Free antivirus software.

paul139

paul139

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Just reset my computer to factory settings and am in the process of reinstalling programs. I usually use Norton but wondered if there are any free programs out there that work as well or better. Any suggestions?
 
Avast! is very good, AVG has gone too bloaty. If you're running Windows 7 (it may work with XP), Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is highly regarded.
 
I ran AVAST on XP for years with no problems what so ever
 
Another vote for Avast.
I've tried several free ones but Avast seems the most dependable and it also doesnt slow things down too much, if at all.
 
Another vote for Avast, why anyone would use Norton or McAfee is beyond me.
 
I also run avast, have done for about 6 years, used to run it on xp now windows 7
 
Running vista i use mse and malware bytes but still think ive got a keylogger on there, hotmail got hacked n password is near impossible to guess, as is my security question, so dunno if i rate it anymore, running ubuntu on other machines, far safer!!
 
Microsoft Security Essentials is the best free.

AVG = bloated
Avast - you need to register each year and people I download it for forget and then aren't protected. not 100% sure you can schedule scans

Security essentials is the way to go and Security Essentials works on XP and up
 
Any suggestions for keylogger removal/searching? Mse and malwarebytes dont find anything but i still think theres an issue
 
paul139 said:
Just reset my computer to factory settings and am in the process of reinstalling programs. I usually use Norton but wondered if there are any free programs out there that work as well or better. Any suggestions?
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I don't have a free 1 as such but I do have a few spare kaspersky discs and licence unused sitting in cupboard doing nothing. ( we got contract with them in work, all staff got a few for family and friends) shame I managed to get 15 odd for pc for which I don't use & 5 for mac :-)

Can't sell them though on flee bay, as they not retail boxed versions :-(

Suppose legally :-) I can send them as a gift, with the person receiving gift paying postage at a couple of £ higher than actual postage cost
 
Another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials....just as good as Kaspersky (which I used for years) and it's free.

I'm amazed people still use horrible bloatware like Norton and Mcafee.
 
antihero said:
Another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials....just as good as Kaspersky (which I used for years) and it's free.

I'm amazed people still use horrible bloatware like Norton and Mcafee.
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Yup, I ditched Norton and McAfee and started using the MSE beta, have been using it since.
 
I run XP and changed to Avast a couple of years ago when AVG got bloated. Avast has been trouble free. Never had any nasties get past it's defences. Re-registering every year (just did it early this week) is hassle free and the program prompts you to do so when the time comes.
 
Another +1 for avast here... and they're developing the free version for the OS X now as well, which has to be a good thing - my iMac is running it and I can't really notice it's there (during the initial scan, it even picked up one of the nasties that the Windows version had quarantined on my boot camp partition...)
 
Run Avast on all of my machines but recently put in a proposal to replace our current corporate av with Microsoft security essentials, but was rejected on cost (business licensing and the console for management isn't cheap) and our current provider was so desperate for the renewal they practically gave us a 3 year deal..

Personally I find avast a bit lighter on resources.
 
Avira antivir, Avast and MSE for anti-virus and Malwarebytes for malware detection/removal.

I like Avira - it has a very small resource footprint and performs well.
 
neil_g said:
Run Avast on all of my machines but recently put in a proposal to replace our current corporate av with Microsoft security essentials, but was rejected on cost (business licensing and the console for management isn't cheap) and our current provider was so desperate for the renewal they practically gave us a 3 year deal..

Personally I find avast a bit lighter on resources.
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Have a look at Bitdefender for corporate AV :)
 
another vote for Avast, running on an old XP machine with no problems. Norton in my view slows down the PC to much.
 
MSE for me, I used to use AVG but it started missing things that malwarebytes was picking up on random scans.
 
Well thanks everyone for the replies and advice, I've installed Microsoft security essentials and Malwarebytes so I'll see how these go.
 
paul139 said:
Well thanks everyone for the replies and advice, I've installed Microsoft security essentials and Malwarebytes so I'll see how these go.
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I forgot to add that with malwarebytes it is not live scanning unless you purchase the license. You'll need to update it manually and run a scan manually.
 
I had MSE and Norton on mine together. I managed to get a nasty and Norton got it and killed it. I now have just Norton.
 
Oggy said:
I had MSE and Norton on mine together. I managed to get a nasty and Norton got it and killed it. I now have just Norton.
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You should never run two anti-virus products on the same machine at the same time. They will interact and not in a good way ;)
 
if the spec of your computer sucks (or you have a small netbook etc as in the case of my missus), then panda cloud is a nice lightweight program.
 
Islander said:
You should never run two anti-virus products on the same machine at the same time. They will interact and not in a good way ;)
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Agreed. 2 may sound like a good idea but they conflict and potentially cancel each other out. Probably why mse didn't see it.
 
+1 for avast been using it for about 5 years now and it has improved with age. I would not let norton anywhere near any system I build.
 
I always used AVG until i had a major problem, i had an issue that AVG wasn't identifying, after much googling and enquiring it transpired that a trojan was downloaded WITHIN the AVG definitions download. That was it for me, off went AVG and in came AVAST, never had an issue, always been reliable, i also have Malwarebytes which i have used for years too.
All on windoze 7
Best wishes
Cliff
 
Islander said:
You should never run two anti-virus products on the same machine at the same time. They will interact and not in a good way ;)
Click to expand...

Some do, some don't. I had had no problems.
 
Oggy said:
Some do, some don't. I had had no problems.
Click to expand...

Point is you shouldnt

edit - to expand on this, you have on access or realtime scanning with AV packages. if you have 2 installed and both are trying to realtime scan files they will be tripping over eachother, causing conflicts and other errors. you can have more than 1 installed, just make sure both/more than 1 arent doing realtime/on access scanning.
 
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Avast for me on my XP desktop and Win7 laptop, no problems and seems to stop any nasties getting through.
 
Avast for many years now. Only had one problem when an update dowloaded some false positives and gave dozens of warnings on my usual pages. They fixed that in a matter of minutes.
Never had real nasties get in, and run Malwarebytes from time to time for the ads, etc.

My mum forgets to re-register it, but no one else I know does. :)
 
I've used Comodo Internet Security (free) for a couple of years with no problems + Superantispyware (free), which despite the daft name does the job + Malwarebytes and a couple of other standalone progs for those hard to remove stains
 
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