Good free anti-virus programs

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2007-04-17 08:40pm

It's that time again!

Recommend some to use.

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-04-17 08:53pm

Unless anyone protests, i've had a pretty good experience with Spybot Search and Destroy

Edit: Ah, crap, (C:/palmface) that was stupid. Thanks for pointing it out Ace, I was pretty deep in the Flu when I wrote that.

On Anti Virus AVG is good, although panda anti virus from what i've heard is also very good, but only available in trials.

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2007-04-17 09:31pm

AVG Free is probably my first choice, though they've started enforcing a "one free license per user" thing. Second would be Avast! Home Edition -- this needs registration and reactivation every year, though there's no machine limit and registration is free.

For antispyware, Ewido Antispyware (recently acquired by AVG) does a pretty good job of identifying the bad stuff and removing most of it, though quite a bit still requires a manual kill from Safe Mode.

EDIT: URL tags were messed.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2007-04-18 12:18am

CaptHawkeye wrote:Unless anyone protests, i've had a pretty good experience with Spybot Search and Destroy

Uh, that is NOT an Anti-Virus.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2007-04-18 02:06am

You can get one year of free CA antivirus from here
Also, your ISP may offer a free AV/Security Suite application.
Mine (Insight Communications) offers free CA Internet Security Suite for their broadband subscribers.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2007-04-18 02:28am

I'm going to pose a similar question, but require that the software work on a 64-bit OS. AVG Free doesn't (I tried).

Post by **Edi** » 2007-04-18 10:06am

Avira AntiVir is VERY good. Beats the shit out of several bigger names with regard to how many things it catches and it's aggressive in hunting down shit that tries to invade your computer. Very configurable too.

A Vista edition is also going to come out-
*checks date*
-today.

http://www.avira.com
http://www.free-av.com

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2007-04-18 12:42pm

Beowulf wrote:I'm going to pose a similar question, but require that the software work on a 64-bit OS. AVG Free doesn't (I tried).

avast! Home Edition is supposed to be compatible with both XP and Vista 64-bit editions, though Itanium support is only for the paid version. At least, according to these pages.

Yokel on an Island · Post by **Yokel on an Island** » 2007-04-19 10:47am

Kaspersky

I can't find the link ATM, but it did excellently on a recent anti-virus roundup brute test.

Ah, it was the VB100 (reg needed to view), and the latest was concerning the OneCare fiasco, I think, back in Mar.

EDIT:Damn, reading comprehension issues (free)...

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2007-04-19 01:01pm

Uncommon fucking scence.

I have not used any AV in years. If you do not D/L all crap open every godamned attatched file in outlook and so on then you are safe.

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2007-04-19 02:12pm

Eh, I don't download crap all the time, I don't even download many programs. And if I do, I scan them before I open them. I don't even use Outlook.

AVG has still managed to find a few trojans that made their way onto my computer somehow (I blame the sister. She just won't listen!).

So if you happen to be the only person who uses your computer, ever, then maybe you don't need it. Otherwise, it's a good idea to have it.

I suppose it's like condoms. You don't need one if you're in a long term monogamous relationship. Unless you have enough kids already.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2007-04-19 02:27pm

My AV takes on average, no more then 1% of CPU time, most of the time, zero. At the same time, it takes up no more then 5MB of RAM.

Why should I run it? It's the same argument for not getting insurence. Sure, you're healthy and smart, why should you be hurt?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2007-04-19 04:47pm

You can still get infected even if you play it smart on the 'net (I have) so I usually keep one running for peace of mind.

Yokel on an Island · Post by **Yokel on an Island** » 2007-04-19 09:46pm

phongn wrote:You can still get infected even if you play it smart on the 'net (I have) so I usually keep one running for peace of mind.

Playing smart still doesn't save you from 0-day worms, but having a firewall will mitigate that somewhat assuming it's properly configured.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2007-04-20 12:13am

Yokel on an Island wrote:Playing smart still doesn't save you from 0-day worms, but having a firewall will mitigate that somewhat assuming it's properly configured.

A dirt cheap router will stop the worm dead in it track. But if you open some ports to run a webserver or something like that. Then you are at risk.

Yokel on an Island · Post by **Yokel on an Island** » 2007-04-20 12:49am

Faram wrote:A dirt cheap router will stop the worm dead in it track. But if you open some ports to run a webserver or something like that. Then you are at risk.

Yes, but consumer routers don't usually block outgoing connections, which someone malicious can take advantage of by incoming connections looping out again on the outbound. But granted, it's enough to stop any casual script kiddies unless one of the clients on the internal LAN gets trojanized.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2007-04-20 01:55am

Yokel on an Island wrote:Yes, but consumer routers don't usually block outgoing connections, which someone malicious can take advantage of by incoming connections looping out again on the outbound. But granted, it's enough to stop any casual script kiddies unless one of the clients on the internal LAN gets trojanized.

If you do not D/L misc stuff from peer to peer and stuff like that, do not open attatchments and are behind a soho (SmallOffice HomeOffice) router it is very unlikly that you will get any worm or any virus.

Granted there are cases where legetime drivers and applications have been infested but that is VERY uncommon.

In this case you do not need any outbound protection, that is a unnessesary hassle and not what a soho router / firewall is for anyway.

Yokel on an Island · Post by **Yokel on an Island** » 2007-04-20 02:16am

Faram wrote:If you do not D/L misc stuff from peer to peer and stuff like that, do not open attatchments and are behind a soho (SmallOffice HomeOffice) router it is very unlikly that you will get any worm or any virus.

There's the rub isn't it?

Anyway, I must agree with the earlier post that said AV is just insurance (not zero day sadly) because you only have to fuck up once. Of course, the best thing is usually to try out a product that's free for home use and is not compute intensive, like the hog that is NAV. Coincidentally blackhats are now targeting Norton product vulnerabilities because they have the largest installed base, so ironically it's now an additional attack vector.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-04-20 03:15am

When setting up computers for friends, I use the combo of AVG + AdAware.
The best AV is to not use Windows. Or if you do, be smart.