Ahahaha. AVG free -- It never picks up anything though as I don't have a penchant for cursor collections or screensavers. The crap people put on their machines is unreal.
No AV here, though I use process monitoring/control software (Process Guard and System Safety Monitor on my main systems, sadly neither are available any more) to determine what programs can run and what they can do. These tools can be more effective (they will intercept all new and altered processes) as long as you know enough about your system setup to determine what should be running, and are prepared to troubleshoot permissions settings with problem programs. For anyone else though, an AV should be considered essential. The best thing is to identify and neutralise possible infection routes beforehand - for most people that means disabling autoplay (to stop transfer via removable media) and locking down any Internet-accessing applications (browser, email, P2P). For example, using a web/ad filter to disable ActiveX, Java and Javascript by default on browsers or using a text-based email client to block HTML/attachment abuse on emails. That leaves downloads (whether HTTP or P2P) as a possible infection vector and I check anything questionable with a multi-scan site like VirusTotal (it uses more than 30 AVs but has a 15MB file size limit). In addition, I keep track of changes made by installed software (using Total Uninstall) and use Drive Snapshot for regular disk image backups (it can backup a 100GB partition in 10-12 minutes on my main desktop) so I can recover from "junkware" installs. The downsides of AVs? They include: less than 100% protection - the AV provider has to find, analyse, produce a signature and roll the update out for any new nasty before their users encounter it; little use against a targeted attack - if someone "customises" malware to target you or a very limited group of users, few AVs will be of any use (for the previous reason above - in this case the AV provider has no chance to catch the malware before you do); inability to deal with installed malware - as Boogle has noted above, AVs have a far harder time detecting, let alone removing, anything that slips through their defenses; wasteful - any AV will need to scan the same files multiple times; false positives - a problem for any AV which can be serious if a system file is mistakenly quarantined or deleted; require constant (daily/hourly) updating which can be a problem for those with offline systems or intermittent connections. Of course, there are downsides with "preventative" security measures also - it's up to each person to choose what their priorities are regarding security versus convenience.
I'm not using AntiVirus whenever I'm not navigating anything dangerous (as a programmer I or my projects often navigate on unknown site, sometimes tens of thousands of websites/day, I turn on the antivirus on those occasions, but except that I try to not use it). I have a theory that the more antiviruses we use, the more viruses will appear. (1) If you are backing up your data you win a lot of performance and memory if you're not using antiviruses and in the case of an infection you can just format your infected drives, reinstall the operating system, which takes only a few hours. The main problem with antivirus softwares is that they are always one step behind the viruses so you can easily get an infection even with a top a/v software. If the antivirus softwares are ahead of viruses, then (1) is true and we face even greater problems. (2)
ESET had nortons and mcafee for awhile but man they slow things down. Eset seems pretty nice by comparison.
Kaparsky on my Main Computer, MSE on LAPTOP, used AVG but all my computers got infected and required a Reboot! Norton was good but McaAFee just slowed everything down too much.
Kaspersky on 2 out of 5, need to buy another one... went years without anything but I got a free Kaspersky from work so thought it give it a try!
Kaspersky Internet Security on my personal PC, Avira or Avast on client's systems as a freeware option.
the thing that caused me to switch from AVG (which i used for YEARS), was the update that finally removed the feature to turn the damn thing off! i like to be in full control of my system, and making a program that you absolutely cannot turn off though any means (killing it with task manager just caused it to automatically restart) just pisses me off. an antivirus should not act like the virus' they are meant to protect us from.
I use 2 free software to protect my computer: Microsoft Security Essentials Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
What free antivirus would you recommend for a beginner computer user? Im going to be reinstalling my girlfriends laptop and she isn't super skilled with computers so I'd like a good free antivirus for her that she wont need to give much input to. She isnt dangerous on her computer. Only really uses it for schoolwork,facebook and skype. I was thinking of putting MSE on it.
+100....XD Desktop: AVG. Fire-fox + ad blocker (only because my visitors always surf the NET while drunk & Horny.) Laptop (2x): NO AV, only Windows 7 + FF & ad blocker. Have being doing this for some time and I am getting very convertible without AV. Atoms & ULV CPUs without AV's feel Like my I7 Desktop with AVG. If I am not sure: Scan package using Desktop! or Don't even loot at it.
MSE - Free on most my machines. ESET NOD32 on my personal gaming machine - paid for, it used to have the lowest footprint for a virus scanner. I liked that and have just continued with the licence. Its a two machine licence and covers my girlfriends ages old laptop too. MSE is really very good, low footprint, quite and just does its job in the background, you won't go wrong with it.
All I can say being a newbie is you're mad if you dont use an anti virus and you will deserve all you get. I repair computers for free and I'me making a lot of friends by repairing there virus hit computers. I could make a lot of money if I wanted to. The best anti virus is avira, the best malware catcher is malwarebytes the best spyware catcher is superantispyware. Ccleaner is the only registry tool I use. Norton is like an octopus with a thousand tentacles it will work ok at first but eventually its tentacles get into everything and slow your computers right down if I get a computer with norton on it I tell the own er I wont work on it unless I can remove it. I've taken a liking to this forum so I guess you all will be getting more from me.
