can you recommend a free anti virus

[Abby]

I have been using CA antivirus for about 7 years now. it started out free then went to ten bucks then twenty now it's up to thirty a year. Im thinking of changing to sometehing either free or less than 30 a year. I do know I dont want any type of Norton though. so what is AVG free version? does anyone use it & is it pretty good? thanks in advance

[Le Boule]

I used EZ AV/CA AV from 2001- 2006. I've since used all three of the "A" freebies.

Antivir has the best AV comparative ratings and is recommended by many "gooroos" but ran a "little buggy" on my laptop (computer was sluggish and slow to bootup and shutdown) and it had problems updating a couple of times.

AVG ran quite good but it does not fare too well on the AV comparative tests. It would autoupdate once per day at bootup and caused no interference with the computer.

Avast does okay on the AV comparative tests and runs good on my XP laptop, my XP desktop and my daughter's Vista laptop.

Avast reminds of the old EZ AV program...install it, configure it, set to autoupdate (I set it to check every two to four hours), check it occasionally to see that it's updating, and forget it. Avast notifies you when you need a program update.

You might be pleased however with any of the three. If price is not a factor then NOD32 seems well respected in the AV field.

[Broni]

AVG is strongly recommended...

[Abby]

ok thanks, Im still evaluating.. I have until feb 8th til I have to renew, should I decide on AVG, I guess I should somehow disable CA first?

[Broni]

Yes. Uninstall it. You can't be running two AVs at the same time.

[HAN]

I tried all the freebies too and I agree with Le Boule's findings.

AntiVir has excellent detection but it seems to have more "issues" than the other two. And it's my opinion that users running AVG have more Hijack This! logs than the other two AV's combined (which is NOT good!)

I currently run paid NOD32. But if I went free, it would be avast!

[SpywareDr]

1. Alwil's avast! Home Edition
   http://avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
   
   
2. AntiVir's AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic
   http://www.free-av.com/index.htm
   
   
3. Grisoft's AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
   http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti.../lng/us/tpl/v5

[Le Boule]

Antivirus and AntiSpyware Polls from another forum you might enjoying reviewing - interesting reading. Opinions are as diverse and yet similar to those expressed on Virtual Doctor (and other forums) during varied discussions.


http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...1#poll17729406

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...1#poll17949496

[Abby]

ok I removed CA in add/remove prgrams and d/l Avast 4.7. got it registered & updated. thanks for your opinions. we'll see how this works out
thanks