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

GeorgeUK

CCleaner is also handy to have to clear out the c**p i mean clutter
http://www.ccleaner.com/

I also use codestuff starter to choose which programs launch at startup. The part i like most with this though is it will tell you who the author is with copyright detail

paranoidandroid

dave13 wrote: »

I put AVG on my wifes PC running, XP Home, a few years ago and have updated it as the new versions have become available without any problems. That was untill AVG 8.0. As soon as I had installed it the PC began to take ages to load web pages and took longer to do most other things. On checking the running processes in Task Manager I found it was using over 50% of available resources and it wasn't even scanning! Eventually I had no option but to remove it and replaced it with AVAST 4, which I use on my own PC, everything is now running as it should. Don't know why AVG has become so resource hungry, shades of Norton a few years ago...... :eek:

AVG 8 has a "Link Scanner" that accesses web pages that are linked "to" by a visible web page, and checks them for potential malware BEFORE a user accesses the link. This is visible especially on lists of links in a Google or some other search engine page. The GOOD pages have a green tick next to them. This will slow access to the Internet, and possibly significantly depending on the number of embedded links on a web page. But the idea behind the service is fundamentally sound. If it is too bothersome, just open the AVG overview page and disable the link scanner - all will be well! Except, I have to say, that AVG does indicate a complaint that you turned the feature off.

As for Norton - I was an avid user but the marketing ploys by Symantec were becoming extremely annoying and became too much when they were forcing users of an earlier release of the software to pay for a new release before signature file updates, effectively more than doubling the renewal cost. Also AVG HAS beaten Norton at resolving problems I found on a friends machine I was curing - yes a friends!

So being an avid Moneysaver what was I expected to do?
AVG is excellent - and for the price? It's hard to beat!

freelancemermaid

has anyone got any? i've searched myself for anti-virus and spyware, but no luck!

many thanks

BobbinAlong

Why has nobody mentioned anywhere that your internet provider may offer free ani-virus and firewall. I get Norton AV and Firewall free with my BT broadband - regular updates and no hassle internet which is great as my son and I both do lots of up and down loading for web sites we maintain. I also get free Zone alarm and Norton AV for my laptop. Makes any higher price worthwhile when you add the 70 odd quid per year you'd have to spend on Norton.

I now use mailwasher for spam filtering because BT's filter is not trainable and I was losing genuine mail - I only get about 120 spam mails a day!

I've used Spybot SD for years and rarely find anything but I'm a software professional, cautious in downloads and can spot a phishing email at 50 paces. Mailwasher's great for that as you get a list of sender, title and to address and preview mail, so first eliminate all those mails sent to addresses you don't use for banking, then all those mails from banks you've never dealt with and then all the mails asking you to click a link, then finally those not addressed to you by your full name and you might occasionally end up with one genuine communication from your bank trying to sell you something :-)

superscaper

BobbinAlong wrote: »

Why has nobody mentioned anywhere that your internet provider may offer free ani-virus and firewall. I get Norton AV and Firewall free with my BT broadband - regular updates and no hassle internet which is great as my son and I both do lots of up and down loading for web sites we maintain. I also get free Zone alarm and Norton AV for my laptop. Makes any higher price worthwhile when you add the 70 odd quid per year you'd have to spend on Norton.

Probably because not many give anything good. As in your example, I wouldn't install Norton on my machine even if you paid me. I'd rather have actual anti virus protection. I could offer a slap in the face for free, but I doubt there'd be many takers. The free alternatives mentioned are at least as good if not better than Norton (and McAfee for that matter). The only paid for security worth getting are the likes of Eset and Kaspersky/Staganos. Anything else is likely to be worse than the always freely available Avast/Antivir/AVG etc.

ladyhepburn

I've been using Avira, Zone Alarm, Windows Defender and Super Anti-Spyware. The only one I've had any problem with is Zone Alarm (the recent thing). Avira is so thorough it even picks up virus signature files for other anti-virus programs!

But after several annoying bugs in XP that just won't go away, the Zone Alarm issue was the final straw, and I've now switched to Linux Mint - so I'll probably win the lottery before I get a virus now, as no-one bothers to write viruses and other nasty things for the 300+ Linux operating systems that exist. Even better, the systems themselves and all the software you'd ever need are free! :money: You don't need to be an expert to change, and you can even test different systems to make sure everything on your computer still works - without installing/changing what's already on there. You can still keep Windows etc. on your system, *just in case* (I have), and your iPod will still work with it too.

Robin_T_Cox

This thread, and the original article, is all about protecting PCs that run Microsoft Windows and should in my opinion be entitled as such. The assumption that everyone uses Microsoft Windows is no longer true. Moreover, anyone who reads the number of threads in Techie Stuff can see for themselves just how many of those threads are about problems with Microsoft Windows, often caused by malware that affects their PCs.

Apple Macs and Linux PCs do not need to run extra programs in order to protect themselves from malware, because they have built-in security, and far less malware has been designed for them.

Therefore it makes money-saving sense to consider using an Apple or Linux PC if you can, because if you don't have to run additional programs to protect your computer's security, you can get far better performance from a cheaper PC. And you don't have to pay for those extra programs, either in terms of software purchase or in terms of power consumption.

gavster24

I think it's worth mentioning in the main article that if you uninstall the MS Security update which conflicts with ZoneAlarm, you should update ZoneAlarm to the latest version and reinstall the MS Security update.

liitleblackcat

Robin_T_Cox wrote: »

Apple Macs and Linux PCs do not need to run extra programs in order to protect themselves from malware, because they have built-in security, and far less malware has been designed for them.

The only reason Apple and Linux based machines are not targetted is because there are relatively few of them so it's not worth the effort for hackers etc. If Apple had a market share of 90% of operating systems, they would be just as vulnerable. Don't kid yourself that because you have an Apple system it doesn't have any vulnerabilities and you don't need to be careful.

Robin_T_Cox

The only reason Apple and Linux based machines are not targetted is because there are relatively few of them so it's not worth the effort for hackers etc. If Apple had a market share of 90% of operating systems, they would be just as vulnerable. Don't kid yourself that because you have an Apple system it doesn't have any vulnerabilities and you don't need to be careful.

That's a common suggestion made on forums such as this. However, it's refuted in the following Register article:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/06/linux_vs_windows_viruses/