PCTools AV is also good and Free. I would not worry to much about Virus, its spyware protection you need there are also many spyware tools out there the one we use and install is PCTools Spyware doctor
If anyone has serious problems deleting some difficult spyware (e.g. Virtumonde type - the ones that pretend to be an anti-spyware, keep popping-up windows if virus threat and redirect you to their page even after pressing CANCEL 20x) or rootkits, I recommend using ComboFix. It runs for about 10minutes and deletes the worst spyware.
It helped me and my mates a couple of times.
I just tried Avast by my PC went belly up. Had to uninstall it in safe mode.
However, i?m going to do a HD format and OS reinstall soon, and was thinking to try install it to a virgin XP.
Now to the question: Is it really free for unlimited time then? It seemed to be a 60 day trial only!
Could anyone recommend a good (free) firewall too? I have been using Comodo and is quite happy with it. But i really hate that there doesn?t seem to be an easy way to change allow/block status for an application once it asked you about it the first time!
I use Linux to avoid all of this stuff. The viruses everyone needs protecting against are invariably contracted from the good old Internet.
My suggestion to everyone is to get a cheapish PC(or use/make space on the same one as your windows install) and install Fedora Linux on it and use that for your web surfing - you can go clicking around like mad without too much fear of wrecking your install. Makes Interneting less frightening - you know - those "poker site" and "scan your pc" pops ups and redirections - they invariably end up in spyware etc on Windows....but not on Linux.h
"I should use simulator loosely 'cos I don't think it's quite like this on the beach with helicopters and fires and the jumping beach buggy" - paulisthebest3uk 2020.
I use Linux to avoid all of this stuff. The viruses everyone needs protecting against are invariably contracted from the good old Internet.
My suggestion to everyone is to get a cheapish PC(or use/make space on the same one as your windows install) and install Fedora Linux on it and use that for your web surfing - you can go clicking around like mad without too much fear of wrecking your install. Makes Interneting less frightening - you know - those "poker site" and "scan your pc" pops ups and redirections - they invariably end up in spyware etc on Windows....but not on Linux.h
It's funny you should say that as i recently had to reinstall a program on my PC (i forget what it was now!) and after it had finished it decided to scan my PC to 'optimise the performance'. I exited the program to stop this from hapenning. God knows what i could have ended up having on my hard drive.
I did an anti virus scan last week and found 2 trojan horse viruses that had crept in through some films i downloaded from Utorrent. I'm now more careful about what i download (from anywhere).
Could anyone recommend a good (free) firewall too? I have been using Comodo and is quite happy with it. But i really hate that there doesn?t seem to be an easy way to change allow/block status for an application once it asked you about it the first time!
There's bound to be a way to bring up the list of blocked apps.
However I used to use ZoneAlarm (free) and never had any bother.
Now my router has a firewall built in so I have reverted to Windows firewall on the PC itself.
Comments
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Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
http://free.avg.com/
It's relatively high impact as virus scanners go but still has enough security holes not to be considered foolproof.
Have a read here for some less than glowing reviews:
http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-security-and-firewall/avg-antivirus-8/4852-3667_7-32887573.html
I think those posts and links give you some idea whats wrong with avg.
Mind you, I consider Flash malware anyway. Chews resources and bandwidth. :)
It's difficult to pick AV software, they come in and out of vogue so quickly.
It helped me and my mates a couple of times.
However, i?m going to do a HD format and OS reinstall soon, and was thinking to try install it to a virgin XP.
Now to the question: Is it really free for unlimited time then? It seemed to be a 60 day trial only!
Could anyone recommend a good (free) firewall too? I have been using Comodo and is quite happy with it. But i really hate that there doesn?t seem to be an easy way to change allow/block status for an application once it asked you about it the first time!
My suggestion to everyone is to get a cheapish PC(or use/make space on the same one as your windows install) and install Fedora Linux on it and use that for your web surfing - you can go clicking around like mad without too much fear of wrecking your install. Makes Interneting less frightening - you know - those "poker site" and "scan your pc" pops ups and redirections - they invariably end up in spyware etc on Windows....but not on Linux.h
It's funny you should say that as i recently had to reinstall a program on my PC (i forget what it was now!) and after it had finished it decided to scan my PC to 'optimise the performance'. I exited the program to stop this from hapenning. God knows what i could have ended up having on my hard drive.
I did an anti virus scan last week and found 2 trojan horse viruses that had crept in through some films i downloaded from Utorrent. I'm now more careful about what i download (from anywhere).
There's bound to be a way to bring up the list of blocked apps.
However I used to use ZoneAlarm (free) and never had any bother.
Now my router has a firewall built in so I have reverted to Windows firewall on the PC itself.
Power on to porn approx 15 secs :D