Alternative to McAfee?

timberflake

I've been a loyal customer of McAfee Internet Security for years now, but recently when I've been having problems with my internet connection (specifically, there was quite a delay between clicking a link and the page loading even though my speed tests were around 6500kbps), someone suggested I uninstall McAfee as its quite resource hungrey.

Well, I've done it today and must say that even though my PC is by no means old (Athlon 64 3700+, 1gb RAM) I can see a noticable improvement, in fact pages now load pretty much instantly.

My question is, what are my options in terms of FREE virus scanner and firewall? And to a lesser extent, what would people recommend for spyware/adware/trojan scanning? I've used Spybot and Ad-aware before, but have never used a trojan scanner.

MercilessKiller

lol the question gets asked every few days!

Avast Anti Virus is a very well used one.
https://www.free-av.com is another

I'd stay away from AVG due to updates being delayed for free users!

There all virus scanners.

Firewall wise there's software such as Zone Alarm though it interferes with a LOT of course and is medley to set up. If your behind a router anti virus and spyware control is enough otherwise I'd recommend Zone Alarm I suppose

Spyware wise I'd recommend Spybot over adaware. And I'd also recommend Hijack this to diagnose any possible spyware problems if spybot doesnt detect something when you know somethings wrong!

All the sofwtare i mentioned can be found in other posts or google so hope that helps

timberflake

Cheers for the info, am by no means a coputer novice but with all the info flying about I thought it best to start my own thread. I am using a router so won't worry too much about the firewall aspect.

I've heard good things about NOD32 so tried their 30 trial, anyone care to comment on them? I know I said I wanted free antivirus but I've heard so many people band on about how good it was I had to give it a go!

MercilessKiller

Well the free software does the job! Money simply doens't need to change hands when protecting the computer you've already bought

timberflake

MercilessKiller wrote:

Well the free software does the job! Money simply doens't need to change hands when protecting the computer you've already bought

I hear what your saying. I think I've just been so used to using McAfee for a number of years that I'm a little aprehensive about being without it! Feel vulnerable!

MercilessKiller

heh awww...

Well if it makes you feel any better I installed https://www.free-av.com on my Grandma's pc about 2 years ago and shes never had a virus She got the CWS internet explorer hijack which was spyware though.. and thats it in 2 years!

I personally have never got a virus using the sofwtare. Sometimes Ive gone on a website through google and infected files would be downloaded onto my pc but instantly removed!

Your data wont be hacked if you have your router and with abackup you won't lose anything.. so the only thinkl your risking is recovery hassle but to be honest, you won't even need to do that!

Just my opinion on the situation! (I also find that free AV software takes a lot less resources as ones that are paid for come with loads of extras to make it seem like your getting value, but really they're un-needed things!)

moonrakerz

The first thing I would do, for free, is not to use Internet Explorer and Outlook, or indeed any Microsoft product which connects you to the outside world.

Its a sad fact that most virus and spyware software is written to attack any thing from "evil" Mr Gates.

I use Firefox and Thunderbird, but there are plenty of other alternatives around.

For AV I've been using BitDefender, no complaints, so far !!