Anti-virus software recommendations

shabbs wrote:I use Avast.... free and good.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

I'm going to have to check out avast, I think. I've been using AVG for a few years and, you're right, it's begun to get too big for my britches.

I've got a low-end PC (a 4-5 year old eMachines -- never again buy an eMachnes, but that's another story) and when AVG is running its comprehensive scan it sucks up the CPU for a couple of hours -- and I only have an 80 GB drive that's about half full. As well, I've got a multi-user installation (all six of us have an account) and the update nags happen for everyone, which means that the update checker is running for everyone -- frankly, I don't want my kids involved in the decision of what and when to upgrade. Is it too much to ask that only the user(s) with admin privileges run the updater?

shabbs wrote:I use Avast.... free and good.

[url=http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html[/quote[/url]]

this one beats AVG by a mile, noticed like you said with AVG 8, the package was starting to bloat and cause major slow downs on my pc.

OK, just unloaded AVG and installed Avast. Couple questions:

1. Where is the option to select when to do a full scan? I want to schedule it at something like 1AM every Monday morning. Couldn't (quickly) find it. I don't want it to scan at startup every time, which is what it is currently insisting on doing.

2. While looking for the full scan scheduling option, I started up the simple user interface. There it asked me for a registration license and said I had 59 days left on the demo license. So is this just a time-limited demo that expires in 2 months?

SensFan71 wrote:this one beats AVG by a mile, noticed like you said with AVG 8, the package was starting to bloat and cause major slow downs on my pc.

Indeed. I was a huge AVG fan for many years... but it just got too big, and too slow. Avast has been fantastic and is very customizable. TrendMicro is also a good one to look at as Prager mentioned.

The Comodo Firewall I mentioned above is also a very good software, and I think it comes with an Anti-Virus but I don't enable that piece. I was a ZoneAlarm user for years but needed something with a bit more control.

For free Firewalls, Comodo and ZoneAlarm are the best choices

wprager - for Avast you need to register it and get a code to keep it going. Registration is free.

http://www.avast.com/eng/home-registration.php

I'll look up the other details for ya later... for the full scan. Gonna be out all day today.

wprager wrote:OK, just unloaded AVG and installed Avast. Couple questions:

1. Where is the option to select when to do a full scan? I want to schedule it at something like 1AM every Monday morning. Couldn't (quickly) find it. I don't want it to scan at startup every time, which is what it is currently insisting on doing.

2. While looking for the full scan scheduling option, I started up the simple user interface. There it asked me for a registration license and said I had 59 days left on the demo license. So is this just a time-limited demo that expires in 2 months?

If you have the home edition, there is no option to set up a scan at a certain time like AVG had, so you can use the task scheduler on Windows as a roundabout fix.

• Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks
  
• Click (or double-click) on Add Scheduled Task
  
• In the wizard that appears click Next - a list of programs will appear
  
• Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4 (or whatever folder in which you installed avast!)
  
• Click (or double-click) on the file ashQuick.exe
  
• On the next screen give the task a name of your choice and choose how often you want it to run and click on Next
  
• On the next screen choose the appropriate scheduling options and click on Next
  
• On the next screen enter the user name and password for the Windows user you want the task to run as, then click on Next
  
• On the next screen check the box for the option "Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish", and then click Finish
  
• On the next screen, in the "Run" field you will see the path for the ashQuick.exe program. After the closing quote enter a space and type in the path(s) that you want scanned. Multiple paths must be separated by a space and any paths that include a space in the path name must be in quotes. Here are a couple of examples:
  

"C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashQuick.exe" C: E: - this will scan the entire contents of the C: and E: drives
"C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashQuick.exe" "C:Program Files" E:Downloads - this will scan the contents of the Program Files folder on the C: drive and the Downloads folder on the E: drive, including all subfolders (Note the first path is in quotes due to the space in the folder name "Program Files")

• Click OK
  
• In the Scheduled Tasks window, from the menu, click on Advanced and choose "Start Using Task Scheduler"
  
• To test your newly created task, from the Scheduled Tasks window, right-click on the task's icon and choose "Run" from the popup menu. If the scan doesn't begin correctly you'll get an error message. The problem is most likely in the scan path (missing quotes or something like that.)
  
