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Best Virus program for my computer?

F

FrugalGuy

Senior member
I'm thinking of getting a new virus program for my computer. Currently i'm running an old version of McAfee (5.x). It's a memory hog so I'm not sure if I should stick with it.

I'm running a win 98 700duron with 512MB. My friend told me norton is better but you can only update the dat files for 1 year. Is this true?

The bottom line is I need a good virus program that that has free updates and doesn't tie down my computer.
 
Norton Antivirus seems very nice. That's the one I'm using now and it doesn't seem to hog too much resources on my computer. It doesn't always repair what it detects though 🙁
 
I have seen comments that the Norton AV real-time scanner does eat up quite a bit of resources resulting in noticeable slowdown, but I can't speak from experience b/c I've never used it. You may want to investigate that further if that's a concern. Also seen comments that Norton and McAfee both leave large registry footprints making un-installing a hassle, but don't know if that's true for the majority. But many people like Norton and by all accounts it is a dependable and potent AV solution.

I have always used Kaspersky Antivirus and have never had a problem. I have even forgotten to turn off the real-time scanner a few times when watching DVDs or playing games without any slowdown or instability.

It works for me!
 
Another vote for AVG ,it`s probably the best free one available IMHO, also does not use a lot of resources on your PC and is 98/ME/2K & XP compatible as well 🙂.
 
> Best Virus program for my computer?

You mean Anti-Virus program. Right?
Otherwise, just turn off your firewall, and start executing random e-mail attachments. You'll get a good one soon enough 😀
 
another vote for AVG.....i had Mcafee...but then i found AVG...hardly uses any resources and its free! and sooo easy to update
 
I downloaded AVG weeks ago and I'm still waiting for my instructions & I believe they refer to it as a code to be sent to my-email address. I don't know if I can use the program without it. How did everyone else who has the AVG antivurs activate it? In fact it's been so long since I downloaded this program I really can't remember exactly what I'm looking for in my e-mail. However, I do know according to the AVG site I need something. LOL

Oh well, is there some way around this other than waiting, and waiting?

Thanks for your help.
 
Mcafee is good , if u find it hooging why don't u shut it down and use only when u r online ? . U can even disable it from startup .
Even Quickheal and command av is good.
 


<< Mcafee is good , if u find it hooging why don't u shut it down and use only when u r online ? . U can even disable it from startup .
Even Quickheal and command av is good. >>



That's terrible advice. The point of an anti-virus utility is to protect your PC whenever it's on, without user intervention.

There was a time when real-time protection was felt to be a noticeable (but acceptable) performance drain, but with 2 GHz CPUs rapidly becoming the norm, it's not an issue for most PCs.

NAV 2002 seems pretty good, but the UI is a bit more bloated than NAV 2001. I've never liked McAfee, and most of the reviews give NAV the nod over McAfee.
 
I use NAV 2002. Update is very easy (w/ liveupdate) and real time scanning isnt eating all my ram ... BUT when you do a manual scan... ouch! NAV is slowing down everything even if I have 512MB of Ram...
So I guess that AVG would be a better choice if you want to save your ram.



 


<< I use NAV 2002. Update is very easy (w/ liveupdate) and real time scanning isnt eating all my ram ... BUT when you do a manual scan... ouch! NAV is slowing down everything even if I have 512MB of Ram...
So I guess that AVG would be a better choice if you want to save your ram. >>



It has nothing to do with RAM.

Any virus scan product will take a long time to do a full system scan because of all the disk I/O necessary to read in all the files.

If your PC is on 24/7, this doesn't matter since you'd schedule a weekly system scan for Saturday morning 3 a.m.
 
It has nothing to do with RAM.

Ok not only the RAM but the CPU usage too.

Any virus scan product will take a long time to do a full system scan because of all the disk I/O necessary to read in all the files.

I know this stuff, and this thread is not about this kind of info... We are trying to help someone how wants a good Antivirus software. Any virus scan will take a long time to do a full system scan... of course, BUT!!! some will use less CPU and RAM...

If your PC is on 24/7, this doesn't matter since you'd schedule a weekly system scan for Saturday morning 3 a.m.

I know that it doesnt matter...beside saturday morning at 3 am i may be still on my computer heheh but thats not the point. As I said, FrugalGuy was looking for a good virus program that that has free updates and doesn't tie down my computer. So know that we can set the weekly scan at whatever hour we want, but if we have to do a manual scan, it is fun when you can do something else at the same time, and hot need to go to bed and wake up 3 days later after the scan is finished because you couldnt use the computer during that time...

 


<< > Best Virus program for my computer?

You mean Anti-Virus program. Right?
Otherwise, just turn off your firewall, and start executing random e-mail attachments. You'll get a good one soon enough 😀 >>



lol, hmm interesting. that new Klez thing seems to be going around. seems decent.....

i say Norton AV 2002. the best that i ever used. mcafee didn't go very well with me.
 
GeSuN,

The thing is that disk I/O dominates the time to do a full system scan. So the actual CPU processing is irrelevant/small in comparison.

Any program that is disk I/O bound will be slow. What this means from a benchmarking standpoint is that the fastest AV utility and the slowest AV utility will still be dirt slow doing a full system scan because of disk I/Os.

So you should compare the AV utilities for other reasons than how long they take to do full system scans.
 
manly, 😛

When I said that if I do a system scan and that I don't want to wake up 3 days later, I'm not talking about the time the system scan takes...

Let me explain, if I do a manual scan, and let's say it uses all my ressources (CPU and RAM). Then I can't use the computer during this time. I don't care how long it takes, its just the fact that I can't use it... So, there's another antivirus program that uses only 25% of my ressources... With this one, even if the scan takes 3 days, I can still use the computer... That's the point I was talking about. The system scan maybe will take 1 hour or 3 days, but as long as I can use the computer at the same time, I'm ok... So the time to finish the job isnt important, its the use of ressources that I care more about...

 
Another vote for Panda. I use Titanium. A TRUE fire and forget weapon. For those who like to monkey with every setting you could use Platinum.

My company's IS dept. tested every AV available 6 months ago. Panda was a distinctly clear winner.

The bear has saved me many times. It scans verrrry fast!
 
Just a few questions...

I'm thinking of getting grisoft's AVG. I'm just concerned as to how this program is free. Are there are any ads associated with the program. I just don't understand how they can support itself.

Is the Panda program also free?

Thanx for the responces
 
I recommend spending a little money and buy norton antivirus. It's a great solution, cheap and SARC is tops in the business at virus identification/detection IMO. Symantec really knows viruses and the SARC website has helped me fix many PC's with their removal advice and free tools.

IMO this is one area where you don't want to mess around with "free" software. $20-30 is a GOOD investment in keeping your PC protected without worry.
 
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