Recommend me an antivirus

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Recommend me an antivirus

bludvl_x19

42 Wallaby Way Sydney
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Ok guys, like the title says, I need an antivirus.
My lappy is running a bit slow, and I thought that it was because of a virus, so logic followed, run a scan.
I DONT HAVE AN ANTIVIRUS!!!!
How this happened I dont know, but it needs to be fixed.
Id prefer a freebie, so let me know which one is best

Michael
 
Ok guys, like the title says, I need an antivirus.
My lappy is running a bit slow, and I thought that it was because of a virus, so logic followed, run a scan.
I DONT HAVE AN ANTIVIRUS!!!!
How this happened I dont know, but it needs to be fixed.
Id prefer a freebie, so let me know which one is best

Michael

AVG Free has always done me proud in the past, plus Spybot and AdAware.

Clean your disk and defrag as well, and perhaps get something like Ashampoo.
 
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Thanks for all the advice guys. (y)
Has someone got a decent download for Avast? I tried downloading it from about 3 different places, but every time the file was corrupted :mad:

Also, is there any advantage to running two antivirus programs?

Cheers,
Michael
 
I'd go with avast also. was using AVG, but it was asking me for too much, avast does most of the work and only asks u for permissions wen it has to.
 
I used to use Avast a long while ago, then switched to AVG. Now on to NOD32 which is fantastico!

Edit: Also don't run 2 AV programs, never ever ever ever ever. I forget exactly why but essentially they fight over who gets to deal with the problem and ends up that neither of them do.
 
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I use free AVG 8 on my desktop - works fine no problems, but for some reason it does not like laptops, or just me, works horridly on laptops, failed to update blah blah.... So i now use Avast on my laptop.

You can get Kaspersky 2009 from Amazon for £17.99 3 desktop licence.
 
I know me bad fancy me saying that when i don't think i have ever paid for software, ever, must have been a moment of madness.... having said that i did buy office 2K7, legitimate copy, pro version £17

Someone in the same boat as me who works for the NHS? ;)

But I use AVG at home. never had a problem with it and I've been using it since version 5!
 
I use free AVG 8 on my desktop - works fine no problems, but for some reason it does not like laptops, or just me, works horridly on laptops, failed to update blah blah....


I have installed AVG (versions 6 to 8) on many, many laptops, all of which have worked. Sure it wasn't a firewall setting that was stopping the updater??


I use
AVG - http://free.avg.com
Spybot - http://www.spybot.com
Zonealarm - http://www.zonelabs.com

and I havent had a problem in years :)

I'd also like to ditto what was said about running two anti virus programs atonce - this should NEVER be done as they do indeed conflict arguing over who shoul deal with the virus, and in the end neither of them do.
hat it might be worth however, is having two anti virus programs installed, but only letting one every run at a time. When you want to do a scan, you can try the first one, then when that is done, close the program entirely, and scan with the other one.

You could always just totally use online scanners: http://housecall65.trendmicro.com :)
 
Just to clear up about using two AV scanners at the same time.

It used to be possible to do this back in the day but its generally not possible any more for a couple of reasons.

the first is that most of the reputed AV software can detect a competitors AV and either wont install or will remove the other vendors software.

The second is that they conflict, hence slowing down the machine as they both try to scan each file as it is accessed...which will slow your PC down to a crawl.

As already stated, if you can find two pieces of AV software that can be installed beside each other, make sure you only enable "on-access" scanning on one of them. The other should be used purely for doing full folder/disk scans rather than checking each file as it is accessed.

And I would never reccomend anyone to only use online scanners as these only detect a virus after the event. You need software which will check your files "On the fly" or as they are accessed ("on-access"). The other problem with relying on online scanners is that you cant guarantee whichever virus or peice of malware gets on to your machine will actually then let you on the internet! (n)
 
Yep, that's a fair point.
However, online scans are good for computers that have been 'certified' clean, and for having single files scanned by numerous AV signature dats to see if any of them find something.

Obviously if the virus is stopping internet use then it's not an option.

Like you said Papa P, they are only good after the event. However, I generally use Housecall once every 2 months, just to doulbe check that AVG didn't find anything :)
I will admit that what I said a bout "just totally using online scaners" was wrong - it should have been, "in addition to normal scans" ;)
 
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