Urgent PC Virus Protection Advice Needed

[Dan Gould]

We can't - or I really, really don't want to - pay for Norton Anti-Virus renewal. What is my best alternative? Is free software like AVG good enough or do I really need to bite the bullet here?

For that matter, is Norton a resource hog and will the machine work better without it?

Time just ran out, Norton is shut off, and I am sitting here staring at the renewal page, so timely advice is greatly appreciated!

[Chuck Nessa]

Since CA isn't here anymore: Buy a Mac.

[JSngry]

I've heard that the newer versions of Norton have scaled back on the resource-hogging somewhat. Can't confirm that from experience, though.

AVG was the subject of a recent thread here about messing up iTunes. some say they've become bloated and not as good as they once were. Again, I can't confirm.

My adive - if you're out of time and have not been dissatisfied with Norton in the past, keep it going, ASAP, and begin the search for a possible replacement before it runs out next year. Surfing bareback these days is not even a half-assed good idea.

[Dan Gould]

Of course I could install AVG so I am not surfing bareback while I ponder the options.

[Uncle Skid]

Take a look at Comodo.

I've been using the (free) firewall/anti-virus product for at least a year now (it replaced both AVG and Zone Alarm), and it seems to be well regarded.

I haven't had any virus issues, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything -- all of my email is handled on my (Linux) laptop.

Also, the firewall feature can be somewhat over-zealous. I (initially) got tons of "warnings" about things that weren't really problems. But, after a little bit of regular use, it rarely complains anymore.

Good Luck!

[Shawn]

AVAST

http://www.avast.com/

[Dan Gould]

AVAST

http://www.avast.com/

DING DING DING

Guess it doesn't hurt to actually converse with your better half on such important matters as virus protection for the PC. She says they've been using AVAST in her office for the last year and her partner has been using it much longer.

[.:.impossible]

Dan, did you not read the Erin Andrews post?

Pap's did warn you.

[Dan Gould]

Dan, did you not read the Erin Andrews post?

Pap's did warn you.

Your link doesn't work; I am aware of malware being installed from sites offering the alleged Erin Andrews video; I don't think anything happened in the short time I had no virus protection but I did find the Erin Andrews video without causing any harm (on Rapidshare, no "video player update" required).

[Van Basten II]

I switched to Avast a few months ago, so far no complaints

[vajerzy]

We use Kaspersky- it's been pretty good so far.

[Patrick]

I switched to Avast a few months ago, so far no complaints

I've used avast for a few years now and have had no problems.

[.:.impossible]

Dan, did you not read the Erin Andrews post?

Pap's did warn you.

Your link doesn't work; I am aware of malware being installed from sites offering the alleged Erin Andrews video; I don't think anything happened in the short time I had no virus protection but I did find the Erin Andrews video without causing any harm (on Rapidshare, no "video player update" required).

Oh well. It was buried in a political thread. Glad you picked up on the humor! I hope your computer heals nicely.

[papsrus]

Dan, did you not read the Erin Andrews post?

Pap's did warn you.

Your link doesn't work; I am aware of malware being installed from sites offering the alleged Erin Andrews video; I don't think anything happened in the short time I had no virus protection but I did find the Erin Andrews video without causing any harm (on Rapidshare, no "video player update" required).

The comment was in the politics forum, which might tell you something about the state of affairs in the politics forum.

... but, I use a macbook and just go with whatever security updates they provide periodically. Have since I've had it -- going on five years or so. Never had any issues. But I don't install any apps, plugins, add-ons, viewers, media players, or whatever in order to view or listen to site-specific content. I avoid that stuff like the plague. Particularly when it comes to peeping on naked ESPN reporters.

[Van Basten II]

I've peeped in and it was well worth the risk

[Serioza]

Avast is another resource hog .

There are rumors that kaspersky labs write viruses to cure them later...

I recommend free version of ESET . reinstall it once a month and that's all.

Edited July 30, 2009 by Serioza

[Jim Alfredson]

Yeah, Avast is a resource hog. I tried it and went back to AVG, despite it's problems. I've been using AVG since 2000 and this recent iTunes problem is the only one I've ever really had.

The non-free version of AVG is a resource hog; I actually bought it about two years ago to scan my emails since I was using Outlook. It slowed down my computer immensely. Now that I route everything through gmail, there's no need so I got rid of it and installed the free version.

[Dan Gould]

How to tell when its a resource hog? For instance, when I had nothing open but Magic Jack and Yahoo IM, with Avast running in the background, I had CPU usage of like 2%.

Right now, I have 12 Firefox tabs open, a file download in progress, plus the other programs that run in the background, I am operating at 25% CPU usage.

Aside from significant slow downs in performance, how can I tell that Avast is hoarding resources, and how do I distinguish that from Firefox resource hogging. I mean, the real-time virus protection has to increase with a lot of tabbed browsing, right? But tabbed browsing also uses resources.

I should mention too that I recently added a gig of RAM and I am running at 1.5 gigs now. Everything is much faster.

[wesbed]

And update your HOSTS file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

[Free For All]

And update your HOSTS file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Wes! How the hell are ya? Still keeping our border safe? We miss you around here.

[Dan Gould]

And update your HOSTS file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Am I wrong or does this seem to be an IE thing and not something to worry about with Firefox?

[wesbed]

And update your HOSTS file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Wes! How the hell are ya? Still keeping our border safe? We miss you around here.

You miss me? Yeah, whatever.

[wesbed]

And update your HOSTS file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Am I wrong or does this seem to be an IE thing and not something to worry about with Firefox?

The HOSTS file affects the Windows system. It will affect IE and Firefox. It makes it so your computer will not and cannot go to 'bad' web sites. It keeps my computers free of viruses and spyware. Just something to consider.

[7/4]

And update your HOSTS file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Wes! How the hell are ya? Still keeping our border safe? We miss you around here.

You miss me? Yeah, whatever.

Of course we miss you. Sheesh!

[Free For All]

And update your HOSTS file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Wes! How the hell are ya? Still keeping our border safe? We miss you around here.

You miss me? Yeah, whatever.

Of course we miss you. Sheesh!

But we'll try to aim more carefully in the future.