Best Free Antivirus Software

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim Weaver
  • Start date Start date
Someone I know swears by Avast every chance he gets but I've not looked at
it. I use AVG and am very satisfied with it.

Debbie
 
Any advice? Avast? AVG? Something else?

I personally prefer AVast... AVG let to many virus through for me...

but at the end of the day I would guess they are pretty close and it would
come down to personal choice

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Bebop & Rocksteady said:
I personally prefer AVast... AVG let to many virus through for me...

but at the end of the day I would guess they are pretty close and it would
come down to personal choice
Click to expand...

So what you are saying is that AVast also let many through?
 
I personally prefer AVast... AVG let to many virus through for me...

but at the end of the day I would guess they are pretty close and it would
come down to personal choice
Click to expand...

I have a couple of questions concerning the leading three freeware AV
choices (AVG, AntiVir, Avast).
Avast needs a feature enabled to have the capacity to clean an
infected file ,or so it claims. It is called the VRDB database. I have
gathered from the help file that if you do not permit the program to
maintain and update this database, which stores information about the
state of files on disk, there is no chance of healing. I have
disabled this feature. My question is: How much space does it take
up? Do you do it automatically or manually? Do other AV programs
work in the same way? Does this way work?
About Antivir. A nice, lightweight program with a hideous upgrade
strategy (complete reinstall twice a week). I got the impression by
browsing their forums that it, too, is helpless in case of infection.
Am I right? Or am I spreading misinformation? It also lacks
heuristics.
AVG seems stuck in version 6. Any updates as to whether there will be
a new freeware version?
The above may seem a bit harsh, but let me point out that I voted for
all three programs in the PL threads, as they caused no trouble for me
and seem to work fine.
 
George said:
I have a couple of questions concerning the leading three freeware AV
choices (AVG, AntiVir, Avast).
Avast needs a feature enabled to have the capacity to clean an
infected file ,or so it claims. It is called the VRDB database. I have
gathered from the help file that if you do not permit the program to
maintain and update this database, which stores information about the
state of files on disk, there is no chance of healing. I have
disabled this feature. My question is: How much space does it take
up? Do you do it automatically or manually? Do other AV programs
work in the same way? Does this way work?
About Antivir. A nice, lightweight program with a hideous upgrade
strategy (complete reinstall twice a week). I got the impression by
browsing their forums that it, too, is helpless in case of infection.
Am I right? Or am I spreading misinformation? It also lacks
heuristics.
AVG seems stuck in version 6. Any updates as to whether there will be
a new freeware version?
The above may seem a bit harsh, but let me point out that I voted for
all three programs in the PL threads, as they caused no trouble for me
and seem to work fine.
Click to expand...
As new virus or virii come out or are detected or are created then your
computer is at risk and considering a mild day has 500+ bugs/worms/virus
kicking around we all need protection.

One database downloaded at the time of install WILL ONLY PROTECT YOU FOR
THE VIRUS/BUGS LISTED IN THAT DATABASE, anything new, WILL GET YOU IF IT
HITS YOUR COMPUTER.

So these databases have to but updated regularly atleast once a week to
once a day, depending on what your protecting, ergo you have to have the
update features of your Anti-Virus turned on or do it manually on those
regular occasions.

I personally use AntiVir ( http://www.free-av.com/ ) and Tect-Protect
(http://www.tech-pro.co.uk/index.html ) both of these I updated daily to
every other day manually, and of yet have not been damaged by a virus,
they have both detected and either cleaned or quarentined the problem
file, and of that it the cleaning that was done.

Kingtut1
 
One database downloaded at the time of install WILL ONLY PROTECT YOU FOR
THE VIRUS/BUGS LISTED IN THAT DATABASE, anything new, WILL GET YOU IF IT
HITS YOUR COMPUTER.

So these databases have to but updated regularly atleast once a week to
once a day, depending on what your protecting, ergo you have to have the
update features of your Anti-Virus turned on or do it manually on those
regular occasions.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. However, I am not referring to the virus
definitions database. Avast needs to maintain a separate database of
THE STATE OF FILES ON YOUR DRIVE, so that when a file is infected the
program can restore it to its former glory. This is not a database
you download, but rather a snapshot of your hard drive generated by
the program. My questions are: How much space does this use up? Is
it efficient? What good is it when you want to clean an infected file
you just downloaded?
I am not slamming the program. In fact, I voted for it. I just want
to have sth clear in my head: Since I have disabled the generation of
said database, if I become infected on a grand scale, I have to
resort to other means of salvation. Have I got it right?
 
George Skandalidis said:
About Antivir. A nice, lightweight program with a hideous upgrade
strategy (complete reinstall twice a week).
Click to expand...

You can use the newer virus signature databases with older versions AFAIK,
but maybe it won't be as effective then...
I got the impression by browsing their forums that it, too, is helpless
in case of infection.
Click to expand...

If you're infected, it's too late. If you're carefull, it shouldn't
happen...

In most cases you can get free desinfection instructions or tools elsewhere
but I didn't have any problems disinfecting (with AntiVir) a friend's
computer with at least 5 different viruses on it.
 
