Free anti-virus
 

With AVG free going away I've seen a few Avira, avast, ClamWin has anyone had any of these or used anything else? Thanks in advance!

brew,

are you sure avg is terminating its free anti-virus software? from this article, it sounds to me like they're forcing customers to upgrade to 7.5 from 7.1. Am I missing something?

pigglet, the stuff they sent me didn't mention a free version . Thanks loads! I've been really happy with AVG.

it is in fqact, just an upgrade to the new 7.5 version. I have set up AVG on many systems and on my laptop too, it is just an upgrade, still a free av solution.

excellent - i just set it up on some machines as well. haven't seen any notices from them yet. glad the home version is still available. you had me worried brew. :)

I tried avast for 2 weeks. I will never install it again...

I have had norton av on my system for years now, and never get viruses on my computer. After avast being on my machine for 2 weeks, I started having a bunch of problems, reinstalled norton and it found like 6 or 7 viruses..

intecel, that is interesting that you have had problems with avast, I have found it to be pretty good (I have never had a virus though) I have changed back and forth over the years from AVG to Avast and back again, just when I get an itch to try something different.

I haven't seen many problems with Avast. The few times it has misbehaved were on systems completely inundated with warez, trainers, etc. Switching between any two products with the inevitable full-scan would catch something the other didn't.

AVG has shown itself to be a little more robust. They're both good, not perfect. Perfect is pulling the power cord and turning the system into an aquarium.

My favorite AV is NOD32, though $40/yr isn't competitive. Symantec AV (corporate) works quite well (and isn't a pig) for customers who can afford the minimum.

My work log shows Norton products as a great source of job security since the 2005 nightmare release. Seriously, I've made more removing Norton 05/06 from customer systems than I ever did removing Blaster.

Just looking at just the last six months, Norton is losing some ground. McAfee is tied with SpySweeper for the coveted Bloated Racing Stripe from Hell award.

Q- "Leela, help me install this racing stripe. It'll make us go faster."

L- "And what's your scientific basis for that?"

Q- "I'm twelve? Duh."

Now that the issue of the thread has been resolved, let me make a segue and ask why an anti-virus program is necessary at all? Have you had issues with virus and addware/spyware before?

In my experience, with just a modicum of discretion, you don't need any kind of anti-virus software at all!

That about sums it up.

This may be true on your own machine but....have you ever dealt with end users? their common sense level is not particularly high. We had users who managed to cause huge damage on multiple occasions from email borne virii. Amazing how many people don't learn after the first incident.

I came here looking for a solution as well since I figured AVG was no longer going to have a free version like Brewmaniac did. Glad to know there is still a free alternative. AVG has never given me any problems and I was not about to switch on my own.

yeah, some idiot posted avg was no longer free on digg, and everyone dugg it a few months ago. its free, it will always be free, end of story.

AVG seems to get this happen every few months - I first heard it two years ago...

Personally I use Avast, and run a Panda scan (free) every now and then.

You gave me a scare. I am a huge fan of AVG.

to me that's like hearing, just live in a safe neighborhood and you won't have to lock your house. there are baddies everywhere hiding in all kinds of places - be as careful/discreet as you can be, but that doesn't mean you still shouldn't protect yourself!

or as the saying goes, it's better to have an AV and not need it, than to need an AV and not have it :D

I'm guessing that you don't live in Canada.

I don't think you've made a very good analogy but, now that you've made it, lets take your analogy and run with it. You can read about this in the thievery thread, locks don't stop people from breaking into your house at all. All locks do is prevent people from accidentally walking into your house by mistake. If you want to reduce break-ins, it's more effective to move into a better neighborhood than it is to get a better lock. AV software and locks, alike, are both placebos...

Ah, but isn't it better to not need AV and not have it! Seriously, AV systems are a waste of computer resources. How many people have been bothered by, or have felt their computers bogged down by, their AV software? Now, how effective are they? Can anyone here testify that they used to get infected by adware/spyware all the time and now that they've installed some AV software they appear to be completely immune and experience no problems anymore? Really? Anyone?

Instead of trusting a mindless piece of software to magically protect you, just don't run an executable you have no reason to trust and, maybe, stop surfing with IE and you'll be fine...

As a known "guy who does something or other with computers", I am often called upon by friends and family to help them with something on their computer. 95% of the time the problem is a virus or some piece of malware or other. After installing anti-virus/anti-spyware tools and showing how to update them, I rarely hear problems from them again.

