My McAfee is about to expire

[3LB]

Is there any better computer protection out there I should consider?

[3LB]

Is there any better computer protection out there I should consider?

[poppachubby]

Dude, unless you're on porn sites daily, AVG is the best. It doesn't use a ton of space and memory either, nice tidy program.

http://free.avg.com/ww-en/homepage

[audio amateur]

AVG anti-virus

[kexodusc]

I use AVG on all our Windows based OS's...I used Norton and McAfee for years, and just find AVG sooo much better. Though I haven't tried McAfee in 3-4 years now.

Can't go wrong with AVG.

[audio amateur]

Just what I said

[Ajani]

Dude, unless you're on porn sites daily, AVG is the best. It doesn't use a ton of space and memory either, nice tidy program.

http://free.avg.com/ww-en/homepage

I'm on porn sites hourly and I use Avira:

http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php

I've heard great things about AVG too...

I have no need to buy antivirus or office software now when I can download Avira/AVG/Open Office...

[dean_martin]

We use AVG free version at home and I use the AVG pro version at work.

When navigating their site, it was a little confusing trying to locate the free version - probably intentional. Grisoft is the software publisher. You may need to go to the "grisoft" site rather than a site with "avg" in the web address. That's the way it was set up the last time I downloaded a free version.

edit- nevermind, see poppachub's post for link.

[Feanor]

Don't pay for anti-virus; good free programs are available:

• Avast! Free, HERE, or
• AVG Free, HERE.

I have used both and both work well, though slightly prefer Avast! for managability.

[bobsticks]

Wow...never new there was decent freeware available. I'll have to give one of 'em a shot.

As an aside, I have paid for Bit Defender and found it to be not only successful in preventing and protecting from outbreaks but also takes up substantially less processessing power than th eones mentioned.

[nightflier]

Of course, you could always switch to Linux...

[jrhymeammo]

AVG. Not a single problem with both Audio and Non-Audio porn...

[audio amateur]

I haven't had any issues with audio porn. Can't say for real porn but then you shouldn't be watching that anyways

[Mr Peabody]

I am behind the curve on computer stuff. I tried a free version of AVG and it didn't work out for me, I forgot what the issue was. When I bought and installed Norton 360 it found stuff on my computer that AVG did not detect or block. I found the 360 version of Norton to be far superior than their versions in the past that I used. A friend of mine swears by Bitdefender and I have used that successfully as well but they don't answer my email and I couldn't figure out something on the website when I wanted to renew so I forgot them. I may try the AVG version you pay for to see if it's any better at the end of my current Norton version. I got a good deal on the 360 through Costco that got me to try Norton again. It's interesting how much the computer magazines vary when they post their best to worst internet protection suites. This 360 Norton backs up your files, so am I hooked now?

[02audionoob]

Although Norton AntiViruus is good and effective, it drags down performance much more than Avast and AVG. Sometimes the inexpensive name-brand PCs are badly dragged down, right out of the box.

[Feanor]

I am behind the curve on computer stuff. I tried a free version of AVG and it didn't work out for me, I forgot what the issue was. When I bought and installed Norton 360 it found stuff on my computer that AVG did not detect or block. I found the 360 version of Norton to be far superior than their versions in the past that I used. A friend of mine swears by Bitdefender and I have used that successfully as well but they don't answer my email and I couldn't figure out something on the website when I wanted to renew so I forgot them. I may try the AVG version you pay for to see if it's any better at the end of my current Norton version. I got a good deal on the 360 through Costco that got me to try Norton again. It's interesting how much the computer magazines vary when they post their best to worst internet protection suites. This 360 Norton backs up your files, so am I hooked now?

If the new Norton is better than the old Norton, then I can only say it needed to be!!

The big problem I had with Norton going back 3-4 years ago was the way it cluttered you computer a bazillon files and Registry settings, and hogged a lot memory. Both Avast! or AVG have much smaller footprints vs. Norton, (at least the older version). But neither purports to be an all-in-one solution for anything that might bother your computer.

I don't use any anti-virus on my dedicated music computer, but then I don't browse on it or download anything directly to it.

[nightflier]

I am behind the curve on computer stuff. I tried a free version of AVG and it didn't work out for me, I forgot what the issue was. When I bought and installed Norton 360 it found stuff on my computer that AVG did not detect or block. I found the 360 version of Norton to be far superior than their versions in the past that I used. A friend of mine swears by Bitdefender and I have used that successfully as well but they don't answer my email and I couldn't figure out something on the website when I wanted to renew so I forgot them. I may try the AVG version you pay for to see if it's any better at the end of my current Norton version. I got a good deal on the 360 through Costco that got me to try Norton again. It's interesting how much the computer magazines vary when they post their best to worst internet protection suites. This 360 Norton backs up your files, so am I hooked now?

