PC Anti-Virus Software

I've been using AVG Free for about a year. Until recently it performed well. After I installed the 2011 upgrade it stopped working and I could not repair it.

So I did a quick Google search for another free package and Microsoft Security Essentials came up on the top of the list.

What virus software do you use and would you recommend it? What is good and bad about it?

I've been using Avast Home Edition for 5+ years on all my home PC's. It's worked extremely well for me during that time, only problem I've ever had was around a year or two ago it reported a false positive which ended up being a system file and required a Windows reinstall to fix. It had happened right after a Windows update and ended up being a much publicized screw up on Avast's part. It only happened on one PC out of 5 for me, so it wasn't a huge pain.

I GREATLY prefer it to Norton and McAfee....god those 2 are the absolute WORST and even worse to get rid off your PC.

i haven't used Virus protection in years. Somehow i believe the software itself attracts virus's. What i do use is Security Task manager that

ecurity Task Manager provides advanced information about programs and processes running on the computer. For each process it shows the following information not shown in Windows Task Manger:

file name and directory path

security risk rating
description
start time
CPU usage graph
program icon
contained hidden functions
(keyboard monitoring, Browser supervision, manipulation)
process type
(visible window, systray program, DLL, IE-Plugin, service)

The Security Task Manager also recognizes virtual driver software, services, BHO or processes hidden from the Windows Task Manager.


In the end, Msft should have a one button restore of the operating System .

avast!

is what I use

works great, less filling but holy mudder of jesus....the first time it does a virus database update in the middle of the night while you are working and you hear that thundering

"YOUR VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED"

scares that crap right out of you.

Deank wrote:avast!

is what I use

works great, less filling but holy mudder of jesus....the first time it does a virus database update in the middle of the night while you are working and you hear that thundering

"YOUR VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED"

scares that crap right out of you.

Yeah, it's even scarier if the middle of the night, when you are almost completely asleep...

A friend of mine uses Ubuntu Linux on his laptop for years and doesn't use anti-virus software at all. No infections.

Only because virus programmers are for the most part lazy and are targeting a wider audience then the 42 people who use that operating system.

Deank wrote:Only because virus programmers are for the most part lazy and are targeting a wider audience then the 42 people who use that operating system.

LOL - Too true!

I use AVG, have done so for over 10 years now....have it installed on all the PC's my family thinks I support.

I tested Avast for a while, but AVG has always been my default (again, mostly due to a 10 year and so far successful run with the free product)

Microsoft's Securty Suite has gotten lots of good reviews and complimetns. The only issue I have with that is I extra scrutinize anything Microsoft related....MS Fanboys are as blindly-dedicated as Apple Fanboys...not sure which is worse. lol

Neuber software ...watch your task manager for programs running quietly under the radar.

Have ya installed AVG2011 yet JT Estoban? Until I did I too had no issues in my limited time using that product.

JT Estoban wrote:

Deank wrote:Only because virus programmers are for the most part lazy and are targeting a wider audience then the 42 people who use that operating system.

LOL - Too true!

I use AVG, have done so for over 10 years now....have it installed on all the PC's my family thinks I support.

I tested Avast for a while, but AVG has always been my default (again, mostly due to a 10 year and so far successful run with the free product)

Microsoft's Securty Suite has gotten lots of good reviews and complimetns. The only issue I have with that is I extra scrutinize anything Microsoft related....MS Fanboys are as blindly-dedicated as Apple Fanboys...not sure which is worse. lol

heh. .spent the weekend fixing my cousins laptop for him. He had one (okay 11) of those nice and nasty viruses that redirect all your searches and redirect all your windows software from updates and prevent your antivirus from running.

He had the new MS suite one on there. However, Once I cleaned up the 11 and rebooted, the MS suite was nice enough to detect 1 that I missed.

I've so far installed it on my home PC and laptop, as well as a family memeber's PC who I was doing some unrelated work on, and the update popped up, figured I'd do it while I was already there (and not have to come back right away!). My wife has installed it on her work PC as well. (That's one PC running WindowsXP, Laptop running Windows7 and a family PC running Windows Vista)

So far I can't say I've had any issues....it's got a few more bells and whistles than last year, but other than that....

What kids of issues are you having GOM? I sucessfully upgraded the previous versions running on the above PC's...did your upgrade fail? Or did it complete and now the product doesn't work?

I tell ya, try that enhaned Task manager ....you'll be amazed whats running and your virus detect doesn't know. I think you can even try it for free.

I think they even hae qa registry change app. Detects and stops before changes are made.

....I just monitor my processes and tasks using Windows Task Manager....works great and is free! ;-)

JT Estoban wrote:What kids of issues are you having GOM? I sucessfully upgraded the previous versions running on the above PC's...did your upgrade fail? Or did it complete and now the product doesn't work?

It did not work. It appeared to be but when I asked it to scan a file or scan the whole PC simply nothing happened.

I tried the repair step. Nothing. I downloaded the file again and reinstalled it. Nothing. Bizarre.

