Antivirus Advice Needed

[EvilEmpryss]

So Boss Lady has asked me to figure out what antivirus software we need for the office... because she can't be bothered and my job description includes "and other duties as required". I've done some research but most everyone I've talked to is trying to sell me something, so I was wondering if our computer experts here could give me their opinions on the matter.

It's a small business with only half a dozen Windows computers on a secure network. It's in the medical field, so something HIPAA compliant is ideal. Since it's a small business, cost is a concern, both to purchase and to maintain.

Any suggestions?

[EricKei]

I cannot speak to HIPAA-compliance of specific AV packages or not -- I don't know of any requirements on that aside from "you really, really should have AV on any computer storing HIPAA-related data." In theory, an AV program should not actually be transmitting anything aside from discovered virus signatures/logs anyway.

WebRoot is apparently regarded as one of the better smaller-scale ones, as is MalWareBytes. Note that it's often a good idea to *also* use an anti-spyware-specific program, such as SpyBot Search & Destroy (I love its Immunization feature, but it doesn't work on Chrome if you use that)

[EvilEmpryss]

Thank you! Webroot looks perfect with its mobile device option. I agree that she'll need spyware software, too, since I know for a fact that the majority of the employees are not savvy enough to not fall for phishing schemes and we just cannot risk the penalties from having no protection.

I didn't think there was anything specifically HIPAA-compliant, per se, but I figured if there was, letting you guys know I needed it was important.

I've got an ISP trying to get us to use McAfee AV. Is that good, or at least as good as the other options you suggested?

[Chromatix]

McAfee and Norton and AVG are the "big name" brands which keep themselves in good standing with vendors and ISPs - and almost nobody else.

I personally use Avast, which is actually competent at detecting viruses while not interfering with the running of the computer, with "silent mode" turned on to get rid of the annoying prompts. I believe they have an option for business use, probably with some sort of central management which IT folks like.

[Web_Pict]

I use Avast also, the free version. But I just found out, you should not mention it to any salesmen. They will found so many things wrong in it, even current owners of company.

We were looking a tablet for young _Pict, and found only pricetag from table. When asked, one kitchen salesman said there is some of them, hidden in closet. That they might sell one for us, but we would not see it before it has been paid... And then he said we must get a virus software. When young Web_ said we'd install Avast, salesman burst out that we should not in any circumstances do it, that it would be the worst thing we could do.

But I like Avast. Young Web_ loves it, young _Pict likes it, their father likes it... I love that I can tell it to stop browser windows whom open behind one in use. If asked, I'd recommend Avast.

[RichS]

I use Avast! Free for home use.

A couple of years ago, I got an offer to use Avast! Free for Education, so I replaced the school's expiring Symantec Endpoint Protection with it. It worked well, except for one of our old student database programs; it would always ask to place it in a sandbox - essentially a place in system memory where it was enclosed, away from harming anything critical. No amount of coaxing the program to exclude it from asking worked, and if the user selected the default (put it in the sandbox), the program wouldn't run correctly. It needs access to an offsite server, and for some reason the sandbox cut off that access.

We moved away from Avast! when that licence expired, and are currently working on implementing Microsoft Endpoint Protection that comes with our volume licencing contract. Don't know how good it'll be, but we'll see...

[sstabeler]

and for some reason the sandbox cut off that access.

...because the sandbox is designed to contain trojans as well, so ti pretty much shuts the program down from doing anything.

[EvilEmpryss]

This is for a business environment, and one that has to be HIPAA compliant, so I don't think I can use Avast if the free version is for personal use.

[ComputerNecromancer]

Well, I don't know about HIPAA compliance, but I've been using F-Prot for many years. It had site licensing long before other AV programs did.

[TheSHAD0W]

BitDefender is among the better and more paranoid programs; I use it myself.

[Racket_Man]

use a multi-layered approach

1 good anti-virus (Norton, AVG, Bit-Defender, ESET, etc.) and have it do a scheduled scan at worst once a week
1 good anti malware program (Malwarebytes all the way even the free version) scan at least once a week.

several other "occasional" scan programs (you can download many at Bleepingcomputer.com such as ADWCleaner Junkware Removal Tool, RogueKiller, etc. that you scan your system with maybe once a month.