Best Anti-Virus System

[Spartan198]

What's the best anti-virus program available for a decent price tag?

[Tratorix]

I personally use AVG Free. I haven't had any problems, and best of all it doesn't cost anything.

[Raz]

And what ever you do, do not get Norton Anti-Virus... Worst thing you could do.

[Hellenic_Hoplite]

And what ever you do, do not get Norton Anti-Virus... Worst thing you could do.

Not sure why you say that (well in a way I am (it sometimes blocks you're computer from playing online games)) I've had it for a while and I haven't got a virus since, as a matter of fact it blocked a couple of trojans the other day.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

I think it's more the performance overhead on some Anti-Virus programs than their virus combating qualities. Norton is a bit of a memory hog in all honesty and its performance penalties are especially noticeable on my lower mid-range laptop. I probably would uninstall it, but both my PCs came with it pre-installed with a one year subscription. I don't really want to waste two free licences on an otherwise commercial product.

[Spartan198]

I personally use AVG Free. I haven't had any problems, and best of all it doesn't cost anything.

The zero-cost is always a plus,but I'd had AVG in the past (when I was picking up stray wireless signals) and when I finally got a wireless router and regular net access on my notebook,it gave me a partial incompatability reading.

Currently,I'm using Ad-Aware Free,but it's not doing as good a job as I'd hoped. I have a trial of another program that I downloaded a week or so ago,and it's always picking up infections that Ad-Aware is missing.

I'm currently of the opinion that the free anti-virus programs aren't so good.

And don't get me started on Norton. I've used it before and was sorely disappointed.

[Quirinus]

I use AVG Free and Spybot Search & Destroy. I find them to be pretty effective, but I turn off the daily scans, and scan only about once a week. Otherwise it lags my computer up so bad it wouldn't be much better than viruses.

[Raz]

Not sure why you say that (well in a way I am (it sometimes blocks you're computer from playing online games)) I've had it for a while and I haven't got a virus since, as a matter of fact it blocked a couple of trojans the other day.

As omanes said, it isn't too crash hot for a PC that you'll be using for some sort of gaming. Before I'd get messages popping up saying "Windows is low on memory". I'd say, far enough I must have the graphics on too high a setting, so I tune them down, then it pops up again... I open up task manager, and there it is... Norton is using up pretty much all of my memory for a LiveUpdate or something... Gah!
This and it's very, very slow scan speed will slow your computer right up unless you can afford to own a top notch PC. You try scanning 180 GB of Hard-drive using Norton, you can easily spend 3 hours or more watching it scan... >_<

[caravel]

I think it's more the performance overhead on some Anti-Virus programs than their virus combating qualities. Norton is a bit of a memory hog in all honesty and its performance penalties are especially noticeable on my lower mid-range laptop. I probably would uninstall it, but both my PCs came with it pre-installed with a one year subscription. I don't really want to waste two free licences on an otherwise commercial product.

There is nothing to waste as Norton is basically a crap product. You should uninstall it and not waste months or years with degraded performance.

The zero-cost is always a plus,but I'd had AVG in the past (when I was picking up stray wireless signals) and when I finally got a wireless router and regular net access on my notebook,it gave me a partial incompatability reading.

What is a "partial incompatibility reading"?

Currently,I'm using Ad-Aware Free,but it's not doing as good a job as I'd hoped. I have a trial of another program that I downloaded a week or so ago,and it's always picking up infections that Ad-Aware is missing.

This is not an anti virus program, it is an anti spyware program and not a very good one.

I'm currently of the opinion that the free anti-virus programs aren't so good.

And what do you base that on? I'm of the opinion that AVG is easily one of the best Anti-Virus programs out there and is better than both Norton and McAfee in almost every way possible.

[grwn]

I've been using AVG free for several years as well. Never had any kind of problems with it, not even viruses, so apparently it's doing it's job.

I've used Norton and McAfee as well, but these were both extreme system hogs. I've tweaked my system to give me the best performance (disabling unnecessary services, register edits etc..) and after installing either of these, I lost about 5 - 10 FPS (Frames Per Second) in every game I played. So both of these were gone immediately. I installed AVG and disabled the regular scans, and I am back at my normal FPS rate again.

I've also heard some nice things about NOD32, but I have n't used it so I can't comment on that one.

cheers,
grwn

[Spartan198]

What is a "partial incompatibility reading"?

I have no clue,but after I got that message,my AVG wouldn't update properly.

This is not an anti virus program, it is an anti spyware program and not a very good one.

I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me.

And what do you base that on? I'm of the opinion that AVG is easily one of the best Anti-Virus programs out there and is better than both Norton and McAfee in almost every way possible.

That was when I thought Ad-Aware was an actual anti-virus program.

[Jochi Khan]

I've been using AVG Free for years. A very good anti virus program.

[UltraWar]

Shouldn't this be in the Hard- and software forum?

