What is the best antivirus for XP?

[Tater]

My Norton expires next week and it sucks. Any suggestions?

[Doctor Z]

<hr width="100%" size="2" /><font face="verdana" size="1" color="black"><strong>What is the best antivirus for XP?</strong></font><br /><br /><hr width="100%" size="2" /><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://isopixel.net/images/macos_tigerX.jpg" border="0" alt="OS X" title="OS X" width="150" height="168" /></p>

[Snacks]

a couple of years ago I switched to Computer Associates anit virus and have had no viruses and it works great.

[SinA]

not looking at porn

[PaulF]

<p>AVG from Grisoft. There is a free version, as well as paid versions that allow for more options for scheduling scans.</p><p>Works better and with less system performance impact than Norton. Just loaded it on a client's machine with a Corporate version of Norton, which was reporting the system was clean, yet has been performing slowly. The scan is not complete and it's already picked up 4 viruses. </p>

[badorties]

<strong>Tater</strong> wrote:<br />My Norton expires next week and it sucks. Any suggestions? <p>your ISP probably has a free suite (firewall/antivirus/privacy) to download</p>

[JustJon]

I like AVG.&nbsp; Alot of virus writers will write them so the big 2 (Norton and McAfee) won't see them.&nbsp; On the other hand, AVG will pick up on it.

[Wallower]

<p>I've had a lot of success with AVG as well. It does the job without nagging and stays out of the way for the most part.</p><p>They like to hide the link so just go to free.grisoft.com to get it.</p>

[Dan 'Hampton]

Trend Micro PC cillen.&nbsp; No problems since i ditched Norton for it last year.

[FUNKMAN]

<p>a new one came out this year AMOXI CILLIN</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>sorry i got nuthin</p>

[Snacks]

The AVG software sounds good. Any link to the free version?

[Mike from Bklyn]

<p>I use NOD32. Leo Laporte recommends it. It is supposed to be a &quot;light&quot; program meaning it doesn't use a lot of resources to run.</p><p>I have AVG in my laptop and it works fine also. &nbsp;</p><p> By the way if you have Norton installed you going to need a special uninstaller. Do a Google search about uninstalling Norton. From what I understand it really hooks itself in to your system. Having two anti virus programs causes problems. </p>

[OGC]

<strong>Snacks</strong> wrote:<br />The AVG software sounds good. Any link to the free version? <p><a href="http://www.harryterjanian.com/" target="_blank"><font face="comic sans ms,sand" size="5">AVG</font></a></p>

[sr71blackbird]

I got a virus yesterday for the first time in 2 years, and I have both the corpoate version of Norton and the free version of AVG.&nbsp; Norton was the one that detected it, but it seemed to overwhelm Norton and Norton shut down.&nbsp; AVG contained it.&nbsp; I have been running a bunch of sweeps until I get get my brother over to look at it to assure me its gone.&nbsp; I saw someone said that you should only have one anti-virus program.&nbsp; Is this true?&nbsp; I figure its better to have at least two, in case one misses something, or if AVG or Norton expires, at least I am protected with something..

[OGC]

<p><font face="comic sans ms,sand" size="2">How did you manage to install two antivirus programs ?&nbsp; </font></p><p><font face="comic sans ms,sand" size="2">I had Norton and getting all kinds of &quot;this program is not installed correctly, please reinstall&quot; warnings. After several attempts to uninstall and reinstall it, I finally gave up , uninstled it and attempted to install AVG. Even after I thought I had uninstalled Nortons, AVG told&nbsp; me that I already had an antivirus program installed. A few weeks later, my disc crashed and I had to wipe it clean and reinstall everything and I chose AVG.</font></p><p><font face="comic sans ms,sand" size="2">No problems since.</font></p>

[jbolo]

<p>definitely install AVG, its free for one thing and it works</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>does anyone know if theres a good adaware type prog besides adaware...i have adware on my PC that I can't seem to shake.. </p>

