AV update criticality and frequency - poll

[Mainframeguy]

This may seem weird, but due to circumstances outside my control I am leaving 2 or 3 machines which I personally used to update AV for on schedule (yes, it had to be me - just take that as given) and will not have any idea when I can update Av again.

Given they all have unrestricted surfing and go online (albeit from behind a router) with ADSL broadband I was interested in feedback on what people think would be a good "target" frequency of applying updates.

I think I know the answer - but opinions still welcome.... Suggestions of another approach also (pref. without expense involved - and something that can auto admin without my overseeing and be invisible, IE /me goes and installs and forgets and will stay "always on") - wondering if Kaspersky can do that?

PS presently it is McAffee on these m/c'a

 

[LordOfLA]

daily with Kaspersky av if you prefer paid for antivirus or AVG Free if you prefer not to pay for AV.

But daily around 10pm works for my mailservers, only ever missed a few viruses due to not udpateing until the evening they viruses found me.

 

[Maveric169]

I just use McAfee's auto-update, however I have noticed problems on my machine that cause it to only update and download when I reboot. But I think this is a problem with the setup on my end.

 

[Henyman]

avg autoupdate, checks dailey + everytime laptop starts

 

[SPeedY_B]

Don't use AV, but always recommend that people who do check daily.

 

[Kr0m]

I typically do one with AVG whenever I think of it.
If you have less experienced users then it's probably best to have the AV software scheduled to update daily.
I've seen all too often 'newbs' wonder why their AV software doesn't work properly but when I goto check the update status, they haven't updated in ages.

 

[Evil Marge]

avg autoupdate, checks dailey + everytime laptop starts

Same here :laugh:

 

[sharob]

Frequency

You also need to consider what sites users of the computer visit. Users who visit a few, generally clean sites reguarly, probably only require to have their anti virus files updated once a week. Heavy users who visit a large number of sites and especially those who "surf around" and select a lot of links are much more likely to have a virus infect their computer. They should therefore update much more reguarly. Security Managers of large corporations will be updating their Anti Virus Patterns hourly!!! Servers, Workstations and Email Anti Virus configurations will all be different from each other too.

So the short answer is; there is no short answer. It all depends on your use and surfing patterns.

Remember also that Anti Virus is only part of your tool kit. Firewalls and Spam filters are increasingly more important. Many people are even using Spam Fitlers at the ISP layer so they don't even download known spam, with potential virus attachments.

 

[funky dredd]

I have mine check daily.