I have uninstalled it and I have temporarily installed the Microsoft product to protect me for now until I decide what avenue I'll follow.

Windows task manager doesn't quite do what teis enhanced task manager does. What you see in windows isn't whats really running. But, oh well, i've tipped you on it. Basta pasta for me.

Livio Ciaralli wrote:Windows task manager doesn't quite do what teis enhanced task manager does. What you see in windows isn't whats really running. But, oh well, i've tipped you on it. Basta pasta for me.

lol, no worries...I'm in the process of downloading and evaluating it @ work. Why risk infecting one of my home machines. :-)

grumpy old man wrote:It did not work. It appeared to be but when I asked it to scan a file or scan the whole PC simply nothing happened.

I tried the repair step. Nothing. I downloaded the file again and reinstalled it. Nothing. Bizarre.

I have uninstalled it and I have temporarily installed the Microsoft product to protect me for now until I decide what avenue I'll follow.

So, it's just not scanning when you initiate a scan?
I've been looking this up, so far one of the users reporting the same issue as you (I suspect) has said the following: "I had the same problem. When I started scanning It appeared to be doing nothing. It was like that for awhile. When I checked back it was scanning. It was doing the first time optimize scan, It just didn't tell you that it was scanning."

The search continues...

also....others users who are running Zone Alarm are reporting the same issues as you GOM....uninstalling Zone Alarm Toolbar is a workaround.

Another issue reported is a Windows service that needs to be enabled and running:
Distributed Link Tracking Client Service must be running for most Windows configurations.
Click Start> Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services.
Right click on "Distributed Link Tracking" > Properties
Set the "Start-up type" to "Automatic"
Then click the "Start" button under "Service Status" & click "Apply" to exit. You may need to reboot to get Distributed Link Tracking Client Service started. Scanning should work once the service is started.

Also, if needed, here's a link to AVG's uninstaller program. Basically AVG's tool for removing all previous installations: http://www.avg.com/us-en/download-tools

Hope this helps....

This from the AVG Modz:

summary of possible culprits:

1) "Distributed Link Tracking Client" service is not running
- state of this service should not influence AVG scan
- users related with this will be contacted for more information (maybe related with 3rd case)

2) ZoneAlarm as possible conflict
- we are not able to induce this situation in our environment although some of you have solved the AVG scan issue with ZA uninstallation
- will be further investigated

3) Unique case on NTFS file system (very rare situation)
- we have already prepared fix, which will be part of next program updates

4) Others ...
- can be investigated as soon as 3) will be fixed.

Apologies for any inconveniences caused by this situation.

Link: http://forums.avg.com/ca-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=126791#post_126791

Livio Ciaralli wrote:Windows task manager doesn't quite do what teis enhanced task manager does. What you see in windows isn't whats really running. But, oh well, i've tipped you on it. Basta pasta for me.

Ok...I bit...and tried this.

First...I was interested on what it "detected"

But...if someone had no clue what they were doing...they could easily render their machine inoperable by assuming the detections were true problems.

The top 10 items on the list that were "high risk" are things related to Internet Explorer, and which are REQUIRED in order for it to work.

Plus...it apparently doesn't override other existing things.
For example, there's a security program on my machine at work...one of the processes I tried to turn off, and I got a "access denied" message...so it couldn't really help me .

I AM going to try it at home too...as I've been having some locking issues with Firefox recently...figure there must be something running in the background that I haven't found yet.

I've been running Kaspersky on my netbook which seems to work well. I also use the following tools which seem to help with performance:

C-Cleaner
Auslogics disk defrag
Revo Uninstaller
Disk space fan

Ages, I don't think it'll allow you to do anything before you purchase. I think i ran into the same issue.

As for rendering the machine inoperable, it tells you if its a Microsoft product.....if it doesn't, or says unkonw , i'd quarantine it as malicious.

Google and yahoo stuff also comes in as High threats, if it has no identity to those outfits, I quarantine those also. But by and large , it will capture everything that is running, with alot more detail than Windows task manager.

This is all I've used and even when viruses came in and changed my startup, I would quarantine and kill. Sometimes you had to do it in a particular order since trojans always started up when you rebooted. But , i've found it very effective and is all I've used in 10 years or so.. Next i'd want is a good Registry change blocker.( or whatever you call it )

I think i used Kapersky to get Chernobyl out of my kids machine, or some variant of it. Anyhow, no problems now

Wow JT Estoban, thanks for the effort! I've never even heard of the things referred to as problematic!

I guess I can't be too demanding of free software but if their ranking is important to them they'd make sure those issues were addressed quickly so peeps like me don't run a useless program and risking acquiring viruses.

No problemo GOM.

I agree, there's a limit to the support one can expect from free products, however anti-virus is something that needs to work, right below the operating system in priority IMO. To AVG's credit, they do have a tech support KB ware they regularly attempt to assist us non-paying customers.

At the very least there are a few things you could try, if you still can't get it to work then I'd move on to Avast or Kaspersky as an alternative.