I need anti-virus help! which should I install?

saxonrosecliff

Up until recently I had AVG installed. However I updated to the new 8.0 version and my computer slowed down considerably. I've now installed Avast on my PC which I am happy with apart from you cannot schedule a full scan.

The problem is with my mother - she is 75 years old and knows nothing about computers, viruses etc so I need to find a free anti-virus program for her that will do everything for her.

I'm not terribly knowledgeable myself and am wondering if it is really necessary to do a full scan every day like AVG does or would she be fully protected without ever doing a full scan?

I hope someone can help. Thanks for reading.

bazzlad

I'd install Avast.
It's easy to use, powerful and free.
Happy day!

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

And you can schedule a full scan. It's not hard, Infact, I recommend a boot time scan once a week.

And, again - to be honest, if you've done one full boot time scan, then leave all the scan guards running, you shouldn't need to do a full scan again, at least not for a few months.

esuhl

I'd use Grisoft AVG or Avira Antivir (Avast is okay, but I don't like the interface).

Get Spybot and SpywareBlaster to protect from malware.

Use Firefox with the NoScript add-on to enhance browser security and minimise the use of cross-site scripting.

bazzlad

esuhl wrote: »

I'd use Grisoft AVG or Avira Antivir (Avast is okay, but I don't like the interface).

Get Spybot and SpywareBlaster to protect from malware.

Use Firefox with the NoScript add-on to enhance browser security and minimise the use of cross-site scripting.

You don't like the avast GUI but you like the monstrosity that is AVG? :rotfl:

Forget Spybot and Spyware blaster, get A Squared Free.
Agree with the firefox, although noscript is a bit far, and may ruin functionality of some sites.
Get CCleaner, and run it daily. (Quick way is to right click the recycle bin, run Ccleaner)

John_French_2

I currently use Avast 4.8 and find a boot scan once a fortnight is excellent at finding and removing infections.

I did use AVG for a few years, but its detection rate isn't as good as Avast in my opinion. Anti-Vir is a good anti-virus program too, although it lacks email scanning at present.

Bitdefender is another decent free anti-virus program. I have heard good things about that, but haven't used it.

saxonrosecliff

Thanks for the help. I will give them all a try and see what comes out best!

Conor_3

NOD32. Not sure how good it is at removing infections as the last time I had a virus was 1995. It has detected a few rougue scripts on webpages but as these were dodgy sites in the first place, if you don't visit them you wouldn't have a problem.

tom9980

According to two different lab testing sites

http://www.anti-malware-test.com
http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Avira Antivir scores among the best - http://www.free-av.com/

Recently i swapped to it after using AVG for the last few years after deciding the new 8.0 was just too bloated.

esuhl

bazzlad wrote: »

You don't like the avast GUI but you like the monstrosity that is AVG? :rotfl:

Yeah, AVG isn't perfect and is getting a little bloated, but the Avast GUI just doensn't make any sense to me!

bazzlad wrote: »

Agree with the firefox, although noscript is a bit far, and may ruin functionality of some sites.

NoScript won't ruin the functionality of any site - you just need to manually allow the site once, and considering what a drastic improvement it makes to your security, I think it's well worth it. For example, on this site, I can allow scripts from moneysavingexpert.com, but forbid them from google-analytics.com. In cases where sites host third-party scripts, neither you nor they can necessarily be sure that the script isn't malicious (due to the intent of the third-party or their domain being hacked).

But security is always a trade-off between the effort that you want to put in compared to the security level that you feel compfortable with. Each to his own and all that...

tradetime

I'd second Avast as a scanner, also Firefox or Opera and run them in sandboxie No need to bog you system down with muliple apps.

bazzlad

esuhl wrote: »

NoScript won't ruin the functionality of any site - you just need to manually allow the site once

Oh, I agree (and I use it the other way round - turn off java on untrusted sites) but didn't the OP say it was for a 70 year old? I think Noscript would be a) overkill and b) confusing in that case.