Can You Trust Free Antivirus Software?

AVG/Avast/Avira are all good. Symantec/Norton/McAfee are all overpriced system hogs IMO. If you get viruses/trojans/etc. more than once in a blue moon you're probably askin' for them.

 

Norton has really addressed the system hog issue this year. It's still a resource hog, but nothing like it has been in the past.

I haven't tried the All In One. Don't think I want too either...bad past experience.

Eset is really nice too

 

avast and avg are highly thought of on the 2 tech forums i frequent.
also a good firewall for free is zone alarm.
and for malware, malewarebytes anti malware programs is great and free.
for spyware, spybot search and destroy and/or adaware se.
these are all free.
today it is advisable to keep the anti virus program running in the background and always do a scan at least once a week. always keep them updated also.

 

AVG and CCLeaner keep things tuned in here.
Trend Micro was on this lap top when I bought it,the junk was removed and the system runs much better now.
I ditched the Norton,Mcaffe garbage back in the late 90's
and never looked back.They are the ones generating the majority of the "bad-stuff" found.

They wouldn't sell half the product if there wasn't a "need",waiting on the private sector hacks has never been good for business.

 

I used Norton for years. Always ended up with a virus. When the renewal was coming due, it would catch viruses. I found it to be wasteful. I removed it after using it for many long years.

 

IMO antivirus software is worse than the disease. I haven't ran antivirus for years, and have had little to no problems.

I do keep a version of Marlwarebytes on my computer (it does not run in the background), and only fires up when I tell it to. My computer isn't clogged by McAffee or Norton system resource greedy software.

 

I was very happy with AVAST for several years, then this:http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...-connection/88471-got-hijacked-at-snopes.html

I had left Norton after many years, because it was soooooo cumbersome and slowed my computer way down. But I will probably never use a free antivirus program again...

 

well on my windows PC and the windows partitoin of my mac book pro i use McAfee. i have another laptop with avast on it. it does not get used that much anymore. it is a little out dated.
but each antivirus program does things differantly. it all depends on how well they keep their diffenitions updated. whether they are free or paid for, it all comes down to how well they stay on top of the new viruses that are coming out every day.
no anti virus program is perfect. some do it better than others and some are a bit slower on staying on top.
another thing is the amount of resources the programs use to scan internet and emails and downloads.
Mcafees' site advisor is a great program that helps in keeping you out of trouble when surfing the net. if a site is hit on that is questionable, or could cause harm to your PC, then it will block going to the site and pop up a notification about the site is harmful. also they watch the googles searches, and if there is a link that is bad they will have a red mark by that link. a good link will have a green mark, and one that is unknown it will have a yellow mark.

but if you feel like you have been infected by either a virus, trojan, spyware, or even a bot, then using the MBAM and spybot will help you to keep your PC clean.

 

AVG is the best in my opinion, but I use the full version. I've used McAfee, Norton, & some others but they don't compare with the all-around protection that AVG provides. I became an authorized reseller of their products for this very reason. If you plan on upgrading to AVG Internet security, send me a PM. It costs you exactly the same only I will set it up for you as a value-added service for free.

On a side note:

You should also look into (free) open source software to enhance your security. FIREFOX is the most secure browser available, and it has many add-on's which will enhance your security even further. NO-SCRIPT is an add-on that blocks scripting from sites you visit. Often-times malicious sites will hide code in the script that automatically hijacks your computer the moment you visit the site. This add-on allows you to first determine if the site is legitimate, then you can unblock the scripts. ADD-BLOCK PLUS is also a good add-on to Firefox that blocks pop-up advertisements (which can also be malicious).

For email, I suggest THUNDERBIRD because it give you more options to customize your email and is more secure.