Knife, I'd love it if you could show us case studies that backed up your position. In a perfect world, sure, and we wouldn't need operating systems. We'd all run nothing but purpose-written code that operated on systems without the waste of noops, disc latency, or wait states, and any instruction set would auto-correct viruses to solve pi to a few extra digits per infection. That's peachy in a population of stoned CS lab junkies, but it wouldn't stand a chance in the larger population. Recall many users can't find the control panel. They're just trying to accomplish a bit of emailing, shopping, or porn surfing. Explain caution and technique all day and watch the fireworks begin. Anti-ware acts as surfing policy for those who can't or won't differentiate between friend and foe, or who have differing opinions of those classifications. As always, there are good and bad solutions. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease, but arguing to categorically banish those tools in the name of eliminating bad or poorly applied tools is an academic position that does not work without daily re-imaging of systems. Been there, done that.

well said cyrnel.

I don't live in Canada KnifeMissle - what's your point?

You don't leave your door wide open when you're not home, do you? I mean it's just silly how you go on about locks, you should understand the point...you protect yourself and your belongings IRL, and knowing what's out there, it's irresponsible to not protect yourself IRL AND virtually.

If you own a home, you should have a Security System - Take the Quiz... no matter how wealthy or poor the neighborhood you live in.

Forgetting about experts and saavy users, how do you propose novice users be protected from malicious spam linked to a virus they think is real? Or can you not conceive a user like that?

Have you ever fixed a machine for someone who was infected and understood how they came to be infected? Just last week, 3 clicks on an machine with expired AV caused the Luder.A Infection among others - protection from this worm has been available since late December - if my customer had his "door locked" with current AV protection, he could have avoided file clean & backup, XP reinstall and file restore. Could he have been smarter by not opening the attachment? Yes. Can you expect everyone to be that smart? The reality is, no.

I can say that I once plugged my freshly formatted and reinstalled computer into the campus network so that I could download AVG and install it and had received a virus through no fault of my own before I was able to do so.

If your computer's going to be on the internet, its not especially intelligent not to have an anti-virus solution, especially when you can get great ones for free.

And back to the matter at hand, I've had more old people calling me at work about how they're going to have to start paying for AVG than I would believe.

I'd love it if I could find a case study that shows that these AV programs actually do something. Hence, my request for people's testimonial.

I'd like to respond to a particular point:If this were true, they wouldn't need anti-virus software at all! It is precisely because they try to do more that they get infected...


I was just wondering how surprised you would be to hear that most people in Canada don't bother locking their houses, at least when they're inside.

I close my door only because I don't want to let in a draft. I enjoy the privacy, as well. It certainly isn't for security because I understand that the door offers none...

Yes, it was silly how I went on about locks. I'm sorry you didn't appreciate it. Let me remind you that you're the one that made the lock analogy...

I propose that novice users learn to protect themselves from malicious software with just a little bit of education. If they're smart enough to operate a car (a very difficult skill that virtually everyone has learned) they can learn how to not sabotage their own machines...

I have never seen anyone who got infect and knew how they were infected. What did they have to say for themselves?

You sound like you're over-dramatizing the situation. I'm not saying we should pass law to abolish AV software. I'm just questioning why people feel they need such things. If you have the presence of mind to want AV software, why don't you have the presence of mind not run foreign executables?


Well, not connecting your naked MS Windows run computer naked to the internet might qualify as "a modicum of discretion." However, I appreciate that you had no idea your computer was that vulnerable. I'm guess that, from this experience, you must think that it's impossible to keep a computer secure without anti-virus software. Am I right?

Well, I don't have any kind of anti-virus software running on my computer and I've been connected to the internet 24/7 since the last millennium. Do you think I'm just the luckiest guy on Earth?

Now, I do run a firewall and, again, I appreciate that you may not make a distinction between that and "anti-virus" software. Without the firewall, my computer would be infected, no doubt. However, the anti-malware stuff is completely unnecessary...

I have both AVG and Avast installed. They both seem to work okay. Is it okay to have both?<br>Thanks MD

no it's not good to have 2 anti virus programs, they can interfere with each other and leave you less protected. this is more of a problem with the big boys, norton, mcafee, but it could also cause issues with the lesser more compact AV programs.

Thanks now which to uninstall?

I've never used avast, but i do love AVG.

AVG is fantastic and it is my recommended choice because of it's teeny footprint. In the past ~2 weeks I have uninstalled Norton three times after I found out it caused problems ranging from general resource hogging to destruction of the WMI service.