<span class=post_edited>This message was edited by jbolo on 2-24-07 @ 7:15 PM</span>

[reeshy]

<p>I downloaded AVG....and deleted Norton..everything is hodey-dokey</p><p>!!!!!!&nbsp;</p>

[PapaBear]

I like AVG. Alot of virus writers will write them so the big 2 (Norton and McAfee) won't see them. On the other hand, AVG will pick up on it.
Has anyone else tried the new AVG 8.0 yet? I'm trying it for the first time. So far, I really like it, but there's one thing I'm on the fence about. It has a really cool feature that helps when doing searches. For instance... You do a Google search. Next to all of the search results, it shows an icon that tells you if there are any known threats on that web page. Here's an example of what you see when RonFez.net shows up on a search.

chrome://searchshield/content/icons_safe.gif
Safe: This page contains no active threats.
Explanation:
It is safe to proceed to this page.

Domain:

IP Address: 66.29.16.0
Owner:
Name:
Address:
Country Code:

Scanned on: 05/09/08 02:19:09
(3.91 seconds to scan this page)
Ratings are provided by AVG. Site owners please contact AVG Technologies for questions.




I like this feature, but the web is a little bit slower than usual. I think the slow down is going to be worth it, but I haven't decided for sure.

[biggestmexi]

best free. avg. dont forget to get spybot s&d too.

best paid: pc-cillin < even from consumer reports

[Gritty]

<p>definitely install AVG, its free for one thing and it works</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>does anyone know if theres a good adaware type prog besides adaware...i have adware on my PC that I can't seem to shake.. </p>

<span class=post_edited>This message was edited by jbolo on 2-24-07 @ 7:15 PM</span>

I've had good experiences with Spybot - Search & Destroy:

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html?tag=lst-1&cdlPid=10804822

[LordJezo]

AVG Free:

http://free.grisoft.com/

Avira Free Antivir:

http://www.free-av.com/

---

Those are the two big free ones, there are two camps of folks out there who are into this stuff, some are diehard AVG guys, others swear by Antivir. Both have wonderful detection rates, usually Antivir scores slightly higher than AVG, but both blow away a lot of the commercial products like Norton and McAffe.

You'll be fine with whichever you decide on. I guess it all depends on which logo looks prettier to you.

[Dan G]

No love for Avast (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html)?

I've been using that one for several years and haven't had any problems with it.

[Goatweed]

I'm a big fan of AVG but I heard the new version removes email protection unless you use the paid version - is that true? If so, that's disappointing.

[JPMNICK]

AVG is what i use on all of my PC's and never have had a problem

[furie]

<hr width="100%" size="2" /><font face="verdana" size="1" color="black"><strong>What is the best antivirus for XP?</strong></font><br /><br /><hr width="100%" size="2" /><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://isopixel.net/images/macos_tigerX.jpg" border="0" alt="OS X" title="OS X" width="150" height="168" /></p>

Bravo, sir! :clap:

[Chigworthy]

Another vote for AVG. I've used the free version for 2-3 years and no problems.

[OGC]

I'm a big fan of AVG but I heard the new version removes email protection unless you use the paid version - is that true? If so, that's disappointing.


I upgraded to AVG 8.0 (free version) today and the email checking still seems to be working. And it now includes an anti spyware checker that caught plenty of things that my (paid for) webroot spy sweeper didn't catch.

[Devo37]

i've been using AntiVir (free) (http://www.free-av.com/) for several years without any problems.

i also use Firefox as my browser. the only time i ever caught a virus was back when i was using Internet Explorer.

[PapaBear]

I upgraded to AVG 8.0 (free version) today and the email checking still seems to be working. And it now includes an anti spyware checker that caught plenty of things that my (paid for) webroot spy sweeper didn't catch.
Day two, and I'm still loving it. How do you like the thing I mentioned in my last post? It's pretty cool.

[JPMNICK]

I upgraded to AVG 8.0 (free version) today and the email checking still seems to be working. And it now includes an anti spyware checker that caught plenty of things that my (paid for) webroot spy sweeper didn't catch.

