Is antivirus software that important?

[azehcy]

hello my friend, the truth is anything free is not really good. Well an antivirus is good but you should know what is best as an antivirus. And protect your computer.

[patio]

You can safely ignore the advice above...there are hundreds if not thousands of examples of excellent FREE software programs out there including protection applications...

[evilfantasy]

The only difference in free and paid is usually live help.

The scanner/protection module and definitions are the same. That's what matters.

[Broni]

hello my friend, the truth is anything free is not really good

Source? If you don't have any, please don't post any statements like the above one, anymore.
It's simply misleading, not true, and worthless.

[Zylstra]

I use a lot of free software, and its all quite nice.

Its true, there are some programs that dont have that great of free alternatives, but, in most cases, I have found alternatives that are equal or better.

An example:
KLite Codecs Pack, better than what nVidia or any other codec company has

NVU/Kompozer, much easier to use than DreamWeaver, not to mention, a heck of a lot smaller. For what I need it to do, its perfect, Dreamweaver is too much

MyMobiler, which remotely controls my phone, great software, no lag or any of that whatnot. Many companies out there have similar programs they want you to pay for

Avast Antivirus, faster than McAfee or Symatec/Norton, better detection in some cases as well, and boot time scan? THATS A feature ANY scanner should have.

TrueCrypt, encryption software, free, fast, extremely secure. Absolutely no back doors, as you often find with a few of the larger companies. Not to mention, constantly updated in the event that there is a security flaw.

Thats just a few.

[Broni]

Avast Antivirus, faster than McAfee or Symatec/Norton, better detection in some cases as well, and boot time scan?

I simply have to comment on this, because it's very gently said.
Norton, and McAfee @$50/year are simply next to worthless, regarding any security protection, and on a top of it, they build themselves so deep into Windows structure, that they are hard to remove, and they interfere with normal Windows operations, causing all kind of problems.

[mcxeb52!]

AVG, Avira, Avast are all just fine, just pick one and have the automatic updates setup and just be sure you can get it to run properly on your computer.

Sure, security is important, you wouldn't want something bad to happen and all of a sudden some important data gets leaked off your computer fir example.

I use Sophos Antivirus and it's pretty good. You have to pay for a license, but it came free to me because the school I go to offered it free to university students.

[cwayneu]

You have probably gotten two ideas. One is that AV is important. Second, there are many opinions as to which is best.

I have six systems. I started with Norton, then moved to McAfee, and now switched to AVG. I found Norton and McAfee to be OK, but resource hogs. I tried the full AVG package about a year ago and never looked back.

Also, about "How do you know bad sites?", if you stick to the Google engine AVG will flag sites as to OK, Suspect, Bad, or not rated. This helps as long as you pay attention to the flags before you click on them.

Finally, I also run IOBit's Advanced SystemCare freeware once a week to keep my systems reasonably clean and tuned up. It's a great package. You can buy the Pro version for $20, but I don't mind getting updates and definition files manually each week.

Good luck.

[Ted2]

possibly i should start my own thread, i don't mean to hijack this one.  but we talk about certain AV's hogging up resources.
2 questions...  firewalls..   do they hog resouces the same way a AV will?
and should i have a AV?

the reason i ask is:
the computer i am using is over 10 years old, it is slow and is only used for it's intenet connection (i use it to bridge the connection with other devices) and sometimes checking a few web pages.
web pages i already know and trust and sometimes connect to MSN Messenger.  nothing else. i only have windows firewall running, but no AV..  but the machine is online 24hours a day almost.

so back to topic, which would be more important for me?  Avast or ZoneAlarm.. or both or neither.
(bare in mind i don't really want the PC boot up any slower than it already does)





((and if your reading and wondering Zylstra and hiloed, thanks you did solve my slow connection last week, but today (hopefully a one off) has been a little slow again
don't want to have to keep switching wireless channels everyweek!  maybe a firewall/AV is what i need?))

[Ted2]

also, out of intrest.. in the bottom right of posts it says the IP that's logged? the one shown is not my IP at all, mines completely diferent to that one lol

[Zylstra]

also, out of intrest.. in the bottom right of posts it says the IP that's logged? the one shown is not my IP at all, mines completely diferent to that one lol

Your IP Address might change by itself, other than that, it is in fact the address that the forums are sending information to and from.


As for Firewall:
Personally, I Believe in Windows Firewall. Its more intergrated than any other firewall you are ever going to find, its directly inside the operating system. A lot of users dont like Windows Firewall since you dont "See it working"
It only prompts you when there is a direct connection, and it doesnt tell you when the most random non-threatening items have appeared on your network. Basically, it doesnt tell you about every single little friggin program that trys to get a  connection, which, is a good thing, since that many popups and warnings decreases productivity. It blocks the ports that need blocking, lets the ones that need allowance in.


EDIT:
Not to mention, resource wise, Windows Firewall is low on memory consumption and system resources. Other firewalls, like ZoneAlarm, use a lot.
Also, Windows Firewall is constantly updated without subscriptions, its part of Windows. Things like ZoneAlarm, you have to worry about keeping updated. And, didnt they end their free version?

[Ted2]

ZoneAlarm is no longer free? you tell me lol

basicaly i have a slowconnection tonight.. if it still persists tomorow, i'll get Avast to see if i hav somehow picked up something nasty.
possibly my ISP (Orange) is having a bad time tonight.
or i need to reconfigure my wireless settings again. (hope not)
it's funny, i don't really know what help i am asking for.  but there is something wrong going on, i know that for sure.

just wondering if i should get Avast, despite me not using this computer for downloads/surfing.
i am sure there is something wrong here though.. will post again if there is a problem tomorow

[Zylstra]

If a computer has no connection to any sort of external files, including CD's that are made by other people and USB flash drives, there is no need to get AV protection, unless you are an evil virus programmer who makes them and infects themselves frequently.

Sometimes ISP's can have slow days, thats for sure.

[cwayneu]

You might try installing and running IOBit's Advanced SystemCare utility I mentioned before. It is not an AV or Firewall, but an adware, registry, disk defragger, memory mgt. utility. I was amazed at how many problems it found and fixed on the first scans of my systems. This tuneup might help you a little bit.

Just pick any download site listed in the middle column and wait for the dialog box to pop up.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5927

Good luck.

[Kip]

ZoneAlarm still has a free version of their firewall.  Link