, and just read off the licence key and feed it into your current installed version on the date of current expiry. You don't even need to reinstall or even the supplied CD and you can save yourself a packet to boot.

I've done this for ages with NAV & NIS.

Three or four detected instances of known malware. AV is not foolproof. Maybe next time you won't be so lucky.

In reply to a post by Zadeks:

3rd-party AV such as Sophos and Kaspersky, has caused a number of stability issues as of late....

Any proof of this statement?