I 2nd this, the email scanner still works in AVG8 free version

[K.C.]

Whatever you do...for the love of god, do not go in to Staples and ask this question.

When I used to work there years back, they used to pimp Panda Anti-Virus...the managers in all the stores I was ever in would blatantly lie about it.

It's a completely and utterly useless piece of software. The thing barely qualifies as an anti-virus, yet they'll tell you it's "an all purpose anti-virus, spyware protection, pop-up killer, trojan stopping program."

LIES, I say!!...Nothing but LIES!!!

I hope they still aren't trying to dupe people on this thing. Can't tell you the number of angry calls I used to get saying they were lied to about it.

[oldladyfacepuncher]

Bah! Who needs all that extra crap when there's Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/). It's free.

http://www.ubuntu.com/themes/ubuntu07/images/ubuntulogo.png

[JackBurton Says]

I got MS ForeFront for free.....I won't use anything else now, NEVER. :thumbup:

[Goatweed]

thanks for confirming that email scanning is still working on AVG 8 free - that's very good news. I'm curious tho, my 7.5 hasn't pushed me for the upgrade (when it went from 6 to 7, it practically forced the upgrade).

I'll try upgrading this week, I bought yet another external drive this weekend and started the slow process of backing up all my new music/movies/etc. so I plan on upgrading all essential apps, system and registry defrag, then ghost the drive to make a backup image. It's been a while since I've done this, it's WAY overdue!

[MobCounty]

I've had norton off and on several of my machines. Frankly, it never did anything spectacular except for getting in the way of other programs. I've used spybot, and adaware to mildly successful results.

Whats the latest and greatest anti virus program?

[MadMatt]

I am a fan of "Avast!" Anti-Virus. It does a good job, isn't a resource hog, plus it is FREE for home users.

The biggest advantage (IMO) is the pre-boot scan function - it does a great job pulling stuff off of your system if you are infected. I have used it frequently on already infected systems to great effect.

[Dan G]

I'm another fan of Avast (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html).

[biggestmexi]

pc-cillin

[LordJezo]

I am a big fan of this exact question being asked a couple of days ago:

http://www.ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55536

[mendyweiss]

Not Related, but Need Help
How Can I Remove A Web Address From The Browser ?
Mendy Jr Was SomeWhere He Shuoldn't Have Been !!!

[Thebazile78]

Not Related, but Need Help
How Can I Remove A Web Address From The Browser ?
Mendy Jr Was SomeWhere He Shuoldn't Have Been !!!

Dump the browser history and clear the cache.

[mendyweiss]

Dump the browser history and clear the cache.

Thanks !!!

[LordJezo]

Not Related, but Need Help
How Can I Remove A Web Address From The Browser ?
Mendy Jr Was SomeWhere He Shuoldn't Have Been !!!

Get Crap Cleaner.

http://www.ccleaner.com/update/

It's a great utility to clean out all the crap from your system every week or so. It also can clean up web address history and all that.

There are other ways of doing it like the guy said above but this is a one stop thing to clean out all the stuff on your system, like dead registry entries, temp files left over places, cache files that just eat up hard drive space.

It's good stuff. And it's free.

[dino_electropolis]

Best solution for XP viruses:
buy yourself a Mac

[extracheese]

I had been using AVAST for a while and had been very happy. BUT i recently upgraded its version..and now my computer is really slow. I checked the system resources and this is what is running:

Process.......................... virtual size
Avast anti-virus service................... 109, 612
Avast av - updating service................16,788
Avast e-mail scanner.........................47,512
Avast gui component.........................44,180
Avast web scanner............................96,122


Isn't this alot of system resources compared to AVG/NORTON etc..?

[jeffdwright2001]

Not Related, but Need Help
How Can I Remove A Web Address From The Browser ?
Mendy Jr Was SomeWhere He Shuoldn't Have Been !!!


He was visting ronfez.net wasn't he?

