Anti virus programme

[Jenni]

Can you guys recommend an anti virus programme that I can download for free. My free trial one is now finished and I don't know how to go about getting a proper one installed, other than buying Norton etc from computer shop.
Cheers

[Metalattakk]

AVG Free Edition (http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?part=dl-10044820&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=11014801). Simple to get to grips with.

Avast! (http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download) free antivirus. Slightly more complex to get to grips with.

Microsoft Security Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/). Free but not as all-encompassing as those above.

Download and install one of the above. Only one.

[charlie]

http://free.avg.com/gb-en/homepage

There will be others along no doubt with their own favourites before long.

As a basic AV prog , this will do a decent job, as long as you remember it is FREE. If you can afford something better i would recommend spending your hard earned.

[Bobinovich]

AVG Free recommended by me too, and doesn't require registering (unlike Avast).

[RecQuery]

You're probably best going with AVG, you'll probably notice some performance degradation depending on what you turn on though, but that'll happen with most security software running real time.

I'd add

ClamAV - http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/
FProt - http://www.f-prot.com/download

to the list also.

Its not for everyone but you may be better just securing the computer (services, settings, ad blocking etc), taking care (not opening certain e-mail attachments etc) and periodically running some of the online scanners. Thats what I tend to do with my own Windows systems, avoid this in a business setting though or where performance isn't an issue.

Another bit of advice to anyone on any platform is not to constantly do everything as an admin/super/root user. Instead create a separate account. Some OSes do something like this already with sudo, UAC etc but a completely separate account is sometimes preferable.

[hopper.65]

Microsoft security essentials is no doubt the best anti-virus programme around at the moment.
In most tests it detected and removed 100% of whatever they could throw at it and uses very little resources, AVG aint got a look in and constantly tells you that sites are safe when they are indeed infected!

[dx100uk]

agreed
mse

even good for root kits too
thrown most of my diagnostics stuff like hackthis away now

only thing i sometimes use is combofix.exe

only because it speeds up the clearing of certain nasties, then i put MSE on.

just that MSE takes an age to cure certainnasties once deep in the registry.

dx

[RecQuery]

There are some better tools, but I'm not mentioning them as the uninitiated can seriously mess up their systems playing around with them.

MSE, fails on a lot of the harder things in my opinion also.