Asking?

[Sitka]

Does anyone out there know of a GOOD FREE virus scan? Or is it worth the money to always spend big bucks for one once a year? I had Norton but it came with tons of stuff which bugged up my computer. And out of the 2 which is better: Norton or McAfee? I had McAfee first and then changed yo Norton last year. With Norton it seemed I had alot of problems with my computer. I think it was the firewall that caused but could be wrong. I just need something good, easy, safe and not costly or even free. I just don't want to pay for something I might have to end up uninstalling if it causes me alot of problems. Thank you all, Chara

 

[dvk01]

Best free anti virus programme around is

AVG from http://www.grisoft.com

Derek

 

[telecom69]

Hi there,I agree with dvk01 above AVG is a great free anti virus,Ive always had it,it updates regularly,and it works fine,you cant go wrong with it.tryit,sure you will be pleased with it....good luck....let us know what you think .....

 

[Luthorcrow]

Some other free suggestions.

Avast by Alwil, has a good track record and has faired very well in AV tests.
http://www.avast.com/

Newer program, one of the reps has a strong presence over at DSLR Security Forum. I am sure you could get some more answers about the product there.
http://www.gladiator-antivirus.com/us/

DSLR Forums
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/security,1

Also, while you are trying different free scanners you, as an informed user, should check out how these products have tested by professional AV Test Centers.

AV Test Centers
(Click on VB100 on top banner, then select by vendor 3rd paragraph down)
http://www.virusbtn.com/
(has tested Alwil-Avast and Grisoft-AVG--great level of testing detail)
http://www.av-test.org/index.php3?lang=en
http://www.icsalabs.com/index.shtml
(a bit technical but gives more detail than most sites)
http://agn-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/vtc/eng1.htm

 

[dvk01]

From other posts I've read Luthorcrow seems to have a downer on AVG for some reason. Don't know why.

I don't pretend AVG is the bees Knees and is perfect, but in my experience, I have been using it for over 4 years with no viruses having got through it. I do a frequent online scan with trend also and symantec. No AVG is perfect, but find one that works on your system with minimal intrusion, that protects you and stick to it.

Don't rely on AVG or any AV to automatically protect you on every download, always save the file and then check it with AVG.
Sometimes a virus in in the zip file and AVg will only detect it when you scan that file and not rely on download auto protection.

Gladiator is a newer anti virus scanner. It is not a complete protection it only scans your system and is not a live protection.

It has some major problems mainly that it is extremely slow to scan.

I have reports of over 24 hours to scan a system.

I have a P4 1500 mhz running XP and a complete scan took over 5 hours, that's with 9 gig of files

Until gladiator can speed up the scan it is totally useless for home users.

Derek

 

[Sitka]

I had tried around 3 times to download the AVG virus scan but it kept telling me that my Zip file is damaged, truncated... So how do I fix this problem? Thanks for all the info... Chara

 

[dvk01]

I don't know what you are downloading but AVG downloads as an exe file not a zip file

Are you downloading directly from http://www.grisoft.com


Derek

 

[JohnWill]

Originally posted by Sitka:
I had tried around 3 times to download the AVG virus scan but it kept telling me that my Zip file is damaged, truncated... So how do I fix this problem? Thanks for all the info... Chara

I notice on their site they actually mention this issue somewhere on the download page, so you must not be the only one. It seems to happen to people with dial-up access, something about timing out. That didn't make much sense to me, but I downloaded on the first try with broadband.

 

[dvk01]

From AVG Help pages
The problem is caused by WinZip SelfExtractor error. To install your copy of AVG Anti-Virus you should follow these steps:

unpack files from our package using WinZip (or any other unpacking software) instead of starting our WinZip SelfExtractor into empty folder on your fixed disc
start SETUP.EXE application from this folder


Derek

 

[Sitka]

Everything you just spoke about is Greek to me. I'm so sorry... Unpack from our package? I don't unstand this.

 

[Luthorcrow]

From other posts I've read Luthorcrow seems to have a downer on AVG for some reason. Don't know why.

Come on now, be fair, I am not criticizing any of the products here, just offering suggestions. I am merely offering legitimate alternatives and resources for researching test results for comparison. I believe folks should have all the facts when making decisions. When it comes to security products, I am not a believer in the personal testimonial.

I understand GAV is a new product and that is why I suggested asking questions about it at DSLR.

As for Avast, that products has a good reputation, I think it is fair to offer as an alternative.

P.S. As for my posts else where concerning AVG, there should be no mystery, I was pretty explicit, concrete, and offered strong supporting evidence for those claims.