Antivirus Solution for Non-profit

[uprighttech]

We have begun doing work for a local Boys & Girls Club. They have a lab of roughly 30 PC's that we are about to reimage and get set up properly. I am trying to decide what to use as an antivirus solution for these computers.

This is a non-profit organization with limited funding. Most of the technology needs they have are met by way of grants or donations. I believe that they have used avast! and Security Essentials in the past. However, I know that MSE is only licensed for up to 10 PC's in an organization and most of the other free antivirus products that I have researched, including avast!, are only licensed for home use, which does not include non-profits. I know several do offer discounts on their paid products to non-profits.

I just wanted to see if anyone else has dealt with this situation and what solution you suggested to the client. Are there any decent free AV's that are licensed for use by non-profits on this number of machines, or are they just going to have to find the money to go with a paid version and hope for a good discount?

 

[16k_zx81]

Are there any decent free AV's that are licensed for use by non-profits on this number of machines, or are they just going to have to find the money to go with a paid version and hope for a good discount?

IMO, from a cost-effectiveness perspective, the best thing you could do for them would be to get a deal on a decent commercial product.

No point saving them money at the outset only to have them have to pay more later on because their virus protection is inadequate.

 

[uprighttech]

IMO, from a cost-effectiveness perspective, the best thing you could do for them would be to get a deal on a decent commercial product.

No point saving them money at the outset only to have them have to pay more later on because their virus protection is inadequate.

This has definitely been a piece of the options that I am weighing. I guess that gets into the debate that is rehashed here fairly often of whether paid products are always more effective than some of the free offerings.

 

[Xander]

TechSoup.com -- humungous discounts for non-profits.

 

[Tekko]

This has definitely been a piece of the options that I am weighing. I guess that gets into the debate that is rehashed here fairly often of whether paid products are always more effective than some of the free offerings.

My $0.02, at the very least you need a central admin/update point. If you have 30 machines that the users need to keep up to date themselves it probably wont work out so well.

 

[Xander]

This has definitely been a piece of the options that I am weighing. I guess that gets into the debate that is rehashed here fairly often of whether paid products are always more effective than some of the free offerings.

You'd also have to factor into that the fact that most free AVs do not allow installation on business machines...and whether or not that AV manufacturer lumps non-profits in with business.

With the Fake AV plague I had last summer, I became a complete convert in the Free vs. Paid antivirus issue. I started selling Kaspersky and none of those people have come back to me. I'm now looking at bundling GFI with VIPRE.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

The only free AV that I know that is licensed to be installed on business computers is Microsoft Security Essentials...and that is only licensed "up to 10x computers". So 30....no go.

TechSoup is a great resource for software on the cheap...Office, Windows, Servers...and antivirus and backup software..and other suites. Although often it's just Symantec Corporate Edition....dunno if you're keen on that or not.

Eset NOD32 has deep discounts for non-profits...example, their business edition (including management console/update mirror) for 30x nodes including servers would run about 360 bucks per year.

 

[gabak]

what do u do if u got more than 30 pc with ms essential?
10 with ms essential and 20 with anyother AV??
where is the restriction that talk about that? does MS have some MS essetial for companies?

The only free AV that I know that is licensed to be installed on business computers is Microsoft Security Essentials...and that is only licensed "up to 10x computers". So 30....no go.

TechSoup is a great resource for software on the cheap...Office, Windows, Servers...and antivirus and backup software..and other suites. Although often it's just Symantec Corporate Edition....dunno if you're keen on that or not.

Eset NOD32 has deep discounts for non-profits...example, their business edition (including management console/update mirror) for 30x nodes including servers would run about 360 bucks per year.

 

[Tekko]

does MS have some MS essetial for companies?

Forefront 2010

where is the restriction that talk about that? does MS have some MS essetial for companies?

Microsoft Security Essentials is available for small businesses with up to 10 PCs. If your business has more than 10 PCs, you can protect them with Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials

 

[uprighttech]

TechSoup.com -- humungous discounts for non-profits.

Thanks for the reminder about Techsoup. I think they have used this resource in the past for some software like Office. Didn't realize the array of products available there. Will definitely check into it.

Stonecat, will look into eset. I do really like NOD32. Thanks.

 

[uprighttech]

I'm now looking at bundling GFI with VIPRE.

We use GFI for some business clients. We just started testing out Managed Antivirus. I did consider pitching it to them. This would also allow us to remotely monitor the machines for them, and we might could give them portal access to manage the AV online. Anyone here been using MAV for a while that can speak to it's effectiveness and ease of use?

