Best Network Antivirus for Windows XP [closed]
I have used Symantec Antivirus Endpoint Protection on nearly 500 workstations. There are problems here and there -- but once you know the few minor annoyances, and the Symantec way to manually remove the software (which is just a series of registry entries) it is great overall.
Symantec AV is nice when you need to manage tons of workstations, and don't want to have to manually ever touch workstations. The push deploy is amazing.
Trend Micro is good too.
Stay away from the "big" companies, as much as they generally work, I have had so many headaches with Symantec and Mcafee.
I personally found Nod32 to be the best at speed and memory however the latest version is not as good as it used to be - I think they are now going down the Symantec trap and spending more on marketing than product development.... It is still better than a number out there, however, I just hope I can say that in 2 years time
If you can not wait, the ones I have found to be best (in no order)
Nod32
Bit Defender
Kaspersky - (again, going down hill)
AVG - (with link scanner disabled - memory/speed hog)
If you currently have no antivirus and can wait, I would take a look at Microsoft "Morro", (or try to find the beta) I have been using it for the past couple of months and have been VERY impressed. It uses next to no memory (even less than nod32), and is fast... As far as I know, it has no central management, but it is a very good bit of kit.
We've been using the Trend Micro "Worry Free Business Security Suite" and have been reasonably happy with it. It's inexpensive compared to the Symantec / McAfee / CA offerings and appears to suck less. (All antivirus sucks, to some extent, just by the nature of the problem it's trying to solve. Having operating systems that did a better job of not executing arbitrary code would be a better thing, but that's better left for a [SOAPBOX] post...)
I question the need for third-party firewall functionality on top of what Windows XP already provides, but Trend Micro handles that, too.
I've always liked AVG antivirus. Free for personal use and cheap for business.
http://www.grisoft.com
I've had problems with every antivirus I've had to use except AVG and ClamAV (although Clam is designed to be used on Unix systems to scan email more than anything else; it's an on-demand scanner that is best used in systems as a plug-in such as having your mail agent call the scanner to scrutinize incoming files).
In other words, no antivirus is foolproof. Just a side note.
A nice site for getting some test results can be found at http://www.av-comparatives.org/ so you may want to look there for some stats and information on some big-name company offerings.