Which free antivirus to choose?

"Harbinger" <me.DeleteThis@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:bo81dp$1ah43q$1@ID-99513.news.uni-berlin.de...
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I am looking for a free antivirus for a PC running Windows XP Pro.
> Till now, I have found Avast Home Edition, H+BEDV Antivir and
> Grisoft's AVG. I have used AVG in the past, and I am not too happy
> with the level of protection it offers, so I guess I must choose
> between the first two or a different one I don't know about yet.
>
> What would the people in a.c.a-v recommend?
>
> Cheers

If you are determined to stick with free stuff, stick with Avast. A couple
of questions, though: Was your XP Pro system free?
No? Is the data on it worth anything at all to you? Yes? What about your
time? Shitty AV products and malware can cause corruption to your data
as well as cause you to waste time cleaning up their mess. Think about it.

optikl

"Freeware; it's a gift, not an entitlement".
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose? 

"optikl" <optikl DeleteThis @comcast.spamtrap(remove).net> wrote in message
news:JNMpb.103265$Tr4.279402@attbi_s03...
>
> "Harbinger" <me DeleteThis @privacy.net> wrote in message
> news:bo81dp$1ah43q$1@ID-99513.news.uni-berlin.de...
> >
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am looking for a free antivirus for a PC running Windows XP Pro.
> > Till now, I have found Avast Home Edition, H+BEDV Antivir and
> > Grisoft's AVG. I have used AVG in the past, and I am not too happy
> > with the level of protection it offers, so I guess I must choose
> > between the first two or a different one I don't know about yet.
> >
> > What would the people in a.c.a-v recommend?
> >
> > Cheers
>
> If you are determined to stick with free stuff, stick with Avast. A couple
> of questions, though: Was your XP Pro system free?
> No? Is the data on it worth anything at all to you? Yes? What about your
> time? Shitty AV products and malware can cause corruption to your data
> as well as cause you to waste time cleaning up their mess. Think about it.
>

Despite the comments above, I've found absolutely nothing 'shitty' about
Avast Home Edition. Any suggestion that Avast is malware is ridiculous.
They have written a full featured Pro edition that can compete with anything
else on the market, and they're free Home Edition uses the same engine as
the Pro. They've just removed some of the more exotic features of the Pro
version.

I used AVG for quite a while but the programming effort did seem a bit
second-drawer. Since using Avast, I heartily approve of their product and
think it is excellently written and has worked perfectly and trapped all
viruses that have come through my e-mail. It also appears they have a
functional repair facility (which was sadly lacking or at minimum barely
functional in AVG.) All of their updates are incremental, so you only have
to download (which is fully automatic, even with dial-up) files in the 10s
of KB, not multi-MB.

I've also used Norton, PC-Cillin and Mcafee, and all three are bloatware
that all end up slowing down your system and being a big headache.

If you don't want to pay, Avast is the way, IMHO and I think it's better
than lots of expensive products. From their website: "Home edition is a
full-featured antivirus package designed for home usage. Our company offers
Home Edition free of charge, since in our opinion, it is possible to avoid
global virus spreading by efficient prevention. However, many user are not
able or do not want to pay for antivirus software. "

Gregg C.
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose? 

