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free antivirus

wilsonsammwilsonsamm
edited May 2009 in Chit chat
Does Windows XP have a good antivirus software that's free?
Can I have a recommandation for one?

I am dabbling with XP on one of my computers see...
Post edited by wilsonsamm on

Comments

  • beanzbeanz
    edited May 2009
    Avast

    http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited May 2009
    avast
    grisoft avg
    comodo i think do one (they do a great firewall)
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • VincentACVincentAC
    edited May 2009
    I'll say avast aswell.

    I tried Comodo's firewall. didn't like it. Went back to Sygate's Personal Firewall that's been out of development for a few years now, but has done a better job.
    Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
    I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
    --Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)

    https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
  • BruceNortonBruceNorton
    edited May 2009
    AVG is good but you need to disable the linkscanner as it's a pain in the arse

    Spybot search and destroy and malware bytes antimalware are also good

    Or you could try ClamWin antivirus, there even is a portable version which you can run from a USB Stick.
  • wilsonsammwilsonsamm
    edited May 2009
    Thanks everyone for suggestions
    mel the bell wrote: »
    (...firewall)

    do I need one of these? Is the computer at risk or anything without it?
    why do windows computers frrrighten me so much :-(
  • beanzbeanz
    edited May 2009
    wilsonsamm wrote: »
    do I need one of these? Is the computer at risk or anything without it?
    why do windows computers frrrighten me so much :-(

    Windows has one built in so 'no' you don't. After market ones might be a little more secure though that is debatable...I just use windows one and it's on a router too which is another line of protection.

    Never had any bother/virus's in 15+ yrs of downloading dodgy stuff that was not intercepted.

    I used to use Zonealarm but it went crap.
  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited May 2009
    wilsonsamm wrote: »
    Thanks everyone for suggestions



    do I need one of these? Is the computer at risk or anything without it?
    why do windows computers frrrighten me so much :-(
    indeed, i say USE ONE, i wouldnt rely on anything windows gives you tbh, so full of holes
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • wilsonsammwilsonsamm
    edited May 2009
    beanz wrote: »
    Windows has one built in so 'no' you don't.
    That's fine, I will just use the one in windows. It's only a temporary fix for my girlfriend whose vista computer is f**ked atm. when she gets it mended or replaced I take it back and stick gentoo linux back on :-)
    <edit>And is that little icon in the systray meant to do anything? the little yellow shield with the exclamation mark? It is just sitting there downloading stuff taking ages, but doesn't respond to clicks or anything </edit>
    beanz wrote: »
    it's on a router too which is another line of protection.
    A stock router that is provided by your ISP?

    we have one in our house, but I haven't ever configured it to be safe, I was just given a PSK and it somehow serves my computer with DHCP and gets it online. This computer then serves as a router for several other machines in my bedroom. Can anybody hack into my bedroom network now and read my data or write to it?
  • murtcepsmurtceps
    edited May 2009
    BruceNorton wrote: »
    AVG is good but you need to disable the linkscanner as it's a pain in the arse

    Good Call.

    I've just disabled it and it's made a big difference,
  • VampyreVampyre
    edited May 2009
    beanz wrote: »
    I used to use Zonealarm but it went crap.

    After years of using the built-in XP one I succumbed to using this and I'm 50/50 with it ATM. Glad I'm protected but I can't find a way of getting it to allow torrent traffic through as it blocks every IP. I only download the odd TV proggy so it's not too much hassle to turn it off for the hour or two but it's annoying I just can't tell it to let everything through and have PeerGuardian block unwanted IP addresses.

    As for free AV, I used to use AVG Free and don't have a bad word to say about it. I switched to Avira just because I fancied trying something different and that's as good, if not better as it's slightly less intrusive and doesn't seem to hang on updates as AVG did rarely.
    ZXSR - Speccy Mags Reviews
  • VincentACVincentAC
    edited May 2009
    wilsonsamm wrote: »
    <edit>And is that little icon in the systray meant to do anything? the little yellow shield with the exclamation mark? It is just sitting there downloading stuff taking ages, but doesn't respond to clicks or anything </edit>
    That's the automatic updates. You can turn it off by going to the control panel -> security center. Click on automatic updates at the bottom, select "turn off automatic updates". Click Apply then OK.

    While you're in the security center, click on the "change the way security center alerts me" and untick the automatic updates box.

    You won't get nagged about "necessary" updates and your bandwidth and processor won't get clogged down searching for and downloading the updates (it compares the versions of files you have compared to the ones in the updates and takes ages while doing it).
    Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
    I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
    --Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)

    https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
  • AndyCAndyC
    edited May 2009
    VincentAC wrote: »
    You won't get nagged about "necessary" updates and your bandwidth and processor won't get clogged down searching for and downloading the updates (it compares the versions of files you have compared to the ones in the updates and takes ages while doing it).

