Opinions on Antivirus for flightsim PCs

[Bob Scott 7,721]

ESET NOD32 here...it has a gaming mode that stops scans while 3D applications are actively running.  In 5 years it has never gotten in the way of FSX/P3D. 

 

That said, I am considering not renewing the AV license on my dedicated flight sim machine, since now I download pretty much everything for that box on another PC and it's checked there before moving it to the sim PC.  I think I've only used the web browser on my sim box 4-5 times.  And I do regular full system backups to stay ready for the next intrusive, system-breaking unwanted Win 10 forced driver update.

 

Regards

[bic 44]

Thanks my friend.  Yeah, I got my start back in 1980 with mainframes and went from there.  I'm current on threat types and end point protection, but I'm not really current on the backend anymore - so much changes so quickly! I've also had somewhat recent threat training at the US Department of Defense (couple of years old but I've stayed updated via a few professional security websites.  Watching what one click on is important, but doesn't stop all the threats - especially the mutated versions of state sponsored malware which is now pretty much everywhere.

 

One thing is for certain today's threats to Personal Computers are not what the were yesterday.  Let me put it this way... I'm encouraged, and absolutely see the need for the new home/small business routers that are coming out as they not only inspect header information but the payload as well.

 

For anyone who ventures online, a Hardware Firewall (router or stand alone) and one of the computer Security Suites I referenced above are the minimums I'd ever recommend.

I started working right athe transition.  I went college and learned COBOL and JCL.  My first job was crimping BNC to Netware 3.11 and writing SQL with FoxPro.  The network was brutal as the wires ran across carpeted floor (!!), so almost every night as the buffalos ran out, something broke!

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

I think you might have me beat for college network disasters, though I built this crazy network of 100+ computers that was used for computational analysis and a separate psychology experiment, then allocated to NASA for number crunching.  I made every single cable for that rig, and by the time I finished I could no longer feel the tips of my fingers!  I much prefer mainframes!

 

Anyway, we're digressed pretty far.  Stop by the voice server sometime and we can catch up!

[Paraffin 2,197]

Windows Defender here, Malware bytes once in a while.

 

I don't turn Defender off when running flight sims. I'm running a fairly strong system with plenty of CPU/RAM overhead and don't think it's causing me to lose anything in frame rate. X-Plane is very stable and tolerant of other processes running in the background. Heck, I even leave Steam running, and a few other background processes that I'd normally kill, if I felt my system was on the edge for flight sim performance.

[vgbaron 3,627]

I've always preferred Eset. I've found it interferes the least of all the major players when using the sim.

 

 

Vic

[edpatino 1,964]

I've always preferred Eset. I've found it interferes the least of all the major players when using the sim.

 

 

Vic

 

In my experience, ESET was one of the reasons for switching to another AV which license is about to expire now, as mentioned in the OP. For some reason, according to what I was told by a qualified technician, ESET blocked my internet connection due to the IP being dinamically changed by the ISP provider, so, it's like ESET treated the connection as potentially harmful, and after several "resets" it continued blocking the connection, so I decided to block myself ESET and look for another AV. This happened to me with ESET Smart Security 9.

Cheers, Ed

[vgbaron 3,627]

 

 

This happened to me with ESET Smart Security 9.

 

I've always just used Eset NOD32 AV not the suite. Only time I had a problem was after an update when it reset my settings and started checking EVERY file on open. You can guess how the flightsim fared!!  :smile:

 

NickN ran some tests on the various Av programs a while back and showed that the Eset NOD32 had the smallest footprint and was the only one (at that time) that didn't leave hooks in your system when it was disabled.

 

This is one of those subjects where everyone is right - I doubt there will ever be a solid favorite overall.

 

Vic

[Flying Penguin 44]

As another mug with a professional interest in this, I have to start from the basic truth that the only way to be safe without AV is to have the network cable unplugged.  Routers get compromised (particularly those supplied in bulk by ISPs), trusted sites get hacked and start distributing malware and sometimes people just click on the wrong thing...  Whilst AV (in the narrowest sense) is not a complete solution, when combined with the web filtering, on-host firewall and ransom-ware protection features that come with all but the most basic suites, it represents a no-brainer investment.

 

The top names have already been mentioned (BitDefender & Kaspersky) though others such as Windows Defender are adequate (albeit they generally achieve lower detection rates), but the key is to have something running continually.  There's no point relying entirely on running a periodic malware scan when the first thing any decent malware will do is disable common AV/AM programs.  I'm running BitDefender Internet Security (1st line of defence, on access) & Hitman Pro (2nd line of defence, periodic scans only, fulfils similar role to MalwareBytes Free) and they've never had a noticeable impact on performance, especially if you exclude known safe processes from the on-access scanning.

