SillyDog701

[FrankoSport]

Greetings ....

Currently I have two protection products running simultaneously on my laptop, McAfee Anti-Virus and Stopzilla Anti-Spyware (which may also perform anti-virus functions).

I am very seriously considering disgarding both, and going to something entirely new that will cover viruses, worms, trojans and spyware all at one go. I'm leaning heavily towards AVG. I am aware that I have the option of getting it free, or purchasing a more sophisticated version (currently offered at about $44 in USA currency). I am also aware that I must first download the AVG product, turn off/disable the other two and then install AVG and have it designated as my main anti-virus, anti-spyware service.

That's my current plan. Tips and advice are welcome. If there is a recommendation for something that may be better than AVG, I'll entertain it, but only if the paid version's US dollar cost is no more than $60, my personal absolute spending limit.

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.19) Gecko/2010031422 Firefox/3.0.19 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[iJohnE]

I recommend either NOD32 or avast!. They're the best.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100423 Ubuntu/10.04 (lucid) Firefox/3.6.3

[Antony]

I don't use Windows often to be honest, but in my more active Windows virtual machine (which I use for connecting to the web) under Parallels Desktop for Mac, I use the well known AVG-Free and the Microsoft Security Essential.

On the Windows virtual machines which I don't use for connecting online, I don't bother with any anti-virus at all. (Purely for some stupid applications that do not offer Mac version.)

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.3

[FrankoSport]

Greetings ....

I've switched from McAfee to Avast (Free Version) for anti-virus. Still using STOPZILLA for anti-spyware (until further notice).

Already Avast has detected and blocked a trojan infection (HTML: IFrame-LL) from the web-site of my local Cable-TV provider. Wow-Wee.

And something else - for about five months I've had numerous "Unresponsive Script" errors while browsing in Firefox. In the last 16 hours since switching from McAfee to Avast - NONE! (so far).

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.3

[iJohnE]

avast! is a great product. When I get some money I plan on upgrading to the professional version, just because I like it that much.

For spyware I usually use AdAware.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.3

[richard mitnick]

I use Microsoft Security Essentials, and the Microsoft Windows Firewall. That's it, on five machines.

>>RSM

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.3 ImageShackToolbar/5.2.4

[James]

Norton Internet Security Suite 2010.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.4) Gecko/20100611 Firefox/3.6.4

[iJohnE]

Gasp! Norton! I've never like Norton, mainly because I have never had good luck with their products.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US) AppleWebKit/533.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) Iron/5.0.380.0 Chrome/5.0.380.0 Safari/533.4

[James]

I completely understand, John. And in the past I would have agreed with you. But Norton has made an incredible adjustment and is currently ranked ahead of all other anti-virus suites including Kaspersky by most anti-virus testing groups. Check out PC World for just one article on the subject.

All the best.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.4) Gecko/20100611 Firefox/3.6.4

[iJohnE]

My main issue was always that it took over my computer. I was never unable to completely uninstall it.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.4) Gecko/20100611 Firefox/3.6.4

[Mandrake]

Microsoft Security Essentials is one of the best AV tools on the market and is 100% free. Windows Defender is also great, and totally free. I'll never, never, never understand why people pay for AV software in the home environment when MS puts out free utilities that are unobtrusive, highly effective and yet low on resource usage.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.3 ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[iJohnE]

I'll never, never, never understand why people pay for AV software in the home environment when MS puts out free utilities that are unobtrusive, highly effective and yet low on resource usage.

That makes two of us.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.4) Gecko/20100611 Firefox/3.6.4

[Antony]

I'll never, never, never understand why people pay for AV software in the home environment when MS puts out free utilities that are unobtrusive, highly effective and yet low on resource usage.

I can guess some reasons for that.
1) Microsoft was not early to the anti-virus market, Windows users have been educated (well) the importance of having anti-virus software installed.
2) Anti-virus companies have been doing a great job making people feel that they must have their products installed on Windows.
3) Blame the good old (hard-to-change) habit of getting Anti-Virus software installed.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.4) Gecko/20100611 Firefox/3.6.4

[richard mitnick]

MSE just went to 2.X, so they must be happy, or they would just leave it alone and just update definitions.

>>RSM

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101203 Firefox/3.6.13 ImageShackToolbar/5.2.4 ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0C)

[Mandrake]

MSE just went to 2.X, so they must be happy, or they would just leave it alone and just update definitions.

>>RSM

Good stuff. New version can be found here. Free download for anyone with WinXP or higher.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:2.0b8) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0b8