Virus Protection

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m4tty

Scaredy cat™
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What Virus protection do you lot use. I got Norton with my computer but have heard a few people saying its rubbish. Ive never had a problem with it but wondered what you guys thought??

Thanks

 
Been using the free version of AVG for the past 5 years without a glitch.

 
Norton is awful and has been for years, apparantly it's slightly better in the last version but still not all that. McAfee isn;t far behind in the awfulness ranks.

I have always used Avast Home Edition, free and works, and does a decent amount of background and intelligent scanning. AVG comes a close second, but I find it just gets in the way, not as much background action, it just nags you or shows its face too much. Avast just sits in the background doing its thing quietly.

For paid for AV I use ESET Nod32, quick, quiet, reasonably priced and effective. I've currently got that on my own PC as I had the corporate version when it was in the office, now I'm unsure whether I'm going to re-register or pay for another licence for Nod32.

To summarise;

Free: Avast 4 Home

Paid: Eset Nod32

 
None at all.

I have in the past used Norton and AVG, but I found they both slow the computer down too much.

 
None at all.
Unless you're running Linux I'd say get some as running none is slowing down your computer and doing more harm than the sloing down that a decent AV package will do.

I have in the past used Norton and AVG, but I found they both slow the computer down too much.
Norton will slow anything down, if I put a Norton disc in my car it'll lose 20bhp. AVG is noticeably slow IMO, so you've prolly picked the wrst 2 to try before giving up without understanding the risks.

 
I can understand that you may believe that having virus protection is a good idea.

I can't understand why you would believe that not having virus protection would slow down a computer.

 
I can understand that you may believe that having virus protection is a good idea.I can't understand why you would believe that not having virus protection would slow down a computer.
Because, unless you have managed to lock down every vulnerable process and have managed to do some very specific hacking of the OS, your PC will be full of viruses.

You haven;t said what OS you're using yet, which does make a difference.

 
Mine on windows 7

Either run "Avast" which i find brilliant!

or recently, as a temporary measure the BT Net protect plus,just to see what its like (we are with BT broadband)

And it as good, if not better then Avast. It seems to catch more stuff as i ran one on desktop one on laptop.

 
I use Vipre on all my computers which seems to work well and does not slow them down. Not free but my company pays for it and with my data on these computers the small amount per year is worth it.

Batty

 
Regardless of which OS you are running, there are a number of ways to protect against virus infection whithout using any form of anti virus software.

The obvious one, is not to connect to the internet.

Do not install any program that you are not 100% certain of.

If you do connect to the internet, do not open unsolicited Emails, and never download attachments that you are not 100% certain of, even from people you know.

Use a Firewall. Windows has a Firewall, make sure it is on.

Use an Email account that checks your Emails for virusus.

Keep your OS and software separate from your data, so if you do become infected, you can re-install your OS and software without losing your data.

Do not use Peer to Peer internet sites.

Do not visit dodgey internet sites.

Do not download stuff from internet sites.

These are just basic things that can be done without any special knowledge or training.

 
But none of them, apart from never connecting to the internet, will stop your PC from contracting viruses.

 
Even not connecting to the internet is no guarantee, if you install a program from a third party.

Using anti virus protection is no guarantee.

The people who write viruses like to hack anti virus software. Using such software, could actually increase your likelyhood of attack.

Viruses spread through infected files. If you do not come into contact with an infected file, you will not contract a virus.

 
Even not connecting to the internet is no guarantee, if you install a program from a third party.Using anti virus protection is no guarantee.
Well no, I never said it was guaranteed though.

The people who write viruses like to hack anti virus software. Using such software, could actually increase your likelyhood of attack.
This is perhaps a bit far fetched and is by no means a reason for not using antivirus software. You are more likely to end up with a virus on your PC not running AV SW than running it.

Viruses spread through infected files. If you do not come into contact with an infected file, you will not contract a virus.
To some extent, but it's not quite that simple.

You can feel free to not run AV software, I wouldn;t and would not not recommend anyone to do the same. Once you are infected you are putting others at risk as well.

 
A friend asked me to look at their PC as they thought they had a virus!!

I put win XP and AVG on a spare drive that I had, then made it the master and the other slave..

I then got it to do a virus check on the other drive..... it found 1500+ individual viruses

they had no anti virus and it's a family PC... the man of the house has his own laptop works away from home in the week) and I can assure you that they don't visit dodgy sites.

I cleaned up the drive, burn't it to DVD and then wiped it (FDISK & low level format) and re-installed XP

 
i have had kaspersky for nearly a year and its been great, cant say its slowed anything down, arnt microsoft bring out a free one.

i no people who run pc guard from virgin and its very slow,

i knew a computer bof who raved about avg free version but he got a virus and money stolen when a freind of his computer got a virus and emailed it to the entier contact list.

a friend of mine got a virus and it kept emailing itself to me saying it was photos, kis would not let me open it, however my brothers computer got adwere antivirus 360 poping up all over the computer and stoping internet accsess and kaspersky did not stop that.

you cant rely on antivirus compleatly

 

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