    It takes ages specifically because it isn't hogging your CPU or bandwidth. Just leave it on and let it do it's thing, in the long run that's a much safer and reliable option.
  • VincentACVincentAC
    edited May 2009
    AndyC wrote: »
    It takes ages specifically because it isn't hogging your CPU or bandwidth. Just leave it on and let it do it's thing, in the long run that's a much safer and reliable option.
    Funny, everytime I do an update (either automatically or manually) svchost continually goes to about 90% cpu usage. That *only* happens during the updates.

    So I turned off the automatic updates and bingo, no 90% cpu svchost usage until I go to the update center manually.

    And that's happened on about 7 different PCs running XP in the past 5 years. All completely different set ups and owned by different people.
    Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
    I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
    --Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)

    https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
  • wilsonsammwilsonsamm
    edited May 2009
    I eventually gave up on Win XP because it noticed that it was counterfeited. for some reason this seemed to slow down my laptop to a ludicrous speed.
    Does anyone know if TinyXP or LastXP, these releases by hackers, have this problem?
  • AndyCAndyC
    edited May 2009
    VincentAC wrote: »
    Funny, everytime I do an update (either automatically or manually) svchost continually goes to about 90% cpu usage. That *only* happens during the updates.

    When it's actually installing it maybe, which is why you set the install schedule to some time when you aren't using your computer (like 3am, the default). Or use the "Shutdown and install updates" option. The point is that it doesn't impact your machine while just downloading the updates, which is likely to be when you are using it.
  • VincentACVincentAC
    edited May 2009
    AndyC wrote: »
    When it's actually installing it maybe,
    Nope, I've used all three "on" settings with the same results. Ok, only downloading the updates doesn't impact quite as much, but svchost still goes to 90% while finding the updates. And that can take up to ten minutes. And no it's not because the machines were slow. And those 10 minutes are usually when I'm busy converting avis, working in photoshop or playing half life. Times when you really don't want something else using the cpu.
    which is why you set the install schedule to some time when you aren't using your computer (like 3am, the default).
    Choosing when to download/install the updates isn't that great either because my PC use can be sporadic at best. Most of the time they happen when I first switch on the PC. The PC powering up from a cold boot to immediately try and install all the updates is not a good combination ;-)
    The point is that it doesn't impact your machine while just downloading the updates, which is likely to be when you are using it.
    Maybe not while downloading, but as I said before when it's searching for the updates it does.

    I prefer to choose which updates I install aswell. They seem to think I use Outlook and they want to install the updates for that. The thing is, I've always removed Outlook from the installation choices or the remove progs in the CP. Yet it still thinks I need all the updates for it?

    It also thinks I need the updates for Office. Which I did have installed at one point, but uninstalled it and replaced it with OO instead. Yet it still thinks I need all the updates for Excel/Word/Access.

    Don't get me wrong, the update services are great, but the impact and the uselessness of the updates included in the "automatic" part are just too annoying to be useful for me.

    --edit--
    Sorry for hijacking the thread wilsonsamm :-)
    Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
    I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
    --Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)

    https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
  • TriadDevelopmentsTriadDevelopments
    edited May 2009
    beanz wrote: »
    Windows has one built in so 'no' you don't.

    That made me laugh.

    The FW in XP is useless once something has been installed onto your system as it doesn't block outgoing connections, whereas 3rd party FWs block outbound connections.
    beanz wrote: »
    Avast

    http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

    Best option for AV software. Far less false positives and better detection than AVG.
  • AndyCAndyC
    edited May 2009
    TriadDevelopments wrote: »
    That made me laugh.

    The FW in XP is useless once something has been installed onto your system as it doesn't block outgoing connections, whereas 3rd party FWs block outbound connections.

    Once something has been installed on your system, it's already game over. If you have permission to allow something through the firewall, then code running as you also has permission to allow something through the firewall. If you allow any app to talk through the firewall, then any code running on the machine can inject a thread into that process and talk through the firewall.

    "Outgoing" firewalls are a mythical safety blanket, they don't offer any real security whatsoever.
  • psj3809psj3809
    edited May 2009
    Always assumed the Windows firewall was crap.

    Sure there are some free decent ones but i dont know, when it comes to protection on my PC for once i'm going with something which costs, had McAfee for the last 8 years and for me its been fine and has done the job.

    To me its like getting airbags for a car, do you go for the dirt cheap crappy ones or the proper ones which do the job.

    In these days of my computer being on near 24/7, downloading tons of dodgy stuff (software/films) from websites i want to go with a 'proper' antivirus/firewall. I might skimp getting cheap tools for other stuff but when it comes to protection i always go 'real' !
  • rich_chandlerrich_chandler
    edited May 2009
    Funny how this same question comes up every 3-6 months or so...
    I wanna tell you a story 'bout a woman I know...
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