"Gregg Cattanach" <gcattanach-SKIP-.RemoveThis@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:BAQpb.24882$E51.16989@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
<snip>
> If you are determined to stick with free stuff, stick with Avast. A
couple
> > of questions, though: Was your XP Pro system free?
> > No? Is the data on it worth anything at all to you? Yes? What about your
> > time? Shitty AV products and malware can cause corruption to your data
> > as well as cause you to waste time cleaning up their mess. Think about
it.
> >
>
> Despite the comments above, I've found absolutely nothing 'shitty' about
> Avast Home Edition. Any suggestion that Avast is malware is ridiculous.
> They have written a full featured Pro edition that can compete with
anything
> else on the market, and they're free Home Edition uses the same engine as
> the Pro. They've just removed some of the more exotic features of the Pro
> version.
>
> I used AVG for quite a while but the programming effort did seem a bit
> second-drawer. Since using Avast, I heartily approve of their product and
> think it is excellently written and has worked perfectly and trapped all
> viruses that have come through my e-mail. It also appears they have a
> functional repair facility (which was sadly lacking or at minimum barely
> functional in AVG.) All of their updates are incremental, so you only
have
> to download (which is fully automatic, even with dial-up) files in the 10s
> of KB, not multi-MB.
>
> I've also used Norton, PC-Cillin and Mcafee, and all three are bloatware
> that all end up slowing down your system and being a big headache.
>
> If you don't want to pay, Avast is the way, IMHO and I think it's better
> than lots of expensive products. From their website: "Home edition is a
> full-featured antivirus package designed for home usage. Our company
offers
> Home Edition free of charge, since in our opinion, it is possible to avoid
> global virus spreading by efficient prevention. However, many user are not
> able or do not want to pay for antivirus software. "
>
> Gregg C.

Avast has 3 registration pages. Page 1 is name/address/e-mail, which has
to be entered before access to pages 2 and 3. I'd rather not fill out page 1
until I know what is required on pages 2 and 3. Do you know what other info
is required on pages 2 and 3?
tia,
rt
>
>
>
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose? 

In article <BAQpb.24882$E51.16989@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com>,
gcattanach-SKIP-.TakeThisOut@prodigy.net says...

> If you don't want to pay, Avast is the way, IMHO and I think it's better
> than lots of expensive products.
>

Gregg,

thanks for your answer; it has certainly given the reassurance I
needed to use Avast Home instead of renewing the license of NAV.
Considering that in these parts a software license can and will
cost two to three times as it does in the US after taxes, budget
considerations must drive all purchases.[1]

[1] E.g., you can buy Office 2003 Pro for about US$600 after sales
tax in the US, same package here costs about US$1100 *before* sales
tax, and we are talking a percentage in the high teens...
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose? 

"Gregg Cattanach" <gcattanach-SKIP- RemoveThis @prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:BAQpb.24882$E51.16989@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
<snip>
> If you are determined to stick with free stuff, stick with Avast. A
couple
> > of questions, though: Was your XP Pro system free?
> > No? Is the data on it worth anything at all to you? Yes? What about your
> > time? Shitty AV products and malware can cause corruption to your data
> > as well as cause you to waste time cleaning up their mess. Think about
it.
> >
>
> Despite the comments above, I've found absolutely nothing 'shitty' about
> Avast Home Edition. Any suggestion that Avast is malware is ridiculous.
> They have written a full featured Pro edition that can compete with
anything
> else on the market, and they're free Home Edition uses the same engine as
> the Pro. They've just removed some of the more exotic features of the Pro
> version.
>
> I used AVG for quite a while but the programming effort did seem a bit
> second-drawer. Since using Avast, I heartily approve of their product and
> think it is excellently written and has worked perfectly and trapped all
> viruses that have come through my e-mail. It also appears they have a
> functional repair facility (which was sadly lacking or at minimum barely
> functional in AVG.) All of their updates are incremental, so you only
have
> to download (which is fully automatic, even with dial-up) files in the 10s
> of KB, not multi-MB.
>
> I've also used Norton, PC-Cillin and Mcafee, and all three are bloatware
> that all end up slowing down your system and being a big headache.
>
> If you don't want to pay, Avast is the way, IMHO and I think it's better
> than lots of expensive products. From their website: "Home edition is a
> full-featured antivirus package designed for home usage. Our company
offers
> Home Edition free of charge, since in our opinion, it is possible to avoid
> global virus spreading by efficient prevention. However, many user are not
> able or do not want to pay for antivirus software. "
>
> Gregg C.

Avast has 3 registration pages. Page 1 is name/address/e-mail, which has
to be entered before access to pages 2 and 3. I'd rather not fill out page 1
until I know what is required on pages 2 and 3. Do you know what other info
is required on pages 2 and 3?
tia,
rt
>
>
>
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose? 

"rt" <rt RemoveThis @rt.com> wrote in message news:vqfqlsh0iva53d@corp.supernews.com...
>
>
> Avast has 3 registration pages. Page 1 is name/address/e-mail, which has
> to be entered before access to pages 2 and 3. I'd rather not fill out page
1
> until I know what is required on pages 2 and 3. Do you know what other
info
> is required on pages 2 and 3?
> tia,
> rt
> >

I don't specifically remember, but it wasn't anything especially nosey, and
I don't recall being worried about giving up a bunch of personal
information. I'm sure it's really no problem.

Gregg C.
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose? 

Have used Avast for about 6 months on XP Home, it has behaved and caught the
odd Swen that gets through Mailwasher with no problems.

As for the paying for software against the Free argument, I run Norton
Corporate Edition on a W2k Server at work looking after a few dozen
machines, it needs handholding from time to time, the updates are large,
sometimes I have to force network updating to clients, but it does work.

Is it that much better than the Free AV programs, if it was we would all be
using it, and this thread would be pointless. Sorry for the rant feel a lot
better now and answered my own message in one go.

Andy B

"Harbinger" <me.TakeThisOut@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:bo8qhu$1b7pub$1@ID-99513.news.uni-berlin.de...
> In article <BAQpb.24882$E51.16989@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com>,
> gcattanach-SKIP-.TakeThisOut@prodigy.net says...
>
> > If you don't want to pay, Avast is the way, IMHO and I think it's better
> > than lots of expensive products.
> >
>
> Gregg,
>
> thanks for your answer; it has certainly given the reassurance I
> needed to use Avast Home instead of renewing the license of NAV.
> Considering that in these parts a software license can and will
> cost two to three times as it does in the US after taxes, budget
> considerations must drive all purchases.[1]
>
> [1] E.g., you can buy Office 2003 Pro for about US$600 after sales
> tax in the US, same package here costs about US$1100 *before* sales
> tax, and we are talking a percentage in the high teens...
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose? 

"Gregg Cattanach" <gcattanach-SKIP- RemoveThis @prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:BAQpb.24882$E51.16989@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> "optikl" <optikl RemoveThis @comcast.spamtrap(remove).net> wrote in message
> news:JNMpb.103265$Tr4.279402@attbi_s03...
> >
> > If you are determined to stick with free stuff, stick with Avast. A
couple
> > of questions, though: Was your XP Pro system free?
> > No? Is the data on it worth anything at all to you? Yes? What about your
> > time? Shitty AV products and malware can cause corruption to your data
> > as well as cause you to waste time cleaning up their mess. Think about
it.
> >
>
> Despite the comments above, I've found absolutely nothing 'shitty' about
> Avast Home Edition. Any suggestion that Avast is malware is ridiculous.

I never suggested Avast was malware. Reread what I wrote. " Shitty AV
products AND malware can cause corruption..." I do think it's sort of a
shitty, buggy, product. And yes, I've trialed it.
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose? 

"Gregg Cattanach" <gcattanach-SKIP-.RemoveThis@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:BAQpb.24882$E51.16989@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> "optikl" <optikl.RemoveThis@comcast.spamtrap(remove).net> wrote in message
> news:JNMpb.103265$Tr4.279402@attbi_s03...
> >
> > If you are determined to stick with free stuff, stick with Avast. A
couple
> > of questions, though: Was your XP Pro system free?
> > No? Is the data on it worth anything at all to you? Yes? What about your
> > time? Shitty AV products and malware can cause corruption to your data
> > as well as cause you to waste time cleaning up their mess. Think about
it.
> >
>
> Despite the comments above, I've found absolutely nothing 'shitty' about
> Avast Home Edition. Any suggestion that Avast is malware is ridiculous.

I never suggested Avast was malware. Reread what I wrote. " Shitty AV
products AND malware can cause corruption..." I do think it's sort of a
shitty, buggy, product. And yes, I've trialed it.
 >> Stay informed about: Which free antivirus to choose?