Hi
Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows xp,
broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it has been
suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am also looking with a
tight budget in mind.
Thank You !

Avast is a very good Anti-virus; and the free version is very good.
I also included some good Anti-spyware/ malware Programs to give you a good,
all round security package.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Avast Anti-Virus is XP and Vista compatible (32bit and 64bit Versions),
FREE, auto-updating, and a low resources user of your computer.
And, only have 1(one) Anti-Virus installed / running on your computer at any
one time..
Conflicts may occur if you have more than 1(one).

http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.6 is a very good, FREE Anti-Spyware Program.
Download, install, update, and immunize your System with it.
Then SCAN with it.
Update it, and scan your System once a fortnight.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

SpywareBlaster 4.1 is a non-intrusive, FREE Anti-Spyware Program (no
scanning by you!).
SpywareBlaster prevents the installation of many so-called spyware, adware
and malware programs by disabling the CLSIDs of popular spyware ActiveX
controls, and also prevents the installation of any of them via a webpage
Update it once a fortnight.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Malwarebytes is as the name says, a Malware Remover!
For the Free version scroll down their page to either download from
Download.com, or Major Geeks.com

Download, install, and update.

--
Mad Mike


"blb" wrote:

> Hi
> Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows xp,
> broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it has been
> suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am also looking with a
> tight budget in mind.
> Thank You !

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

- WindPipe

"blb" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:68150E36-E715-4204-AE1F-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
> Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows xp,
> broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it has been
> suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am also looking with a
> tight budget in mind.
> Thank You !

"blb" wrote:

> Hi
> Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows xp,
> broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it has been
> suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am also looking with a
> tight budget in mind.
> Thank You !

You will get a lot of info and a lot of opinions here as it is n't an easy
subject. It looks like Left and right again!

First off, what you pay is what you get? The better Protect method is the
users themsleves and the way they practice safe Hex. You need to educate
yourself and others you are responsible for to limit the risk of getting
infected.
Microsoft Security At Home - Help Prevent Identity Theft, Spyware ...
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/default.mspx

Microsoft Recommends Taking 3 Easy Steps to Help Keep Your PC Secure
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/security/protect/alert.mspx
how to practice safe hex
http://www.washington.edu/computing/virus.html
HTH,
nass
---
http://www.nasstec.co.uk

On Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:54:01 -0700, blb
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi
>Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows xp,
>broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it has been
>suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am also looking with a
>tight budget in mind.
>Thank You !

Avast a/v ( free ) -audio and visual warnings .

> Hi
> Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows
> xp, broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it has
> been suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am also
> looking with a tight budget in mind.
> Thank You !


Avast and AVG are good; some will dispute that but it's my own
experience. Avira is a newcomer and pretty good but I didn't like their
periodic ads so uninstalled it; it's aimed at making you buy it, but it
does seem to be decent.

The words "been suggested" and "may be slowing" are pretty relative
terms; YOU have to decide whether it is or not since it's your machine.
You can tell by running a few benchmark tests, disconnect from the
'net, turn off Norton AV protection, and see if it's any faster. If
not, forget it. For your benchmark measurements, use your most intensive
programs running all at once and do everything in the same order each
time. Restart after turning off Norton of course, then do the second
benchmark.
Always beware of "suggestions" about your own machine; you are the
only one knows that it's doing. In some cases Norton can slow things
down, especially if it defaulted improperly and checks every byte that
moves, copies, gets created or deleted on the machine, cup speed is
under a GHz, not enough RAM (esp 256/512 machines) and/or improperly
managed machines. Not to mention malware possibilities. I use NAV on
XP Pro/SP2+, 2.7GHz Pentium 4 and a Gig of RAM with three physical hard
drives and I never know it's there or see any impact of it. It also IMO
probably should not recommended for the very inexperienced users with no
concept of what's going on under the hood.
It's never a good idea to troubleshoot "problems" if/when you áren't
experiencing any.

HTH

Twayne

On Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:54:01 -0700, blb
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows xp,
> broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it has been
> suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am also looking with a
> tight budget in mind.



My view, and that of many of us here, is that Norton is the worst
choice available.

The best anti-virus is NOD32, but there is a charge for using it. If
the charge is a problem, I recommend the freeware Avast! instead.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

> On Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:54:01 -0700, blb
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows
>> xp, broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it
>> has been suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am
>> also looking with a tight budget in mind.
>
>
>
> My view, and that of many of us here, is that Norton is the worst
> choice available.
>
> The best anti-virus is NOD32, but there is a charge for using it. If
> the charge is a problem, I recommend the freeware Avast! instead.

Avast is decent. NOD32 also if a pay-for is OK. As for "most of us
here", what you mean is, "most of the vocals here" because in the
overall you are not the majority IMO. You're welcome to your opinions
of course unless and until you begin to force them on people, just as I
am.

Don't forget to clean your registry,

Twayne

"Twit" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> On Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:54:01 -0700, blb
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> Avast is decent. NOD32 also if a pay-for is OK.
Is that your opinion too?

> As for "most of us here", what you mean is, "most of the vocals here" because in
> the overall you are not the majority IMO.
Check out the brain on bread...!

> You're welcome to your opinions
Exacltly what was asked for in the first place, thanks for approving.

> of course unless and until you begin to force them on people, just as I am.
No, not after your next line you are not, you don't even come close for polite
consideration.

> Don't forget to clean your registry,
Really!

> Twit

Now to provide some assistance to the original Poster;

blb, look at http://www.av-comparatives.org/ do only a slight more bit of
research, the three main contraints you need to consider is you want to purchase
AV software;

Price + System Resource Usage + Detection Rate\Success, for free software look at;
System Resource Usage + Detection Rate\Success

Ken above gave some good advice relative to these constraints. AVAST is good, and
NOD32 is one of the best when it comes to paying for it.

- WindPipe

blb wrote:
> Hi
> Can anyone suggest what is the best antivirus for a home pc, windows xp,
> broadband internet? I have Norton internet security - and it has been
> suggested that it may be slowing down my computer. I am also looking with a
> tight budget in mind.
> Thank You !


You'll get nearly as many differing opinions as you will responses.

I'll start by saying that I don't think any security "suite" is a
good choice. It'd be better to use smaller, less-resource-draining
stand-alone products. And, having had personal experience with
Verizon's business practices, I certainly wouldn't trust anything they
offer. Even if the product/service itself is fine, there'll be hidden
costs and "unadvertised" conditions and limitations associated with it.

I had used, and recommended, Norton Antivirus and then Norton
Internet Security, for many years, on Win98, WinNT, Win2K, and WinXP,
all without any significant problems. I had used McAfee prior to that.
But it's been several years since I've been tempted to try McAfee
products. Their quality seemed to take a steep nose-dive after they were
acquired by Network Associates.

However, when my subscription to Symantec's updates for Norton
Internet Security 2002 came up for renewal (at a cost substantially
higher than the preceding year's subscription), I decided to try less
expensive solutions. I downloaded and installed the free version of
GriSoft's AVG (http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php ). It proved
to be easily installed, easy to use, and quite effective. Additionally,
I was pleasantly surprised to see a small but very noticeable
improvement in my PC's performance, once I'd replaced the Symantec
product. Another free (for personal use) anti-virus product is AVAST! 4
Home Edition (http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html), which is what
I've used without problems on both WinXP Pro and Vista Business.

For a recent comparison of anti-virus products:

Retrospective / ProActive Test
http://www.av-comparatives.org/


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

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The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot