Looking For Good Free Anti Virus Program

clear

Feb 20 2006, 03:26 AM

hi

i was wondering were i can find some anti virus software which is free and hasnt got spyware wiv it every single one i have tried looking for one it has always installed loads of junk onto my pc is well so can someone help me out plz would be much appriesated

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Sarah81

Feb 20 2006, 05:47 AM

QUOTE(clear @ Feb 19 2006, 09:26 PM)

I use AVG free edition, which I like so far. (I've used it since August or September.) It doesn't hog resources like Norton loves to do, and it's free - can't beat that.

And just to satisfy my curiosity: what antivirus programs are packaging spy/adware with their software?

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twitch

Feb 20 2006, 07:22 AM

Some free softwares are now classed as adware, as they bundle other softwares with them. For example, CCleaner bundles the Yahoo! Toolbar (but which software doesn't

), so it is now classed as Adware, although it allows you to choose whether it is installed or not.

Personally, I loved Avast Antivirus software, and it also came with anti-spyware which was a bonus. This was until I installed McAfee virusscan.

From experience, I have learnt that AVG is not that great. It used to let all of the latest viruses through the comuter and ruin it to the point where I had to get a new one.

Overall, you are best saving up and then buying your antivirus software. I wouldn't go for Norton, it does hog resources and messes with anything that doesn't have the Symantec logo on it.

My uncle (IT Tech) recommends AntiVir Personal Edition (http://www.free-av.com/) for free ones. I haven't tried it, but it must be decent.

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turbopowerdmaxsteel

Feb 20 2006, 08:30 AM

Check out this site for the list of Free Antivirus, Firewalls, E-Mail Protection Tools and loads of other cool stuffs --> Free Byte

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Cezphus

Feb 20 2006, 09:50 AM

QUOTE(Sarah81 @ Feb 20 2006, 05:47 AM)

Yea, I've been using AVG Free for a couple of years
After I found this, I have never used any other anti virus programs
Plus it's Free!

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finaldesign

Feb 20 2006, 12:10 PM

I would go with AVAST antivirus. Im using it at my office, and it serves my computers great for last 1,5 years, really no trouble with Avast. Program updates itself, with newest virus definitions every 3 hours, and I had no problems with viruses of any kind so far...

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Jeigh

Feb 20 2006, 01:08 PM

I'll throw another vote AVG's way. I used it until I was given a copy of mcafee and it worked wonderuflly. IT has regular updates and a good feature set and is quite a speedy little scanner. It's a quick download and a strong way to keep your system safe from viruses (as long as you still use common sense... no opening weird email attachments or running exe's from random people you don't know on messengers haha)

No antivirus is perfect, but AVG is really solid, especially considering the price tag

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clear

Feb 20 2006, 02:36 PM

Ok Thanks every one i think im gonna use the avg software unless there is a much better one that u think i should use does this one update all the time is well because i have had software which has been like 3-4 days late on updates.

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sparx

Feb 21 2006, 05:20 AM

Virus scanners perform their functions in two modes - realtime and on-demand.

A real-time scanner performs a virus check on files as they are created / modified.

An on-demand scanner will perform a scan only when a user (or a program) tells it to. There are many free AV scanners which work in realtime mode; In fact 9 out of 10 real-time anti-virus scanners will have the ability to scan on demand! Some of the more well-known freeware and competent ones include:

AVG Free: Link here
Anti-Vir: Link here
Avast : Link here

One of the most highly rated on-demand scanners is BitDefender. In its non-freeware guise, almost all of its users rate it above and beyond most of the more popular products available in the market today. It also has a freeware versionavailable here, which offers only on-demand scanning, so it's a good idea to use this manually in conjunction with a product that gives you always-on realtime protection.

Note that it isn't recommended to use more than one antivirus solution at the same time as they have a tendency to conflict with each other.

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photographerguy

Feb 21 2006, 05:34 PM

macintosh. figured i'd get you guys are riled up.

on windows, i've never had a problem using mcafee and the free microsoft anitspyware.

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Omkar™

May 29 2006, 09:40 AM

The best (and most) recommended antivirus program is undisputably avast! Antivirus. Its the best of all free (and paid) antivirus programs around, and here's why:

It has got Incremental Updates, which means that the virus database is updated by appending new entries. Hence, you download ONLY the incremental part, thus saving time and bandwidth. Other antivirus programs like Norton (especially) downloads a huge chink of 5-6 MB each time it is update, re-downloading the same entries over and over again! That's one advantage...
t has a fairly Simple Interface which uses minimal resources. Norton anitivirus eats up half the computer's resources, thus slowing everythig down! But avast! runs in the background, just doing its part when its required to.
The Virus Recovery Database (VRDB) is one of the key features of avast! antivirus, which enables you to recover infected file(s) from its database. Now that's something you don't get out of all antivirus programs.

I think that was enough persuaded to use avast! antivirus!! (Actually, Alwil Corporation sould endorse me for that!) You can download the FREE edition of avast! antivirus from www.avast.com (I'm not linking it here, please use your browser to get there). You can also buy the Professional version of avast! which gives you advanced 'Script Blocking' and several other 'extra' features!

There's just one thing to avast!, its limited to the Windows Operating System. Although MacOS X and Linux seldom (never) get a virus, if you're keen to have an antivirus program on your MacOS X PC, then you can't get through avast!, look for MacOS X antivirus programs elsewhere. But honestly, you really don't need one on MacOS X, believe me... (Same applies for Linux, Unix too, I hope!)

-Omkar Ekbote

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silent_

Apr 3 2006, 11:03 PM

Mcafee is a great antivirus, you can probably get it for free if you download it of Kazaa or Limewire.

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Hraefn

Mar 3 2006, 06:25 AM

I've been using AVG for a couple of years and was fairly well satisfied with it. However, I just recently tried out AntiVir and discovered that it caught a couple of viruses that AVG missed. That's a big plus. Apparently AntiVir scans your PC much more thoroughly than AVG can (it can scan compressed files such as ZIPs, too, which I'm not sure AVG does), and by setting the scan priority to low, it's less of a resource hog than AVG. =^^=

All in all, it's about as good as free antiviruses are likely to get. =^^=

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lonebyrd

Feb 23 2006, 09:24 AM

I wouldn't suggest using AVG. I used it for about 1 1/2 years then started having alot of computer problems. When I took my computer to a friend who helps me with my computer, they put Norton on (which I really don't like) and it found a ton of viruses on my machine. Now, I have no anti-virus because the norton expired. I think I might try that Anti-Vir though if an IT said it was good.

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