Best Free Anti-Virus Solution

"n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash.RemoveThis@mailshell.com> wrote in message
news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
> resources?

Look for the free "Security Update CD-ROM" on microsoft.com . It is
actually 2 CDs, the second being eTrust EZ Antivirus. That's a great
program if you have only one machine.
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jbrock RemoveThis @panix.com (John Brock) wrote in
news:c5mbqf$e5c$1@panix2.panix.com:

> Still, if AVG6 is much lighter than Avast! it
> might be more appropriate here.

Avast uses a lot of memory - here's a comparison I made recently:
[figures reported by Windows Task Manager in Windows XP SP1]

Avast!
Image Name Mem Usage
ashServ.exe 17,096K
aswUpdSv.exe 236K
ashMailSv.exe 1,052K
ashDisp.exe 6,816K
pctspk.exe 2,484K
Total 27,684K

AVG6
Image Name Mem Usage
avgcc32.exe 1,280K
avgserv.exe 140K
Total 1,420K


The two things that bothered me
> in reading about AVG6 were 1) updates don't seem to be working
> right recently...

Manually downloaded updates remained available throughout. AVG6
automatic updates have been working OK for the last week or so.

> ...and 2) it detects viruses but doesn't disinfect.

The AVG6 resident checker only detects, you need to run the
on-demand scanner to disinfect.
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"Euclid" <Euclid RemoveThis @mmiv.nu> wrote in message
news:TRufc.7397$l75.6015@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> "Jan Il" <abuse RemoveThis @localhost.com> wrote in message
> news:SOqfc.3091$Yf6.1159@fed1read07...
>
> "n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash RemoveThis @mailshell.com> wrote in message
> news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> > What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
> > resources?
>
> I used to use ZoneAlarm but the last version caused a lot of unwanted
popup
> queries (what do you want to do?) which I could never get rid of. It had
to
> do with Generic Host Process on Windows XP, among other processes. Did
they
> ever fix that?
>
>
There's nothing to fix - it's designed to work like that. Zone Alarm is a
firewall that monitors both inbound and outbound traffic. If it detects an
inbound attack it will pop up an alert box telling you it's stopped an
intruder. If it detects a program or process that is trying to gain access
to the internet, it tells you about it and you then have to decide whether
or not to let it through.

Generic Host Process for Win32 Services is a part of Windows and has
legitimate needs to access the internet, so in that instance you would tell
ZA to let it access the internet and to remember your choice so that it
doesn't have to keep asking you. Lots of other processes and programs will
also ask and if you don't know exactly what you're doing, it's very easy to
make the wrong choice sometimes.

Mogweed.
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In news:SOqfc.3091$Yf6.1159@fed1read07,
Jan Il <abuse.DeleteThis@localhost.com> typed:
> I use both......have for over a year and never had a virus on my
> system.
>
> Oh yes..it's a good idea to have a good on-demand back up AV as well.
> I use F-Prot.

I didn't follow it. How can I use F-Prot along with AVG to protect the
computer. I shall appreciate receiving your input or please suggest me a
url that illustrates it.


Thanx

--�
nsp
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In news:pLvfc.42518$wP1.194907@attbi_s54,
William W. Plummer <William.PlummerXNOSPAMX DeleteThis @alum.mit.edu> typed:
> "n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash DeleteThis @mailshell.com> wrote in message
> news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
>> What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
>> resources?
>
> Look for the free "Security Update CD-ROM" on microsoft.com . It is
> actually 2 CDs, the second being eTrust EZ Antivirus. That's a great
> program if you have only one machine.

Is it possible to download?

--�
nsp
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"n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash.DeleteThis@mailshell.com> wrote in message
news:c5n3gi$3ojsr$2@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> In news:pLvfc.42518$wP1.194907@attbi_s54,
> William W. Plummer <William.PlummerXNOSPAMX.DeleteThis@alum.mit.edu> typed:
> > "n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash.DeleteThis@mailshell.com> wrote in message
> > news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> >> What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
> >> resources?
> >
> > Look for the free "Security Update CD-ROM" on microsoft.com . It is
> > actually 2 CDs, the second being eTrust EZ Antivirus. That's a great
> > program if you have only one machine.
>
> Is it possible to download?

