What Anti Virus for HTPC

easyrider · 3 Apr 2009 at 13:03

Now I have been running Sophos but the updates have been flaky so I downloaded Avast pro after a search on here and it crashes my VCE.

When I play a DVD from within media Browser about 5 mins in the video just hangs and I have to restart VCE.

So I figured I would uninstall Avast and see what happens.

Well it was the culprit.

Videos played smooth and not one crash.

So my question is what small but powerful antivirus software could I use for my HTPC.

I don't want a resource hogging AV

Obviously I want to avoid trying loads of different ones and filling my registry with pap.

Now I apologise for this question in some respects but my HTPC is used in a different way.Its connected to the net 24/7 but only for downloading metadata etc... I hardly browse the net on it.

is AVG OK still?

Thanks

easy

xb8browney · 3 Apr 2009 at 13:04

I'm using NOD32 Smart Security V4 on my HTPC, Desktop and Laptop.

wolvers · 3 Apr 2009 at 13:13

Yeah I use AVG on all of my machines.

Downloading metadata?!..............etc............yeah whatever

easyrider · 3 Apr 2009 at 13:16

wolvers69 said:
Yeah I use AVG on all of my machines.

Downloading metadata?!..............etc............yeah whatever

Of course.

After all the money spent on my home cinema I'm hardly going to watch a downloaded MKV file! :eek:

Holwill · 3 Apr 2009 at 13:38

I use Avira for all my PC's, HTPC included and It does not cause any issue's when it is updating or throw me out of VMC,Media Browser etc. Some MKV,s look the equal of their Bluray brethren, all down to the transfer in the first place. If it was crap to start with, it will always look crap regardless

nikebee · 3 Apr 2009 at 15:22

AVG is rather naff now to be honest.

I always use NOD32 or where that isn't an option (i.e. cost) look at using Avast.

Katoom · 3 Apr 2009 at 15:28

I have the free version of Avast and use Media Browser, no problems on my Vista HTPC.

neil_g · 3 Apr 2009 at 15:30

ive got avast on my HTPC with no issues.

id check that its not on-access scanning something that would effect media center and/or playback.

easyrider · 3 Apr 2009 at 15:51

neil_g said:
ive got avast on my HTPC with no issues.

id check that its not on-access scanning something that would effect media center and/or playback.

Yeah checked that option and disabled it.

It only stopped crashing and hanging dvd playback once I uninstalled avast.

Shame really as its a nice GUI and that

Glaucus · 3 Apr 2009 at 16:07

I'm using avast

sswats · 3 Apr 2009 at 16:25

was using Avast. it worked fine. But on the new install i thought I'd try AVG 8.5 and that too is fine.

marscay · 3 Apr 2009 at 16:34

easyrider said:
After all the money spent on my home cinema I'm hardly going to watch a downloaded MKV file!

like most ppl can tell the difference

easyrider · 3 Apr 2009 at 23:52

marscay said:
like most ppl can tell the difference

Dunno

Its up to them

Fire Wizard · 4 Apr 2009 at 00:00

The two anti-virus products that seem to be fairly light on resources are Avast and Avira.

easyrider · 4 Apr 2009 at 00:06

Fire Wizard said:
The two anti-virus products that seem to be fairly light on resources are Avast and Avira.

Thanks for the input

Avast: as stated in OP crashed my VCE

Avira Ill take a look

Fire Wizard · 4 Apr 2009 at 00:10

easyrider said:
Thanks for the input

Avast: as stated in OP crashed my VCE

Avira Ill take a look

I apologise, I completely misread your post.

Have you tried reinstalling Avast to see if you experience the same problems? Maybe a reinstall will solve the problems that you have been having.

If not, then give Avira a try and hopefully you won't have any problems with it.

easyrider · 4 Apr 2009 at 00:23

Reinstall was the same.

Avira ill take a look

Minimoke · 4 Apr 2009 at 12:45

Although there will be a few [or a lot] of people disagreeing with me, I would reccommend AVG Free Edition a hundred times over. I worked at a computer store, and they put it on all of the systems that came in, and all of the systems that they built. It's never let me down. If you want a bit more, then just go for the premium package, I'm sure it's worth it. Chris.

Alexrose1uk · 4 Apr 2009 at 13:38

Avira and Avast are better than AVG, I don't doubt your experience though Minimoke, AVG is definately better than some AV out there, however it tends to be popular *because* of how popular/well known it is nowadays, not because it's the best of the free AV anymore, [although it used to be, which is why it became rather popular in the first place].
AVG simply doesn't have the detection rate these do, and is heavier on resources (I have had to clean several AVG 'protected' systems) and has gone downhill over the last few years (possible company complacency as its the most famous 'free' AV?), and I also worked in a PC store. Norton2009 is actually also pretty decent but isn't lite enough for you. NOD and Kaspersky are excellent, but higher resource using again.

Avira is a little more resource hungry than Avast, but has slightly better detection rates IIRC as a return.

Audigex · 5 Apr 2009 at 03:00

Nod32, Avast, Comodo.

Personally I'd stick avast, ad-aware and a-squared on it. Set them all to have no automatic/scheduled timing and turn most of the active-protection off. You'll only be using one or two specific programs, so you have little need for it.

Then I'd suggest that you put COMODO or some other firewall on (unless you have a robust network/hardware firewall), and set it only to block outgoing connections. Once you've allowed your handful of media programs it shouldn't give you any trouble, and will block any nasties.

I say to turn the active protection etc off because you'll hardly be installing/uninstalling programs, accepting files on it. If you intend to use it for light browsing, turn it back on.

Turn scheduled scanning off completely, unless you have a set time of the week/day where the PC will be on and you NEVER watch TV; then just run the scans regularly yourself.

One final idea is to use a linux setup with mythTV or similar; it's possible to install the OS and programs you need, then load it read-only on boot. Simply run this of perhaps a small SSD or even SD card/usb pen with your media on a server/hard drive and you won't have to worry about viruses at all.