Free Anti-Virus Programs - Comments Page 3

You mention that CA AntiVirus is free through RoadRunner

Who is RoadRunner??

EDITOR'S NOTE: RoadRunner is a popular internet service provider in the US.

I routinely remove Norton from my customer's machines. Most of the time they ignore or don't notice the warning of the free trial ending. It's bloatware at best.

Avast is my favorite. I used to recommend AVG as well... but I have noticed a lot of spyware slips past it and shuts off the Security Center. Not good!

please i need road runner anti virus and i need it i cannot use my disk drive :(((((((((((((((((

Not too many months ago "Askbobrankin" posted the information that "Windows Essentials" was available from Microsoft as a free download and that it was better than "Windows Defender." I speak of AV protection, etc. Now, Feb 10, 2010, the web site publishes, among free AV software "Windows Defender" in the text of the article. Not a word about anything named "Windows Essential" existing! You go to the AV Comparison web site noted in the article and click on it. NO "Windows Defender," but "Windows Essentials" is there! O.K. Bob Rankin, whoever, get it together, PLEASE! I am one of your subscribers and have always read your articles! Now I feel that I should maybe take what I read with considerable more "grains of salt" than normal prudence would dictate. Comment?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Your chronology is a little off! The article I linked to in the Feb 10th posting (Free Anti-Virus Programs) was published on August 13, 2007. I did update it once since then, but as of yesterday I had it on my to-do list to add info about MS Security Essentials. That's been done, along with a note about why you might want to continue using Defender. Salt to taste!

At work (church office), I presently use a computer running Windows 98. I have been using Avest!, but a few days ago, I learned that the new version of Avest! does not run on Windows 98. I did a search on the internet to find another anti-virus program for my computer, but found no suitable solution.

I know we need a new computer, but it may be awhile before we can purchase one. Do you have any recommendations on what do in the meantime?

I had a virus that I thought was going to make me do drastic things in order to get rid of it. A friend recommended Malware Bytes - problem solved.

Neither Avast nor Spybot found the problem.

My son told me that McAfee was also a resource hog and to dump it for AVG. My computer was set up so I could work from home by a former employer; dumping something I cannot get back gets me really nervous. Really; McAfee doesn't even make the list or is it just that it isn't a freebie?

EDITOR'S NOTE: If the computer seems to be running fine now, and your McAfee subscription is not expiring soon, I'd say wait.

The currently available version (10) of Avira Antivir Personal Free Antivirus has built in Ad, Spyware and Rootkit Protection. The rec's here mention you get spyware protection in the paid version, but it's also in the freeware version now.

Hey, thanks for the information to download! But next time, please, please, please, put anti-virus downloads for Mac! I have a Mac and it dosen't have that much Mac anti-virus that're good for it online.

Hello, I'm having a problem with this virus on my computer--- for some reason when I delete it with an anti-virus free software it won't leave and Hp total care advisor says that I have 267 viruses on my vista! Please help!

Hi I notice that the advertise below appears on your website. Is this a clean up website you would recommend that I install to do clean ups on my computer?

Clean up your computer
SmartCleaner will clean & speed up your computer. Great for beginners!
www.smartcleaner.net

thanks

Asha

There's Winpooch to fix the lack of real-time anti-virus protection in ClamWin (and that's what it was made to do), but the last time I tried it, it didn't work for some reason.

I have been using Microsoft security essentials on my tow machines. It is doing fine. On one after update it got currupted and could not be re-installed. Error crops up. I started using COMODO anti-security. So fa r it is OK, and does not consume that much resources.

Please advise where in Hampshire (Winchester) I may find a person who is familiar with WORDPRESS. I need tuition.
Regards
Dorothy

For Dave Allen at the church office, you might want to look at Linux for the church PC. Linux is a great alternative that does not generally require antivirus and you can get free software to do ANYTHING you can for a Windows machine and with the grace of an Apple machine (Apple does not generally need antivirus) Ask Bob here or Google "Linux Distributions Available". I use and love ZOS on my Laptop. There are probably ten versions aimed at older equipment, even look and fell like Vista/Win7

Bob, if you get a chance, look over Panda's new free offering caled "Panda Cloud Antivirus free" I have been using it on my Win 7 premium laptop and have great respect for the Panda product. I frequent the internet sewage out there and protection is top notch.

Anti Spyware and rootkits, While I don't pick on a product on purpose and have used MalWare Bytes, even have it on a thumb drive "toolkit". The latest infections touted as "fake Antivirus" have discovered how to turn off or even prevent MBytes from loading. In the worst cases, everything, even solitare is marked by the virus as being "infected". Rename "Hitman Pro 3.5" to iexplore.exe and run it. Gets you back in business NOW.

ASHA: If you want to clean your PC there is a great free one out there called "Advanced System Care free version" You can Google those words (even Yahoo search might find it hehe) Anyway the product is absolutely great. Not only can and does clean out old file ares but has a spyware checker as well. Speedup PC, organize memory, clean and repair registry, more. Most tools are automated (once you push the button". Warnings are there to help you decide if you want/need to run a file/tool.

Takehishi Motso, There is reasons for the lack of free antivirus programs for Mac and thats because of the lack of virus'. The Mac operating system is written so well, (the other so poorly) that the only way a virus can spread is on the "other". Mac uses a version of UNIX, business operating system that is not good for virus'. If you want a free one though, the UNIX/Linux community wrote Clam AV for Mac and is very good.

EDITOR'S NOTE: There are plenty of Unix security holes. A much better answer is that 90-95% of all computers run Windows, so that's where the virus creators focus their attention.

Also look at the following which is one of the only free or padid AV programs that can run along side others:

"Immunet Protect" from
http://download.cnet.com/Immunet-Protect/3000-2239_4-10965674.html