Computer Question???????

If you're looking for free Avast is that. It runs in the background. Malware Bytes is also free and it will find things that Avast does not (and vice versa). However you have to run it for it to scan (the free version anyways).

Basically, the program is running in the memory, but you don't really see it running other than a small icon on your toolbar on the bottom right hand corner of the computer. You want the software running all the time vs just running a scan once a month, as you'll pick up viruses and malware at websites, and you wont know it until you run your scan and by then its too late.

I think if you go to CNET.com, they do a good review of a lot of software programs out there.

If you decided to go for a pay AV avoid Norton. Its big, bloated and out of date. I don't think McAfee is that great anymore either. I use a lesser known program called NOD32 that gets very good reviews. There are others as well, check those reviews as mentioned above.

jharkin said:

If you decided to go for a pay AV avoid Norton. Its big, bloated and out of date. I don't think McAfee is that great anymore either. I use a lesser known program called NOD32 that gets very good reviews. There are others as well, check those reviews as mentioned above.

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+1 There are a lot of good programs out there other than Norton/McAfee, etc...I have heard the same issues with the big 2 that they are memory hogs and also out of date.

Agreed, those programs are huge, they also use up a lot of your computer's power so it is a bit slower. A few years ago I switched to AVG free its great! The free version does everything i need. Give it a shot.

http://free.avg.com/us-en/free-antivirus-download

Microsoft has their own free version of AV, gets good ratings. Although, I am not a Microsoft fan, I would expect it to be both effective and compatible with your operating system.

I don't use any of that crap--it's all malware, as far as I'm concerned. I run Spyware Blaster and, once a month, Spybot. The former identifies bad pages, the latter fixes things.

S

Free for both, and neither takes from computer resources.

S

I use AVG (paid version now) and it works fine. I also do a free backup online check with activescan by Panda Security. www.pandasecurity.com/activescan. It gets out stuff others don't seem to find. I did use the full version for years but it always seemed to need "tweaking" from some error.

I found a really good site called bleepingcomputer .com that can really help you size up all these questions. Check it out.

That site is to computers what this site is to heating.

Used AVG free for years here. Always did well. Even purchased the full version now.
Norton & McAffee Suck really bad!
McAffee is almost impossible to get the hell off your computer once it is on.

avg free here also.

Hi,
I use Microsoft Security Essentials (free) on all of our computers.

I find it works well and its not intrusive. It does not seem to slow the computer down.

I listen to Leo Laporte's computer oriented radio show fairly often, and I think he really knows his stuff. He recommends NOD32 for a pay one or Microsoft Security Essentials for a free one.
http://techguylabs.com/

Gary

I've tried MSE, Avast, AVG and have spent hours removing Norton, McAfeee and many other pay-for AV applications. The problem with the pay for suites is they generally try to do too much and the usual result is they eat up all your available system resources. I guess from an AV perspective, that makes them very effective...I mean, if you can't really use your computer because it runs so darn slow then you'll never have the chance to get a virus, right?

In a corporate environment, I prefer Symantec (aka Norton)...best product available IMHO, everything else is second best. In the home market, its a complete loser...but the corporate and home products are totally different and share nothing.

By far the best one I've used and the least intrusive is AVG...I try to use each of the major players on a semi annual basis to see if the new releases have given anyone an edge...the 2009 release of AVG for example, drove me to use MSE for a year because it was just an awful product.

AVG has some nice plugins to help you avoid known malicous websites and it also contains a good quality malware/spyware it as well. I haven't used anything like malwarebyes or spybot in years and have had no reason to.

Dump the Norton, go to the control panel add/remove programs and remove each component thats labeled either Norton or Symantec, then go to Google and search for "norton antivirus removal tool", download it and run it. The add/remove bits for Norton will absolutely NOT remove it 100% from your computer...more like about 75%. The removal tool will get the last bits of it and keep it out of your way. If you don't completely remove it, you will likely have weird issues with any other AV program and you'll probably never know why you're having trouble.

I'm a computer sysadmin and have been simce 1994. Been around the block a few times.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials for the AV (free) and Comodo Internet security for the firewall (free). Comodo has an antivirus that I found two burdensome for this computer. When I worked in IT, we used Symantec AV Corporate edition. We liked it because we could push out updates on a daily to over 250 pc's each morning.

Used AVG free for several years, think it's great, easy to install and not had any problems with it.

Fifi

Jags said:

I'm with every darn word that Mayhem wrote.

And I am also a sys admin/network manager.

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