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[Closed] Free antivirus software?

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Posts: 16
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Topic starter
 

Hi, my mcafee subscription has run out so. Ithoigjt I'd see if there's anything that will do the job for free before I buy owt? The simpler the better, imno computer expert

Thanks!


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:14 pm
Posts: 7846
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avg


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:15 pm
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AVG free edition...seems to work well


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:15 pm
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I use Avast - works okay for me.
http://www.avast.com


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:16 pm
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[url= http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ ]Microsoft Security Essentials[/url]


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:16 pm
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Avast +1


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:19 pm
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MSE +1


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:20 pm
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Kaspesrski, there's nowt better! ... all the free ones are free for a reason. HTH


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:25 pm
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MSE


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:26 pm
Posts: 16
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Topic starter
 

Thanks, I'll have a look at them...


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:27 pm
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BSE?


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:31 pm
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AVG


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:31 pm
Posts: 77347
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MSE, everyone else is wrong.

Whatever you go with, uninstall McAfee first. Running two AV solutions together is Bad.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:34 pm
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all the free ones are free for a reason

Or.....

A fool and his money


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:47 pm
Posts: 77347
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You're paying for support, primarily.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:51 pm
 nuke
Posts: 5763
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MSE +1


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:54 pm
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PCtools - the previous version was okay - but the new one has slicker updates, quite impressed.

Generally - whatever CNET and Majorgeeks recommend.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 10:24 pm
Posts: 2
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well I'd say say Microsoft security essentials but what do I know?


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 10:33 pm
Posts: 15
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At all costs avoid any so called security package whose initial is within seven letters from the middle of the alphabet. They are all crap, fact!


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 10:50 pm
 Rio
Posts: 1617
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MSE, and if that isn't good enough for you then stop going to those dodgy sites!


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 11:40 pm
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just to check - you're not with barclays are you?
free kaspersky with their online banking (makes it sound like the online banking costs money but obviously doesn't)


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 11:59 pm
Posts: 15
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PMSL, dirtbiker100! I once took advantage of a bank's 'free' security software. It wiped my hard drive and mangled my mobo bios beyond repair!


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:28 am
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Trampus - I presume reading your post you don't know about kasperky software?
Its not some crappy free software. it's full kaspersky. you download it as normal from kaspersky website - just like any normal person - then barclays give you the license key for it...
I understand the kind of software you mean and I wouldn't go anywhere near it but this is official standard kaspersky. why the hell would you not get it!


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:35 am
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why the hell would you not get it!

Because you also have to get a Barclays account?


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 6:16 am
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hey, i'm with you there, not encouraging anyone to do that any time soon...


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 10:06 am
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I once took advantage of a bank's 'free' security software. It wiped my hard drive and mangled my mobo bios beyond repair!

Unless you bank at the First National Bank of Nigeria, I'd respectfully suggest that that's unlikely.

Kaspersky's good, incidentally; if I were to buy AV rather than use a free version, that would be my choice.


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 11:47 am
Posts: 15
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Cougar, this was back in the dark days of dial up. The software was supplied by the bank on cd. Evidently a batch of cds were 'contaminated' during production. The bank were very good to me about this, so I have not named and shamed, though it would appear some of this parish are still unwilling to use their services!

I agree with your comments about Kaspersky.I have happily used it in the past, though I now think it has become a bit 'bloaty' and performance sapping.


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:17 pm
Posts: 77347
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Ok, that's more feasible.

What you've described sounds like the Chernobyl virus. AV software won't trash your BIOS / HDD, but the delivery mechanism might well contain something else that does.


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:23 pm
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I never learned the name of the malicious software. When I say 'trashed', I meant that the hard drive's content was erased and the bios was rendered impossible to access or even reflash.


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:31 pm
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It's almost certainly Chernobyl. This would've been mid-90s, yes?

Horrible little bleeder, cropped up in a lot of places it shouldn't. There were a batch of hard disks (can't remember the manufacturer now) that went out with it contaminating the boot sector.

I repaired a metric sh!tload of motherboards that'd been nobbled by it at the time, by hot-swapping the BIOS chip into a live motherboard and flashing it that way. Not for the faint-hearted. (-:


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:40 pm
Posts: 15
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That'll be the bunny! It was about 97/98, and I only 'sussed' the source after the new build also went the same way! 🙁


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:44 pm
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Ah, here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIH_%28computer_virus%29


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:46 pm
Posts: 15
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Cheers, Cougar, maybe I will get a decent night's sleep now this ghost has been laid to rest! 🙂

To get back on topic though, I am strongly in the Avast camp!


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:54 pm
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Excellent. Next time you need an answer to something twelve years too late, give me a yell. (-:


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:55 pm
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Avast +2


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 4:21 pm
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Apple +1 😉


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 4:41 pm
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Avast+3

Tried lots of others ,like this one best.
Stay away from Norton it seems to take over everything and really slows your computer down.


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 5:11 pm
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MSE + 1


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 6:57 pm
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MSE +++


 
Posted : 03/10/2010 12:34 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

Avast


 
Posted : 03/10/2010 5:16 am
Posts: 41395
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I repaired a metric sh!tload of motherboards that'd been nobbled by it at the time, by hot-swapping the BIOS chip into a live motherboard and flashing it that way. Not for the faint-hearted. (-:

you make it sound like bomb disposal.


 
Posted : 03/10/2010 6:13 am
Posts: 77347
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Felt like it...!


 
Posted : 03/10/2010 7:42 am

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