I'm after antivirus software and just wondered what's best with regards
to free downloads or buying of the shelf everyone's got there own opinion
would just like to hear it..

I'm currently with bt and I've read a few bad reviews about there free av
software

any help much appreciated

thanks

Andy wrote:
I use Avast under Vista RC2 5744 with no problems it's free keeps itself
upto date and I've yet to see it let a virus through:

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Under XP Pro I use AVG 7.5 again no problems, it's free it keeps itself
upto date and I've yet to see it let a virus through.

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/...nti-virus-free

I'm sure there will be plenty of advice given, this is just my 2p worth

--
Steve

Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not. In either
case, the thought is staggering.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when Steve
<stevebakerj@home.net> opened his gob and said:

If it had let something through, you wouldn't see it as the s/w would
have failed <g>. AV software should alert you *before* anything gets
through <g>.

FWIW, to the OP, Grisoft's AVG gets my vote.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

Andy wrote:
I use AVG from Grisoft, no problems so far and I've used it for about five
years.
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/39791
--
Adrian

"Adrian A" <anca@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:u46dnTfUVexLXNDYnZ2dnUVZ8tKdnZ2d@brightview.c om...
Same here.
If you go for it, you'll need to go to:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1
rather than their main site, which will try to sell you the paid-for
version.

George

George Weston wrote:
I am another lover of AVG. I have had it for just over a year now. I
have had a couple of small issues in that time. In both cases I received
replies (e-mail) in less than two hours (one involved several e-mail
conversations and this held good for each one), the replies were
helpful, polite, and relevant. They addressed the real issue and did not
start off by telling me to re-boot my computer. In other words, it was
real support and should be held up as a shining example of what support
should be. I do have the paid for version and I don't know what support
is like for the free one.

--
Howard Neil

Check out http://www.av-comparatives.org - follow the links for the
online test results, and as a comparison also check out the
retrospective test results where they pitch a 3 month old set of
signatures against new viruses to see how good the engine is.

I use Avira now, used to use Avast - and every machine i've ever looked
at with AVG had an undetected virus (often many !) as found by Sysclean
by Trend Micro.

You can get it at http://www.free-av.com

The only things i'll say "against" it are that you get a popup window
after every update you just hit "close" on, and its rather good at
reporting keygens and windows WGA hacks as potentially malicious.

Do you know what AV BT are offering you ? - Kaspersky is often bundled,
and is very good.

You can also get this, which uses the Kaspersky engine, but don't
install the toolbar ! (its a free AOL initiative)

http://www.activevirusshield.com/ant...eav/index.adp?

I have the free version, and thanks for reminding me that support from
Grisoft on a false-positive was very good.

I have on my PC some software to manage and backup the settings on my
universal remote. When I downloaded updated versions of the
cabs/zips/exes - can't remember which and my daily scan searches all files
so that is no clue either - they caused false positives with AVG. I
followed the instructions on their website and then in emails received,
testing the files on a webpage with many different scanners and IIRC only
AVG flagged them, so Grisoft took copies of the files and adjusted the next
automatic upgrade and all since to avoid the false +ve.

A satisfactory response in every way ...

By contrast, the remote manufacturer was unhelpful!

"Howard Neil" <hneil@REMOVETOREPLY.co.uk> wrote in message
news:454dd316$0$8731$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net...

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when Colin Wilson
<void@btinternet.com> opened his gob and said:

I used to use it before it became 'Avira'. I found that it slowed down
defrags *drastically*. Not a major issue, but it is the only AV that
has done it.

May give it another go as impressed by the results on the site you
mentioned.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

Steve wrote:
Same here running on four XP machines, and about the same number for friends
and family. Very happy with it, though mail scanning does seem to slow
things down a bit.

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when Mark Carver
<mark.carver@invalid.invalid> opened his gob and said:

Never seen the point in having it activated myself. The resident
scanner will catch anything nasty.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

In message <I7KdnfzZqe_tKNDYRVnyiw@bt.com>, Andy
<johns491@btinternet.com> wrote
Avast
<http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html>
or
AVG
<www.grisoft.com>

DON'T run two anti-virus products at the same time!

Most free AV is exactly the same as the companies sell. The difference
being that you don't get any hand holding support when the AV finds a
problem.
--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

Andy wrote:
Ones to avoid at all costs:
Norton
Mcafee
Panda
F-prot

Free ones that are easily as those above:
Avast
AVG

Personally I prefer AVG. (cue someone showing a link that avg has a poor
rate for picking up viruses).

I like avg because it is reliable, it updates and runs itself without fail.
You will find that programmes such as norton/mcafee/panda just switch off
and stop working. I have come across machines with these on, that have never
actually scanned a system.

Gaz

I don't think i've tried a defrag since I installed it, but could do
with one now, having pulled around 40Gb of data off a drive I was
recovering data for someone from over the last two days (had to do it
via USB hence the time it took !)

I've been impressed personally, and the scanning engine seems a lot
quicker than Avast on both the machines I have here (one is a 2.4Ghz
Celeron that runs like treacle at the best of times !)

Colin Wilson wrote:
AVG Free does not do spyware, what you AVG misses is the spyware. No anti
virus does spyware to any decent level, but some are more sensitive then
others.

I have found AVG to easily be the most reliable virus checker, requiring
minimal interaction, and importantly, it is very light on resources.

Gaz

I'll second the email scanning in Avast causing slowdown - this was the
main difference we noticed after moving to Avira.

"Colin Wilson" <void@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1fb7e427bed17275989a5c@news.individual.ne t...

I believe BT bundle Norton ... probably the best and most efficient virus
ever written

....Once upon a time - it went downhill rapidly around 1998-1999 IIRC.

Agreed to the ones to avoid. I have tried just about all anti-virus
programmes over the years. Norton I hate the most !
The free ones are just as good as the paid ones. I use the ones you mention
and there is another good new one - Comodo.
There are also some good free anti-spyware programmes about.
Why pay for something you can get for free ?
"Gaz" <gazter@msn.com> wrote in message
news:4r6f79FpopdoU1@individual.net...

Colin Wilson wrote:
Try reading it again, it was spot on.