Free Virus Protection

[blinky88]

Would appreciate members opinions on what is considered to to the best.

[bendixG15]

just do a search on virus on the top and you'll get plenty of hits

[Krispy Kritter]

I use AVG

[slickster]

I also use AVG Free Edition.

[jman98]

I also use AVG, but they have made it more or less impossible for new users to find their free antivirus scanner. However, if you feel lucky, you can go to http://www.grisoft.com
and try to find it. Good luck. You will need it.

If you are unable to find the free AVG, if it even has a link anymore, and/or want to try something else, some people are reporting good things about Avast (http://www.avast.com) and unlike AVG, you actually can find the free version of Avast without jumping through a million hoops.

[budz]

You can always download FREE AVG & AVAST from cnet.com in the downloads section under most popular downloads. I use FREE AVG & AVAST. For free virus scan go to www.trendmicro.com.

[TBoneit]

jman98 you just need to go to the right place for the free AVG.

http://free.grisoft.com/

Will take rigt to the site for the AVG Free.

[piano632]

I still vote for the free version of Avira. http://www.free-av.com/ I dumped AVG and Avast for reasons I can't remember now. Might have had something to do with excessive amounts of ads and/or taking up too much system resources.

[usually_quiet]

I have been looking at various recent anti-virus ratings online. Which ones made it to the top positions varied all over the place. It's hard to determine which one is really best. Among companies offering free ones, only AVG placed near the top in any ratings guide I saw. Among the payware solutions, Bit Defender often placed in the top 3. The price isn't bad, and if I decide to go the pay route, that will be my choice.

However, Avira just came out with a new free version, which a CNET reviewer liked a lot. I may try it to see what it is like, however the reviewer made a point of saying the free version includes a nag window.

I found out something I didn't know before while looking for these sites. MS has ventured into the intenet security with a product called Windows Live One-Care. After reading that, I guess there is no reason to hope they will make any OS product intrinsically more secure.

Of course, given how many people are selling security software, they'd probably be sued if they integrated effective security into their OS. It would be like the business with Internet Explorer all over again.

[hech54]

Avast

[themaster1]

I also use AVG Free Edition.

Absolutely right... in conjunction with sygate firewall pro

No major virus recorded since some time now

[TBoneit]

And now is the time to upgrade to the Free AVG antivirus 8 that came out yesterday. I like the inclusion of Search-Shield. When in Google for example it will give ratings on the sites listed on the current page. My Guess of how it works after observing it for several days in the Paid version of AVG8 Internet Security is.

When You type a search term into the Google page for example some of the found sites take longer to show safe, unsafe or dangerous.... So I'm guessing it is searching the pages for content to links to content before rating the page. Thus a simple page shows quickly, a page with tons of links takes a while.

BTW, FWIW the only reason I dumped Norton is that sometimes upgrades can be problematic and more importantly It loads slow and they will autobill for renewal unless you opt out of that system if you renew online.

Cheers

[dphirschler]

Surprised to see no votes for Clamwin. I thought with the open-source friendly attitudes around here that it would at least get a mention. I haven't tried it out yet, but I will as soon as AVG pisses me off. I so far love AVG, but I fear for the day they go commercial.


Darryl

[mysts]

I gave up AVG because it began to flag legitimate serial nos and passwords as threats and tried to delete them. I installed the trial version of nod32 and so far it is behaving admirally. Time will tell.

[MJA]

nothing beats NOD32

[TBoneit]

I gave up AVG because it began to flag legitimate serial nos and passwords as threats and tried to delete them. I installed the trial version of nod32 and so far it is behaving admirally. Time will tell.

A Password or Serial Number is something that comes in from the webpage or via e-mail when you buy the software. I've never seen AVG or Norton cause problems with that.

I have seen tojan infected Keygens and serial number generators when I'm cleaning off all the Malware on computers that users have run them on. I also see lots of infected files in others shared folders. Just think how many computers they are helping infect.

[Video Head]

AVG free works well. The virus "vault" is slightly delayed on the free version by maybe a day or two. If you are into high risk activities then you may wish to consider purchasing protection with the paid version. Always practice safe computing.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Avast free for me,you can go here for a free online scan:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html

[themaster1]

AVG like many other antivirus softwares consider keygens & cracks as threats hence the detection.This was admitted by the developpers.
Although, keygens & cracks are not viruses (very few are infected if any).. but dedicated to illegal activities.

[blinky88]

Many thanks to those members who took time out to comment, appreciated. I think AVG looks to be the one mostly used, I think I will start with that.

[TBoneit]

Well it makes me wonder how they flag them then? The problem with Keygens and cracks is the sites they come from are at best dodgy and IMHO a big proportion are likely to try and infect the users PC.

the only thing I'm sure of is when I get a infected PC in to be cleaned up many times it will have cracks and keygens too.

I saw one PC with 1000s of commercial payware programs in the shared folder. they were Trojans of course not what they purported to be.

[FulciLives]

You can always download FREE AVG & AVAST from cnet.com in the downloads section under most popular downloads. I use FREE AVG & AVAST. For free virus scan go to www.trendmicro.com.

