Antiviral programs. Scam??

So I've had my fair share of dud antivirus programs and some programs that actually worked but then a friend of mine said that "antiviruses are scams because people purposely leave loopholes in their programming so that you have to buy their new version when one comes out." So I'm asking the techies of this forum. Are there genuine antivirus program groups that actually attempt to solve all the problems on the net? Or are there only money-making corporations purposely making faulty programs?

There is no short answer to this but I'll try to sum it up and elaborate as I go.

First off to answer your friend, no this is not true. While it does seem like companies will leave "loopholes" in their programs, it may be that the company had a good program, until hackers and malicious people found a way through it. A great place to start would be to Google "AV COMPARATIVES" (should lead you to a site called av-comparatives.org). They are an independent company that tests different anti-virus software and compare how well they perform.

However, there are a couple of things out there that tout their anti-virus, anti-malware, firewall capabilities, but are actually a virus themselves! Take a look around the web for "Windows Security 20xx removal" where the xx is the year. A couple of scareware programs install onto the computer by various means and then continually bug you until you pay a fee to "upgrade" the program. These are NOT anti-virus, anti-malware, or firewalls and if you should happen to your computer, you should call your closest computer guy to have them remove it.

Back to your question to us however: "Are there genuine antivirus program groups that actually attempt to solve all the problems on the net?" My personal favorite to recommend to everyone is one called "avast! antivirus". AV Comparatives ranks it as one of the highest scoring free antiviruses out there. I use it myself personally and have found the active scanning, active updating, and low footprint a big plus in my book. How it stays free is how they've approached their business model, by not charging the home, non-commercial user their basic package (read: basic, not gimped). Businesses may purchase the pro edition which will give the business complete confidence of having their business exposed to the web.

Some other notable ones: AVG, Avira, and Kapersky antiviruses are all free, but all have irked me in some way that I can't recommend. AVG and Kapersky have both let malware and viruses through computers and Avira, while being a great program for detection, annoyed the hell out of me with its consistent bugging of upgrading to their paid version (almost feels like a free app with ads and if you pay, you remove said ads).

A quick note on McAfee and Norton. I have a feeling your friend was talking about these specifically when you asked "Or are there only money-making corporations purposely making faulty programs?" McAfee and Norton were actually around during the early start of the internet before the dot-com boom. I remember installing it on a Windows 95 computer and watching the little demonstration about how it protects from bug and viruses inside computers (Tropers will note Norton's conspicuous CG back when it was first being experimented on). Back then, there was a huge amount of trust as both Norton and McAfee were small startup's to help make sure your computer wouldn't go awry (hacking wasn't really a big thing from what I can remember as computers were still trying to get mainstream attention; the biggest thing holding them back at the time was their price of $1000 or $3000 or more). However, now as we move 15 years down the road, their business model has become outdated. So they still charge users for their antivirus (because programmers still need to eat too!) however, new startup's will updated business models are starting to overtake their business and changing the economic model.

TL;DR version: Get avast!

its what i use, never had a problem with my infections whatsoever.

I used to use norton, it sucked dick.. went to avg, it also sucked dick (but i never got any virus' with them) then went to mcaffee, and got a virus.. nigger what? if i had the computer, i'd get kerspaski (been told it's #1 and only really fast on dualcores+ )

I have microsoft security essentials it's free but you need a genuine windows OS.
It works very well it updates almost every day and very simple to use, but depending how your computer is setup you could use a different firewall than the default one.

thank you all very much for your posts. At least now I feel a bit safer surfing the net.

I just changed the license to the 30 yr plan and the six month I.S. license... just removed the tag on the main start page.