AVG free anti virus vs. subscription macaffee etc.

jtiernan

If this is free why bother with any of the others for personal home use or should it just be used for extra protection? Has it all the necessary protection?

chamlis

AVG is great. Don't bother with macaffee or norton etc.

They are more like virii themselves than anti-virus, imho....

A man (or woman) should never have to pay for anti-virus or firewall protection if they are a home user.

SouperComputer

A man (or woman) should never have to pay for anti-virus or firewall protection if they are a home user.

That depends on ones browsing habits really.

AVG is okay, good for its price but again it really depends on your browsing habits.

MrJoeSoap

AVG for me, never really had a problem with it.

Ruu_Old

I would go with AVG or AntiVir over a subscription based software having some in the past.

byte

I have heard good things being said about Kaspersky AV in the past, though I have no personal experience with it.

Akula

Try to get your hands on one of the corporate versions of the subscription ones. Very effective and not as bloated as their consumer counterparts.

OMcGovern

jtiernan wrote:

If this is free why bother with any of the others for personal home use or should it just be used for extra protection? Has it all the necessary protection?

Security requires a toolbox of software, and you've just mentioned 2 of them.

1. Anti-virus - yep, AVG is great, with free updates
2. Firewall - I use ZoneAlarm (free)

What you didn't mention was

3. Updating Ms Windows with the latest security patches
This cuts off some entry points for trojans & spyware

4. Spyware scanner
A virus scanner doesn't protect you from spyware, and I got infested recently, but AVG detected nothing. I'd scan my machine every so often with at least one.

Good spyware scanners:
Ad-Aware,
Spybot - search and destroy,
Spyware Doctor ( I actually paid for this cos my laptop got infested )
The free version detects spyware, paying for it will remove any spyware.

regards,
Owen

MrJoeSoap

OMcGovern wrote:

Good spyware scanners:
Ad-Aware,
Spybot - search and destroy,
Spyware Doctor ( I actually paid for this cos my laptop got infested )
The free version detects spyware, paying for it will remove any spyware.

I'd highly recommend Hitman Pro 2, it includes 5 different anti-spyware programmes and uses them all for you. Great piece of kit.

jtiernan

Great advice there lads! Thanks a million!!

LunaC

AVG without a doubt, the larger AV programs cause too much problems, eg. slowing down your pc's performance especially Norton, stir well clear of it.