Had a look at AVG... is the Free package enough for me? I always think if its free you aint going to get much? Is it just being a 'meanie' not to pay out for the full package. If I do I get: Anti Spyware (is that likely for a home user? Can people really look over your shoulder when I'm on line only say an hour or so a day, at fairly random times (though every evening between 5 and 6-30) Anti Spam... tried this once, forget what program, but it was so much trouble to set up the filters it wasn't worth the effort Firewall. How does this difffer from Anti Spyware thanks for advice
Just because it's free doesn't mean it's of low quality. The Linux OS is completely free, yet runs most of the internet. I use AVG Free myself on my laptop, and it seems to be fine. Granted I've never really had a virus problem (that I know of) but the rare occasion it has to deal with something it usually does. Anti-spyware is recommended on a Windows system, to be run occasionally. Anti-spam is not essential. Firewall software is recommended for Windows because it effectively controls what network data goes in and out of your PC. Whether it's crackers trying to probe your PC or worms trying to find open ports to get in. Firewalls also control what goes out, so if you don't trust what a certain program is doing then you can block it from having internet access.
yeah, I always thought AVG did the job nicely. All my windows security stuff was the free stuff and I didnt ever have any issues. AVG, ZoneAlarm, Spybot and ad-aware.
I had a look at my Virgin Media Size L account to what comes with it. Seems I get Firewall, AV, A Spyware, A Theft and more so it should be enough. Presumably if I add other AV it will only use up overheads and slow things. I did run SpyBot and it did find a coupla hundred infections, so is this just because its more effective than the Virgin included protection? Or does it just flag things that really are low level and not haiving an effect anyway?
Its probably picking up more stuff than the virgin software because its going to be better. Id imagine virgin just give you something to keep your mind at rest tbh! Having two AV running in the background will slow things down for you but if you really do want two pieces of software covering AV then you could of course let one do the realtime work and keep the other one closed until you want to use it to scan your drives. To be honest though its actually quite rare to have issues with viruses, its spyware which is the real infestation.
i run AVG free 7.5 you can't go wrong i suggest get a free firewall to go along with it, but thats optional anti-spyware, come on man, be smart, you can download free ones spybot search & destroy, Ad-Aware SE, Abexo Reg Cleaner, so on & so forth AVG will warn you that u have a virus, and will give u an option to heal it, if it can't be healed it will move to the virus vault however, some .exe that aren't viruses are read as viruses to AVG
I run AVG 7.5 on both my PC's and use my modem/router for firewalling. Saying that, I did have an infection, not under AVG, but when I tried to install AVG to get rid of the virus, the AVG.exe got infected. I ended up having to wipe my HDD and start afresh. Since then I use AVG and had no problems what-so- ever. For adware/spyware, I use Spyware Terminator.
Decided, after all the good advice, to go with AVG free and Windows Defender. This coupled with the protection from my ISP and Windows itself I hope will be enough. I try to keep things simple and more of these security products may clash and will just confuse me. Went against a Reg Cleaner as there is a lot of bad press, as well as good, around for all of them. I always create a Sys Restore point and use this to get rid of tried progs. Hopefully this puts the Reg back as it was. I will try this sometime by manually looking before and after. Anyway does it really slow a mch that much? For a normal home PC I tend to think not. There are a lot of entries but seemingly not much data. It cant take a fast setup long to scan and miss unused entries. My view is that I will do without it and do a clean install as and when (normally about 12 to 18 months).
You better get a firewall , AV and a good firewall should be a the top of anyone's list to install... I know its the first thing I install on all my pc's..
Well, it seems to me that I have two already: one is with Virgin Total Guard and the other in windows XP. Why is that not enough? thanks
I did create a Sys Restore point and used this to get rid of a tried programme. Took a snap shot of the Registry settings before and after doing the Restore and it does indeed delete all Registry entries. Nice for me to know.
I use Spyware and AVG Free myself on my computer. It seems to be fine. I never had a virus problem... but Anti-spyware is recommended on system, to be run occasionally...