Free anti-virus (Read 14594 times)

Jim · May 15, 2008, 05:57:59 pm

After using AVG free for quite a while, I downloaded the new avg 8 and have been having problems with it (not the only one by all accounts)
Done a bit of reading up and seems like avast free is the one of choice, just installed it and seemed I had 8 various trojans' and other virus's on my machine that avg free missed. If your using AVG free I would recomend changing
Any other recomendations for good free antivirus'?

GCW · May 15, 2008, 06:33:08 pm

Cheers Jim. I'm using AVG, and recently it seems to be slowing things down a lot.
I may have to look about for an alternative, I'll certainly look at avast.

unclesomebody · May 15, 2008, 06:33:45 pm

ESET NOD32 works well enough in my opinion. It wasn't too easy to find a working copy (maybe that's different now) but it updates several times a day, and it has good reviews all round.

Obi-Wan is lost... · May 15, 2008, 07:34:19 pm

Good knowledge, I'm having issues with AVG after many years of loyal use. I rebuilt a machine recently, bunged XP and the usual AVG etc on it. Now the scheduled overnight scanner stays in memory after finishing and refuses to quit, so after a few nights you have several incidences of it hogging memory. Hmm. Tried everything including a complete strip out in safe mode and reinstall. Time to try Avast me thinks.

dontfollowme · May 15, 2008, 08:56:31 pm

I have heard good things about Avast.

Jaspersharpe · May 16, 2008, 08:26:10 am

Avast is what I have always used but only because a more knowledgable friend recommended it. I have not had any problems with it.

account_inactive · May 16, 2008, 09:03:01 am

Quote from: unclesomebody on May 15, 2008, 06:33:45 pm

ESET NOD32 works well enough in my opinion. It wasn't too easy to find a working copy (maybe that's different now) but it updates several times a day, and it has good reviews all round.

This is what I use after dealing with the factory installed Norton for a month.

dobbin · May 16, 2008, 12:55:01 pm

I use Linux

andy_e · May 17, 2008, 01:32:39 am

I think AVG is brilliant, only noticed a problem with the virus scan taking memory once, but that's because i shut down the computer when I go to bed (noisy fans!), otherwise I find it's fantastic in terms of virus and spyware...

Bubba · May 17, 2008, 06:52:58 am

I've just swapped to Avast to see what it's like.

slackline · May 19, 2008, 07:31:47 am

Another good free alternative is ClamAV. Primarily for *NIX systems, but has also been ported to windoze.

Jim · May 19, 2008, 10:16:17 am

Quote from: andi_e on May 17, 2008, 01:32:39 am

I think AVG is brilliant, only noticed a problem with the virus scan taking memory once, but that's because i shut down the computer when I go to bed (noisy fans!), otherwise I find it's fantastic in terms of virus and spyware...

Have you updated to avg8?
have you done a virus scan with any other anti-virus software?

read my 1st post again and take a long hard look in the mirror

Duma · May 19, 2008, 09:52:35 pm

Avast! users - question: My free anti viral just ran out so installed this, but unless I disable the webshield firefox just shows me a blank screen. IE says it can't display the page either. What gives? (I'm on XP)

Bubba · May 19, 2008, 10:08:42 pm

What's the webshield?

butters · May 19, 2008, 10:12:55 pm

Quote from: Bubba on May 19, 2008, 10:08:42 pm

What's the webshield?

A quick search of the Avast site reveals the fllowing

"Web Shield

Web Shield is a unique feature of avast! that enables it to monitor and filter all HTTP traffic coming from the Web sites on the Internet. Since an increasing number of viruses (and other malware, such as adware, spyware and dialers) are being distributed via the World Wide Web, the need for an effective countermeasures has also increased. The Web Shield acts as a transparent HTTP proxy and is compatible with all major web browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, FireFox, Mozilla and Opera.

Unlike most competitive solutions, Web Shield's impact on browsing speed is almost negligible. This is because of a unique feature called "Intelligent Stream Scan" that lets the Web Shield module scan objects on-the-fly, without the need of caching them locally. Stream scanning is performed in operating memory only (without the necessity to flush the contents to disk), providing maximum possible throughput rates."

Sounds like it is blocking access to the web page for some reason but no idea why.

bluebrad

Duma · May 19, 2008, 11:04:38 pm

sorted - avast! forums (looking remarkably similar to these) solved the issue. I hadn't uninstalled the Macafee free demo that came with the laptop.. cheers for the info all!

Jim · May 28, 2008, 01:45:46 pm

Well I'm on the lookout for another free anti-virus after finding out that avast is killing my computer and not sp3.
Any more recomendation?

cofe · May 28, 2008, 01:49:52 pm

Quote from: Jim on May 28, 2008, 01:45:46 pm

Well I'm on the lookout for another free anti-virus after finding out that avast is killing my computer and not sp3.

what's it up to jimbo?

Bubba · May 28, 2008, 02:16:24 pm

I've had to disable the "on access scanner" in avast due to it killing my browsing

GCW · May 28, 2008, 02:27:35 pm

I've just installed Avast instead of AVG and the system is running noticably faster.
If anything crops up, I'll let you know.

Zods Beard · May 28, 2008, 05:39:28 pm

Trouble with computers, and trying on a pair of Scarpa's in the same day? You've gone wrong in your mind tank, your mojo's disappeared etc.

Jim · May 29, 2008, 07:46:15 am

Just trying out Avira AntiVir free edition, looks good

http://www.free-av.com/en/index.html

Jim · May 29, 2008, 11:08:01 am

Just finished 1st scan, it found 19 virus/trojans or worms that avast missed.

Stubbs · May 29, 2008, 11:33:32 am

Quote from: Jim on May 29, 2008, 11:08:01 am

Just finished 1st scan, it found 19 virus/trojans or worms that avast missed.

No wonder your computer crashes all the time! Do you collect viruses as a hobby?!

Jim · May 29, 2008, 12:12:22 pm

no, its kind of an occupational hazard.
The viruses are not related to my computer crashing

Free anti-virus (Read 14594 times)

Stubbs