64-bit Anti-Virus For Vista

One of the (few) security tools that does not come with Windows Vista is anti-virus. Tons of people have asked about which one to use, and which are available. The answer is: most are available for 32-bit Vista already. Malke, a Windows Shell MVP, put together a list of 32-bit anti-virus programs that work on Vista.

 Fewer of the programs area also available in 64-bit versions. I was able to confirm availability of the following in 64-bit versions:

Name

Cost

Notes

Avast!

Home edition is free.

 

AVG

$38.95 for two years

 

Avira

Basic version is free

 

CA eTrust

$29.95

Primarily designed for businesses and sold via site-licenses but can be bought stand-alone too. The consumer version is not available in 64-bit yet.

McAfee

$39.99 for one year

The web site claims the enterprise version works on 64-bit, but McAfee technical support is adamant that they have no versions that work on 64-bit Windows. I would recommend you stay away from McAfee until they figure out what products they actually make.

NOD32

$39 for one year

 

Trend Micro

$39.95 for one year

 

If you know of a 64-bit anti-virus for Vista that is not listed above please file a comment and I'll verify and add it to the list.  

Oh, which one do I use? None. I do not open e-mail attachments that come with a subject line of "This is so funny" or "ILOVEYOU" or "Naked tennis player". I do not use copyright violation software (a.k.a. file sharing software). And, I run as a standard user. The last time I had a virus that got flagged by a virus scanner was in 1992, on a lab machine used by a student; on an Apple Macintosh. Yes Steve Jobs, the Macintosh has had viruses for as long as Windows. 

 I figure I'm pretty safe without stuff looking at every file on the computer every time I use them.

Update February 20, 2007
Upon receiving a report that Panda is not compatible with Vista x64 after all I have removed them.

Published Sat, Feb 17 2007 5:39 PM by jesper
Filed under: , ,

Comments

# Aaron Parker said on 17 February, 2007 08:34 PM

Hear, hear! No anti-virus for me, since 2003.

# steve said on 18 February, 2007 03:51 PM

I'm pleased you've been virus-free since 1992, but the principle "i don't need anti-malware because i practice safe computing" doesn't qualify what safe computing is (beyond "no p2p, no attachments, and least priv").

there are plenty of threat vectors besides p2p and email attachments, and plenty of risks that don't need elevated privs or warez to impact a person's computing.

# Aaron Margosis said on 18 February, 2007 10:33 PM

I use anti-virus only on systems on which it is mandated by corporate policy.  With the defenses Jesper listed, along with staying current on patches (which I'm sure Jesper does), the primarily weak points are exceptionally well-crafted social engineering attacks and zero-day browser-based attacks.  Jesper is sufficiently paranoid that I will be completely shocked if anyone ever gets him with a social engineering attack; and the kinds of zero-days that Jesper or I might get hit with are not the kinds of things that anti-virus does a particularly good job defending against.

The hardest part (for me) is keeping my and my family's systems current on patches for software not covered by Windows' Automatic Updates.  Some non-Microsoft products will automatically update themselves, but they need to run as admin to do so.  Adobe Reader is a major pain since if you're a couple of patches behind, you have to install each one in order -- e.g., if you're on 7.0.3 and the current version is 7.0.8, you have to install 7.0.4, then 7.0.5, etc.  (Easier just to uninstall the whole thing and fresh-install the current version.)  And then Apple just completely sucks ( http://aaronmar.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!141FE4D19847CD5C!255.entry ).

# Phillip said on 22 February, 2007 04:22 PM

Kaspersky and a whole list of others...see http://start64.com/ for more.

# Keith said on 15 March, 2007 11:45 PM

Thanks for the information.

Suggestion...

Use your talents and make money...

Provide fair and unbiased test comparisons on Anti Virus available in the market so the computer nerds like myself can compare them to make informed decision on the best one for them. Generally sites are biased, one site listed software 'X' as #1, the next site apparently not even testing software 'x' in their top 10. This is FRAUD.

Money comes with the advertisers to your site...just do not be tempted by greed like other sites to sell an inferior product over the better one...complete and fair testing.