Check with Microsoft.
 >> Stay informed about: Best Free Anti-Virus Solution 

"Mogweed" <mogweedTWOTHOUSAND.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c5mi4j$lo5$1@titan.btinternet.com...

"Euclid" <Euclid.TakeThisOut@mmiv.nu> wrote in message
news:TRufc.7397$l75.6015@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> "Jan Il" <abuse.TakeThisOut@localhost.com> wrote in message
> news:SOqfc.3091$Yf6.1159@fed1read07...
>
> "n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash.TakeThisOut@mailshell.com> wrote in message
> news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> > What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
> > resources?
>
> I used to use ZoneAlarm but the last version caused a lot of unwanted
popup
> queries (what do you want to do?) which I could never get rid of. It had
to
> do with Generic Host Process on Windows XP, among other processes. Did
they
> ever fix that?
>
>
There's nothing to fix - it's designed to work like that. Zone Alarm is a
firewall that monitors both inbound and outbound traffic. If it detects an
inbound attack it will pop up an alert box telling you it's stopped an
intruder. If it detects a program or process that is trying to gain access
to the internet, it tells you about it and you then have to decide whether
or not to let it through.

Generic Host Process for Win32 Services is a part of Windows and has
legitimate needs to access the internet, so in that instance you would tell
ZA to let it access the internet and to remember your choice so that it
doesn't have to keep asking you. Lots of other processes and programs will
also ask and if you don't know exactly what you're doing, it's very easy to
make the wrong choice sometimes.

Mogweed.
_______________________________

Thanks for the info. I decided to reinstall ZoneAlarm, and I prefer it
except for the Generic Host Process popup. I denied that process access,
permanently, and so far haven't noticed anything bad happening. That's not
what you advise, so I must be missing something as a result, but I have no
idea what...

That Generic Host Process thing is not a reasonably query for the average
person, nor even those with some technical savvy. I have absolutely no idea
what it does, nor do 99% of other people. They need to fix that, otherwise
I'm happy with ZoneAlarm again (so far).

I suppose I'll just have to put up with their 15 days of popups (everytime I
restart my computer), asking me if I want to buy ZoneAlarm Pro, but then
hopefully that popup will stop too. They indicated that there was an easy
way to turn that off, in their faqs before I downloaded/selected it, but I
can't find any such option.
-E
 >> Stay informed about: Best Free Anti-Virus Solution 

In news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de,
n o s p a m p l e a s e <trash.DeleteThis@mailshell.com> typed:
> What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
> resources?
>
> --�
> nsp

I use Avast on a 233 w/128ram win98se and have had no problems with it.It
scans e-mail as it comes in as opposed to AVG
For firewall I use Sygate -was fairly easy to set up
Also you may want to consider a filter for e-mail and don't forget about
spyware!
-max

--
This message is virus free as far I can tell
Change nomail.afraid.org to hotmail.com so you can reply
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in Usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)
 >> Stay informed about: Best Free Anti-Virus Solution 

Euclid wrote:
[snip]
> Thanks for the info. I decided to reinstall ZoneAlarm, and I prefer it
> except for the Generic Host Process popup. I denied that process access,
> permanently, and so far haven't noticed anything bad happening. That's not
> what you advise, so I must be missing something as a result, but I have no
> idea what...

the point of the feature perhaps?

> That Generic Host Process thing is not a reasonably query for the average
> person, nor even those with some technical savvy. I have absolutely no idea
> what it does, nor do 99% of other people.

nor does zonealarm... nor can it... generic host process is a generic
host for services - many services... not even necessarily just ones
that come with windows...

> They need to fix that, otherwise
> I'm happy with ZoneAlarm again (so far).

as stated elsewhere, there's nothing to fix... zone alarm is asking you
if that process should be given access to the internet - it can't make
that decision for you because it doesn't know what that process is
doing and doesn't know if you want that process to do what it's
doing... and there's no way for it to know those things...

