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[mcse_696]

i have to install anti-virus of our server2003 but i m not sure which one is better. thanks in advance

[Steve]

Hiya & Welcome to the site!

Personally, for all my Server systems I prefer to stay away from all the "free" solutions and go with a commercial product. Most Free AV products are only free for Personal or Non-Profit use anyway.

What your paying for with a Commercial product is REGULAR Signature Updates. By regular I mean Daily if not several times a day. Plus, you will probably only pay ~$50-$100 depending on the Quantity. Not a bad investment in my opinion. Microsoft promises to release AV built-into the OS however were still at least a year away on that.

So, with that in mind your options are fairly broad. Here is the list of products (in order) I would recommend:

If you’re going to install AV on just 1 Windows Server 2003 box:

1) FSecure is a great product. It's a true security firm and their signatures are well respected.
2) McAfee Anti-Virus Enterprise. I would make McAfee my #1 choice if you needed to centrally manage AV across your enterprise. (Their EPO product does a great job with my 5000 devices at work).
3) Trend Micro - Always been a solid player.
4) Symantec Anti-Virus Previously known as Norton AV. It's a grandfather in the space. I'm hesitant to list them in my recommendation being that I got burned by them a few years ago at a large Corp. I worked at. The AV engine had an exploit which was used to attack my enterprise... Not good. I'm sure it's better now. Like McAfee EPO, Symantec AV has a nice Corp. edition which allows you to centrally manage thousands of hosts.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions!

[shockersh]

I agree with everything MrGroove said. Don't go on the cheap for commercial product.

Also, be sure to keep all your Security Patches from MSFT up to date. What I've found is 50% of the time, my Trend Micro agent will have a signature for the exploits microsoft is patching.

Between the 2 of them it's good layered security.

[alexmvp]

What about Anti-Spyware like Search and Destroy? Anyone use that on Servers? I personally only use it on desktops...

[Steve]

What about Anti-Spyware like Search and Destroy? Anyone use that on Servers? I personally only use it on desktops...

Not on a server.

Also, be sure to keep all your Security Patches from MSFT up to date. What I've found is 50% of the time, my Trend Micro agent will have a signature for the exploits microsoft is patching.

Good advice. I agree.

[alexmvp]

i have to install anti-virus of our server2003 but i m not sure which one is better. thanks in advance

We use McAfee VirusScan Enterprise at work on Servers and Symantec on the Desktops. We can't afford EPO but it was a HUGE(can't stress that enough) upgrade over what we used to use - CA Entrust. Wow, talk about a PILE!

Overall, we have very little problems.