Changing anti-virus advise please

Psykicpup

superscaper wrote: »

It was only using the trial myself I realised how poor the free AV, firewall etc programs actually were and how much of my PC's resources they used up, intruded into everyday activity etc. I wonder if actually the time saved has actually been financially better for me that if I'd stuck with the free alternatives.

I'll bear that in mind for when I'm richer hehe - I do admit it does look very good but the pennies are a consideration for a while yet!

superscaper

Psykicpup wrote: »

I'll bear that in mind for when I'm richer hehe - I do admit it does look very good but the pennies are a consideration for a while yet!

Actually it would be an interesting test to do for someone to work out if the free alternatives are actually a false economy (even ignoring the poorer detection rates and possible infection). I did some quick calculations and of course it depends on how much you value your time and how much time you spend on the pc but I calculated that even assuming you value your time at minimum wage and time improvement from low resource use was only something like 2% (just a guess, definitely worth a lab test for that one) I found I only needed to be on my PC 17 hours/month to make it a bigger saving than using the freebies. But without hard figures it's difficult to say anything for certain how much of a saving it would be for each individual. But the main thing is the psychological issue of outlaying the money explicitly beforehand for the software or even having the money physically to hand to be able to buy. I've currently got very little money until I start my new job Monday but I still think it's worth it.