cb said:
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.
