Best Virus Protection

[NJLawman]

My account with McAfee Virus Protection is almost expired. should I stay with them, or is Norton better? Or is there a different one? thanks.

[monkeythumpa]

Try AVG. I had macafee and found that AVG does just as good a job, for FREE!

[valder]

Go for *nix! ;)

Sorry, couldn't stop myself :)

[vkaryl]

Second vote for AVG. I started with free, and went on to the "paid-for" version (kind of like paying for WebmasterWorld....)

[encyclo]

From my experience, AVG does a good job, as does McAfee. The anti-virus part of Norton is solid, but the program itself, and especially the Internet Security suite, is not good at all: very resource-hungry and with poorly-implemented and invasive adblocking and other features.

[bill]

When my Norton subscription ran out last year I didn't renew. It was time to check out the other options. Norton is the IE of the AV world. They're bloated and the target of every malware author and scriptkiddy out there.

I now use the same AV software that the guys at Microsoft use: NOD32. It's so much faster and lighter than Norton you'd be amazed. I'm very happy so far.

[peter andreas]

Heard F secure is suppose to be very good (my brother says so anyway)

[rocknbil]

I am so glad to see this thread. YES GRISOFT AVG!

I have worked with Norton Utilities in various incarnations since Mac OS 5.0, and later when I delved into Windows systems, as early as Windows 3.0! I have repeatedly seen nothing but problems with Norton.

"I've used Norton for years and never had a problem." This is always the answer from most users because they don't want to mess with it, but if you have a problem the "protection" features in Norton prevent you from fixing anything directly from the OS. Norton worms its way down into your system, replacing vital system DLL's with Norton-specific ones and if anything goes wrong it's disasterous.

My latest bout involved a new IBM system that came with it pre-installed. Long story short, the simplest tasks were impossible and the support docs on Norton's site did work as they claimed. Uninstalling wouldn't complete, most Symantec registry entries were corrupted and nothing would restore. I formatted the HD and re-installed an SP2 slipstream OS, without Norton, and no problems since.

So I say again YES GRISOFT AVG! MY system admins told me about AVG and have been using it for years, and I've been using it for 8 mo's or so . . works GREAT!

[vkaryl]

rocknbil: actually, I've had various "encounters" with Norton stuff since Win3.0, as well. NEVER ONCE have I been a happy camper with Norton. McAfee was a quasi-okay replacement when it came along, but still a PITA.

AVG rocks. Long live grisoft!

[bcolflesh]

"Me too" post in support of AVG - does anyone use the paid version - can you give us a bit about your experience with it?

[timchuma]

I read on their site that Grisoft is stopping support for the free version of their AVG anti virus software.

At least I got to download it to my parents computer.

[kevinpate]

> Grisoft is stopping support for the free version

That's not how I read their site. Yes, that company is stopping support of version 6.0 (originally last year, now extended to Feb of this year) but well, the new 7.0 edition (free for home use) just came out in the last couple of months, and I don't see anything that suggests it will not continue to be supported.

AVG7 - spywareblaster3.2 - Spybot S&D1.3 &
Hijack This1.99 are my surfing buds

[TheDoctor]

I've used the paid version of AVG since I read about it on WebmasterWorld last summer. I've got it scheduled to run overnight, and - so far - it seems to have kept me virus-free.

It's a relief after the hassle I had with McAfee.

[Sunshyn]

I got McAfee with my last computer. The service and the problems that program caused was absolutely horrible! So I went back to Nortons - which I'd used for years and never had trouble with. However, in the past year, Norton's antivirus has broken in 5 different ways and even had similar problems on my partner's computer. Their lastest is not allowing me to even see the upgrade price. Apparently it wasn't going to let me upgrade at all without the very same time consuming (not even toll-free) phone calls my partner just went through in order to upgrade his. Yikes! It feels like the main antivirus companies are getting greedier while their quality is going way down.

Thanks to this thread, I just gave AVG a try. Unfortunately, I suddenly started having a great many problems with Eudora and related computer crashes. Earlier I downloaded the trial version of Zone Alarm's new antivirus instead. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

[edited for grammar]

[outrun]

Although I dont run virus protection because of registry monitors and file monitors. When Im installing a free antivirus that is light weight I always use AntiVir, Installed it on over 30 computers and no one has had a problem yet, only downer it has is that it doesnt have smart updates and downloads the entire definition file (1.9MB - 2.0MB) every time it updates but on fast internet connections it doesnt matter.

regards,
Mark