--
"we're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die
the first ones in line for that pie in the sky
and we're always the last when the cream is shared out
for the worker is working when the fat cat's about"
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"n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash.TakeThisOut@mailshell.com> wrote in message
news:c5n3gh$3ojsr$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> In news:SOqfc.3091$Yf6.1159@fed1read07,
> Jan Il <abuse.TakeThisOut@localhost.com> typed:
> > I use both......have for over a year and never had a virus on my
> > system.
> >
> > Oh yes..it's a good idea to have a good on-demand back up AV as well.
> > I use F-Prot.
>
> I didn't follow it. How can I use F-Prot along with AVG to protect the
> computer. I shall appreciate receiving your input or please suggest me a
> url that illustrates it.

F-Prot is a backup AV, it does not run 'with' AVG6, or any other active AV.
AVG6 works within windows, and it is an active AV, meaning, it is running
all the time. F-Prot works from DOS, and it only runs when you start it
manually, from DOS.

The I keep it for 3 reasons, basically; 1) since it runs from DOS, it may
detect files that the AV (and AV) may not from within Windows. 2) It may
detect files that the other AV may not (any AV). 3) If for some reason, I am
not able to access my AVG6 because a virus has disabled it, I can run F-Prot
from DOS. That is why it is called a 'backup' AV.

HTH

Jan
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"n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash.DeleteThis@mailshell.com> wrote in message
news:c5n3gi$3ojsr$2@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> In news:pLvfc.42518$wP1.194907@attbi_s54,
> William W. Plummer <William.PlummerXNOSPAMX.DeleteThis@alum.mit.edu> typed:
> > "n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash.DeleteThis@mailshell.com> wrote in message
> > news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> >> What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
> >> resources?
> >
> > Look for the free "Security Update CD-ROM" on microsoft.com . It is
> > actually 2 CDs, the second being eTrust EZ Antivirus. That's a great
> > program if you have only one machine.
>
> Is it possible to download?

If you already have all the critical updates installed, then you don't need
the Security Update CD. It is bacilli for those who have not, or in some
cases, can not, install all the critical updates already available on the MS
Update website. However, beware, the e-Trust EZ Antivirus and Firewall CD
included with the Update CD is only a *trial offer*. And, it is not
supported by Microsoft.

Jan
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"William W. Plummer" <William.PlummerXNOSPAMX RemoveThis @alum.mit.edu> wrote in message
news:pLvfc.42518$wP1.194907@attbi_s54...
>
> "n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash RemoveThis @mailshell.com> wrote in message
> news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> > What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
> > resources?
>
> Look for the free "Security Update CD-ROM" on microsoft.com . It is
> actually 2 CDs, the second being eTrust EZ Antivirus. That's a great
> program if you have only one machine.
>

I don't know if you are aware or not, but, the eTurst EZ Antivirus and
Firewall program is a trial offer only, and not supported my Microsoft.

Jan
>
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"Jan Il" <abuse DeleteThis @localhost.com> wrote in message
news:PL_fc.11266$Yf6.6105@fed1read07...
> "William W. Plummer" <William.PlummerXNOSPAMX DeleteThis @alum.mit.edu> wrote in
message
> news:pLvfc.42518$wP1.194907@attbi_s54...
> >
> > "n o s p a m p l e a s e" <trash DeleteThis @mailshell.com> wrote in message
> > news:c5l7f0$2tisd$1@ID-115031.news.uni-berlin.de...
> > > What is the best but free antivirus solution for a desktop having low
> > > resources?
> >
> > Look for the free "Security Update CD-ROM" on microsoft.com . It is
> > actually 2 CDs, the second being eTrust EZ Antivirus. That's a great
> > program if you have only one machine.
> >
>
> I don't know if you are aware or not, but, the eTurst EZ Antivirus and
> Firewall program is a trial offer only, and not supported my Microsoft.


True. It's a 1 year trial period for free. Then, I believe it is $9.95
(or is it upto $14.95) per year.
I believe the firewall Microsoft supplies is Zone Alarm.

To me, having Microsoft behind it lends credibilty. That just feels warm
and fuzzy compared to an unknown product from a foreign country. And, if
push comes to shove, you know who to serve when you sue Microsoft.
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