# peter said on 17 March, 2007 07:06 PM

I also run without antivirus on my system. However I dont agree that you are 100 percent secure. Viruses such as MSBlaster infected machines by exploiting a loophole in windows NT based systems, and a patch was released only after the virus infected thousands of machines.

If you are running 64 bit Ubuntu however...

# Isaac said on 18 March, 2007 11:24 PM

Norton 360 did you try that out...

I think its 64 bit.

Try it out..

Isaac

antigravitybase-public@yahoo.com

# Patrick said on 25 March, 2007 12:06 PM

Did you try eTrust Antivirus r7.1 x64?

# jesper said on 25 March, 2007 12:08 PM

Patrick, I tried a very early version a long time ago, but not since. Do you have any experience with it?

# Patrick said on 25 March, 2007 12:21 PM

No, but I'm willing to give it a try as I'm currently testing my Vista Home Premium 64bit environment. I'll keep you posted but drop me an email as a reminder just in case! ;)

# Pedro R. said on 25 March, 2007 10:32 PM

Hi

I believe you might have missed Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition.

The previous version (10.1.5) already supoorted 64bit windows.

The latest version - 10.2 - andds support for windows vista, both 32 bit and 64bit.

The link is here http://www.symantec.com/vista/sav-vista.html

# Phantom said on 28 March, 2007 11:03 AM

Jesper...congratulations on your luck staying virus free.  I've found the problem isn't safe computing on my part, but rather unsafe computing practices on the part of friends and co-workers.  While it's gotten better in the past 2-3 years, I can't tell you the number of times I've seen anti-virus software intercept a virus on an attachment someone sent that they thought was just fine.  Agree, it sure is nice to run without an AV and the 15% or more tax on system speed it invariably imposes.  Thanks for the posting on AV software that's compatible with -64 Vista.  Was just what I was looking for to complete my migration from XP.

# ZG said on 21 April, 2007 02:41 PM
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 Vista 32/44 compatible http://www.kaspersky.com/news?id=207575485
# ZG said on 21 April, 2007 02:41 PM

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 Vista 32/64 compatible

www.kaspersky.com/news

# Spaminator said on 02 May, 2007 08:26 PM
Yes, it is quite naive to think that just because you do not use p2p, open email attatchments, etc, you will be virus free. Simply installing new software may open up ports (games & other apps that need internet access) and compromise your system's ability to stop attacks. Just do what most of us do: Reinstall annually, weather you think you need it or not ;) I knew about the mac viruses, I always just figured virus creators thought nobody important uses macs anyway lol.
# AZ said on 04 June, 2008 01:58 PM

To Reference you don't need antivirus because you practice save computing is like saying, you shouldn't use a condom because the woman you sleep with isn't a whore, problem is you don't know if that woman slept with someone else who slept with someone else who (and so on)  So if you put an unknowing whore on your network .. technically the potential is there.

# mike said on 10 June, 2008 09:11 AM

I'm using Norton 360 and when I tried installing it on my 64bit vista it said that it's not compatible. Was there a new fix that I'm not aware of?

# jlchereau said on 13 June, 2008 11:15 AM

I have Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition 10.2 64-bits on Vista Ultimate 64-bits (Corporate Edition is a 5-user or more pack which includes all editions including a windows 64-bits edition).

I would definitely not recommend it. Sometimes CPU or memory goes through the roof and watching a DVD is almost impossible without disabling it.

http://www.memba.com

http://www.velodoc.com

http://www.velodoc.net

# Dave said on 01 July, 2008 07:40 PM

Try Bit Defender Suite 2008- seems compatable with all windows iterations

# Wsdcent said on 01 July, 2008 08:37 PM

Avast antivirus is simple the best + is free

# software utilities downloads said on 09 July, 2008 03:48 AM

I'm a huge fan of avast,has some great features and live protection. I have been using it for now 4 years.

# Urkie said on 11 July, 2008 12:42 AM

norton 2008 works great no problems at all.but i am having trouble with panda blue screen after install

# Alan said on 15 July, 2008 04:34 PM

I'm using vista home premium x64 with mcafee suite 11.

It crashes all the time. I like McAfee, but under 32 bits.

