New Laptops AV Suggestion

I just bought a new Laptop. Vista home premium, 2gb ram, and celeron core duo.

I haven't really worked with Vista in-terms of AV's, so I come to you all for help.


I want a free Av preferably. The main choices to me are Avast, Avg and Antivir.

I've been running Avast because that was one of my favorites on XP, but it seems to have some slowdown on Vista compared to XP.

Since I it's a new laptop and I don't want to install and uninstall a bunch of software, what are you suggestions between the 3?

 

I would suggest none of the above. Use Vista's security feature to ensure that you don't install untrusted software. And check out anything you do install on another PC having a good AV, if you are unsure of the software. But if you download from reputable software sites, you won't have a problem. The people who get into trouble are mainly the ones who click on anything, and who run with full Administrator rights.

 

well im gonna throw my comment in regardless,

Avast

you should know that ALL programs have slowdown on vista, i reverted back to XP and everything has gone super-fast.

you sound like me, i like to have things neat and tidy, a clean desktop, no unwanted icons etc, i have a very clean machine, with zero unwanted software or files i dont use, so i will tell you my setup and you can substitute things you dont need/want etc.

Drweb (Spidermail not installed)
prevx 2.0

Mozilla Firefox 2.0
extensions: NoScript, Fasterfox, IEtab, CookieCuller & AdBlockPlus

The Bat E-mail client (home edition)

System Mechanic 7

Itunes

YOUR Uninstaller 2008

Ashampoo Burning Studio

Winrar

Java/Flash Plugin

RollbackRX Pro

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use System Mechanic 7 to repair/clean up/defrag/compact registry etc etc , and limit your startup programs list too.

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additition things i added for my laptop were obvious things such as BIOS update, video/audio drivers, wireless adapter driver etc, which i recieved all from DELL.

 

I don't really mean which is best between the three by themselves, rather which is a better choice on my Laptop running Vista. I'm a new Vista/Laptop user so my experiences with Av products with it is close to none.

So I hope people don't mistake this to be a which is better vs each other. I just want some opinions on experiences running them on a system similar to mine so I can decide which to use with less problems.


I hope that clears some things out

 

all 3 of the main free avs are all light.

without going into too much detail and putting this thread in jeopardy of closure, i will simply say that avast offers more features, which simply means more protection on a wider scale.



but dont forget Drwebs Cureit for your backup on-demand scanner, free and no installation needed

lol

 

C.S.J thanks for your thorough post . Makes sense that everything is slowed on Vista lol.

Thing is I can't revert back to XP because the recovery partition on this machine doesn't allow the xp install to recognize the partitions. I'd rather play it safe with it for now (at least while under warranty )

I like things to be very neat and clean, and I spend a lot of time trying to keep it clean. I use Revo, but it hasn't been doing as well as I thought. I shall try your uninstaller.

But besides the point, going against my modo of keeping things clean, I uninstalled avast and Installed Avira PersonalPremium (free 6 months). It seems to have less impact on Vista than Avast.

For avg I don't think the impact would be different than on Xp, but the detections make me weary.


I know things are a bit different with connections on Vista, so I don't know how the http scanner and network scanner are affected on Avast, but I'm sure it's not much.

I guess I'll just have to flip a coin on this one for them time being

I'd get Dr. Web because I'm also a fan, but I don't have the $$ to buy it at the moment. Maybe in the near future I will purchase a liscense and enjoy it on Vista for the first time.

 

if you do choose to get Drweb, if you have any other valid licences for other an other AV, migrate for the 50% discount. (the AV you migrate from will still work, migration doesnt cancel your current licence)

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see, neat?





190mb ram used, very quick for a 2gb ddr2 dual core machine,

minus the 49mb for showing you how much (System mechnic running processes)

 

Mines fairly clean, but a bit more icons on the desktop.

Avira uses about 7k average on Vista where Avast uses 14k + 3k for the rest of it's scanners.

 

yes but those figures dont really reflect how light it is, or what its actually doing on your machine.

 

Check this thread here for AVG professional free https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=194835

I've used AVG for years on multiple OS's and its always performed well. Simple, easy to use and its detection levels are good, what more could you ask from a freebie .

