Free AntiVirus Software

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dextrous

Gawd
Joined
Oct 12, 2002
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911
"free of charge for HOME users for NON-COMMERCIAL use."

Link: http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1016.html
 
Is there one with a better track record for free? or are they a good combination to run together?
 
avast seems better than AVG - both are free - also look for antivir (google it) as it is also free - avg and avast wont werk together (nor for that matter will either work with mcafee or norton )
I did get antivir and avast to work on my 98se set up of old, but i havent tried it yet under Xp pro ....
NOW here is some interesting news, just in case you missed it from [H]ardocp.com's main page:
quoted from: http://www.securitynewsportal.com/index.shtml
"A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit over McAfee VirusScan versions 3 and 4. If you are a U.S. resident and you bought a retail version of McAfee VirusScan version 3 or version 4, then you are a member of the class.

As a member of the class, you may receive a free download version of your choice of one of the three McAfee perpetual products: (1) VirusScan version 8, (2) AntiSpyware version 1.0, or (3) QuickClean version 4.01 (collectively "Software").

In order to receive your free Software download, you must do the following:

1. Complete the certification form at http://software.mcafee.com/lcas/ Then select Submit.
2. Once you have agreed to the class certification requirements, McAfee will send you an email with a link to download your free software.

NOTE: ALL RIGHTS WILL EXPIRE ON JULY 16, 2004. YOU MUST COMPLETE THE CLASS CERTIFICATION FORM AND DOWNLOAD THE SOFTWARE ON OR BEFORE JULY 16, 2004, OR YOU WILL LOSE YOUR RIGHT TO RECEIVE THE SOFTWARE. "
end quote.
So if you had mcafee 4 or earlier go get your free software as settlement... i will post as "free with restrictions" in its own post...
 
I would like to see where the 25% track record for AVG came from. When I uninstalled Norton and installed AVG it found a few things Norton had missed. I've had much better luck with AVG then Norton.

Sorry for the rant
 
nate that aint a rant... you like most [H] forum people understandibly question claims without any back up - just look at what Kyle's dealing with in court...
 
Nate53085 said:
I would like to see where the 25% track record for AVG came from. When I uninstalled Norton and installed AVG it found a few things Norton had missed. I've had much better luck with AVG then Norton.

Sorry for the rant
Click to expand...

same here! norton sux!!
 
Go back to 3rd grade: that's 9/27. Glad you can read a chart. And by the way, that site looks about as dependable as you sound. Notice how the details of the testing aren't divulged, and their definition of a pass is quite subjective and not nearly documented on their site. Good source!
 
I use Avast and have been pretty pleased with it. Seems to have caught the junk my roomate brings home to the home network.
 
I get the feeling from looking at the site that it catches <AVG> 100% of the current viruses out? Is that right? the 9/28 number is passed 9/28 tests <various OS's and whatnot> Right? That is what I am getting.
 
Ok, after going to that link and clicking thru - it seems quite interesting... but the 9/11 score is for operating systems (pass on NT, fail on Linux, etc...) and kinda doesnt give full info about the testing...
Now you CAN use more than one antivirus - presently using avast and antivir (and looking into other ones) NOTE: only one antivirus program can be run at a time. This includes the active screening or guard (usually shown by an icon in the lower left of screen...)
I'll be looking into whether or not I can have additional antivirus programs installed without conflicts
As for Norton, I was one of those that bought it back in the day of unlimited updates (win 98) and could update my virus definitions all the time. Now you install and three months later you have to pay an additional fee for updates. Screw that - either incorporate the fees into the purchase price or forget it. Also, their manditory product registration blows too.

EDIT: Also you'll note on that web site that most will pass on year X XP pro test and failed year Y... So most antivirus programs,it seems obvious, cannot protect you from all viruses at all times... Further, with the way that several antivirus programs update (I have seen avast update 3 times in one day) there is a good probability that a day, week, hour, or so later the failing grade would have been a passing one, as the updates caught up with the virus definitions used in the tests... so take everything with a grain of salt - if the virus program fails consistantly - then I wouldnt use it - just make sure you have more than one program (under the assumption that if program 1 misses it, program 2 will catch it, etc.)
 
Viserov I (and I think most of us) are not slamming you per se. Its just that we all like to look at the info ourselves if we can, to draw our own conclusions - my statements were about the site itself. Interesting info, & thanks for bringing it to our attention. Honestly, I wish we could hold Micro$oft and other operating system manufacturers accountable for the lack of security against viruses and hacks...
Again, I make my anti slamming stand...
Most here just like to know where its from is all...
Also, I now have AVG, Avast! (and just what is with the "!" anyway?) and Antivir on my system - not active all at once but at least not blocking each other from working... Seems anyone can do it just as long as only one is active at a time...
 
I used AVG for a while and it was fine, Maximum PC rated it as good as Norton, especially when you add in the free part! :cool:
 
avast can be set up as a no brainer operation - also when doing a full system scan, its a bit of a resource hog - so start that up and go do something else for a little while. scans emails, IM, etc. Does pretty good. Antivir is also easy to set up and scans arent as heavy on the resources...
AVG can be kept on the same computer as avast - so keep & use them both
ditto for antivir (all 3 on my system at this time - just make sure only one is active at a time...)
 
I tried avast once, didn't interface with TB very well. Ate up all my CPU, and put in like 500000 X-ScannedAvast wahtever headers into the email. It promptly got deleted, and AVG installed.
 
viserov said:
Sorry, I looked at the wrong link for Avast. It has slightly less than a 50% (9/19) success rate, where as AVG has a 5/20 success rate.

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/products.xml
Click to expand...
Just a fyi that site is not reliable aperrantly they dont bother to update their antiviri programs in a reliable manner.. In other words they may update one av and forget to update the other and never catch their error.
Little fyi norton and mcafee bboth missed 40 some virus on a lan i just recently cleaned avg found over 70 they found total of 30. and that was before i remembered to update avg oops. After it found another 10 so that was total 50 missed by norton and mcafee.
 
I've used AVG for over 3 years and never had any problems with it. I'm running Avast now, so far so good. It has more functions in it then the AVG free version. Used it on another machine of mine and it found a couple bugs, it got everything and all is fine.
I give thumbs up to both of them :)
 
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