# Justin from Geneva Fl said on 03 August, 2008 09:07 AM

I am using Vista Ultimate 64-bit processor.....I am getting extremelly frustrated as not many fire wall,anti-virus programs will run w/ 64 bit systems. Is there any help out there? Why in our advanced age are programmers not re-writing code to allow to work on 64 bit systems? Would love some help on this one. Ty

# Bryan said on 03 August, 2008 08:27 PM

I have Macafee Enterprise and it scans in 64-bit, I had the same problem with tec support, but then i realised i was talking to home and home office support. If you through the laborious processs to talk to somone at enterprise they will veryfiy it. The will tell you not ever feature on the total end user protection is 64-bit but the virus scanning is.

# Margaret from Poughkeepsie, NY said on 06 August, 2008 01:59 AM

I have 3-User McAfee Total Protection.  It has always worked well on my laptop, which runs 32-bit Windows XP.  My new desktop has 64-bit Windows Vista.  When I try to download McAfee, the Download Manager will continue searching for information for hours if I let it.  It was a waste of money to buy the 3-User package.  Now I will have to find software that is compatible with my system.  Does anyone else have this problem?

# Josh said on 13 August, 2008 09:10 PM

None of the AV programs I've tried are 64-bit, including some on this site (such as avast). Just because they run on 64-bit doesn't mean they are 64-bit, which means they can't use all the RAM available to 64-bit programs, all the registers, etc..

# JB said on 17 August, 2008 06:30 PM

NOD32 is 64 lol...seriously NOD32 x64 is a 64-bit software product.  I use it and along with other vista 64 protection features + automatic updates I do feel safe. Plus its fast.

# Alex said on 26 August, 2008 06:59 PM

www.64xsoft.com/.../Antiviruses - here is the most complete list of the antiviruses for 64-bit

# LADYT said on 09 September, 2008 08:49 PM

A WORD ON MCAFEE WORKING ON A 64 BIT WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEM.  

I HAVE A 64 BIT WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEM AND MCAFEE SECURITY SUITE WORKS JUST FINE.  IT'S THE SAME VERSION THAT I USE ON MY WINDOWS XP 32 BIT SYSTEM.  SO THE TECHNICIAN THAT GAVE YOU THAT INFO PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE/SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT  :)

NICE WEBSITE

# hullo said on 01 November, 2008 10:19 PM

a note about bit defender 2008:

it works fine in vista 64-bit, but can cause freezing on some machines, after some research I could not find the cause, also many people have this problem and no fix as of yet.

# CSOS said on 25 November, 2008 12:02 PM

To Panda 2009

I have been a Reseller  since 2004 and have finally completly ceased selling and supporting Panda due to their constant track record of  lack of support, Loosing clients due to their Pop Ups " regenrated setings with every update"

Anyways, DO NOT  use it on 64 bit systems.

It will slow you down, it will cause problems with outlook 2007, it will NOT CLEAN UP despite uninstall and running the clean up utility.

34 Registry items left over after all that , had to get into Elevated mode  with a utility to erase their  Device class drivers that are in the Boot file etc.

I had enough PERIOD.

ONE thing i have to say though.

NONE of my clients that had ACTIVE licenses and updated , had EVER had a virus etc.

# Laura said on 03 December, 2008 01:37 PM

Thanks for compiling these.  Alex's comment with the link to www.64xsoft.com/.../Antiviruses is particularly useful.

However, what I really need is an anti-virus package for 64 bit Vista that has a shell extension / right-click that allows me to quickly scan individual files.  I am an instructor, so I want to scan individual students' homeworks as they come in.  I know a "live scan" might do it, but I don't want to slow down my system.  And I feel more secure if I check each homework file individually.  (However, I don't want to have to browse to each directory every time, which is what Symantec makes you do! Feh).

Anyone know of a right-click-on-the-file and scan capability?  (Computer Associates has this in 32 bit, but don't have a consumer-grade 64 bit version yet).

Thanks in advance!

