Free anti-virus software 1

[smah]

Computer Associates is offering it's eTrust EZ Armor software free to Windows home users for 12 months (1 per household).

Here's the news article:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/995399.asp

and here's the actual offering:

http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/

 

[Xemus]

Anyone used it? Likes/Dislikes? Free Antivirus is a good thing, but sometimes the lack of funding leads to a less quality product. Espesically when you can get a copy of NAV 2003 for about $10 now.

http://www.closedsocket.com

 

[braddds]

Nice to see it is a combo anti virus and firewall...that and it being free! But what happens after the 1st year!? I'll stick with Kerio (firewall) and AVG (anti-virus). They've been free for sometime now and work great. Let someone else trial eTrust EZ Armor and wait and see what happens!

Cheers

My knowledge maybe limited...usually just enough to get me into trouble. Who knows, it may help...even if it's misguided!

 

[SYAR2003]

After the year , automatic updates of virus defs dont work .
So you have to go to the website download vir-def files yourself and install them .Thats it.

 

[jrbarnett]

I agree with Braddds, I will stick with AVG and Kerio.
I used CA InoculateIT Personal edition when it was free and when CA ceased supporting it, switched to AVG.

With regards to InoculateIT PE, I was particularly impressed with the low memory and cpu usage footprint, but the user interface was dire and the protection didn't seem too strong as far as I was concerned. It seemed to me to be more of a one click scanner rather than resident background protection, but never got a virus so couldn't prove it one way or the other. I was on a student budget at the time so couldn't afford anything better.

Obviously this could have changed since the rewrite and release, but I was not particularly impressed with it and will stick with AVG.

John

 

[braddds]

I believe SYAR2003 hit the nail on the head! eTrust EZ Armor is selling subscriptions ie: get ya hooked, then keep you happy by selling you the update service...small fee only. I guess they learned that lesson from the cell phone service marketers! Oh sure, you can always update manually but that ain't convenient...is it! Just another marketing ploy!

hmmm...I wonder if they'll give carry-over virus cleans, incase you don't use all yours up!?

Cheers

My knowledge maybe limited...usually just enough to get me into trouble. Who knows, it may help...even if it's misguided!

 

[WheeDoggy]

~braddds
"I'll stick with Kerio (firewall) and AVG (anti-virus)"

that's been my combo for quite a while

 

[Grenage]

We use the commercial AVG here, and I use the free version at home. Great product.

 

[SYAR2003]

I also use the free(for home) AVG 6 at my home pc.
Used to have Norton 2003(as in my work laptop pc),ditched it to try AVG.
Norton is a resource hog . AVG much better for resource usage.
Very pleased with AVG.

 

[confusedlady]

I tried a lot, and have been using AVG for the last few years. It's picked up things that some of the paid-for programs missed. Would have to be a very good app to make me switch

Oh, the firewall I use is Sygate's personal addition. Also good (and free). I've never tried Kerio, so can't comment on that!

 

[dstcroix]

I have both Norton 2004 (trial version to test) and the free AVG at home. Funny because I only had Norton and it detected no viruses. Then I downloaded the free AVG and low and behold! a virus that Norton did not detect (backdoor trojan of some kind). I'm just waiting for Norton trial to run out and then ditch it completely. It is a huge resore hog.

 

[Xemus]

For testing purposes, I installed EZ Armor on a machine. Curious thing is that it's firewall is built on the True Vector Engine, the same as Zonealarm (looks indentical actually). The AV feature of it isn't quite as user friendly as Norton, but has autoupdate functions and seems fairly robust (haven't actually tested it against viruses yet).
Anyone else want to share an opinion?

http://www.closedsocket.com

 

[WheeDoggy]

~SYAR2003
"I also use the free(for home) AVG 6 at my home pc.
Used to have Norton 2003(as in my work laptop pc),ditched it to try AVG.
Norton is a resource hog . AVG much better for resource usage.
Very pleased with AVG."

(geez, when will they get bbcode here?!? )

Anyway, did the same thing switching from Norton to AVG -
1 question, did you happen to notice the ton of crap (reg keys & files) that the Norton uninstaller left behind?
\o/

 

[Xemus]

Norton does leave stuff behind, but they also provide a tool on their website to delete everything from your registry that they created. Granted, the uninstall should do this, as it can cause a reinstall to be sketchy, but at least they give you the tool (if you look for it).
Here's the link incase anyone needs it:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...Document&prod=&ver=&src=sg&pcode=&svy=&csm=no

http://www.closedsocket.com

 

[pechenegs]

Why not try Avast 4 from Alwil software? It's free and like AVG very good and also from the czech Rep. It now has a download which integrates with kerio firewall!

http://www.avast.com/i_kat_67.html

 

[SYAR2003]

I've now gone from big brand Norton to AVG on my
work's Laptop also . Guess what after ditching Norton
and installing AVG i found that i had dyfica on it.

As for the registry leftovers i tried a scan
with Nortons windoctor ( the only thing i have left of the Works Package)
It doesn't remove a single entry of it's own products.

I have been using Norton products for years . But now i must
say i'm beginning to loose some interest for their packages.
Try installing System works with all features on a laptop with PIII 700mhz
384MB ram and a 5400 ata66 harddisk .
The damn thing steals all the resources.

I'm gonna run the applications from the cd if i need any of them hereafter.

As for now free AV from grisoft woks great , im getting more satisfied for each day.

Found some other combinations that also is pretty neat,and very protective.
Spybot 1.2 with immunize enabled and protection on the hosts file.
AVG 6.0 as said.
Spywareblaster run to set the active-x protections.
Spy Guard from the makers of Spywareblaster.
And i'm behind a NAT firewall witch forwards all incoming requsts
to a non existing ip-address (totally stelthed) ,that really helps.

Nothing goes wrong even at the most filthy warez sites and porn sites.
(has to try you know...)

 

[LancepsGuerrero]

Have been extremely interested in AVG for some time, (currently using NAV which is making me gnash my teeth for a number of reasons), and will now proceed to download AVG, anything I should do beforehand? yes I'll save it to disk then go offline, disable NAV and download AVG, are they going to beat each other up? I also have Adaware 6 and Spybot who like to jump on each other, are they going to freak out with a new program?
I'm sure these are dumb questions, but I've learned the hard way that it's better to be safe than sorry...as I slide down the razor blade of Life...

 

[SYAR2003]

If you are behind a firewall , no sweat .
Else i would disconnect .
You could also download the latest virus def file manually
before going offline.
Uninstall NAV completly.
Install AVG and the newest def file .
Then go online again.

 

[Xemus]

I'm a Norton fan, although I'm pretty sure everyone has a "BrandX AV was working great, but didn't catch one virus, so I hate it now" - I've got a story like that about AVG.
I do agree that System Works is pretty much worthless, especially the registry cleaning functions. More problems arose from that than were there before.

http://www.closedsocket.com

 

[mikeymikey]

agree with you sensible people about avg and kerio etc. worth pointing out to those not in the know that you can use kerio on internet gateways and clients too. Is it the only free one that does that?