Free & On-Demand Only

Hi All,

Hoping for a recommendation w/ discussion. Have McAfee v4.5.1 on a work laptop. Not permitted to change it, but no objections to installing a backup AV.

Would like to know which free AV's can reliably be set up for on-demand service only, as a back-up to McAfee. By "reliably", I mean the configuation as "on-demand ony" should be somewhat straightforward and not run significant risk of conflicting with McAfee. Obviously BiDefender free seems to fit the bill as it is on-demand only, but are there better options (Avast, AVG, Etrust, etc.)? I use F-prot DOS at home for backup, but this laptop is NTFS.

Thanks & regards
Optigrab

 

Kaspersky Personal and Personal Pro can be set up as on-demand only. Just select the 'custom' option during install and untick the real time monitor option. HTH

 

Just noticed you asked for 'free' backup av. Bitdefender is the only one I can think of too, not sure if AVG or Avast can be installed as on-demand only. Perhaps someone else can advise!

 

Some times I use avast4 - it is a very good AV - as a backup AV, you just need to uncheck these 2 files in the System Config. Util. >> Startup:
Resident scanner: 'C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe'
Mail scanner: 'C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\AVAST4\ashmaisv.exe'
Kindly note that I installed only the resident scanner and the mail scanner..
so if you installed any other components (P2P scanner , the IM scanner or Outlook scanner, you have to uncheck thier keys -if any- as well ..
I hope this could help..

 

Thanks Minacross and StevieV. Sounds like Avast can be configured as "on-demand only" after the install is complete. I guess there's not much potential for harm... I can always use Total Uninstall to purge it if it doesn't work out.

So currently Bitdefender and Avast are possibilities. Would anyone else care to share their thoughts?

Regards,
Optigrab

 

Avg 6 FREE also has an option to diable the resident shield (real time scanning) , but i have heard (though havent actually seen any proof via grisoft) , that the free is to discontinue early in the new year.
ellison

 

AVG can be configured so its on demand, by disabling the resident shield, also, I never heard the plans to get rid of the free version, its been around forever, also, AntiVirPE can be used as a good backup...

 

When you install AntiVir PE {it's free} it gives you the option either to activate or inactivate its real-time monitor.

AVPE is my on-demand scanner. Updates 5X per week. Very active improvements to the scan engine, as well.

I like it a lot. It's strong, very easy on system resources, superb {but unnecessary} help file, & has a good support forum.

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

Support forum...
http://www.free-av.de/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi

Grace & peace to you all.......bellgamin

 

Further thanks to Ellison64, Comp01, and Bellgamin.

AntiVir sounds interesting, particularly since I know very little about it (along with Bitdefender). Could be a sign that this exercise is more about curiosity than necessity.

Many thanks again and DITTO Bellgamin's sentiment:

 

In your original list, the only one nobody chimed in on is Etrust. Let me confirm that too can be added too as on demand too.

That completes your list

 

I think Escan's free version may be an on demand scanner. Uses KAV's engine, I think I recall. Some people have reported good results with it and I believe there are some previous posts/threads about it here also. You might want to add that as another product to look into.