[The Outsider]

i have tried quite a few prgrams in the last years but reacently i have found a program called avira antivir it is a very good program you can get a free one just like AVG or you can download the full program from their website for about 12&#163; which is a very good value i reccomend it for eveyrone as far as i can see it is not very widely known but before purchasing it i made some research and it seems that many large companies use it for their employees it does not slow your pc much and it give excellent protection you can get the free copy from here
http://www.free-av.com/

[Makanyane]

I might try one of the freebies next - mcafee has been driving me round the bend for a while - it had some really good offer so we got the whole security suite - then found that various components won't work with other programs so can only use basic bits anyway, and remaining bits are the least configurable / user friendly things I've seen for a long while.

[Caius]

Unistalled the McAfee antivirus and installed AVG, and it got inmediatly a trojan + the pc run faster now.

[mccaffery]

i got a new pc today yipeee wife finaly gave in but norton allready on it so i should uninstall norton and install another one i thought norton was a good anti virus god im confused

[Spartan198]

Shouldn't this be in the Hard- and software forum?

Probably,but I've tended to put a lot of threads in the wrong areas recently.

[caravel]

Unistalled the McAfee antivirus and installed AVG, and it got inmediatly a trojan + the pc run faster now.

Caius, do you mean that after installing AVG that your machine became infected with a trojan or that after installing AVG it found a trojan?

[Caius]

caravel, I meant that after I installed AVG, a trojan was discovered by AVG.

[Hellenic_Hoplite]

I guess the reason I have never had too many problems with norton is because I have a fairly nice computer.

[Tratorix]

I have no clue,but after I got that message,my AVG wouldn't update properly.

I had that problem. Turns out I was using an outdated version. I just had to install the new version from their site and it worked fine. I've been using AVG Free for about a year and haven't had problems. Also, it doesn't seem to lag my computer much, even doing daily scanning.

[caravel]

I had that problem. Turns out I was using an outdated version. I just had to install the new version from their site and it worked fine. I've been using AVG Free for about a year and haven't had problems. Also, it doesn't seem to lag my computer much, even doing daily scanning.

I've had this problem in the past as well, but not for about a year. Uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version worked for me as well.

[Marshal Murat]

I use Spybot and Norton together. Spybot clears out most of the ad-ware and such, while I use Norton for general defense.

[Warluster]

I use AVG and Spybot Search and Destroy. I run checks on both every two days and Spyware usually catches at least 9. Both are good and recommended; I haven't had any problems as of late.

[PseRamesses]

As omanes said, it isn't too crash hot for a PC that you'll be using for some sort of gaming. Before I'd get messages popping up saying "Windows is low on memory". I'd say, far enough I must have the graphics on too high a setting, so I tune them down, then it pops up again... I open up task manager, and there it is... Norton is using up pretty much all of my memory for a LiveUpdate or something... Gah!
This and it's very, very slow scan speed will slow your computer right up unless you can afford to own a top notch PC. You try scanning 180 GB of Hard-drive using Norton, you can easily spend 3 hours or more watching it scan... >_<

I´ve been using Norton since the mid 90´s and I must say it´s hazzel free. I admit I never play online so that´s maybee its weakpoint. I´ve never had any problems and I can really recomend it. In Sweden it costs around 90$ and I buy a new version every three years and updates meanwhile.

I take it you know you can set the updates on manual instead so it doeasn´t interfear with your gaming? That´s what I did. Every friday at 8 am? (in the evening) I get the updates, run a scan and defrag the hd. All is done within one hour on a 250GB hd. To remind me I set the kalender in Windows to remind me.
Another good thing is to, sometimes, disconnect your PC from the web while gaming so some occasional pop-up intrusion varnings doesn´t disturb you. In my case I´ve found that the first pop-up I get I check if Norton can handle it. The second time I get the same varning I disable the "warn-me-box", this way I won´t be bothered with pop-ups that I already know Norton can handle.

[naut]

Ad-Aware

I really would advise against that program. Not only is it rubbish, but it has a nasty habit of destroying certain registry files that relate to start-up programs and links between short-cuts and programs.

[Orda Khan]

I used AVG for years, it was trouble free. I'm currently using Avast as it came with the PC, it seems to be doing a decent job

......Orda

[seireikhaan]

I'm using Avira antivirus right now, it does a good job and its free. Don't think you can really beat it, myself.

But I'll echo others; DON"T use Norton. Not only does it cost cash, but it takes forever to scan, and to top it off, Norton is the base anti-virus the majority of skilled virus makers test against(this coming from my hacker friend, who of all people would know), so Norton is actually more susceptible than most of the free anti-viruses.

[PseRamesses]

...But I'll echo others; DON"T use Norton. Not only does it cost cash, but it takes forever to scan, and to top it off, Norton is the base anti-virus the majority of skilled virus makers test against(this coming from my hacker friend, who of all people would know), so Norton is actually more susceptible than most of the free anti-viruses.

So for 14 years I´ve just been lucky, huh? Thx. I think I will follow this thread really close atleast for self preservation purposes. Thx for the tip KK!