• Close the Scheduled Tasks window
  

This might out me as the technologically challenged individual that I am, but what's wrong with Norton?

spader wrote:This might out me as the technologically challenged individual that I am, but what's wrong with Norton?

Norton is one of the most overbloated/ineffective anti virus suites out there, it slows down your pc huge, doesn't give you full protection against viruses in your MBR or any worms, had a worm absolutely riddle my pc useless once with Norton supposedly "protecting" my pc.

Fair enough. I guess I'm a sucker for the known name. When it comes to this sort of thing, I take ignorance to a new level.

spader wrote:Fair enough. I guess I'm a sucker for the known name. When it comes to this sort of thing, I take ignorance to a new level.

definitely don't be hard on yourself, sales people are leaned on to sell these big programs when a new pc is sold, first thing I do when I get home with a new pc is automatically remove norton, get avast, then remove internet exploder in favour of fire fox.

I bought my laptop online from a website here in Korea. It came with Norton and, not knowing any better, I renewed my service for what I think was about $100 for 3 years.

Question, is it worth getting rid of with that in mind, or would you keep it in my position? I can't think of a problem that I've had. Comp is fast and reliable so far and I download quite a bit from torrent sites.

spader wrote:I bought my laptop online from a website here in Korea. It came with Norton and, not knowing any better, I renewed my service for what I think was about $100 for 3 years.

Question, is it worth getting rid of with that in mind, or would you keep it in my position? I can't think of a problem that I've had. Comp is fast and reliable so far and I download quite a bit from torrent sites.

if it was me I would remove it before paying for it, so what I would suggest in this instance is since you paid for it, keep it going for those 3 years, but have Avast installed as well just to have a fail safe in case Norton doesn't pick up something (which is likely to happen from my experience). Like Shabbs said, Avast is free, so you won't be paying for two services.

Solution: buy a Mac, and don't ever worry about anti-virus software ever again.

Seriously. That's what I did. I don't ever look back, either.

[quote="shabbs"]I use Avast.... free and good.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html[/quote]

I use Avast also. Everything the other posters have said is true. Easy, economical(free) and efficient.

shabbs wrote:Careful with the latest versions of AVG... they've started to bloat their "free" software. I gave up on it and moved to Avast.

Thanks for the heads-up. I've used commercial anti-virus and they aren't even as good as AVG.

Is Avast the one with the "umbrella" logo?

rooneypoo wrote:Solution: buy a Mac, and don't ever worry about anti-virus software ever again.

Seriously. That's what I did. I don't ever look back, either.

well you could do that, but a lot of us are afraid of change :^^^^:

SensFan71 wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:Solution: buy a Mac, and don't ever worry about anti-virus software ever again.

Seriously. That's what I did. I don't ever look back, either.

well you could do that, but a lot of us are afraid of change :^^^^:

Yes, but when the change is from a long cloudy week to a sunshiny day, or a long cold winter to hot summer day, you should welcome it.

Seriously, it's nice out here. Come try it. No anti-virus crap eating up RAM, no firewalls, no blue-screens-of-death, no freezing whatsoever.

Yes, I am a brand new Mac user. I never used one a day in my life before last week, and already it feels like home.

rooneypoo wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:Solution: buy a Mac, and don't ever worry about anti-virus software ever again.

Seriously. That's what I did. I don't ever look back, either.

well you could do that, but a lot of us are afraid of change :^^^^:

Yes, but when the change is from a long cloudy week to a sunshiny day, or a long cold winter to hot summer day, you should welcome it.

Seriously, it's nice out here. Come try it. No anti-virus crap eating up RAM, no firewalls, no blue-screens-of-death, no freezing whatsoever.

Yes, I am a brand new Mac user. I never used one a day in my life before last week, and already it feels like home.

hmmmm something to think about, me I would switch in a heartbeat, but my wife refuses to tread away from the PC safeland, besides she would complain that Sims 3 probably would not work on a MAC. I would prefer running Linux on a MAC system if I had my choice.