[GCW]

Interestingly, I've just cleared a swathe of viruses using Avast that were missed by AVG.

[mini]

Bit of a computer punter so excuse my ignorance. My 15 month free McAfee security is coming to an end soon, and seeing as most of you are raving Avast I'm gnna give it a try. Does this work for both anti-virus and spyware? Additionally I'm a Vista  user, so any recommendations from fellow Vista users would be useful.

[GCW]

Interestingly, I've just cleared a swathe of viruses using Avast that were missed by AVG.

Interestingly, I've just cleared a swathe of viruses using Avira that were missed by Avast.

And yes, Avast has both anti-virus and anti-spyware.

avast! antivirus v4.8
represents a multi-award winning solution to virus protection, with anti-spyware and anti-rootkit software built in for added security. It is available free for non-commercial, home use and with its fast, automatic updates avast! antivirus is already being used by more than 50 million users worldwide to provide continuous protection against all forms of malicious software (malware).

[Jim]

I would recomend the avira over the avast

[GCW]

I would recomend the avira over the avast

Yup, after a week I gotta agree with Jim.

[Houdini]

Recently got rid of avira due to a whole host of issues any tech-savvy could probably overcome.  Fucking cache hog-ism.

Now on bitdefender which is great for navigating through the Dalmation p-orn sites.


Why not use 3 different programs?  Magic bullet approach, you guys have the space.  I've a 20GB HD, yes, it's still 4, 000,000 BC.

[dontfollowme]

Why not use 3 different programs?

I think the advice is only to use one AV program otherwise you encounter conflicts - e.g. avast scanning a quarantine folder of another program will kick up a fuss.

[rc]

Symantec offer a free online scan here ...or if url does not work google for: symantec online scan.
I seem to remember it requires installation of an activeX component (or something).

Might be worth a go once in a while to see if your onboard virus scanner is doing its job (at least as well as symantec).
Presumably it checks through the full catalogue of definitions used by their paid-for products to encourage you to then buy their software. When I last tried it (6months ago?) there was no need to buy or sign up for anything.

[Bubba]

I'm just trying Avira - it's amazingly geeky that their scanner is called "Luke Filewalker".

[Jim]

I liked that bit as well. Aren't we geeky

[GCW]

I liked that bit as well. Aren't we geeky

 

[mini]

I liked that bit as well. Aren't we geeky

 

Made me chuckle last night after downloading it - geeks'R'us!

[underground]

Don't suppose anyone knows how to make Avira skip a particular file? It picks up the .vbs script I use to update the ipfilter in Utorrent, and it's fucking annoying....

[james]

What is the best antivirus in the world?

Look no further...



 

[underground]

Back to this one - I got booted out by AVAST! which claimed the free period had run out. Tried Avira but didn't get on with it at all, moved onto NOD32 smart security but it was such a system hog it killed the PC - to be fair I think it was the on-access stuff that did it, and clashes with Spyware Terminator.

Anyway I ditched the lot, keeping Threatfire installed, and plumped for Comodo Professional Firewall and Vipre, which is the replacement for Sunbelt' Software Counterspy v2, and conveniently has very good antivirus built into it.

Both seem much less resource hungry, although you have to tweak the defence level of Comodo or it'll ask for permission to allow every .dll change and registry update etc. when running installers / updaters etc.

The bad news with Vipre is that the free trial is only 15 days - but it's only $30 to buy it and it's proving such an improvement that I think I'll splash the cash. !5 quid to continue hassle free is money well spent in my book.

[butters]

Posting in here as it seems better than starting a new thread.

Anyone running the free version of Avira AV is probably experiencing issues with the automatic update service at the minute. This would seem to be down to a huge new update being released and their servers not being able to cope with the resulting traffic.

It does seem to have improved marginally overnight but it is still running like a dog so instructions on how to manually update are available here for those who might need them.

[Jim]

They just released a new version not so long ago could be related, mine updates overnight automatically so never notice how long it takes

[GCW]

Mine updates in the day and I've never had a problem with it