 

That's quite true, although with 2gb of ram, now I'm more worried about cpu usage rather than memory usage.

 

lightness is how it runs on your machine.

cpu usage & speed of your computer.

sure, somebody can say X uses sooo much ram, and X uses only little cpu, however... it doesnt mean anything if the software is a drag on the system.

this is were drweb excels on the competition.

 

Any of the three will work. My personal favorite is Avira because of its consistently high measured detection rate. Also I like the complete interface, although it may be too geekish for some.

Second choice is AVG because it is so easy to install and configure. It does not require that you do anything to extend your free subscription. Of the three, AVG has the most users by far, and it is popular among computer topic bloggers including Long Zheng and Lou Silverman.

With the above 2 keep Windows Defender activated as both have omitted some spyware definitions as an incentive to purchase paid versions.

Avast is in third place because I find it to be a bit complex with so many different types of checking.

 

I like the Avira interface, I don't know why people don't like it. It's simple, clean and easy to understand.

Avg having the most users could make it a target, but I don't worry about that.

Avast is so light on Xp, but on Vista I noticed a slowdown right away, sad really because I like it. Avira seems to be as light as Xp for now.

Can AVG read inside layered archives? I learned how to set Avira to do that, so it acts like a web scanner somewhat, but not sure about AVG.

 

avast has soooo many features, plus avira doesnt have the http scanner, email scanning or spyware/adware detections, plus.. i still find the program buggy.

but thats just my opinion, plus the avast screensaver is kinda cool too

 

I think one of Avast's best features is being able to choose single engines rather than installing them all. I'm amazed, for a free product it's so great!

 

I have to agree with L815 on Avast slowing down Vista. However, I had so much angst with Vista that I upgraded to the latest high performance OS, XP SP3.

 

That is why I chose Avast for my lap top, a much older less capable make\model then yours. Loaded only the real time engine. It along with one other anti-malware program as a compliment and Firefox + NoScript also Sandboxie for the occasional visit to no-mans-land seem to serve me well with minimal impact on performance. You mileage may vary.

 

The slowdown is definetly because of Vista and not Avast's fault. I wish I could go back to XP but this recovery partition is really buggin me.

 

Aren't you guys using Comodo firewall? We have no complaints about avast slowing down Vista, with the exception of Comodo v3 being on the same box..

Plus, previous versions of ZoneAlarm had a bug that was causing slow browsing with avast WebShield active.

Thanks
Vlk

 

How will you be using this laptop regularly? Will you be using it at home via your home internet connection (be it wireless, wired, etc.), will you take it around with you, using a cellular service (Verizon, Sprint, etc.), or will you use public wifi connections when out of the office?

Each of those make a difference to some extent in your security setup. For example, with the home internet connection, if you're behind a router firewall, you may not need a better firewall than the Vista one. Will you lose the ability to block an app on-the-fly? Yes, but you should be careful with what you download anyway - And any apps that do connect can be seen via the interface -- Just keep an eye out for stuff you didn't create.

If you're using either of the other two options regularly, I would invest in a good software firewall to keep an eye on your machine. You're no longer behind the relative safety of your router firewall in these cases, so having a good firewall is important. There's more knowledgeable people here who can recommend the latest and greatest, although Commodo gets good reviews for the most part (and is free ).

In all situations, you want a good AV/AS/AM software. I don't use any of the three mentioned, but as someone else who went from XP to Vista, keep in mind that most apps DO run slower still on Vista; The issue may not be just Avast - I bring that up only in that you do have experience and some preference with it.

WHile you don't want to load a bunch of s/w on your machine, you may want to consider adding in a good AS/AM software like SuperAntiSpyware. I don't run it myself, but just search this forum for reviews of this - Most of the time its given stellar reviews, is free, and the free version is on-demand (it doesn't load things up on your box until you are using the thing).

Just my two cents, hope it helps!

 

how is that possible?

As for your question, days ago i installed the AntiVir classic on my cousin's Vista laptop and it's running great

 

Dual-core Celerons coming on January 20 (?)