Free antivirus

[ken_cinder]

Ok, so I've f**king had it up to HERE with AVG Free. I'm sick of it picking up files and quarantining them when I know for a FACT they are not infected (I've used online scanners on them, some of them are files I've had for nearly a f**king decade!).

AVG Free won't let you ignore a file either, it just keeps quarantining it. Sick of that $hit.

 

I want something that won't chew up my resources, something that doesn't run 15 processes, and something that isn't missing important features like being able to adjust heuristics levels and ignore files I KNOW aren't infected.

 

So far I've looked at Avast and BitDefender. Anyone use these? If so, what are your thoughts.

 

P.S. I don't want to know your opinions on how diverse their detection is, I'll test that myself.

[Mooney]

I've used Avast! and it can be even more bitchy than AVG. Instead of moving some files to the vault, it would simply delete them if it thought it was infected (read: illegal), even though I knew it was not. Other than those two, I've only used Kaspersky, and that slowed my comp down like hell.

[Shoma]

The overly expensive MAcaffe is always helpful until something goes wrong with da program itself(which happens alot).

I was quite satisfied with Avast as well. I love the simple scan/defend thing it has... i dont need 142,421,410 different options to protect my computer(like Mcaffe).

[Reaper man]

I just don't even bother with it. If you're careful, you can stay clear from virii. If you do happen to get one, then they can for the most part, be easy to remove. all anti-virus programs do is waste valuable resources for gaming. fuck 'em.

[Haldrie]

You could just turn off the Resident Shield in AVG so it won't scan the computer and just use it to scan files as needed. The only thing you'll see is AVG prompting you that it isn't fully active every time you log in to your computer but I get prompts like that from my wifi controller when I don't have it on anyway.

[GodPigeon]

I Know you said Free Antivirus, but none of those free ones are any good IMO.

So get your hands on NOD32 if u can. (Even if not free) =]

Never gets in your way or picks up wrong files.

[ken_cinder]

I just don't even bother with it. If you're careful, you can stay clear from virii. If you do happen to get one, then they can for the most part, be easy to remove. all anti-virus programs do is waste valuable resources for gaming. fuck 'em.

 

Remind me to never download any file you attach. You're the type that thinks all virii come in EXE form aren't you? I'd put money on 100:1 odds that you're already infected. By the way, checking your process list doesn't show everything, some can hide themselves within other processes. SVCHOST for instance, hosts many different Windows processes, and a virus CAN hijack that host process too.

 

Thanks for everyone's opinions, I've chosen Avast. Seems to do exactly what I'd like it to, but it's "extra" services are definitely going as they eat up far too much memory for an AV program (Makes Norton seem like a resource mouse)

[Robert]

I've always used McAfee VirusScan Enterprise because I can get it from work, free with infinite updates, because of the corporate licence we have. It's not too bad really, you just need to disable the on-access scan while installing stuff from CD otherwise the computer runs really slow.

 

You can select what should happen when a virus is detected, and you can exclude selected files, folders, and file types from the scan.

 

IMO a virus scanner is mandatory otherwise you WILL be infected in a short time after connecting to the internet.

 

When I was rebuilding the hard drive I thought I caught a virus because svchost.exe kept going to 99% CPU, and sometimes ads would appear on-screen.

 

The ads turned out to be messages sent via the the admin messenger port from outside. So I turned off the Messenger service and blocked the port.

 

The svchost problem went away after applying windows updates, and turning off the DHCP service.

[Adel151]

Hey IJTF_Cinder I have free AOL and they had an old mcafee virus scan thats what I use its really easy simple program heres a link but Im almost certain you have to be in AOL AOL Virus Scan?

[Reaper man]

if you are in AOL then you have problems much, much, worse than looking for an antivirus program

[Shibathedog]

I swear by NOD32, its so small and efficient, by far the best whenever the new version comes out (in fact it might be out by now) im going to actually buy it just because i like it that much.