Most of my techie buddies swear by AVG by Grisoft, The home version is free.

Yes Ive heard of AVG Just wasn't sure about it, one can never be too careful when choosing computer protection, hence the post for advice...lol.

P.S. is the free version really that good or would it be better if I opted for the paid version?

I have used Norton (now Symantec) AV since 1991, and swore by it for years!  Not any longer.  It is a piece of buggy bloatware!

I use McAfee now, and love it (but then I do get it free).  I have heard good things about AVG and Kaspersky.  Not as great about Trend Micro (but it does work).

My recommendation - Chck with your ISP first.  Many are giving away AV products or giving great discounts.  If they are not, and money is an issue, try AVG.  If you have a few bucks, try McAfee.

As I said I already have McAfee installed because I get it for free from comcast but I'm annoyed with it as it keeps quarantining files that don't need to be and even though I've restored them, with the next scan they get quarantined again.

I have tried the free version. My company also uses the paid version. There is not much difference. It's more a matter of being able to set it to run at certain times, update, etc.

I currently use Avast. It seems a lot of people these days are using Avast or AVG. Both have free versions and both are rated pretty high.


A friend of mine has the same deal. She just got hit with a really nasty Trojan and has had to shut everything down. The free version she has of McAfee doesn't scan emails or P2P apps. I think her daughter was downloading crap off of Limewire.

I can't speak for AVG, but the free version of Avast works with private messengers, email, P2P, real time..it can do a full scan in boot. For a free app, it covers a lot and hasn't let me down yet.

The two AV programs which are favorites with the 'tech' community are NOD32 and Kaspersky. If you look at this poll on Neowin you will see that NOD takes nearly 50 per cent of the vote WWW Link

Hmm that's one I had never even heard of but thanks for pointing that poll out to me Leo definitely pointed me to some Much needed overview info.

McAfee and Norton are garbage IMHO. My girlfriend had McAfee and got a virus from a website she was redirected to while surfing the net. McAfee never picked it up and she had to format her hdd and reinstall everything.

I currently use AVG Internet Security (not free but worth the price). It has everything (literally). Avast and AVG both have great freeware versions, and NOD32 and Kaspersky are two excellent programs as well.

There are some great anti-virus/spyware proggies out there. Just do a little research to compare them and see which one is right for you.

killajosh got it right, recommendations are nice but everyone's computer is set up just a little different with different software/programs. What might work for one person could possibly not work for another.  

Just because a AV program is on the top of someone's list is not the only reason to get it. If they have a trial version or free version try that first, it won't cost you anything and you find out if it will cause you problems. Whatever you try give it a work out, not only see if it finds bad stuff on your computer see if it interfers with the running of other programs, like oh lets just say Stardock and WinCustomize for starters.  

Agreed.

I bought Trend Micro when I bought my pc about 3 years ago. Had alot of problems and never liked it. After that went back to Norton and still had a mess.

Switched to the free version of AVG for awhile and liked it so I got the paid version of AVG antivirus and firewall for a year. Never had a single problem in that time.

More recently switched back to the free version of AVG and the free Comodo firewall and still haven't had a single problem with either.

Comodo also has a free antivirus that is supposed to be good. I tried both that and AntiVir's free version but just preffered AVG over either one.

NOD32 or anything that uses the Kaspersky (KAV) engine.

Consumer products like McAfee and Norton are bloated crapware.
Free AV products are a you get what you pay for situation.

When all of these other products have failed in the past for my friends and clients, I've had them download NOD32 trialware to clean up the mess the other products missed/made, and sure enough they convert to NOD32 on the spot.

And I've never had a repeat after that...period.

NOD32 works great on every CPU and Windows OS, is light on resources, wins every AV competition hands down, etc. etc.

Whatever software you go for it's always worth running one of the FREE on-line scanners through your system about once a month.......both ESET NOD and Kaspersky have these facilities on their websites and they are a great 'double banker' to make sure you are clean.

In addition to an Anti-Virus and Firewall prog, it's also wise to have a couple of spyware hunters. Spybot and Adaware are FREE and they do a great job.   

Very good advice Leo.  

Use AVG Free Edition there is a new one out called AVG Free 8.0.1. Search it on www.download.com.

Hopefully they have found one to use by now.