Suggestions Please!!

[Alfie]

Hi All!! I am really frustated with my pc. I dont know from where this virus has come into it and it has broken down my pc like hell..It always hangs up and all the time some or the othere window pops up..I am left with no choice but to get it formatted. Now when i am gonna install all afresh, I wanna know which antivirus should i use which prevents me from this situation ever again..I have thought of buying this Nortan internet security 2008.. What do you say guys?? I am getting it for £25 @ http://www.ecostsoftware.com and http://www.pcworld.co.uk has it for £40. I am wondering why is there such a big difference of price between the two? Does anybody has any idea? Hoping for your suggestions..Thanks in advance..

[DMB2000uk]

If you want to pay, go with Kaspersky, their program bogs down the computer less and is better at catching nasties.
Their site is here: http://www.kaspersky.com/

Dabs has an excellent price on it: At just £16.49 (inc vat).

There are also good free alternatives which are still good (just that kaspersky has an edge on them) such as Avast or AVG Free.

Unfortunately no antivirus is 100% effective, so you should still maintain other good internet practices, like having a firewall (included in the kaspersky internet suite linked above) and using at least one other anti-adware or anti-spyware program (I recommend you check out 'ad-aware' and 'spybot search and destroy').

Nice to see another UK user on the forums, I hope you find reason to stick around.

Dan

[Alathald]

I've always used AVG Antivirus with AdAware, spybot search and destroy and CCleaner (all free) on the side and have never really had a problem with viruses.

Also some of the other good internet practices Dan forgot is to use a safer browser than Internet Explorer (IE can be safe but it's super annoy when setup that way) I suggest the new Firefox 3.0 which is a great browser, much safer than IE, has better W3c compliance (means sites show up as intended by the programmer) and is easily customized to your liking with addons. They've also fixed many of the memory leak issues to the point that Firefox 3 uses less memory over time than IE and even Opera.

Another good internet practice is to make a separate, non-admin account for when you're surf those "questionable" sites. A bonus is that using a separate account keeps the histories for the two accounts separate thus hiding those "questionable" sites from all but the most tech savvy of girlfriends/wives (poor DragonCooler ).

Just some stuff to think about...

[smack323]

I have found that AVG Free works better than Mcafee or norton and seems to be less of a resource hog. As always i also run a spybot-seach and destroy every couple weeks just to make sure nothing was missed.. if you do use spybot be sure to get the real one- there are alot of copycat sites that use a name close to it that will make your computer next to useless.. here is a link to the offical site.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

[Alathald]

Yeah I forgot to mention, PLEASE don't use Norton's or McAfee, both programs act more like viruses than antiviruses. They don't work as well as their alternatives and they are damn near impossible to uninstall (Norton's at least). Not to mention the huge chunk of resources they use.

Kaspersky is about as good as it gets but if you're a tightwad like me there are free programs out there that work much better than Norton's or McAfee.

[Jakey The Avatar]

I concur with the distinguished gentlepersons. Kaspersky is the best commercial Anti-virus for the PC. If you're cheap (like me) AVG and Avast are among the best free Anti-virus programs out there.

I second the recommendation for Firefox over IE. Firefox + Adblock + NoScript = Safest Browsing Possible.

In addition to Ad-aware and Spybot Search & Destroy, I also would recommend Spyware Blaster, which blocks the installation of most ActiveX-based spyware and other "unwanted" programs.

ZoneAlarm and Comodo are popular choices for the free personal firewall, and will prevent attacks originated from programs on your computer. However, you also want an external firewall, like you would find on a router, to easily and effectively prevent external attacks.

[unfaithfulsfan]

I have found that AVG Free works better than Mcafee or norton and seems to be less of a resource hog. As always i also run a spybot-seach and destroy every couple weeks just to make sure nothing was missed..

AVG works very, very well. We use SuperAntiSpyware as a follow-up once a week since AVG scans daily and once a month we scan with S.A.S. in Safe Mode. Here's a link to the free version. Don't freak out when you see the price! This is the actual file download page! http://www.superantispyware.com/downloa ... PYWAREFREE

It also has a setting that helps to protect your homepage from getting hijacked.

Jack

[Alfie]

Thanks Guys!! You all rock..I dont feel that i am new to this forum..you all really helped me a lot. Thanks once again..

[vicaphit]

Well, we take pride in continuing a good community, so you won't get a "that was a dumb question" kind of post. If you want that sort of thing, check out another community.

Assuming you don't want stupid responses, you are welcome to stay here!

Anyway, I second AVG. It is very user friendly, and even works well with dial-up connections.

[Sporg]

Welcome to the forums! You'll find that things are pretty laid back here and there is a lot of knowledge floating around.

For me I use AVG Free. There was a recent upgrade to the free edition - version 8.0 I believe. I'd give AVG or Avast! a shot before spending the cash. I'm not sure what your Internet habits are, but they work very well.

Avoid Norton and McAfee at all costs!

If you feel like spending money, then I would do as previously suggested and go with Kaspersky.

I know I'm just regurgitating what others said, so I'll stop rambling...