Advise on free AV software

[jldjs]

I currently use NAV 2003 updated on my XP Home. MY license renews in June but I'd rather not pay Norton. Have looked at AVG, AVAST, and BitDefender 7 as free alterantives. Appreciate advice on which might be considered my best choice. I also use SpyBot, AdAware, Spyware Guard and Spyware Blaster plus my ZoneAlarm firewall.
Thanks.

[the Tester]

Another free av to consider is AntiVir PE.

BitDefender free could be a backup scanner to whatever free av you choose.
I favor AntiVir of the free choices.

[bellgamin]

Bit Defender 7 wouldn't do, because it has NO real-time monitor.

I suggest adding the free AntiVir-PE *Classic* (http://www.free-av.com/) to your list.

As to effectiveness, check these two test reports...

_/ #1- Here (http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/products.xml?table). Alwil is Avast. Grisoft is AVG. H+BEDV is AntiVir-PE.

_/ #2- Here (http://www.av-comparatives.org/). Then click "Comparatives" button. The click "Online Results" on line "5.On-demand comparative February 2005" for the latest data.

AntiVir-PE updates signatures ~5X weekly. Avg updates ~3X weekly. I have no experience with Avast.

If you are on dial-up, be aware that each of AntiVir-PE's updates to its signatures now averages ~2.8MB daily. AVG's updates are incremental -- ~0.5MB each. Again, I have no experience with Avast.

aloha... bellgamin

[AnthonyG]

Microsfoft give a free 6 month usage of F-Secure. This is one of the best AV you can get.

[RejZoR]

Shaw gives ShawSecure (rebranded F-Secure Internet Suite 2005) for free,lifetime license. If you need other stuff like firewall and anti-spyware,then you should try it. Just make sure you have DSL/Cable and pretty strong PC.

[Firecat]

I offer a free PC-cillin 2002 6-month to anyone who needs it. PM me for it.

[RejZoR]

2002 ? Isn't that a bit too outdated? I mean 3 years? I'd go with Shaw in such case...

[Firecat]

{QUOTE-> 2002 ? Isn't that a bit too outdated? I mean 3 years? I'd go with Shaw in such case... <-QUOTE}
I dont know...maybe the serial key works with newer versions too???

[jldjs]

I've updated the license twice. Since NAV 2003 came with the PC I bought, Norton charges me $29.95 to upgrade. I bought NAV 2004 for less than that for my other PC and they charge $20 to update it every year. I'm focusing in on Avast and AVG at this point but wanted some advice from folks that know alot more about the AV than I do. Appreciate the feedback.

[mikel108]

AVG is really easy to use.

Avast is feature rich, and has excellent support on their forum.

[I who know nothing]

{QUOTE-> I currently use NAV 2003 updated on my XP Home. MY license renews in June but I'd rather not pay Norton. Have looked at AVG, AVAST, and BitDefender 7 as free alterantives. Appreciate advice on which might be considered my best choice. I also use SpyBot, AdAware, Spyware Guard and Spyware Blaster plus my ZoneAlarm firewall.
Thanks. <-QUOTE}

EZ antivirus from CA has free 12 month trial but it lasts forever since a new download resets the date. Very fast & light, small daily updates, great for newbies or slow pc's.

[zfactor]

i have tried most of these. i (not being rude or anyhting like that) do not like avg. maybe the new version is better but the old one was not all it is cracked up to be. no pun intended =) i did not see the light footprint a lot of people "say" it is. not did it protect me when i needed it to. it let to much through on a regular basis. if and when i had a question for grisoft i did not get any timely responses. it usually took 2 days to a week for an answer if i got one. for free bitdefender like said above would not be a good choice. only as a backup scanner as like said it does not scan real time. in my opinion free wise i would probably have to say avast from alwil. second i would say antivir. (i believe they had a free one) i am looking for a backup to nod and i am considering avast. dont know if this helped but just my thoughts

[bellgamin]

{QUOTE-> EZ antivirus from CA has free 12 month trial but it lasts forever since a new download resets the date. Very fast & light, small daily updates, great for newbies or slow pc's. <-QUOTE}
I HAD a link for that EZ freebie -- it went to CA & thence to Microsoft. But the Microsoft part of the link is now dead. R.I.P.:'(

Does anyone have a *current* link for the EZ freebie -- or is it discontinued?

[gerardwil]

Try this one:

https://store.ca.com/dr/v2/ec_Main.Entry17c?V1=1313418&PID=&PN=1&SP=10034&SID=55939&CUR=840&CID=183867&api1=78&api2=1360

[bigc73542]

Or you can try this one here (http://home.ca.com/dr/v2/ec_main.entry25?page=PYPCTrialPage&client=ComputerAssociates&sid=35715&CID=185351)

bigc

[bellgamin]

@ gerardwil & @bigc -- Many many many thanks! Domo arigato. Mahalo nui loa. Muchas gracias.

[JerryM]

Would anyone feel inadequately protected if he had these free security utilities?

Avast
Mwav escan
A squared
Kerio 2.1.5
Microsoft Antispyware Beta
Spybot S&D
Adaware
Spyware Guard
Spyware Blaster
Win Patrol
Startup Monitor

Thanks,
Jerry

[FastGame]

{QUOTE-> Would anyone feel inadequately protected if he had these free security utilities?

Avast
Mwav escan
A squared
Kerio 2.1.5
Microsoft Antispyware Beta
Spybot S&D
Adaware
Spyware Guard
Spyware Blaster
Win Patrol
Startup Monitor

Thanks,
Jerry <-QUOTE}

Nope I'd feel perfectly safe :)

I have the following and never had an infection...