[MobCounty]

I am a big fan of this exact question being asked a couple of days ago:

http://www.ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55536

Duh, sorry about that one fellahs.

Best solution for XP viruses:
buy yourself a Mac

I prefer to play the internet in 'hard' mode. :tongue:

[Reephdweller]

I was a huge fan of AVG Free for years until version 8 came out demanding to be purchased or it would only be free for 30 days. I promptly removed it from all of my systems.

I heard of another new antivirus program called Threatfire by PC Tools that is free and works alongside your regular antivirus programs. It has gotten lots of good reviews so I'm trying it out. Best of all...it's FREE!

http://www.threatfire.com/

If I already have antivirus software why do I need ThreatFire?

ThreatFire is dramatically different to traditional antivirus software. Normal antivirus products usually need to have first identified and seen a threat before they can provide adequate protection against it. The protection is then provided via a signature or fingerprint update, which must first be written by an antivirus researcher. This creates a large window of time where threats are undetected and can therefore infect your PC even when you have antivirus software installed.
How can ThreatFire protect me when traditional antivirus can't?

ThreatFire continually protects your PC against attacks by detecting malicious behavior, such as capturing your keystrokes or stealing your data, instead of only looking for known threats like normal antivirus software. By implementing sophisticated real-time behavioral analysis ThreatFire is able to stop never- before-seen "zero-day" threats (http://www.threatfire.com/#) solely by detecting their malicious activity.
Zero-day threats are usually designed to take advantage of new vulnerabilities or exploits that are currently unprotected by traditional security products. They are usually distributed in huge quantities very quickly by mass email (SPAM), website hijacks, instant messaging or over peer-to-peer networks. Because they are undetectable they are able to wreak havoc and compromise your PC even when you have up-to-date antivirus software installed.
ThreatFire's patent-pending ActiveDefense technology offers protection against all types of internet threats - both known and unknown - spyware, adware, keyloggers, viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, buffer overflows, and other malware. ThreatFire uses its unparalleled protection to hunt down and paralyze those threats that are either too new or too clever to be recognized by traditional "signature-based" antivirus software.
Do I need to be an expert to use ThreatFire?

ThreatFire is advanced technology designed especially for people, not just experts.
We believe security software should be "set and forget" so once you install ThreatFire you won't need to answer lots of technical questions, in fact the only time you should even notice ThreatFire is protecting your PC is when we detect something malicious that requires your attention.

[PhishermanEto]

<p>I use NOD32. Leo Laporte recommends it. It is supposed to be a &quot;light&quot; program meaning it doesn't use a lot of resources to run.

NOD32 is where it's at. I've used several programs in the past and this is the only one that has kept my computer pristine. Updates itself a couple times a day. It was recommended to me by a friend (he's an IT professional at Oracle). He swears by it and the shit on his computer is way more important than mine.

[PapaBear]

I was a huge fan of AVG Free for years until version 8 came out demanding to be purchased or it would only be free for 30 days.
I have version 8.0.10, and it's still free. It says "License expires: FREE". Though it does still have an annoying drop down, that advertises the pay version, but you can click to hide it.

[OGC]

I was a huge fan of AVG Free for years until version 8 came out demanding to be purchased or it would only be free for 30 days. I promptly removed it from all of my systems.

I have version 8.0.10, and it's still free. It says "License expires: FREE". Though it does still have an annoying drop down, that advertises the pay version, but you can click to hide it.


I was a big fan on AVG but lately it is prompting me to reboot my machine constantly. It says that it has run it's daily update and needs to be restarted .

Is there a way to turn this off ?

[JPMNICK]

I was a big fan on AVG but lately it is prompting me to reboot my machine constantly. It says that it has run it's daily update and needs to be restarted .

Is there a way to turn this off ?

yea that happens to me on one of my computers, but not another one

[disneyspy]

thx for this thread,been wonderin the same thing
and i was gettin tired of the windows secrurity alerts

[drjoek]

The best antivirus, stay off of Mafialife.com.