Hi, can anyone tell me how good or bad this program is? I'm looking for
the best free virus program out there. Any help would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks.

Wayne

Wayne wrote:

> Hi, can anyone tell me how good or bad this program is? I'm looking for
> the best free virus program out there. Any help would be greatly
> appreciated.
> Thanks.
>
> Wayne
I use it, it's not my favorite; and it is only available as an on-demand
scan in the free version so it makes a good secondary virus scanner. I
prefer Antivir or AVG as my primary antivirus program.
Regards,
CB

cb wrote:
> Wayne wrote:
>
>
>>Hi, can anyone tell me how good or bad this program is? I'm looking for
>>the best free virus program out there. Any help would be greatly
>>appreciated.
>>Thanks.
>>
>>Wayne
>
> I use it, it's not my favorite; and it is only available as an on-demand
> scan in the free version so it makes a good secondary virus scanner. I
> prefer Antivir or AVG as my primary antivirus program.
> Regards,
> CB
Thanks for your reply. How does Avast compare with Antivir and AVG?

Wayne

Wayne wrote:

> Thanks for your reply. How does Avast compare with Antivir and AVG?
>
> Wayne
I believe Avast is similar to both Antivir and AVG in use;I used it briefly
before I settled on Antivir. It really is a matter of personal preference
as each program has it's own strong and weak points,and all seem to be
equally effective. Try all three in succession, the price is right and you
can evaluate each according to your own criteria. For example: Antivir has
almost daily updates but they are usually a large file size which would be
an issue on a dial-up connection. The last time I used Avast it had a
registration requirement (maybe changed now?) that some object to, and AVG
did not seem to update as frequently. Bit Defenderfree edition is an
on-demand only AV, but is simple to configure and won't accidentally cause
problems with your primary AV program. PC Answers Magazine's website has a
good article about the free AV and firewall programs available:
http://www.pcanswers.co.uk/tutorials...id=2&articleid
=37292&subsectionid=780&subsubsectionid=739

Regards,
CB

cb wrote:
> I believe Avast is similar to both Antivir and AVG in use;I used it
> briefly before I settled on Antivir. It really is a matter of
> personal preference as each program has it's own strong and weak
> points,and all seem to be equally effective. Try all three in
> succession, the price is right and you can evaluate each according to
> your own criteria. For example: Antivir has almost daily updates but
> they are usually a large file size which would be an issue on a
> dial-up connection. The last time I used Avast it had a registration
> requirement (maybe changed now?) that some object to, and AVG did not
> seem to update as frequently.

Avast! still requires registration, which is free for personal use, and it
is valid for 14 months or so at a time.

I switched from AVG to Avast! a couple of years ago, mainly due to much
simpler updating. Avast! updating just works, and is totally hassle free,
even on dial up. Unless you _never_ connect to the Internet, this package
simply stays magically updated all by itself. The only possible annoyance is
the loud voice announcing "Virus database has been updated", but this is
easily switched off.

Keeping AVG updated was somewhat more cumbersome, both because of the UI and
because of servers being overloaded with regular intervals.

In the case of Antivir, having to reinstall the entire application to update
virus signatures is IMHO just plain stupid, even if you disregard bandwidth
issues. I tested Antivir ages ago, and totally hated the updating. And when
their website to top it all went offline without warning, and did not get
back up until years (!) later, I have all the reason I need not to touch it
again. Ever.