Anti-virus for college office without internet connection

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Our department in the university is forever plagued with virus, so much that even we students are afraid to take notes,data,files etc from the department computers. They often do a cleanup but some one from outside will come and infect the entire computer systems again.
So the main M.R guy asked me to get a free antivirus for the department. Here are some important info

There is no reliable internet connection. Our campus WiFi is a joke. Professors have to carry their own internet dongles. SO what we have here is around 10 PCs and some laptops that wont be able to update virus definitions.

SO...

I need an antivirus that can be--

a) updated offline, like once in a while ill bring the definition files in a pen drive and update their computers.
b) doesn't REALLY need to be updated at all,as in, comes pre-installed with decent amount of definition which can catch common viruses like the autorun.inf or New Folder virus.
c) Catches the virus as soon as pen drives are inserted, ie. always ON anti virus
d) Should be free (the university doesnt feel that the 20 crore grant from UGC includes expenses on software)
 

dashing.sujay

Moving
Staff member
Avira is a much much better option than Avast.

Avast is like that guard who often sleeps to let clever viruses sneak in.

Offline update is possible on both though.
 

SaiyanGoku

kamehameha!!
IMHO, most free antiviruses are for personal and non-organisation use only. talk to the IT department and let them know this. try to get bitdefender or kaspersky in bulk from official sites.

Else, avast and avira are good.
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
no need to be a such a stickler for rules(personal use vs organizational use) considering it is just 10 pc & few laptops.get Avira & fusebundle generator(avira utility to download & create an update file for offline updates).Avast is also good but it relies heavily on net connection meaning some files which it does not detect will be blocked on execution(preferably on a system with net connection) while Avira will detect such files simply without any need for their execution & a net connection.
 
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mikael_schiffer

mikael_schiffer

Padawan
Thanks guys, downloading Avira now.
Gonna look up on fitting the offline update thingie, have to get it ready for tomorrow.

- - - Updated - - -

Guys, im dropping this Avira thing. Its 130+ MB and the virus signatures will prolly be similar in size. And that fusebundle thing is complicated. It runs in MS DOS mode and progress % is zero for a long time...

How about Bitdefender Free, the actual software is only 30MB and is quiet simple to look at.. 40+yr old office clerks are gonna be using it so everything has to be SIMPLE. The definitions are 177MB and its a .exe file so i guess a simple double click should do the offline update.
All that is needed is to protect the computers when some random stranger inserts their dirty pendrive. Hope Bitdefender protects well.
 

kunalgujarathi

Cyborg Agent
Our department in the university is forever plagued with virus, so much that even we students are afraid to take notes,data,files etc from the department computers. They often do a cleanup but some one from outside will come and infect the entire computer systems again.
So the main M.R guy asked me to get a free antivirus for the department. Here are some important info

There is no reliable internet connection. Our campus WiFi is a joke. Professors have to carry their own internet dongles. SO what we have here is around 10 PCs and some laptops that wont be able to update virus definitions.

SO...

I need an antivirus that can be--

a) updated offline, like once in a while ill bring the definition files in a pen drive and update their computers.
b) doesn't REALLY need to be updated at all,as in, comes pre-installed with decent amount of definition which can catch common viruses like the autorun.inf or New Folder virus.
c) Catches the virus as soon as pen drives are inserted, ie. always ON anti virus
d) Should be free (the university doesnt feel that the 20 crore grant from UGC includes expenses on software)

I would suggest a combo of Malwarebytes+MS Security Essentials!
Buy Enterprise edition and you can install on many PCs.

Combo is a very well known one!
MSE is quite more than average!But it is very light weight!
Malwarebytes when combined with MSE(Which it is optimized to work) gives strong protection!
Malwarebytes can send you definitions if you wish offline version!
 
OP
mikael_schiffer

mikael_schiffer

Padawan
Gaaah Bitdefender is also another headache. there is no offline installer wtfff reatrd developers dipshits.
back to Avira, gonna download the whole night...

Combos will confuse them... they need a single one stop solution for their PEN DRIVE problems
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
bitdefender free is net-based AV so obviously no offline installer.regular bitdefender paid version has almost 1gb install size because of huge offline database compared to BD Free which has ~350mb database size.avira fusebundle downloads ~130-160mb during 1st update but after that it is incremental meaning a few hundred kb for each day.just double-click avira fusebundle on a win 7 system with net connection & ~350-400mb free space because it creates ~200mb temp folder which is used as a base to download short incremental updates.
 

dashing.sujay

Moving
Staff member
And you don't need to update your av daily or even weekly. Once a month is good enough. If you can do it weekly, then best.
 

sakumar79

Technomancer
How about Comodo Internet Security? It is free for commercial use also. If you have one computer with internet connection, you can download the updates through a tool called Comodo Offline Updater (separate download) and update other systems with this one...

Arun
 
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mikael_schiffer

mikael_schiffer

Padawan
*i60.tinypic.com/30nal4y.jpg


this is what got in my pen drive after i inserted in our University computers

i scanned with my Newly Installed Avira Free AntiVirus fully updated
Didnt detect a single Virus...

Now WHAT DA FRACK IS THIS!!!!! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL SAFE?????

Someone Please recommend a antivirus or ny god damn software that will help me clean this sh*t!!!!!

PS. very pissed at stupid software companies...
 

kunalgujarathi

Cyborg Agent
*i60.tinypic.com/30nal4y.jpg


this is what got in my pen drive after i inserted in our University computers

i scanned with my Newly Installed Avira Free AntiVirus fully updated
Didnt detect a single Virus...

Now WHAT DA FRACK IS THIS!!!!! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL SAFE?????

Someone Please recommend a antivirus or ny god damn software that will help me clean this sh*t!!!!!

PS. very pissed at stupid software companies...

Told you!Anti virus company offering free antivirus are not that safe!
Check Virus Bulletin & their VB Comparative!!

I still suggest you to go for Malwarebytes free!
 
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mikael_schiffer

mikael_schiffer

Padawan
When i click them, it opens the command prompt and shows an error.Something something cannot b found. The destination leads to System32 when i highlight it with mouse pointer. Now how is this not a virus/malware/whateverware issue.. I cant even delete them because deep down inside those shortcuts my documents are trapped.

However, i looked up in the internet and solved the issue. I finally got my precious documents back. a not so lenghty process,something to do with command promt fiddling around. Half the work done by Malwarebyte and the rest done by google searching.
But i expected a Antivirus software to do that for me...
 

dashing.sujay

Moving
Staff member
^Your documents don't get "trapped", rather hidden and only shortcuts show up. No antivirus will ever bring your documents back (unhide) after deleting viruses. It's something an AV was never supposed to do.
 
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