Anti-Virus Programmes.

[J.R.]

I'm VERY annoyed !

For the last couple of years Jan and I have been using the AVG 7.5 anti-virus programme which was a totally free, no-strings, download.

Today I got the message that I could 'up-date' the programme 7.5 to 8.01.

I dutifully downloaded the programmes, some 45 mb to my desktop, then clicked to install.

I was told I had to completely un-install 7.5 before I could do so. I DID.

8.01 went down like a dream. Much up-graded from the old one.

After re-booting, all went well, THEN I discovered that 8.01 was only on a 30 day free trial and I would have to spend the best part of 40 quid to keep it after that. WHAT A CON !

Does anyone know of any good reliable free download anti-virus programmes ?

[MKM]

There is a free version of AVG 8.01, but it's not easy to find. Try here: http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

It has some extra features (compared with AVG 7.xx) that I'm not sure about - it does some sort of checking of web pages in search results. Can anyone recommend a lighter-weight, less intrusive virus checker? In the past I've had problems with AVG corrupting outgoing emails, so I'm suspicious of AVG.

[Laura M]

Try downloading antivir it's fairly unobtrusive aside from every time it updates it decides to give you a full page advert about their professional version, this though is a small price to pay as its reliable service as recomended by the Times technology bit. http://www.free-av.com/

[Jo]

I've never (touch wood) had any trouble with AVG, but, like Mary, I found the free version of 8.01 was rather well hidden. It was bad enough when I upgraded my own, but when I did my mother's a couple of weeks later, I actually had to google for it because I couldn't find it on the Grisoft website otherwise. I have upgraded both successfully - can't remember exactly when but if it was in the last month I hope I'm not going to be stung for payment - it didn't say anything about being a time-limited free trial.

The only other free one I know about is Avast, but I don't know anything else about it I'm afraid.

[sejintenej]

I also am very annoyed with AVG.
Having AVG in my UK PC I downloaded it for this one only to be told that it cannot be used it with the Windows XP Professional operating system

I used to use a German AV program put out by Netscape but it is no longer being supported. They put you through to one of the well known names (I conveniently forget which) but that company requires that you have a US address and phone number before you are allowed to download it.

There used to be an excellent Icelandic AV program but it seems to have disappeared.

Now I've picked up two bugs!!!

[J.R.]

Trying Avast at the moment. Recommended by our local friendly computer-doc !

Seems OK, but it does seem to slow down every programme !

[kerrensimmonds]

My new laptop (December) from the local computer repair shop came with Avast already loaded, and it works fine. I just have to ignore the male american voice which (helpfully) tells me 'Virus Database Updated' every time it does so. Doesn't seem to slow anything up.

I hardly ever use my PC now but it has an (expired) Norton programme which I am going to remove (Julian kindly gave us the tool for that on this Forum, some months ago) and I was going to load AVG instead. So thanks for the warnings. Also I took Norton off and put AVG on the computer of a friend when she upgraded to Broadband a couple of months ago. She has been complaining about how slow everything is now (she's blaming Broadband....??) so I am going over tomorrow to see what I can do to help. So this discussion thread is very timely and very helpful!

[Ajarn Philip]

By coincidence, a similar thread has started on the local forum I visit from time to time (local as in Hua Hin, Thailand). This is the opening post:

Always been a fan of AVG but since they forced everyone to upgrade to version 8 I haven't been. 7.5 was fine but now this new (albeit still free) version has a memory footprint of about 54Mb and runs three processes instead of the previous one. Its a little clunky and wants to go online every 5 minutes.

I've used Norton/Symantec AV before but also found that to be full of bloat-ware and constantly connecting chewing what little bandwidth I have. Mcafee is simply useless so I wont go there.

Any one tried Kaspersky, NOD32, Avast, Trend Micro or Sophos? I don't want a full Internet Security kit - just a no frills AV program that catches bugs, doesnt use 100Megs of RAM and won't eat my bandwidth.

What do you use and why?

This is all gobbledygook to me, so I can't offer any advice, but I couldn't help noticing that he got it free.

[Ajarn Philip]

And of course, now I've read the rest of the thread...

[sejintenej]

quoting a post on another site

Any one tried Kaspersky, NOD32, Avast, Trend Micro or Sophos? I don't want a full Internet Security kit - just a no frills AV program that catches bugs, doesnt use 100Megs of RAM and won't eat my bandwidth.

Kaspersky is the badged program (?German) which I used to get but no longer. Seemed fine to me - never knew it was running until one day it announced that it had stopped a virus. Note that it didn't stop trojans - I use other programs for that

[Tim_MaA_MidB]

I have used Avast on my XP laptop for a while, but it is not compatable with Vista. I use AVG on Vista machine at work.

[kerrensimmonds]

Avast v AVG?
I think that both are on to a scam.
My friend (an OB who I will not name for fear of embarrassing them...) had the AVG message that the 'free' subscription (which I had set up) was about to expire - so before knowing it, innocently and disingenuously, they had signed up AND PAID for AVG version 8. AVG sent an e mail with the License code - but my friend deleted the e mail, believing that they were already upgraded and that I had misled them in signing up for a 'free' antivirus protection. Then AVG sent my friend a disc. Fortunately they still had it when I was there last week - and since they had paid for it (£37 or £47?) I decided that we might as well use it. But when, in a year's time, my friend gets another message telling them that time is running out, I HOPE that they will ignore it.
Something similar has happened to me with Avast. Avast was pre-loaded on my new laptop when I bought it in December last year, and in the last week I keep getting messages saying that my free subscription is about to expire and wouldn't I like to upgrade to the Professional Version? I have ignored and deleted those messages. But then I got to the point where I needed a License code to continue - and I couldn't find it. So I signed up again with Avast, as if I was a new customer. Fingers crossed that it accepts me! And no, I have not paid a penny to continue...........

[J.R.]

We've been using 'Avast' for a couple of weeks now, with no problems. Our eldest daughter has just had to call in our local friendly computer Doctor. He says that Avast is probably the best freebie going, so we'll wait and see.

Have you noticed how cheaply you can by Norton Anti-Virus these day ? I know so many people that have had trouble with Norton !

[geoff_janes]

Erm, Get a mac?

[michael scuffil]

I used to use TrendMicro but for reasons which escape me, I don't any more. I currently use BitDefender which has a free version (though I use a pay version -- I rely totally on my computer for work and can't afford to take any chances). The BitDefender people are more accessible if anything goes wrong -- a phone number and a human at the other end.

While we're on software, here's an invitation to join the anti-Acrobat brigade and use Foxit Reader as your pdf reader.