# CSOS said on 18 December, 2008 05:03 PM

AVAST AV is 64bit shell included

# CosmicRay said on 05 January, 2009 02:07 PM

I've been using Norton 360 for about 6 months on my Vista Ultimate 64 OS and it seems to do a very good job of keeping my machine virus free despite frequent downloads via high risk torrents.  Unfortunately, it's not free and I don't care for the bulky interface that seems to want to control and optimize everything under the sun.

I tried Panda before settling on Norton 360 and had an experience very similar to CSOS.

I came looking for this page because I'm not going to renew my Norton license, and need a good, free anti-virus for 64-bit Vista.  Thank you to everyone that contributed comments ... I think you've helped me decide on AVAST ... I'll give it a shot anyway.

# sharkster said on 06 January, 2009 06:56 PM

I just purchased a new 64 bit Vista comp

I was suprised there was no antivirus soft loaded

I downloaded spyware doctor with antivirus-PCTOOLS

It was not supported, it took 4 e-mails and

an actual phone call to Corp to get my money back!

# Laura said on 26 January, 2009 04:10 PM

"AVAST AV is 64bit shell included"

Thank you, CSOS!

# DM said on 27 January, 2009 01:00 PM

After 8 months of back and forth with Bitdefender I have uninstalled it (again and for the last time) and will not reinstall.  Both my wife and I have vista 64 and have ethernet adap/connectivity issues with Total Security 2009.  We are looking for something else.  Bitdefender has extreamly poor customer service.

# Fred Stephens said on 03 February, 2009 08:34 PM

I tired Mcafee anti-virus on my Vista 64bit laptop. Would not install. Automatic "intelligent" technician found 15 missing files. Uninstalled. Re-installed. Same problem. Chat help was NO help. Had to get a special unload to remove ALL Macafee. Then I got my money back. 2+ hours shot. Done. Moved onto Trend Micro. Easy quick install. Causes some screen repaint problems but at least works and they have a free trial.

# Crust said on 05 February, 2009 12:33 PM

Using safe computer practices to say you don't anti-virus is a bit risky. A bit like saying I patch my computer so I don't need a firewall. Besides if you don't use anti-virus how are you 100% sure you don't have a virus, unless you manually check the hex of everything on your system to make sure it's clean. Just because nothing unpleasant has happenned to suggest a virus in all that time certainly doesn't mean you haven't had one.

Unless you configure it to constantly run full system scans AV is usually pretty low over head. You wouldn't say I haven't had a car crash since 1992 so I don't need to wear a seat belt, why be any different with AV? It's like it's even that expensive any more.

# todd said on 12 February, 2009 02:16 PM

bitdefender worked just fine on my 64 bit system

# Guti said on 20 February, 2009 12:29 PM

What about native x64 antivirus? Is there any?

Listed ones are only 32 bit applications with 64 bit drivers!

# GrayHat said on 21 February, 2009 08:06 AM

Sophos and Webroot products are also 64-bit Compatible

# Jman said on 26 February, 2009 01:14 AM

Comodo seems to have it too, free as well.

# Francis said on 02 March, 2009 11:05 PM

Norton Software Store > Symantec Software Search Results

We are sorry!

Our search engine was unable to find any product pages related to "Vista 64" .

Please enter different words and try your search again!

As of March 2, 2009

# Ofelas said on 24 March, 2009 08:58 AM

VIPRE AntiVirus + AntiMalware from Sunbelt Software; small, fast, almost zero impact on system resources.

# rob said on 26 March, 2009 07:04 PM

norton 360 v2 works fine om my sista ultimate x64

# Michael said on 30 March, 2009 09:58 AM

What I would like to know is, not what antivirus software is 64 bit "compatable", but which is written in true 64 bit code for Vista64 or Linus64?  I've read many articles and software descriptions, but most a quite vague on whether it's written in 64 bit, or just 64 bit compatible.  Anyone?

# Michael said on 30 March, 2009 10:05 AM

Oh, also wanted to say that I've used AVG 8.5 and eSET, both worked great on Vista64, I only schedule a full scan for once a month and run only the real time monitoring, and have never seen a performance issue.  I mostly run the realtime for maleware/spyware, as I have not seen a virus on any of my systems since 96, but you never know, my wife and son have both had one just last year, but was caught by AVG.