George Skandalidis said:
Avast needs a feature enabled to have the capacity to clean an
infected file ,or so it claims. It is called the VRDB database. I have
gathered from the help file that if you do not permit the program to
maintain and update this database, which stores information about the
state of files on disk, there is no chance of healing. I have
disabled this feature.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was not so keen on at first either :-)
My question is: How much space does it take up?
Click to expand...

I think mine is 4-6 Mb and thats from 120 Gb HD with some 350.000 files. The
small size was a big surprise for me.
Do you do it automatically or manually?
Click to expand...

I've mine set on auto (when idle), and it'll make one every 3 weeks or so.
Do other AV programs
work in the same way?
Click to expand...

I remember some old ones did. The idea is (AFAIK), that with the VRDB it can
repaer the file to its original state 100%, while others may disable the
virus, but might not return it to its original state 100%
Does this way work?
Click to expand...

I dunno :-)

Best regards
Frank
 
I have a couple of questions concerning the leading three freeware AV
choices (AVG, AntiVir, Avast).
Avast needs a feature enabled to have the capacity to clean an
infected file ,or so it claims. It is called the VRDB database. I have
gathered from the help file that if you do not permit the program to
maintain and update this database, which stores information about the
state of files on disk, there is no chance of healing.
Click to expand...

This appears to be a misunderstanding. For most viruses, it's trival for
them to corrupt a file such that there is no chance for recovery. Some
are not that evil of course and make minor known changes that can be
recovered from (file infectors?). Still Avast is probably no better or
worse
than other antivirues in restoring the file back to it's original state.
It's just that with the VRDB database (the equalavant of a backup I
guess), it would have a much better chance of doing it since you knew how
the original file looked like.

I think today, most viruses, do not really try to spread infections by
infecting or altering any/all data files. Rather they pick specific
system files, create new files etc to carry out the infection. These
system files have well known formats and generally can be deinfected
while the other additonal files created can be deleted without problems.


What does differ between antiviruses I think is their ability to
disinfect/delete such files, because viruses these days protect
themselves from being easily deleted.









Aaron (my email is not munged!)
 
If you're infected, it's too late. If you're carefull, it shouldn't
happen...

In most cases you can get free desinfection instructions or tools elsewhere
but I didn't have any problems disinfecting (with AntiVir) a friend's
computer with at least 5 different viruses on it.
Click to expand...

Then I take back what I said. So, it IS capable of cleaning. Thank
you for the information.
 
I think mine is 4-6 Mb and thats from 120 Gb HD with some 350.000 files. The
small size was a big surprise for me.


I've mine set on auto (when idle), and it'll make one every 3 weeks or so.


I remember some old ones did. The idea is (AFAIK), that with the VRDB it can
repaer the file to its original state 100%, while others may disable the
virus, but might not return it to its original state 100%
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the detailed information. I'll have a go at
enabling the feature.
 
This appears to be a misunderstanding. For most viruses, it's trival for
them to corrupt a file such that there is no chance for recovery. Some
are not that evil of course and make minor known changes that can be
recovered from (file infectors?). Still Avast is probably no better or
worse
than other antivirues in restoring the file back to it's original state.
It's just that with the VRDB database (the equalavant of a backup I
guess), it would have a much better chance of doing it since you knew how
the original file looked like.
Click to expand...

My misunderstanding stems from the following excerpt of the Avast Help
file:
Disable VRDB generation: avast! will neither create,
nor update the database.
If you select this option, it will not be possible to repair
virus infected files in the future!
Click to expand...

What you say seems logical, though, and may be closer to the truth
than the official stance. Thank you.
 
Dans son message précédent, "George Skandalidis" a écrit :
I fully agree, The same here :-) :-)
 
I tried Avast for a while and it seemed to work ok, I did not like the fact
that several separate applications were installed and running. E-mail
scanning was a separate process as well as something that recorded
executable activity or something, supposedly to aid in restoration in the
event of a virus infection or damage. No judgment of the program's quality
just an observation that it was different from others I have used and I
didn't prefer it.

I currently use Antivir and have for the last year without problem. I would
say the downside (IMO) is that it seems to be very slow in running a full
system scan. I use it on Win2K and WinXP and it takes 15+minutes vs. 4-5
minutes with CAI E-Trust. But it is free.

I like AVG as well, it sometimes was difficult to update due to the servers
being down (this issue may now be in the past).
 
If you're infected, it's too late. If you're carefull, it shouldn't
happen...
Click to expand...

Not if you use XP and the hotfix patches are late in coming out or
you have to remove the patch because of pc instability due to buggy
patch. These viruses that attack vulnerable machines (ie not received
via email or other method of user execution), are nasty. You will
need a decent firewall software as well as a virus software.
 
D.R said:
You will need a decent firewall software as well as a virus software.
Click to expand...

Of course, and it also helps if you disable all unneeded services...
That's what I mean by "being carefull".
 
I personally prefer AVast... AVG let to many virus through for me...

but at the end of the day I would guess they are pretty close and it would
come down to personal choice
Click to expand...

Which is worse: ignorance or apathy? Who knows? Who cares?
 
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