Free v Paid for Antivirus

fourcats

Have been paying €80 per year to renew my Norton antivirus, this year I cant really afford it, friends tell me I'm mad doing this and to download a free one. I'm a bit worried as I bank online etc, would a free one be safe and do they include a firewall which I understand is essential - advice please :rolleyes:.

henryporter

MS Internet Security Essentials is all you really need. Unless of course you change to a linux OS and then you won't need any:D

fourcats

Brilliant, thanks a mill. Think linux is a religion with you users!!

cookie1977

fourcats wrote: »

Brilliant, thanks a mill. Think linux is a religion with you users!!

Second that users opinion of MS Security essentials but would also recommend installing Malwarebytes as an added free program. Do monthly scans or when ever you think something might be up.

Biggins

fourcats wrote: »

Brilliant, thanks a mill. Think linux is a religion with you users!!

You mean it shouldn't be?

Blasphemer... Blasphemer... :pac:

Amalgam

The main feature all the free antivirus leave out to hook you into paying is POP3 email scanning, if you use Outlook etc.. but if you check email online, then that's not an issue.

I use Avira myself.

http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

Razzuh

+1 on MS Security Essentials.

It's definitely a top-class free anti-virus offering. It has a great simple interface for basic users and is updated very frequently to detect new viruses. The only reason I'd suggest using any of the others would be if you really like to fiddle with settings. The settings on MS SE are mostly fixed to keep things simple. Microsoft should have brought this out years ago.

On the firewall: Compared to an anti-virus, a firewall is a very simple application. It dosen't need daily updates or anything to stay effective. I don't think it's worth paying for. The free firewall that's built in to windows should be adequate for most people (just make sure it's turned on, go to control panel). Note that it's important to not have more than one firewall running at the same time, so uninstall your Norton one before you switch to the windows one. Again, if you want to fiddle with settings and have more control, you need to use something else (such as Comodo firewall (there's a free and commercial version))

cookie1977

Razzuh wrote: »

+1 on MS Security Essentials.

It's definitely a top-class free anti-virus offering. It has a great simple interface for basic users and is updated very frequently to detect new viruses. The only reason I'd suggest using any of the others would be if you really like to fiddle with settings. The settings on MS SE are mostly fixed to keep things simple. Microsoft should have brought this out years ago.

On the firewall: Compared to an anti-virus, a firewall is a very simple application. It dosen't need daily updates or anything to stay effective. I don't think it's worth paying for. The free firewall that's built in to windows should be adequate for most people (just make sure it's turned on, go to control panel). Note that it's important to not have more than one firewall running at the same time, so uninstall your Norton one before you switch to the windows one. Again, if you want to fiddle with settings and have more control, you need to use something else (such as Comodo firewall (there's a free and commercial version))

I use the built in windows firewall. If you're at a home make sure your router has it's firewall turned on

danjo-xx

Poll here, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056122397

T-Bird

This site is independent and does tests every 1/4
http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Oh_Noes

I think paid-for antivirus is a thing of the past these days.

Overheal

you paid that much for Norton AV? Thats gross. I pay 10 to get 3 pcs.

You just have to wait them out. Your norton will remind you every couple days when its about to expire, and the longer you wait the sweeter the discounts in your inbox get. Black Friday helps too.

If you're talking about just basic antivirus function though and not all the firewalls and spyware and such, Microsoft Security Essentials is pretty decent.

timeforachange

I am in a similar situation, going to download microsoft security essentials. I know I have to uninstall my mcaffee first. I have a mcaffee siteadvisor that pops up to tell me if certain sites aren't safe.
Can anyone tell me is it okay to keep this siteadvisor installed? or will this affect my new microsoft essentials and should i uninstall that too??

cookie1977

Site advisor is separate from the macafee antivirus. I personally dont use it but it should be fine to leave installed. It shouldn't cause problems at all.

timeforachange

Great! I chose to uninstall mcafee and leave the siteadvisor.... however... when i restarted my computer I realised that the site advisor won't work for me anymore... perhaps because I've uninstalled my antivirus?
If anyone knows how to uninstall this site advisor I'd really appreciate it because I can't find anything on my computer to get rid of it with! Doesn't seem to be in my control panel where I removed the anti virus from!

polyfusion

Your browser may have something that acts like siteadvisor. I use Opera myself (v11) and it has fraud/malware protection enabled by default. Other browsers may have similar, or something that can be added-on.

Never really thought further about it before, whether each supplier of this type of software (or add-on) generates their own black-lists, or whether there is a group(s) which generates the list that all suppliers use. If it's the latter, they should all function the same. If it's the former, I'd better look into it a bit more.

cookie1977

timeforachange wrote: »

Great! I chose to uninstall mcafee and leave the siteadvisor.... however... when i restarted my computer I realised that the site advisor won't work for me anymore... perhaps because I've uninstalled my antivirus?
If anyone knows how to uninstall this site advisor I'd really appreciate it because I can't find anything on my computer to get rid of it with! Doesn't seem to be in my control panel where I removed the anti virus from!

But if it's not working then maybe it's been uninstalled. You can get it here if you want it:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/

danjo-xx

Plenty of advice here, you are not alone:D

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic88960.html

fourcats

henryporter wrote: »

MS Internet Security Essentials is all you really need. Unless of course you change to a linux OS and then you won't need any:D

Installed MS Internet Security Essentials with no difficulty, many thanksfor your assistance. .

fourcats

Thanks for that reply - it was Norton 360 I had been using and even after leaving it until the last day it was still €80 to renew. So I went for the MS Security Essentials, thanks to everyone who helped.

fourcats

Will continue to use the free MS antivirus, will I have to pay at some stage tho'?

cookie1977

No you should never have to pay unless MS start charging which is highly unlikely

fourcats

If I decide to worship at the alter of Linux at a later date, I'll be sure to get back in touch!!