AVG!

I had sales people at Best Buy and Staples tell me about problems with AVG. I'm not trying to say they know anything but I hear both sides. I had Norton and had to upgrade from 2002 to 2005 because the old one wasn't supported anymore. The 2005 download didn't work and had me screwed up for days trying to talk to Symantec about the problem. Never did get it working and still got stuck for $50.00. Never again with Norton I don't care if it's free.
Thanks guys for the info!
Modo

and i fix the problems best buy's 'geek squad' causes... the only problem I've seen was AVG is incompatible with an old version of roxio, however, the installer actually detects that the old version of roxio is installed, and warns you, even gives you a link to the patch for the later version of roxio which fixes the issue.

You know, I can't help but point out that you could have avoided all this trouble (and $50) if you just didn't bother with any anti-virus software. Again, it is not worth the bother, free or otherwise...

QFT- this man is absolutely correct.


I have to disagree w/ KnifeMissile. I'm really good with this stuff and I never got a virus from the interwebs, but at a LAN I picked up a virus using a shared external hard drive from someone who did not practice security.

Saying be careful and don't use AV software is like saying you don't have to use a condom - just don't fuck.

AVG rocks. Clamwin is cool, but has no real-time virus scanner capability last I knew.

Yeah, Martel got infected off of a campus network, which is similar to your situation. Admittedly, if you're going to connect your computer to unknown networks, you should run a firewall to protect yourself from those networks. I just got a laptop and, as annoying as it is, it has a firewall on it. Sadly, to work with my Windows network at home, it's turned off (not really but set to minimal protection) but the application interface is open at all times so that I may turn it back on whenever I leave my home (and, potentially, connect to another network)...

I get the impression that your situation is a little different since you mentioned an external drive. Did you run an executable off someone else's drive?

I guess it is but the analogy is overstating it quite a bit. First, I'm the biggest nerd in the world (figuratively speaking) but I much prefer having sex than running just any dumb executable on my computer. Secondly, a condom is much safer than a your AV software. A condom makes you immune to pretty much any STD but AV software gives you a vague chance of preventing yourself from being infected. If you feel that you can run just any executable just because you have some AV software, you're crazy...

So, I can see your analogy but it's not very apt. I think it's more like being careful who you sleep with. You're pretty safe and you don't have to cum into a rubber bag...

AVG's footprint is so small I can afford to just have it run and update, and if it catches anything, w00t. If I have a suspicious group of files, maybe i'll give it a scan.

I whored out my drive to other people - who knows what's on their computers.

Two words for ya: broken rubber.

Computer security is not about "the answer", it's about "layers". AV is one layer. Running without it is pointless. My opinion only, of course.

I've been told this but, man, maybe I'm just having wimpy sex 'cause I've never had a condom even come close to breaking and I use the extra thin ones that aren't supposed to be reliable!

Of course it is. My opinion is that running one is pointless. The first and best layer of security is you...

The best security for me is a router (closes/stealths all ports).

I also just let the Windows Firewall chill - could stop a rogue program from doing something. This is not dire security as much as it is diagnosis. I might not have caught the bugger.

I've got AVG around to scan lightly and pick up stuff. I've also got Ad-Aware to check around for malware and stinky cookies (not like that does much good), but I keep it updated every now and then but I rarely run a scan.

Finally, there's the number one defense - MikeSty. I'm the operator of this machine as well as the owner, therefore I am the caretaker.

I just got a free copy of NOD32, but I was a little leery of installing something I'm unfamiliar with. The box says it has rootkit protection as well.

Do you still like it? Do you know if it is still $40/year?

The Screen on our Laptop is 1/3rd dead and will soon become our secondary computer once we get a new one. It's just going be used for basic surfing and CD burning, so I plan on stripping it down until it's as lean as possible.

That includes replacing Norton AV's bloated footprint with AVG's. Any tips for completely removing Norton from an XP system besides using the basic uninstall tools? Do I install AVG first before removing Norton?

I would just install AVG after uninstalling Norton. Having AVG and Norton running just to install Norton probably isn't going to be much worse than just being "wide open" for a few minutes. The thing with Norton is that it helps prevent viruses, so you should be relatively clean.

If you want to have your system as norton free as possible, I would probably do the regular uninstall, reboot, then run CCleaner's registry cleaner 2-3 times. It should get about everything. ccleaner - http://filehippo.com - And you can get the new beta, or the last stable version.