SonicDragon Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 My Norton AV subscription just ran out, and i was wondering if i should renew it or not. How good are the free antivirus programs out there? Which one would you recommend?Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Personally I use PC-cillin on 3 machines, and I like it a lot, but it's not free after the 1st yr. I've installed AntiVir, which is free, on my son's pc last month and it seems ok. It's auto updating isn't as smooth as PC-cillin's but they both seem to provide updates on a frequent basis which I rate as important.Some of the more popular AVs seem to only release pattern updates on Thursday, even if you run the LiveUpdate daily.AntiVir is at http://www.free-av.com/PC-cillin is at http://www.trendmicro.com/en/products/desk...te/overview.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 My own vote would go to AVG antivirus. Free, works properly, updates weekly and doesn't make a bunch of registry entries like the expensive programs. Nothing's gotten through yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucekrymow Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 What Jeb said.. ..been using AVG for 3+ years on 75+ machines and in my opinion has outperformed the unrighteously touted 'big boys' for typical home users. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBox Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 My Motto has become "Friends don't let friends buy PAYware!" My "money" is with AVG as well. The irony is that grisoft.com does NOT have a mechanism to accept contributions, as I have asked them!1)Right Click "Scan with AVG" and 2)integration into OutlookXP and 3)"Update without reboot" make the price of entry worth it!jeber, during times of heightened virus alerts, it maybe better to update AVG manually or more often! Here is somewhat of a philosophical question: Is there anyway to REALLY know if a preventitive program really works; if it does not warn you that it prevented something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 My vote also goes with AVG ... it hasn't steered me wrong ... I have used it personally and on my client's computers without incident.Due to being on dialup, I usually check manually about once every day or two for updates. It only takes a few seconds to check and less than 10 minutes to download if there is one (even on dialup), but it is well worth it when stacked against all the work of removing some new virus/worm or whatever that doesn't fit a known pattern.As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.Even Symantec's Norton AV 2004 now checks whenever the computer starts if you allow it to do auto updates. (Very annoying too if you are on dialup). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryM Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Considering the high praise AVG gets, I am wondering about the Virus bulletin information.http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/pro...ducts.xml?tableI have W98 and they did not list anything that old. However, Norton was one of the two best. I am not planning to go to NAV 2004, and am trying to decide what to use. I do not mind if the best is not free in this case.What am I missing?Thanks,Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 during times of heightened virus alerts, it maybe better to update AVG manually or more often!You're absolutely correct, RandomBox...I should have taken a moment to be more clear. I only do manual updates, and I do check at least every other day for updates...but usually there are available updates only once a week. Auto update is available, and a good idea for those who like to go that way. But my Zone Alarm settings are pretty strict, and I don't allow anything to auto update.Is there anyway to REALLY know if a preventitive program really works; if it does not warn you that it prevented something?Good question. Does the absence of one thing (viruses, worms...) prove the presence of another (anti-virus)? I don't know. It's a matter of faith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 I also put my vote in for AVG. I run it on 98SE, ME, and 2K and yes it has warned me twice about problem files so I know it is working. I run McAfee on another 98SE. I don't know where my head was the day I decided to renew that. I won't make that mistake because it slows down my computer. (The 98 running AVG is 366MHz, the one running McAfee is 533MHz and it goes slower than the 366).Jerry, about the failed rating in Nov. 2002 for 2K pro, AVG might have been on a different version then. I can say I trust it on my 2K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted October 1, 2003 Author Share Posted October 1, 2003 Thanks for all the replies! The irony is that grisoft.com does NOT have a mechanism to accept contributions, as I have asked them!Yea, i find that strange also, but don't they have a pay-for-version? I guess you could support them that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 (edited) SonicDragon --Yes, AVG does have a pay version as well. It is their new 7.x version.Would still be nice to have a mechanism on the site for donations for those that would like to say thank you by making a small contribution (less than the cost of their pay version) to help them offset their costs so they can keep it free for everyone.Edit: Oops, you are right Nathan! Version 7 ... geesh! Edited October 1, 2003 by LilBambi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 I use AVG 7.0 the PAID version. FREE is nice but I don't like depending on something FREE with VIRUS issues. Would you trust a FREE lock for you door? I'm not putting AVG down but during the MSblast breakout the free update site for AVG was almost impossible to reach. $35 for a two year subscription is cheap and worth my money. AVG works and the paid version uses akamai distrubuted networks to give you FAST updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 BTW: I am in the process of contacting Grisoft.com ... Verisign is stealing their error page to www.grisoft.com now that they have their pages broken out by language into sub directories. Grisoft.com has likely not put a forwarding on their main URL and it does not come up at all so you can navigate to the right place now that Verisign has their stupid hijacking in place. The new URL to get to Grisoft for the english pages is:http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 That's Odd. I'm not having any trouble but I put both of the sitefinder sites in ZoneAlarm's block lists so maybe that's the reason.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Good idea, Nathan! I will give that a try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Hey, I had shot their webmaster an email and they fixed the main page already! Boy that was quick!Don't need to use the long address now!www.grisoft.com is working as it should ... cool!Here's the email I sent at 3:52PM today: Hi,I just wanted to let you know that when you try to go directly to www.grisoft.com that Verisign's Internet hijacking is stealing your traffic and says there is no grisoft.com!Right now, the only way I can get to AVG is to use the following address after a search on Google to get it:http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.phpNOTE: I am using IE 6.x with all patches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Wow that was fast then.Personally I have something that sitefinder can find but I can't say so in a public forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 LOL! Good one Nathan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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