Avast
Mwav escan
A squared
Kerio 2.1.5
Winsonar
Microsoft Antispyware Beta
Spybot S&D

[Don Pelotas]

I would go with Avast for a good free av-choice, if you choose Avast then you might be interested in RejZor's:

Avast! External Control (http://www.excessive-software.tk/)

{QUOTE-> avast! External Control (AEC) tool was designed to extend avast! Antivirus functionality and security.
AEC gives you almost full control over avast! Home Edition or Professional Edition.
You can fully disable/enable and Auto-Restart avast!, change update and VRDB generation intervals, tweak many hidden settings and view detailed avast! Antivirus status.
External avast! component launcher gives you ability to scan files externally or even schedule Boot-Time scan directly from AEC. avast! Status Info function can be used to dump status log, so Alwil staff can easily help you on avast! Forums. Most functions is limited to Windows 2000/XP only.

AEC is a standalone application (extract&use) with integrated Smart Auto-Update feature <-QUOTE}
To compliment your securitysuite, you could add the free version's of Ewido & A2 (trojan-scanners)

http://www.ewido.net/en/

http://www.a-2.org/en/

[TAP]

{QUOTE-> Nope I'd feel perfectly safe :)

I have the following and never had an infection...

Avast
Mwav escan
A squared
Kerio 2.1.5
Winsonar
Microsoft Antispyware Beta
Spybot S&D <-QUOTE}

Me too.

I have the following freebie on my personal laptop and never had infection too...

avast! Home Edition
Kerio 2.1.5
SpywareBlaster
Spybot S & D
eScan toolkit Utility

and I run the following freebie on my home network (3 computers) and never had infection too...

avast! Home Edition
Sygate Personal Firewall
SpywareBlaster
Spybot S & D

avast! Web Shield is really useful in home network environment, not even it scans HTTP traffic in real-time but its Web filtering/URL Blocking can be posed as proactive protection and it has saved my home network from Win32:Bropia, Win32:Kelvir that spread via MSN.

[RadicalEdward]

I like avast, because the real time scanning seems to play nice when run at the same time with other real time scanners.

I didn't like how ShawSecure demanded that I uninstall every single one of my other active antivirus software, realtime and on-demand, so I never tested it. That warning message it displayed really ticked me off....

[rdsu]

jldjs,

since you had Norton on your computer you can perfectly use the avast! Home Edition.
It's a very complete free AV that can compete against a lot of shareware AV's...

About the other protection it seems that you have a nice protection and I only advice you
to add the ewido (http://www.ewido.net) (Anti-Malware) and the HOSTS File Manager (http://www.mvps.org/PracticallyNerded/SoftMain.htm) ;)

Regards

[Sputnik]

Sure you can have nice security with free programs... This would be my list:

avast! Home
ZoneAlarm Free
Spybot S&D
Ad-aware
SpywareBlaster

[jldjs]

Vampiric - Why do suggest I use ewido? How is it different from Spyware Blaster and Spyware Guard?
BTW, thanks to all for the feedback.

[rdsu]

{QUOTE-> Vampiric - Why do suggest I use ewido? How is it different from Spyware Blaster and Spyware Guard?
BTW, thanks to all for the feedback. <-QUOTE}
ewido is a great Anti-Malware (Hijackers, Spyware, Worms, Dialers, Trojans and Keyloggers) and you can use it for free, but only on-demand.
Even only with the on-demand is a good complement for your protection ;)
The new version will be wonderful... ;) (I don't know where is out)

SpywareBlaster is an immunizer of some types of malware, SpywareGuard is a spyware protector and ewido, with his guard enable, is a malware protector... ;)

You can use all without problems...

[rdsu]

At this moment, I'm not using the ewido guard because it use some resources and I'm waiting for the new version hoping that this will be very improved...

[Diver]

There three products that get the most mention in the free AV space:

Antivir: Most recent tests (AV Comparatives) show it to have the best measured detection of the three, but they use an inconvenient updating method. Users complain of busy servers.

Avast: This is the one that magazine editors like, and I like it the best of the three as well. Almost as good as Antivir at measured detection. Has a new feature where it scans stuff as it comes off the web. This may require adjustments to your firewall rules. If I remember correctly the only limitation is that it is not possible to schedule a scan, but the updating is automatic and hands free, so to speak.

Grisoft: Somewhat worse at detection than the other two, especially with trojans or othere things that do not fit the traditional definition of a virus. Very easy to use and set up. It both allows automatic updating and scheduled scans. The HALPC help desk gives this one out and they tell me in actual use it is keeping machines virus free. Uses a lot of memory, but seems to run fast even on old hardware. Probably the most widely used of the three, mainly due to convenience.

[sultan_emerr]

I have tried many of the ones listed in previous posts, and I keep going back to Avast.

[wildman]

;D Just my 2 cents an personal opinions:

AVG: Easy to use an quick easy updates, however a memory hog. I would not recommend it for older machines with limited memory.

AVAST: Quiet a few people like this one. Found it also to be a memory hog. It also placed operating files in the TEMP directory, which were cumbersome to delete if one wanted to do so. I would not recommend this one for older machine with limited memory either.

AntiVir/PE: Your basic virus protection program. This one appears to do an adequate job, an is light on memory usage. The updater however is abysmal an updates are hard to acquire, due to lousy servers, automatic update capability does not appear to be available with this one either. The update files are rather large also. This would be a good program to use for older machines, if it were not for the updater situation.

Thanks
Wildman
::) :o :P