Antivirus Program

[raskolnikov]

I got a laptop for Christmas. I recently got popup that my Norton antivirus program is expiring and that I have to pay $50 for a year's subscription. Is there a free antivirus program I can download?

 

[Ant_]

avast is probably the best IMO, does P2P, IM, Mail, Web etc. Award winning and the domestic version is free.

 

[spitlizard]

I got a laptop for Christmas. I recently got popup that my Norton antivirus program is expiring and that I have to pay $50 for a year's subscription. Is there a free antivirus program I can download?

Try this http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

 

[CF]

I still use AVG free version. Works fine

 

[raskolnikov]

Cheers. I just downloaded Avast.

 

[Chism]

I still use AVG free version. Works fine

Agree with this and i had Avast for a while and i got a trojan i couldnt remove and AVG got it straight away.

I just recently got a new laptop 10 months ago and had Kaspersky thrown in with some haggling and it is the best i have ever used.

For the free ones though i rate AVG over Avast but that is just my opinion.

 

[dylan123]

I have used both but currently I am a fan of avast since it seems to do the scan quicker. Both are pretty even and sometimes one picks up viruses that the other does not, when I got one on my system with avast and could not find it I put on AVG which was able to solve the problem, also done it the other way as well. Both are very good programs

 

[MisterB]

Have used AVG, avast and Microsoft Security Essentials. Any will do a satisfactory job.

 

[CF]

that little spinning icon on the toolbar drives me nuts on AVAST

 

[BandF]

I was using AVG Free for a number of years before being persuaded into using Avast early last year.

Apart from being a little resource hungry it seems to work well. Has trapped a few nasties since installation. Although I never got a virus with AVG either.

Would never pay for one.

 

[spitlizard]

From previous experience, I would go Avast over AVG but I think they are pretty close.
I have already stated this before but Microsoft have now provided a A/V - spyware program for free for those without dodgy copies

I have been using it for a while now and it is pretty good....unobtrusive

 

[sblack]

that little spinning icon on the toolbar drives me nuts on AVAST

You can stop it.

 

[Ant_]

You can stop it.

Beat me to it.

 

[Hoffy95]

The alternative is to just not have any antivirus protection, just make sure you don't visit any pr0n sites or click Chief, the most stable genius,'s ads.

This of course is an extreme measure.

 

[dylan123]

Well, if you were to make a partition on your harddrive where you install your os and all that could be possible.

 

[Full Wingspan]

I bought one of those accer emachines from coles, and it had norton, and told me it expires and i have to buy a subscription, so i removed it, and installed microsoft security essentials. its easy to use and so far has been great.

 

[Gibbsy]

I use Windows Live OneCare. Haven't had a problem since we bought it, it's been great. Superceded now however by the new free Microsoft Security Essentials which I hear is even better.

 

[Gman]

Used them all, and pretty much all have had their ups and downs.

I have found AVira to never miss a beat for quite a few years now

 

[Guy Miarchi]

AVG - jumped the shark. I used to use it and it was good but now it is crap.

Norton, McAfee, Trend etc - bloated. Will almost render your PC unusuable because these programs hog resources. Just don't go there.

Kaspersky - too many false positives. I used it and it kept deleting apps and registry files



I've been using Vipre for about a year and it's the best I've used by a mile. Never had a virus and never noticed my computer slow down. Haven't used Avira but heard it's good.

 

[Lets Beyblade]

Bitdefender is a great antivirus program. I installed it on my notebook about 6 months ago and it hasn't skipped a beat. Very light on resourses but very intuative and in depth. Probably the only antivirus program I have used which hasn't actually annoyed me with 'can we let this program connect to the internet' messages. It just knows what is legit and lets it through the firewall.