The sad reality is that no virus scanner is going to catch everything hidden deep in the bowels of your computer. I have had cases where 3-4 different scanners still did not get everything. The only real way to get rid of a virus is a complete wipe. Another thing to keep in mind is that a thorough scan of a system should be done with no programs loaded at all (just booting into safe mode with no networking on Windows is only part of the way there). A thorough scan will also take a good 24 hours on your average workstation, if done right. Finally, if it does find something, then you have to do it again. If you're looking for decent commercial alternatives to McAfee and Norton, I have experienced higher success rates with Nod32 and Kaspersky, but both left out viruses the other found.

Viruses are typically written from stubs of other programs (most of them developed legally by commercial companies). The advent of spy/mall-ware and the liberalization of restrictions on invasive advertising, has dramatically increased the growth of viruses in the last few years. The most recent exploit uses innocent looking 3rd-party ads on web pages, something that was developed by the commercial sector to track ad click-throughs for recharge purposes. It was only a matter of time before someone was able to use the same technology to upload a bot to your computer. What your virus scanner company will not tell you is that they don't have a fix for this yet, at least not one that won't subject them to lawsuits by their own advertisers. Another point not many people realize is that virus scanning companies as well as the OpenSource groups who support free alternatives, typically get their virus threat info from a very small number of sources.

Anyhow, the best way IMO to prevent infection from browsing the web is to do all your browsing in a virtual machine, or if you're really paranoid, on a second system used just for that. If you use two systems, just make sure you thoroughly scan anything that passes from the less secure system. One person I know even reformats his system completely every night and replaces his hard drive every 3 months (but he has good reason to). Ultimately, there is no effectively secure platform that will not limit your browsing experience in some way. Everyone has to find a balance that works for their own needs. You can spend a lot of time obsessing over security, but that's time taken away from work (and/or entertainment) - life is short, as they say. And if you think the choice is hard for you, consider the choices security managers responsible for hundreds, even thousands of systems at large companies have to make.

As with audio, the simpler you keep your system, the less that will clutter up your enjoyment of it.

[Feanor]

The sad reality is that no virus scanner is going to catch everything hidden deep in the bowels of your computer. I have had cases where 3-4 different scanners still did not get everything. ...

Sadly true. Notably, there is type of virus called a "rootkit", (which see here), that is designed not to be detected. Typically there are used to allow an outsider to control your computer. Also, there was a least one notorious use of a rootkit by Sony (as I recall) to enforce DRM; they caught so much flak for that that they had to provide a removal tool. Rootkits are not typically caught by routine virus scans and sometimes can only be removed by ad hoc software designed to remove the particular rootkit.

... Everyone has to find a balance that works for their own needs. You can spend a lot of time obsessing over security, but that's time taken away from work (and/or entertainment) - life is short, as they say. ...

Exactly

[3LB]

Thanx to all.

I had AVG a few years ago and found it to be ineffective. Sounds like all of them are hit and miss. I had a virus sneak through my McAfee a few months ago, that's why I wanted to try something else.

[Mr Peabody]

I know folks seem not to be so hot on Norton for some reason but they do a good job. The viruses are bad enough but I'm also concerned over the spyware that allows some one to track your key strokes. We do online banking and shopping. It's not just porn sites that are dangerous either from updates I've read it seems all the social websites are plagued with cyber disease and garbage. At least one major government computer system uses Norton. I'd hope in this instance they would have picked the best rather than the lowest price.

[poppachubby]

Using Firefox instead of Explorer can also help in having less attacks. Explorer is a target whereas Firefox is what the hackers/virus makers use themselves...

[02audionoob]

Try uninstalling Norton and it will be like you got a new computer.

[Mr Peabody]

Norton 360 has dealt with some of the slowing issues. It's much better than past versions I've used but not sure how it compares to others. I'd give up a bit of speed to keep my system safe.

I'm glad some one else mentioned AVG's weakness to protect. I hated to be the only one with so many using it. You'd think or hope though that some one would provide a good free protection suite in the interest of keeping folks on the internet. By now though it's so entrenched in our lives whose worried about people not using it.

Poppa, I have also heard that Apple users don't have to worry about the attacks either.

[02audionoob]

Norton reminds me of Bose.

[blackraven]

Use Avast or AVG and also run the free "spybot search and destroy by de kolla"