A Good Free Anti Virus?

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axgrinder73

New Member
Guys and Gals,

I don't want to open a can of worms or a debate, but I am looking for a good free anti virus (one I can run on Windows XP and Server 2003).

I would perfer something that doesn't use a ton of resources. I am keen to Linux products but want something that will prevent infections not just a scanner.

Let me know your opinions (please don't bash other peoples opinions).

Thanks,

Rob
 
P

PC eye

banned
AVG, Avast, Win AntiVIR, and a few others are free versions. AVG 7.5 is Grisoft's free for home use antivirus program. AVG Pro is a retail product generally for corporate use. You can see the other free programs as well as AVG that are avilable as well as http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5#avg-anti-spyware-free

As you iwll see there Grisoft also offers a free version for Linux as well as Windows. Plus they have the antiroot kit along with antimalware programs. AVG isn't instrusive like Norton and offers far better protection then many like McAFee in particular. I've used this program for several years now with a good report. The 7.5 version also runs quite well on Vista as well as XP.

This is one program that sees regular updates and notifications when the next build is available. Here I run more then just AVG however. Ad-Aware 2007 and Spyware Terminator are other freewares effective at removing browser hijackers, adwares, spywares as well as Spyware Terminator including a mild firewall that alerts you immediately to any changes in the software environment.

Ad-Aware 2007 by Lavasoft is available at http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php

Spyware Terminator has also worked quite well here for keeping the system clean and often finds more data miners then Ad-Aware. http://www.spywareterminator.com/
 
P

PC eye

banned
Symantec is the one that makes the Norton software. Usually a corporate version is the top of the line for each company. The main complaint is not about that on servers and mainframes but home user gaming machines as far as being a resource hog. Grisoft has it's own AVG professional edition as well as other companies have theirs.
 
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axgrinder73

New Member
I was running Norton but didn't like how much resources it needed to run. A couple of my nodes are older so, this could be an issue.

I installed AVG a couple of days ago and so far so good. Although I have yet to see if it will let me install it on my server.

I was using Antivir but it wouldn't let me put it onto my server (because it was the free version). Another thing I didn't like about the Antivir was that I would get a pop-up about once a day wanting me to upgrade to a purchased version.
 
patrickv

patrickv

Active Member
i have installed Norton 2007 on a few pc's down here, Core2duo @ 2ghz with 1gb ddr2 ram, and i see no hogs. a full complete scan on a 250GB drive took only like 30-35 minutes.
I like norton but myself i don't use it, i simply install it on other Pc's.
As for good AV i'd say Avira or AVG
 
P

PC eye

banned
Victor_ffx said:
Hehe, I'm a bit out-numbered here... I use Avast :/
Can someone tell me the cons of using Avast?
Click to expand...

I ran Avast briefly here and ended up dumping it fast. The version at the time was geared for flagging web sites while seemingly lacking the level of active protection I was looking for.

With AVG totally disabled in the msconfig it sprang to life out of nowhere to flag a trojan being copied to the drive instantly upon reaching a new site during a web search. It has an effective email scanner as well. The best actual protection is seen when using multiple programs for the various types of bugs floating out there.
 
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