antivirus

  • Thread starter Thread starter gp
  • Start date Start date
G

gp

hi

can anyone recommend any decent free antivirus software that can detect
viruses and keep upto date, check emails, delete or quarantine infected
files.
good enough for interent use eg web browsing, some emails, miminal
downloading (low usage)

I am just a home user so I dont need network drives checked
 
gp said:
hi

can anyone recommend any decent free antivirus software that can detect
viruses and keep upto date, check emails, delete or quarantine infected
files.
good enough for interent use eg web browsing, some emails, miminal
downloading (low usage)

I am just a home user so I dont need network drives checked
Click to expand...

I 2nd the Avast recommendation.
 
how does avast compare to say nortons antivirus
Click to expand...

It's free for a start. As far as detection is concerned I am too lazy
to look it up but I know enough about Norton to think there is no way
AVAST could be any worse :). Thanks to symantec it's bloated and has
terrible customer support.
 
how does avast compare to say nortons antivirus
Click to expand...
1. Avast! is free for the downloading.
2. Personal experience only but Norton has messed up my system
several times. Some people like it though. Avast update had some
issues with my firewall but has been fine since those were sorted
out.
3. Avast! updates are small and quick to download, apparently
patches. Norton updates, before I uninstalled it, tended to be huge.
 
can you run 2 AV at once on your PC eg norton, avast
Click to expand...
Install as many as you like.
It's generally a bad idea to have more than one operating in
"on-access" aka "in-memory" aka "realtime" mode, as they can
get into a loop watching each other's operations.
 
i can gather form all of these replies is that people trust avast can do as
good a job as norton for AV. that was was biggest concern. if it is free
then it isnt that good.
 
gp said:
can you run 2 AV at once on your PC eg norton, avast
Click to expand...

You can run 2, but don't go there. Just use a free one (Avast or one of the
others) and don't put a second one one unless you decide to remove the
previous.

Brian

www.cryer.co.uk
 
gp said:
hi

can anyone recommend any decent free antivirus software that can detect
viruses and keep upto date, check emails, delete or quarantine infected
files.
good enough for interent use eg web browsing, some emails, miminal
downloading (low usage)

I am just a home user so I dont need network drives checked
Click to expand...

There are a few free anti-virus solutions. The ones I know of, I've listed
on http://www.cryer.co.uk/resources/antivirus.htm.

Personally I use AVG at home, but Avast is often highly recommended.

Don't think that because they are free they aren't any good. They are
probably at least as good as the commercial ones - in fact they are
commercial ones, they allow you to use it for free in the hope that you will
recommend it to your place of work. Be aware that if you have more than one
pc then you may be expected to pay for a license, read their terms and
conditions but mostly these are free for a single home pc.

hope this helps,

Brian

www.cryer.co.uk
 
Brian Cryer said:
There are a few free anti-virus solutions. The ones I know of, I've listed
on http://www.cryer.co.uk/resources/antivirus.htm.

Personally I use AVG at home, but Avast is often highly recommended.

Don't think that because they are free they aren't any good. They are
probably at least as good as the commercial ones - in fact they are
commercial ones, they allow you to use it for free in the hope that you
will recommend it to your place of work. Be aware that if you have more
than one pc then you may be expected to pay for a license, read their
terms and conditions but mostly these are free for a single home pc.

hope this helps,

Brian

www.cryer.co.uk
Click to expand...

and don't forget to install a firewall - or turn on the XP one if you using
XP.
 
You can run 2, but don't go there. Just use a free one (Avast or one of the
others) and don't put a second one one unless you decide to remove the
previous.

Brian

www.cryer.co.uk
Click to expand...
There's no reason not to have 2 av progs on a system, just make sure
that only 1 is enabled for real time scanning. In fact, it can be an
advantage to have 2 av pros as it means that you can get a second
opinion.

regards

nemo2
 
gp said:
i can gather form all of these replies is that people trust avast can do as
good a job as norton for AV. that was was biggest concern. if it is free
then it isnt that good.
Click to expand...

"...as good a job as..."

I don't have any URL to point to, but I'm going to flat-out guess that
Norton more than just edges out Avast! in both the detection percentage
and the S/N ratio (FP's) in a well run comparison test. If you are not a
high risk user, then Avast! will serve you well enough (it's one of the
'good' ones). For serious high risk usage, I would go for the payware
"Kaspersky", "F-Prot for Windows", and maybe "NOD32" (I like having
second opinion scanning ability offline).

Opinion only of course... :)
 
nemo2 said:
There's no reason not to have 2 av progs on a system, just make sure
that only 1 is enabled for real time scanning. In fact, it can be an
advantage to have 2 av pros as it means that you can get a second
opinion.

regards

nemo2
Click to expand...

Agreed. Its the real-time scanning which is the issue.

Brian.
 
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