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

23n1th

gonzo127 wrote: »

just spotted this

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_od_aug2010.pdf

the august update to the on demand tests,

the one thing that i have found interesting is the increase in AVG's detection rate in which it now has a higher detection rate than microsoft security essentials although Avast and Antivir are still top dogs

Its a pity they don't show you the amount of system resources the various AV's take up. Then you'd be able to weigh up the detection rate, false positive rate, and the system resources to make your decision.

Personally I think its telling Avast puts their free version against the pro/premium versions and still come near the top.

23n1th

ernie-money wrote: »

I actually know why my pc is slow (I think) it's because I've installed the rapport software, as I was worried that banks can hold you liable for fraud if you haven't got it - any thoughts, should I remove it - do I have enough cover with MSE & Malwarebytes without it...?

My bank aren't happy I can't install their rapport software but had to accept they don't support my OS.

gonzo127

well i have found this although i dont know how reliable it is
http://www.raymond.cc/antivirus/idlemem.html

it does have other benchmarks on the site and it does appear that Avast continually comes out towards the top for memory usage, hard drive footprint and scan speed

GunJack

I user avira over avast, but only because I get lower ping times using avira. I like that avast has an e-mail scanner and generally, but those ping times

closed

ernie-money wrote: »

I actually know why my pc is slow (I think) it's because I've installed the rapport software, as I was worried that banks can hold you liable for fraud if you haven't got it - any thoughts, should I remove it - do I have enough cover with MSE & Malwarebytes without it...?

Wouldn't have it on mine, it's not mandatory, just use a virus scanner, and don't fall for Phishing links.

I would imagine there are more things running all the time than you need

Avast is better, faster, lighter than mse.

ernie-money

closed wrote: »

Wouldn't have it on mine, it's not mandatory, just use a virus scanner, and don't fall for Phishing links.

I would imagine there are more things running all the time than you need

Avast is better, faster, lighter than mse.

Ok, sounds good - I'll get rid of Rapport, will be a relief!
I have just realised I've also got something called ZoneAlarm on my pc - what is this - should I get rid of that as well...? Completely confused now!

GunJack

zone alarm is a firewall, If you use a router, you can get rid and use windows firewall instead...less chance of conflicts and slowdowns than with ZA.

closed

ZA will slow things down as well, use windows firewall instead, and start a new thread with a hijackthis log and specs.

Can't think of any reason why avast would affect ping times Gunjack.

GunJack

closed wrote: »

Can't think of any reason why avast would affect ping times Gunjack.

probably down to how it scans IP traffic in/out of the pc itself I would guess, don't know for certain....MSE was even worse

I re-test every so often, when reviewing which security & maintenance software I use, and using avira consistently gives lower pings than avast, which in turn gives lower pings than MSE.

I'm sticking with avira whilst the situation remains the same

aliEnRIK

GunJack wrote: »

probably down to how it scans IP traffic in/out of the pc itself I would guess, don't know for certain....MSE was even worse

I re-test every so often, when reviewing which security & maintenance software I use, and using avira consistently gives lower pings than avast, which in turn gives lower pings than MSE.

I'm sticking with avira whilst the situation remains the same

What sort of ping times are we talking here Jack?