Free Anti-Virus Download

http://www.free-av.com/


This company offers free AV download, you have to update the profile yourself, no auto updates but it has good reviews for those who can not or do not want to pay for AV software.

 

I use the free AVG anti virus software:

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php

I'll check the one out you posted about. With the amount of computers and viruses I see it never hurts to have another virus scanning program available. They all catch different viruses.

 

Yea that is great, but you should not run two AV programs at the same time as they will conflict and screw up your computer.

They only reason I would use a free program is if I could not afford Norton or do not have any other program.

Don't run two AV programs at the same time. You are asking for trouble.

ADWARE AND SPYWARE programs are different since they only run when YOU decide to scan, they do not run automatically at the same time creating conflicts.

 

I install and run up to 5 virus programs at the sime time during some trouble shooting sessions. I wouldn't leave them all installed long term, but there's no harm in it short term.

As far as Norton goes, I take it off every computer I ever work on and replace it with another program. IMO, Norton is the worst anti virus program out there.

 

I don't know, I ran two programs at the same time and the computer crashed until I removed McAffee and left Norton on the box.

So I would not try it again, do you let them both run at the same time?

Why is Norton so bad, I have used it for 3 years and never have been infected?

What is better, please let us know?

 

I never run actual scans simultaneously, nor do I leave any virus application active while I'm running a scan with another. Multiple version installed, yes. Multiple versions running, no.

My biggest problem with Norton is that it's a resources hog, and it's damn near impossible to completely uninstall it. Just above program leaves a fragment or two after it's removed, but sometimes I swear Norton actually adds more files when you uninstall it

A lot of people still have 500mhz machines with 64 meg of ram (hard to believe I know) and when they install Norton things just come to screeching halt. Norton can catch viruses, it just has far to much "bloat" and doesn't offer enough value for it's price. It's little misleading too...lots of people I work for when asked if they have anti-virus software say "yes, I see the Norton icon in the bottom of the screen". It's there and running, sure. It just happened to have expired 8 months ago.

Mcaffe seems awfully "annoying" to me for software you have to buy. It's like watching a commercial every time you use it. I already gave them $ for the software...lay off on the ads.

My preference is the free AVG for home users or AVG 7.0 professional for businesses. Both packages prevent/clean viruses as well, if not better than Norton or Mcaffe and use a lot less system resources while enabled. They both have sufficient features to get the job done without requiring an ounce of intervention from the user after they have been properly configured.

With that said - when dealing with infected computers I use all three programs, plus a suite of others. All of them catch viruses that the others do not. You have to understand...I never see a computer with just 1 virus. The computers I work on have 25 - 100 viruses plus some of the worst ad & spyware I've ever seen. Most "average" users just don't know any better

 

Well anyone can go to www.download.com and see that the spyware/adware programs are the number 1 and number 2 downloaded products.

Adaware is number 1

Spybot is number 2

Spyware blaster is also a great program if like you say the computer is fast and has memory.

You are right, Norton Internet Security has a large footprint since it has pop up blockers, email spam programs and a lot of other stuff.

All of that stuff is nice if you have a new computer with a lot of memory, most folk need only the antivirus program and sure, they must renew their subscription to get automatic updates.

If folks are not aware of ADWARE/SPYWARE they will not be online very long.