New 'Protect Your PC For Free: No-cost Anti-Virus and Other Software' discussion

Former_MSE_Lawrence

This is the discussion to link on the back of the new article

Protect your PC for free: No cost anti-virus software

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unrich

The comodo wasn't loading on my XP system so I've swapped to PCTools free antivirus. So far so good. As easy as AVG.

http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/

dinky_meadows

Hi,

I have been told that if I want to replace my Norton Antivirus and Firewall Protection with other free protection, I may have difficulties completely removing the Norton software from my PC ....supposedly the Norton software doesn't 'let go easily'....and this may cause problems.

Can any one advise me on wether its best to stick with Norton because of this ?

Has anyone had problems replacing Norton Antivirus and Firewall with other free protection ?

Thanks in advance.

DatabaseError

the norton removal tool] is a good place to start

unrich

See above. I had Norton on a free trial. After it ended I went to comodo and Avast. Comodo has not seemed that robust hence the replacement with PC Tools free firewall. Avast has been good so far.

If you search the forums there is a thread detailing how to do a complete Norton un-install. This technique is so comprehensive that I believe if you try the Norton trial again it won't recognize that it has previously been installed.

There are many complaints about how Norton take up lots of resources.

I'm happy with Avast and PCTools firewall. The first PCTools product I used was back in 1990ish I think, so I have an established trusting relationship with the name. Now if I could only find that 5 1/4" disk.

tomsolomon

I was using Avira on my lappy for quite a while, and its awesome compared to the majority of free stuff out there.
Of cause now, It's not really necessary for me to have anti virus due to the fact that I'm running Linux.....:D:D:D

bazzlad

Antispyware choices in the article are awful.

I recommend:

A squared.
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

Superb software.

Double that up with occasional runs of Ad Aware and Search and Destroy and you won't have a spyware problem.

BillScarab

Why no mention of Zone Alarm, it's an excellent free firewall. I've been using it for years on XP and Vista.

Superantispyware is another good anti spyware tool.

texasp8

If anyone has Sophos Anti-Virus installed on their PC at work, you may find you are eligible to use it at home for free.

Talk to your I.T. Dept, and if they don't know about it, point them to section 3.3.2 of the Sophos EULA here:
http://www.sophos.com/legal/eula.html

muggles

I don't think this one's been suggested yet...I run a free program called Spybot. Whilst this was originally conceived as a spyware removal tool, it's also a damn good antivirus program. I run it alongside Norton at the moment, although the aforementioned issues with Norton mean that when my subs expire in 16 days time I'll be dumping it.

Spybot seems to be better than Norton anyway - it's faster and it'll also find problems that Norton doesn't. I have personal experience of this - I got a virus in an email that infected my computer despite running a completely up-to-date Norton. I found out when it copied itself to other people in my contacts list, and set Norton about doing a full system scan. Norton was adamant that there was nothing there, and a friend recommended Spybot. It didn't take it long to find the offending file and dispose of it.

It's available in several languages, and also has an accessible version for disabled users.

All Spybot files, downloads and updates are free, although there is a facility for making a donation to the program's authors of any amount you choose, and I think many people will choose to fork out a bit for the service.

Now the scary bit, and a word of warning. Spybot goes deep into your system looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. This includes looking at your registry. In 'basic' mode this shouldn't be a problem, but it also has an 'advanced' mode where it offers you more options. This is where you could potentionally have problems, as playing with your registry can kill off your computer completely if you get it wrong. I'd say stick with the basic mode unless you really know what you're doing and you'll be fine, but even in this mode it's advisable to go through every file it's found individually and look at the information it provides for the file. Some things it finds are settings that you don't necessarily want to alter or remove, and you'll need to uncheck those before you hit the repair button. Other than that, it's the best free antivirus program you'll come across.

Oh, and the new version will also block adverts and popups in your internet browser if you want it to.

C_Ronaldo

I tried spybot but it kept on popping up with warnings about something to do with the registry and i wasnt sure whether to answer yes or no to the warning so i changed to adaware