Is there a good free antivirus?

ClaireLR

I've read the sticky but aren't they ones that just scan and then you have to purchase the program to remove viruses

Sorry I'm not very clued up about computers.

I've currently got about 4 million (ok about 9) free "anti-virus" programs on my computer and I would like to delete them as none of them seem to be working properly and replace them with one that does.

Anti virus programs I've got include free AVG (I keep getting a message saying that no updates can be done), Prevx 2.0 (status - green???) Avast on access scanner (7 providers, 6 running??) Virgin PC guard which does not seem to work at all, and various other pop up stoppers, ID protection etc etc. My computer is going really slow all of the time and I'm sure all of these programs are not helping that.

Another problem I've got is whenever I log in I get a message saying that my version of windows may not be genuine and I have to click either resolve now or resolve later, clicking now takes me to a website which tries to sell me a copy of windows, so I always click resolve later but I continually get error messages about my version of windows not being genuine!

Any help with these problems would be most appreciated :A

[Deleted User]

Well, you should only have one Anti Virus program installed and running at the same time otherwise they conflict and will slow your computer right down! Uninstall them all and go to https://www.grisoft.com and download AVG 8, install that, run the updates and let it be.

In terms of the message Windows is giving you, where did you get your copy of Windows from? What it is saying is the license key you have entered may not be legitimate and you are potentially running a pirated copy of Windows..

ClaireLR

Thanks for prompt reply.

We had our computer from a family member and it was already installed, am I risking getting into trouble running it? What should I do?

Also, should I download the new antivirus and then delete the old ones or the other way round??

Thanks again

charmed-imsure

I've got a good one, I do recommend it & it's completely free because it's a beta version but if you decide to download it as a beta, they'll give you free upgrades for life. Nice. It's a full version too.
It's called Comodo, just google that & you'll find it.

Oh & yes you'll need to delete all currently installed anti virus programs.

Comodo learns what programs you feel are safe on your PC, it auto updates every time you connect to the net, it auto scans all emails etc.

I would also perhaps recommend a registry cleaner? I have a free one called Abexo (again, google it), get it to scan the registry & whatever files it brings up, just delete the lot because they're all files that are no longer valid & it'll speed up your system.

I also have a free program that's an adware removal. It takes a while to scan but you might be surprised at what it'll pick up. Adware gets into your computer without you even knowing it's there. It's called Ad-Aware by Lavasoft. Completely free & all updates are free. I'd give all these a whirl & see if it fixes your problems...

frogman_2

You are going to have to uninstall all redundant AV programs. I would recommend that you remove AVG, not install AVG 8 but look at Avira AntiVir

Read this AV Comparison to help you make up your mind.

Good Luck!

Welliesorter

ClaireLR wrote: »

Also, should I download the new antivirus and then delete the old ones or the other way round??

1. Download new one (go to http://free.grisoft.com/ to get the free version) but don't install it yet,
2. uninstall old ones (you'll probably be prompted to reboot your computer and it may be a good idea to do this anyway),
3. install the file you downloaded.

This will ensure your PC is without any anti-virus software for the shortest possible period.

To reinforce what others have said, it's fine to have more than one anti-spyware program but never have more than one anti-virus program running at any one time.

mikegahan

I agree that the Comodo anti virus is good. If you go to the Download website
http://www.download.com/SUPERAntiSpyware-Free-Edition/3000-8022_4-10523889.html?tag=lst-0-2&cdlPid=10815914
you could also download the best free anti-spyware programme as you may have some unwelcome friends on your system. You need only one anti virus programme on your system at any time, plus a good firewall, plus an antispyware programme. More than that and your machine will grind to a halt. If you do not have a firewall you can also pick up an excellent free one at the Comodo website. It would appear that you MAY have a hooky version of Microsoft. That happened to me when I bought a laptop on Ebay; there is not much that you can do about it as Microsoft will always nag you, given the opportuntiy

mikegahan

Postscript;
Avira anti virus is also good as I have it on my computer; it does not slow things up too much

ClaireLR

Ive deleted as many of the old antivirus as I can but theres still one called Avast that I cant uninstall, I've looked in programs and it's not there and I've right clicked the icon on the bottom right of my screen to see if it says delete but it doesn't!

When I've tried to install the AVG 8.0 (the new one) its saying theres still another antivirus installed on my computer and I should uninstall this before continuing

help!!

C_Ronaldo

Try downloading ccleaner and install it and see if you can uninstall it via ccleaner

ClaireLR

Thank you, downloaded that, managed to get rid of the Avast, installed AVG, computer is still going slow!

I think it might be time for a new computer, if only I could afford one!