For what it's worth I live in Pittsburgh, PA and there is a computer "show" on one of the local AM radio channels by a guy that owns his own "mom and pop" computer store. He fixes computers and will also custom build etc. and he swears by trendmicro as the best consumer grade anti-virus program. However aside from the "free on-line scan" the full fledged version (which the free on-line scan cannot replace ... not really) is payware.

My solution? I use no anti-virus software. I run Linux and use WinXP through VirtualBox. I only use WinXP for stuff I can't or don't want to do with Linux (like most video encoding and authoring stuff) and that's that ... I never access the 'net through WinXP unless I'm going to the Microsoft site for a Windows update.

I can have FireFox open in Linux and cruise the 'net while doing video encoding etc. in my VirtualBox WinXP "window".

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[buzzqw]

avira: no spyware protection
clamwin: no on access scanning
nod32: not free
avg 8 and avast: good database, active protection from rootkit and malware

BHH

[blinky88]

I just downloaded free AVG 8.01 (45.5Mb) from
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/downloads/2129071/avg-antivirus-free-edition

[blinky88]

Hi FulciLives,
I too use a Mac on the Web ..but.. I am still using Internet Explorer v5.1.7 and find I am unable to access many sites with this browser. My first experience with a computer was with a Mac and thought I would NEVER be tempted to switch to a PC. I built my first PC back in 2003, since the introduction of XP, I now prefer to use the PC for everyday work, this PC has never been used to browse the Web. I am about to put another PC together for the sole purpose of browsing the Web ..thus.. the need of a good free anti virus application. The setup you have does sound good ..but.. with the price of computers these days, I think everyone can afford to have more than one computer for dedicated uses. Cheers from downunder, Blinky

[Seeker47]

My solution? I use no anti-virus software. I run Linux and use WinXP through VirtualBox. I only use WinXP for stuff I can't or don't want to do with Linux (like most video encoding and authoring stuff) and that's that ... I never access the 'net through WinXP unless I'm going to the Microsoft site for a Windows update.

I can have FireFox open in Linux and cruise the 'net while doing video encoding etc. in my VirtualBox WinXP "window".

Something approaching 99.9% of the malware that is out there is designed to "hook into" some common structure or other found in Windows. (Quite simply, it comes down to market share and installed base. By now, it just wouldn't be worth anyone's time to design something to attack BEOS . . . .) Therefore, running anything other than Windows in the major exposure situations like internet use will -- all by itself -- dramatically enhance your security. That said, I think running virtualized XP for things like web surfing may still open the door somewhat for bad stuff getting in. But you'd probably need someone with real expertise in this area to identify what that exposure is.

with the price of computers these days, I think everyone can afford to have more than one computer for dedicated uses.

And you don't even necessarily need another computer: if it's a desktop system, slide-out HDD trays can turn you from running a Win PC to a Linux PC almost as easily as with a dual-boot HDD, but likely safer.

[blinky88]

Hi Seeker, My 20g C drive is mounted in a removable tray and I have another cloned 20g HDD also in a removable tray. I backup my working documents daily to a 4g USB thumb drive and monthly re-clone the 20g drive. What you have suggested may very well work ..however.. there are virus's out there that attack the motherboard, I simply don't want to gamble. The PC I am about to build is only going to cost about $125, outside of the browser and a free anti virus application no other software will be loaded, I am expecting it to fly. Nothing fancy P4 2.0g CPU 768MB RAM, outdated parts are now extremely cheap to buy on E-bay.

[Seeker47]

What you have suggested may very well work ..however.. there are virus's out there that attack the motherboard, I simply don't want to gamble.

I'm inclined to think this must fall into the "urban legend" category, as I've never heard a first-hand (or even a second-hand) report of this happening. At worst, I would consider it something on the order of a plane flying into your house -- not completely unheard of, but not at all likely either. (Maybe somewhat more risk if you lived near one of those small airports with lots of private pilots.)

[daamon]

I also use AVG, but they have made it more or less impossible for new users to find their free antivirus scanner. However, if you feel lucky, you can go to http://www.grisoft.com
and try to find it. Good luck. You will need it.

If you are unable to find the free AVG, if it even has a link anymore, and/or want to try something else, some people are reporting good things about Avast (http://www.avast.com) and unlike AVG, you actually can find the free version of Avast without jumping through a million hoops.

@ jman98: Just in case you missed this in the other thread: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic348412.html#1830122

@ All: The above contains a link to AVG Free and how to find it.

[Video Head]

What you have suggested may very well work ..however.. there are virus's out there that attack the motherboard, I simply don't want to gamble.

I'm inclined to think this must fall into the "urban legend" category, as I've never heard a first-hand (or even a second-hand) report of this happening. At worst, I would consider it something on the order of a plane flying into your house -- not completely unheard of, but not at all likely either. (Maybe somewhat more risk if you lived near one of those small airports with lots of private pilots.)

About 15 years ago there was a rumor of a virus that could route high voltage to your monitor causing it to explode in your face...