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Reliable free anti virus

post #1 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:03pm
Thread Starter 
Any ideas for a good reliable free anti virus,firewall and spyware.

Im using xp firewall,should i stick with it.
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post #2 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:18pm
Get a commercial anti-virus program at least. There are no alternatives-virus detection is not something you want to be stingy on. As for the firewall, I haven't heard any bad things about Window's firewall so I guess you could stick with that. As for spyware detection, I recommend Adaware and Spybot-both are free.
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post #3 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:19pm
That's an Oxymoron statement.

Virus comes out daily, due to this, the cost of updating the definition files for all of these viruses cost tons of money.

Anyone who could release a free anti-virus software, would have to be insane or too much time on their hand.

mcafee tried that at start, then become a commercial software because of cost factor.
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post #4 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:22pm
If you really need a free AV software, than AVG is the best.

Automatic updates, 24/7 system scan and it's free.

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/

I have it running on my old K6 box and NOD32 on my gaming rig.

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post #5 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:22pm

Try this

Try out AVG it seems to work good for me!
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post #6 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:23pm
baker,

You can try avast antivirus (the link is below). It's free and pretty good. I can't remember if it was PC World or PC Mag that did an article and rated them very well. Also, try Zone Alarm. They have a free version of their firewall.

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Jrsy
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post #7 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:25pm
Hello,

Free antivirus for personal use only: AVG
Free spyware detection: Spybot
Free firewall: Well, if the firewall is running on the computer it is protecting, you are f****d anyway, so I guess Windows Firewall is as good as anything else.

@smilepak: Try out AVG before you pass judgement on it. Also, AVG is only free for personal, non-commercial use. The problem with McAfee was not that the antivirus development/testing/updating cost too much, it's that their users call their help service line for the smallest issues and that they advertise on national outlets. AVG's free users can only e-mail them, I believe.

Regards,

zakaluka2.
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post #8 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JrsyMan
baker,

You can try avast antivirus (the link is below). It's free and pretty good. I can't remember if it was PC World or PC Mag that did an article and rated them very well. Also, try Zone Alarm. They have a free version of their firewall.

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Jrsy
Forgot about that one, another good, free Antivirus package....
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post #9 of 53
3/11/05 at 1:35pm
All of them free...
Anti Virus : AVG

Firewall : Zone Alarm http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conten...ulist_download

Anti Spyware :
1)Ad aware
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-...bj=dl&tag=top5

2)MS Anti Spyware (Beta)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

3)Spybot S & D.
http://www.download.com/Spybot-Searc...ubj=dl&tag=but
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post #10 of 53
3/11/05 at 6:05pm
I don't know why but oddly enough I didn't care for Spy Bot. I ended up cracking out the coin and buying SpySweeper. It's great. I think there might even be a free verison, albiet with less features than the pay version...
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post #11 of 53
3/11/05 at 6:11pm
i bought spyhunter, but can't say as I'm overly impressed. I also have adaware running. Using avg and zonealarm as well. The router has a hardware firewall, or is that too just silly and incredibly easy to get past?

I personnally figure if someone has the know how they'll get in and it won't matter what I have. But for those less than knowledgable or determined people then what I have should suffice. At least that's what I tell myself.

Tellerve
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post #12 of 53
3/11/05 at 6:22pm
I am also using Avast 4 Home. It is free, updates regulary and scans very reliable.
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post #13 of 53
3/11/05 at 6:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bakerm
Im using xp firewall,should i stick with it.
It is good but the problem w/ it is that it doesn't control outgoing traffic, so if u end up with adware/spyware/trojan horse that starts to phone home or replicate and email itself to all entries in your addressbook, the firewall won't do any good.
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post #14 of 53
3/11/05 at 8:02pm
you can't have a quality virus scanner for free, AVG is free as well as http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ but i would recommend NOD32
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post #15 of 53
3/11/05 at 9:57pm
I use AVG for antivirus, ZoneAlarm Free for Firewall, Spybot S&D for the occasional spyware scan, and use Firefox for a browser. AVG Updates several times a week and I'm happy with my setup. Used to use Norton SystemWorks but wasn't happy with the newer versions.

I really liked TrendMicro's PC-Cillin (They have a free demo), but I wanted a completely free antivirus. If I had to pay, I'd get PC-Cillin
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post #16 of 53
3/11/05 at 10:10pm
Avast is your best choice. I used to swear by AVG until I found a couple of embedded trojans it let slip through. Avast free edition has been bullet proof.
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post #17 of 53
3/11/05 at 10:45pm
i used AVG till i converted 99% of my computer use to linux.....great little software
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post #18 of 53
3/11/05 at 11:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by urchin
Get a commercial anti-virus program at least. There are no alternatives-virus detection is not something you want to be stingy on. As for the firewall, I haven't heard any bad things about Window's firewall so I guess you could stick with that. As for spyware detection, I recommend Adaware and Spybot-both are free.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smilepak
That's an Oxymoron statement.

Virus comes out daily, due to this, the cost of updating the definition files for all of these viruses cost tons of money.

Anyone who could release a free anti-virus software, would have to be insane or too much time on their hand.

mcafee tried that at start, then become a commercial software because of cost factor.
No alternatives? Insane to release free anti-virus?

Use AVG or Avast. They are both great and work just as well as any other virus protection for home use.
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post #19 of 53
3/11/05 at 11:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunder_PC
Avast is your best choice. I used to swear by AVG until I found a couple of embedded trojans it let slip through. Avast free edition has been bullet proof.

100% agree here. Well put.
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post #20 of 53
3/12/05 at 12:18am
i dunno if you want to be really safe.. don't run as an administrator account or open attatchments from strangers. Stop using ie, stop using outlookk or outlook express , instead getting thunderbird and firefox, turn off ntlm, turn on efs,

run ewido (http://www.ewido.net/en/) for free everyonce in a while, stop using kazaa and the like - don't port forward, disable remote registry, messenger, and a few other services you can find out about at theeldergeek.com

you can also disable the autostart of the avg control center and still have full funtionality with half the system overhead.

run adaware and microsoft(giant) antispyware occasionally - if you stop using i.e. and outlook/oe none of them need to run in real time really.

the most important thing

STOP RUNNING AS ADMINISTRATOR.

fwiw - don't run any antivirus and antispyware - it's been like this since i got my pc. - i ran both a fe days ago and found nothing.. just use the above steps and uhmm

STOP RUNNING AS ADMINISTRATOR.
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