Help choosing free anti-virus software

Spilchy

Spilchy

New member
I am looking for a FREE anti-virus program that can scan e-mail in Outlook Express as a feature.



Basically, I have reformatted an old Compaq with Win2000 Pro, downloaded all the updates and it works and runs like a champ - fast enough to handle the MS Office work, Internet surfing and e-mailing it will only be used for.



But, I only have the Norton Internet Security suite and I know it will completely bog down the system taking it over. I have loaded a couple of freeware programs for a firewall and to prevent spyware, etc...



So I am looking at either:



Avast http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html



OR



AVG http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/



Anyone have any experience with these? Any other recommendations?



My main concerns are not bogging down the system and e-mail scanning for incoming and outgoing e-mails. These two things need to be addressed.



Thanks for any help fellas! :xyxthumbs
 
been using avast about a year now without any problems

doesnt seem to slow me down at all

and i like that it states that the emails are clean at the bottom on the email
 
I replaced Nortons with Avast and haven't regretted it. Nortons will really slow you down, it's unbelievable how much time it takes to boot or shut down with Nortons.
 
Thanks guys. I've heard good things about Avast and it's reassuring to read some good feedback.



This may sound dumb, but does it scan e-mail attachments too like Word documents? Also, you guys are referring to the free version, right? (since they have a pay version as well).



Thanks again!
 
I've used it aVast on several of my PC repair clintes' machines and have had no problems at all. I usually leave the AVG setup file hidden on the drive just in case, but so far so good. I was pretty impressed with the UI, too. It's pretty user friendly.
 
One more vote for Avast! I've used AVG in the past and it seemed to work fine. I got a virus that AVG could detect, but could not remove. I installed Avast and it worked.



Another nice feature about Avast is that it auto update sigs and engine upon startup. I know the older AVG did not, but I don't know if the current version does. Not too often do free software offer auto updates. That is usually reserved for their paid product.
 
I'll be the lone dissenter and say AVG. I have used both as well as Norton and McAfee, and AVG is by far my favorite. Smallest system resource "footprint" as well as very thorough. Have never had an issue with it, and now that they have fixed the auto-update feature, it automatically looks for and downloads new definitions daily. No user input needed. AVG does do email as well, don't know about Word documents automatically. I know you can right click the doc and say "scan for viruses", but I dont know if it automatically does it.



You also might want to look into Sunbelt/Kerio personal firewall. Has a free 30 day trial of "full" version, after which it goes to limited, but the limited works perfect, has almost no resource usage, and works amazingly well. Hope this helps.



Edit: Just throught of this, if you're using Win2k, you can set up different user accounts. I would recommend setting one up with absolutely NO privileges whatsoever. Basically, you can't install new software of any kind while using this user. Any new software must be added by the Admin user, which is no problem since it's you anyway. Basically, if you run as the limited user all the time, since you can't install anything, any virus you get can't install anything either. This will basically make 95% of virust threats not even relevant since they can't install. This is by far the best thing you can do for virus protection IMO. I have done this in the past and makes life soooo much easier. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks Prometheus about the user account! I'll have to do that (I think I remember how).



I guess it's a toss up between the two. My main concern is not using a ton of resources, automatic downloads and e-mail / attachment scanning. Basic idiot proof anti-virus - I'm setting this up for someone.
 
Spilchy said:
I guess it's a toss up between the two. My main concern is not using a ton of resources, automatic downloads and e-mail / attachment scanning. Basic idiot proof anti-virus - I'm setting this up for someone.
Click to expand...



Then it sounds like AVG is perfect for you :bigups
 
I go with AVG, IMO it's a more of a set-it-and-forget-it antivirus. I have mine to scan every other day at 8am, if the PC isn't on at 8am, it does it the next time. Really easy, and even when it scans it doesnt suck a ton of resources. That's what I'd do.
 
I use AVG and have set up Avast on another person's computer. One difference is definitely the interface. Avast will remind you of Winamp or Media player and it can be a bit awkward to run. I chose AVG because it's a smaller footprint and is almost as effective as my McAfee7 was.
 
I run AVG, and really like it. Simple set it and forget it prog, and uses very little resources. I never noticed any performance issues with it, as compared to say Norton. Never get any annoying spam/email with it...it's just a straight forward virus prog that works really well, for what you pay for it. ;)
 
Thanks guys! I loaded AVG, ran the updates and it works beautifully. I rebooted the system, and timed the startup once I reached the desktop and noticed no slow down.





Tidbit:



I also deleted "Adobe Speed Reader Launch" from the startup folder which speeded things up a bit. If you guys want to launch Acrobat Reader super fast, then try adjusting it to these settings - it opens in less than a second: http://blogs.msdn.com/jonathanh/archive/2004/12/22/330288.aspx
 
I can recommend a related security product called Green Border which is a very effective spyware isolator that just came out. It essentially creates a protected part of the hard drive for Internet Explorer browsing. Works very well so far.
 
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