 

[16k_zx81]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials

The other issue with MSSE is the varying effectiveness the product has exhibited since its inception. It started out with very strong detection rates, but has subsequently wavered a lot with some patches of poor performance.

Even if this organisation could use it but for the license restrictions, OP probably wouldnt be doing them any favours by installing it.

 

[Tekko]

The other issue with MSSE is the varying effectiveness the product has exhibited since its inception. It started out with very strong detection rates, but has subsequently wavered a lot with some patches of poor performance.

Even if this organisation could use it but for the license restrictions, OP probably wouldnt be doing them any favours by installing it.

Amen. I got tossed the "Forefront Admin" role at my last job, it pretty much turned me off to any MS security related products.

Just yesterday actually I was talking to a our Microsoft Security DSE, and he wasn't even aware that viruses are poisoning exe file associations in the registry. Granted, their security team doesn't typically look for that sort of thing because they have no way of knowing if some registry changes(like disabling task manager) is part of their clients domain policy or not, but still. I was just amazed at how painfully unaware their desktop security escalation engineers are.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

The other issue with MSSE is the varying effectiveness the product has exhibited since its inception. It started out with very strong detection rates, but has subsequently wavered a lot with some patches of poor performance.

Even if this organisation could use it but for the license restrictions, OP probably wouldnt be doing them any favours by installing it.

I've got hundreds of MSE installs out there...literally over hundreds.....homes and businesses...and it's doing quite fine...actually, doing better than the products I replaced with it. //shrugs

 

[AlaDes]

I've got hundreds of MSE installs out there...literally over hundreds.....homes and businesses...and it's doing quite fine...actually, doing better than the products I replaced with it. //shrugs

I agree with you on MSE. Although I hate how long it takes to perform a full system scan, it's the last step I take to ensure a system is completely clean during virus removals. I have performed full scans with other great AVs and MSE will usually find something the others didn't. Granted, it may be great at detecting, but sometimes it's not worth a hoot at removing what it finds.

 

[Jsch38]

Here some free antivirus options

Have been working with a nonprofit for 2 years.
We use AVG free editon and Malware Bytes free edition.
Why: No cost and updates are free.
Both work just as well as the paid editions.
If you need an office suite at no cost. I suggest using Libereoffice. It is open source.

 

[FoolishTech]

If you actually buy Anti-Virus through a wholesaler you can get non-profit discounts depending on the A/V solution you are after.

I had a non-profit I put on Trend Micro WFH and I bought the licenses through I think it was Ingram Micro, and they were a fraction of the cost. I believe it boiled down to less than $10/workstation/year. Heck maybe it was less and that's what I resold them for...

Point being, check with a reputable wholesaler for non-profit pricing. They often have options for non-profits even when the actual A/V company doesn't offer them directly. That is just one benefit of being registered with a wholesaler as opposed to just getting all your stuff from newegg heh.

 

[uprighttech]

Have been working with a nonprofit for 2 years.
We use AVG free editon and Malware Bytes free edition.
Why: No cost and updates are free.
Both work just as well as the paid editions.
If you need an office suite at no cost. I suggest using Libereoffice. It is open source.

AVG Free Edition is not licensed for use in non-profit organizations. It is only licensed for home use. They do offer some significant discounts to approved non-profits.

http://www.avg.com/ww-en/edu-charity-government-security

 

[foxeh30]

I work for a Non-profit IT teaching organisation here in the UK, what we ultimately did was fish around for funding that we could use as capital, so basically use that funding for anything.

With the money we were granted we purchased a 5 year license from Sophos for 20 desktops and 1 server.

Some times its the luck of the draw with what funding is out there, we have done similar things to purchase new laptops so we could take the training outside of the centre which brought more funds in for other uses.

I know of another centre similar to ours that got a heavy discount by contacting ESET themselves and explaining their situation. Might be worth a try if the funding route is a no go?

Lots of hard work being tech support for a non-profit org, no wonder Im going bald at 27 *sad panda face*

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Have been working with a nonprofit for 2 years.
We use AVG free editon and Malware Bytes free edition.
Why: No cost and updates are free.
Both work just as well as the paid editions.

AVG "FREE" is illegal to use in businesses....as well as non-profits (as someone mentioned above). As with "most" free antivirus products, they are only licensed for use in home networks. The only "free" antivirus I know that is allowed to be used in a business...is Microsoft Security Essentials..and that is only up to 10x computers.

I chuckle at networks I take over where the prior tech they used installed AVG free across the network.