Without going into details, I recently had the opportunity to several different virus scanners a "dynamic" test. I had, in an e-mail message, an attachment (a zip file) which I knew from the nature of the message contained some sort of bad thing.
I use the free version of AVG, so I had it scan the file, and it failed to identify the trojan therein. Then I used the online scanners of Symantec (Norton), Trend Micro, and Panda. Of those three, only the Norton scanner correctly identified the bug as trojan.peacomm.
Even after giving AVG's definitions a week to catch up, it still reported the file as clean.
Many people will recommend anti-virus software based on the fact that they've never had an infection while using their favorite. The fact is, though, that you never know whether yours is any good or not until you're faced with an actual threat. There's always a "dead zone" between the time that a new virus/trojan starts to proliferate and when the antivirus developers come up with an answer for it. This means, (A) you can't always depend on antivirus software to save you, and (B) the one you use should have a good history of speedy release of new definitions for new threats.
While I've used AVG for three or four years, the first time it was tested, it failed miserably, so I'm looking elsewhere.
I use the free version of AVG, so I had it scan the file, and it failed to identify the trojan therein. Then I used the online scanners of Symantec (Norton), Trend Micro, and Panda. Of those three, only the Norton scanner correctly identified the bug as trojan.peacomm.
Even after giving AVG's definitions a week to catch up, it still reported the file as clean.
Many people will recommend anti-virus software based on the fact that they've never had an infection while using their favorite. The fact is, though, that you never know whether yours is any good or not until you're faced with an actual threat. There's always a "dead zone" between the time that a new virus/trojan starts to proliferate and when the antivirus developers come up with an answer for it. This means, (A) you can't always depend on antivirus software to save you, and (B) the one you use should have a good history of speedy release of new definitions for new threats.
While I've used AVG for three or four years, the first time it was tested, it failed miserably, so I'm looking elsewhere.
If there is something that you can't get rid of, and you're cheap like me, then try the trial version of Spy Sweeper. That is highly efficient, and to be honest, if I had a credit card I just might purchase it. Spy Sweeper has been able to help me on several occasions when I was called to the rescue of my nephews (aged 14-19).
