Author Topic: Virus software? (Read 821 times)

The Fugitive · « **Reply #15 on:** February 14, 2008, 08:35:37 PM »

I use Avira. Its a free anti virus. Updates daily, and opens an advertisement window for the Professional version. Other than that it works great, and has caught a couple minor things in attachments.

wabbit · « **Reply #16 on:** February 15, 2008, 10:46:37 AM »

Bj229r, your post seems to say that avast and AVG don't have free versions.

Don't know about avast, but AVG does have a free version. see my post for the link.

Wabbit

Scca · « **Reply #17 on:** February 15, 2008, 10:52:34 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by bj229r
I tried both this am...neither has free introductorys any more (I know the Shrew's laptop has one of these two as freebie)---not sure if I wanna give credit card # for product sight unseen---need study further

AVg does.. You just have to know where to look

AVG Free Just installed it 2 weeks ago on a friends new PC..

Chalenge · « **Reply #18 on:** February 15, 2008, 03:13:40 PM »

And so does Avast!

llama · « **Reply #19 on:** February 15, 2008, 04:50:29 PM »

I review AV software for a major computer magazine. I have a test zoo with thousands of viruses, both current and old.

My current preferred AV product is ESET's NOD32, which will set you back about $35 a year. It is extremely lightweight, very fast, doesn't slow down AH to any significant degree, and it has a nice interface too. It is currently what I recommend to my paying clients.

Despite what is said here, I have no problem with Norton Antivirus 2008. It is also fast and lean, but not as much so as NOD32. I recommend avoiding things like Norton Internet Security, Norton 360, or anything other than the basic Norton AV 2008 package. Norton's Kernel Patch is symantec's attempt at helping detect and remove rootkits, and it actually does an effective job.

Kaspersky is also excellent, but I haven't tested it in more than a year.

For free products, Avria's Antivirus Free is pretty good too, though it has an annoying nag screen that you can disable by googling it. I'm sorry, it says it is free to use for noncommercial purposes - it doesn't say it is adware, which is what I consider the annoying popup to be.

AVG is only fair. I have personally seen two rootkits and one virus get by it when the user was still using IE6 in 2007, and one of them is someone I consider pretty good at technology. I consider it minimally acceptable if you only use Firefox or Opera to surf, but since Avira is also free, I say get it.

-Llama

wabbit · « **Reply #20 on:** February 16, 2008, 04:19:32 PM »

Except for AVG's 'fair' rating I can agree with Llama. I've heard good things about NOD32, although I think even $35.00 a year is too much to pay.

I spend a fair portion of my calls removing 'pay' protection programs and replacing them with AVG Free, Spybot Search & Destroy, and the others I mentioned in my earlier post. Remember some of the free programs do the same thing and are only to be installed if you want double/backup protection.

Currently I install AVG Free, Comodo, and Spybot search & destroy. Adaware is a good backup to Spybot, but it's slower and spybot seems to find everything adaware finds in most cases. Same thing with spywareblaster and spybot's tea timer.

In Fifteen+ years I've never seen Avg let anything get past it, old or new. That's something I can't say for many of the 'pay' versions.

Do a search for:

"are free anti-virus programs better then pay anti-virus programs"

You should find enough info to help you make your own decision. Here's one to get you started, posted for August 2007:

http://askbobrankin.com/free_antivirus_programs.html

If you're doing regular backups, and using an image backup program like Acronis True Image, (which I recommend), or ghost, (not so user friendly, but good too), then give the free programs a try and see how they work before paying for your protection.

Almost forgot. I never use Internet Explorer, which I refer to as 'internet Enema'. I use Firefox. Opera is another nice one.

Good Luck,

Wabbit

OOZ662 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 17, 2008, 01:52:07 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by wabbit
Except for AVG's 'fair' rating I can agree with Llama. I've heard good things about NOD32, although I think even $35.00 a year is too much to pay.

Keeping your computer safe and fast = $35 a year

Playing AH: $149.50-$179.40 a year

Realizing just how much we dish for pixel wars: Priceless.

bj229r · « **Reply #22 on:** February 18, 2008, 06:02:18 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Scca
AVg does.. You just have to know where to look AVG Free Just installed it 2 weeks ago on a friends new PC..

Yup---thanks guys, plunked it on there, it found a buncha tracking cookies and one worm that Norton seemed to be unaware of:huh At least now I feel a bit more secure

OOZ662 · « **Reply #23 on:** February 18, 2008, 01:12:40 PM »

Those are spyware...and I never noticed Norton catching any spyware back when I used it in 2006, I think.

llama · « **Reply #24 on:** February 18, 2008, 03:17:07 PM »

This past year, I've personally cleaned off two infections and one rootkit from computers with fully updated AVG Free setups that had been installed for more than 6 months. All of these users went against my browser recommendation, and still used IE6 or IE7 as their daily browser, BTW.

Based on this, I no longer recommend AVG Free (or any AVG product) to my clients. I consider it better than nothing, but certainly, definitely, unequivocally NOT equivalent to Kaspersky, NOD32, or Norton AV 2008. It *might* be OK if you only use Firefox for browsing and you insist on not paying anything, but only OK.

-Llama

Skuzzy · « **Reply #25 on:** February 18, 2008, 03:25:31 PM »

I have far too many problems with people using anything from Norton. It is just too intrusive and problematic.

I have had players who finally had to remove the software before our game could save settings for them. And the overhead is insane.