 

There is another option that I haven't seen mentioned, and that is moving the scanning to the network level, i.e. aiming to stop nasties between modem and your PC.  This used to be the preserve of large organisations, with racks of servers and highly trained staff or expensive support contracts, often under the umbrella term of Unified Threat Management*, but is now starting to appear for the home user, the advantage being that it protects every device on a home network without having to put AV on each individual machine (although it wouldn't be a bad idea to do it anyway).  The BitDefender Box (http://www.tomsguide.com/us/bitdefender-box,review-3766.html) is a good example of a (nearly) plug and play solution, although if you are technically minded, willing to get your hands dirty and have a spare old machine to dedicate to it there are a number of free (as in beer) licences available for full-on UTM solutions (e.g. Sophos UTM 9 Home, pfSense) that will give proper enterprise-grade security if properly configured.

Cheers,

 

J

 

*Basically a fancy way of describing the combination of AV, signature based intrusion detection/prevention, firewall, web filtering and a whole other bunch of security capabilities into one box.

[Dicko 3]

11 hours ago, vgbaron said:

 

 

 

I've always just used Eset NOD32 AV not the suite. Only time I had a problem was after an update when it reset my settings and started checking EVERY file on open. You can guess how the flightsim fared!!  :smile:

 

NickN ran some tests on the various Av programs a while back and showed that the Eset NOD32 had the smallest footprint and was the only one (at that time) that didn't leave hooks in your system when it was disabled.

 

This is one of those subjects where everyone is right - I doubt there will ever be a solid favorite overall.

 

Vic

+1

[Jimm 437]

11 hours ago, vgbaron said:

 

 

 

I've always just used Eset NOD32 AV not the suite. Only time I had a problem was after an update when it reset my settings and started checking EVERY file on open. You can guess how the flightsim fared!!  :smile:

 

NickN ran some tests on the various Av programs a while back and showed that the Eset NOD32 had the smallest footprint and was the only one (at that time) that didn't leave hooks in your system when it was disabled.

 

This is one of those subjects where everyone is right - I doubt there will ever be a solid favorite overall.

 

Vic

When I first saw this post, I immediately thought "Yep, it's that time of the year."  This subject seems to come up at least once a year and we never get any definitive answers, because as Vic says, everyone is right.  Everyone is going to run their system how they see fit, and everyone goes with what works for them.  I totally respect people's decisions on the usage of anti-virus because for whatever reason, they believe it will help them, and that's fine.  I still fall back on my original statement that in order to achieve a higher and safer level of protection, just stay away from anything suspicious and trust no one.

[PaulFWatts 100]

I have a PC running Windows 10 64bit dedicated to Flight Sim.

Running Windows defender only with relevant directories excluded.

Have not had any problems but also very careful to not download anything or access any sites that are suspect.

I use a Mac for all other computer work and have never run any virus protection in over 20 years of using Macs and never had a virus or malware problem.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

I see a lot of people posting here using the thinking of over 10 years ago. As several people with a professional background in this area have posted, that level of security is no longer enough to mitigate the type of risks we face online today.  We can take a huge lesson from what's going on with the upcoming home/small business router firewalls which not only scan headers but the payload as well.  See, state (government) sponsored Malware has been mutated by nefarious individuals and groups and is being used against home users, servers, websites, the cloud, and other targets. Even websites you know to be safe one day might not be safe tomorrow and you'll never know the difference until it's too late.  I'm not talking about a fake website, I'm talking about the actual website you know and use.

Friends, I'm the last to criticize, I'm only giving the best advice I know to give.  My system is secure, so I have nothing whatsoever to gain by standing on a soap box. Look, history and even a number of children's tales most of us grew up are full of examples that warn us about feeling secure when situations dictate otherwise - and they certainly do in today's threat environment.

Router with an active firewall and proper settings (or stand alone firewall) and a full computer security suite is what I consider to be the minimum recommended security.

If you'd like to find how your current antivirus/computer security suite matches up... check out AV-TEST Labs.  When reviewing the results, please remember that Antivirus software is different than a full computer security suite, an the latter covers many more threat types.

 

My very best wishes to everyone.

[mabe54 17]

Avast since 2003.

[reecemj 146]

On 2/22/2017 at 6:46 PM, Bobsk8 said:

 

And if you forget to turn it off, it will drag your performance down like a boat anchor. 

No sir I have turn all AV software off when flying. A couple of time I uninstalled Eset. Thought it was the problem but it wasn't. It has been great on my pc.