Internet Security

[bonami]

Can anyone suggest a good free internet security and is there much from the brand names that cost fifty pounds per year.

[Brizer2k7]

Hi,

For free applications you cant go wrong with AVG - http://free.avg.com/us-en/download?prd=afg or Avast http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html plus a few other scanners such as Malwarebytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php and Glary Utilities - http://www.glaryutilities.com/download.htm

Most people should agree with that selection.

Let us know how you get on.

[lazytown]

I agree with most of the above (I dont like AVG), I think Avast is better...
I would also maybe add Zonealarm as well for Free Basic firewall software.
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/free-upgrade-security-suite-zonealarm-firewall.htm
(http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/free-upgrade-security-suite-zonealarm-firewall.htm)

[Phill]

I've used AVG in the past and found it pretty good for a freebie.

I would always suggest Zonealarm and it's worth paying a few quid for the full package with the updates, but that's my humble opinion.

Whichever you get, KEEP THE UPDATED!

So many times have I seen machines where they say "I installed anti virus" and the bleedin' program has never been setup right or updated from day one.

Most do it all automatically for you but set it to update & scan daily at a time your not using you computer.

[Bobinovich]

I must admit I tend to set a virus scan for once a week rather than once a day, unless it is for an avid Interweb user doing lots of random downloads or visiting potentially dodgy sites in which case its 2 -3.

I quite happily recommend AVG Free for most of my private customer base but concur about the necessity of keeping it up to date. With AVG this is easy as it does it automatically so long as it's got a connection - the same when Malwarebytes (another favourite) is run.

One bugbear I do have is the amount of dial-up ADSL modems I still come across. I try and persuade customers with these to contact the ISP for an upgrade to a router simply so the connection is always live for auto updating to be done.

[Phill]

I must admit I tend to set a virus scan for once a week rather than once a day, unless it is for an avid Interweb user doing lots of random downloads or visiting potentially dodgy sites in which case its 2 -3.

Yeah I guess daily may be overkill for most people, depends on what your surfing and how many users of the machine especially kids that are downloading allsorts.

I set mine daily as I've had my fingers burnt in the past (my own fault), had it set to weekly but the machine was shut down at the time of the update/scan so it starts when the machine is next switched on which was when I wanted to do something so I cancelled the scan. Forgot about it and then did the same again, all of a sudden I was month out and got caught with something that took me hours to sort out.

My "daily" scan probably only hits 3/4 times per week in reality.

[bonami]

Have instaled Avast and Malware bytes. Malware seems very good as first scan detected a lot which got rid off. However since instaling avast it seems to have made things desperately slow getting connected to the internet. When on all seems perfect.

[bonami]

Still have same problem. Unistalled avast and bought Norton 2010 which is on sale at 23 pounds in local Tescos. Tried that but same problem takes ages to get from start up computer to getting on the internet. Once on all seems well. Anyone got any ideas?[disgust]