So, Norton just expired.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2012-03-18 02:03am

My computer has passed a year of age, and the Norton antivirus subscription that came with it just expired. I'm not paying to continue notorious bloatware, so what free antiviruses are good these days? I used to use AVG, but it seemed to me that it got more and more resource-intensive as time and versions went on, so I ask the forum.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2012-03-18 02:06am

Microsoft Security Essentials is a really good bet these days. I know it's counterintuitive, Microsoft having a good, free offering? But it's true, it's one of the better free ones out there, and very lightweight.

Skgoa · Post by **Skgoa** » 2012-03-18 04:04am

I came into this thread to recommend Microsoft Security Essentials, too. By now it has become the only PC security product I trust. It's also subjectively the least "intrusive" of the lot.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2012-03-18 04:25am

I think it's getting to the point where threads that ask this question could just have a 'MSE /end thread' reply as standard.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2012-03-18 04:30am

How about 'be amazed at the extra performance now you're not unning horrid shit 24/7'. :v

MSE doesn't do much for malware, but I've never had any so who cares? Stop using porn dialers.

The_Saint · Post by **The_Saint** » 2012-03-18 07:41am

To provide another voice than MSE... I've always had good results with Avast antivirus, free, lightweight, etc

Johonebesus · Post by **Johonebesus** » 2012-03-18 07:48am

Does anyone else have a problem with MSE sometimes causing Firefox to lock up? This can last for a few minutes, or until I lose patience and use Task Manager to kill the process.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2012-03-18 02:17pm

Negative, Jo. You're the first I've run across that problem, either at home or professionally. I suspect there's something else going on, some third party that's triggering the lockup as a symptom.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2012-03-18 06:22pm

When I had wierd chrome locks it wasn't MSE, it was a failing drive.

Johonebesus · Post by **Johonebesus** » 2012-03-18 07:57pm

White Haven wrote:Negative, Jo. You're the first I've run across that problem, either at home or professionally. I suspect there's something else going on, some third party that's triggering the lockup as a symptom.

If it is it isn't showing up with anything, MSE, Adaware, Malwarebytes, etc.

noncredible · Post by **noncredible** » 2012-03-19 01:01am

I've had good experiences with both MSE and Avast.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2012-03-19 01:33am

Avast is a good choice as well. I prefer MSE, but when I run into customer systems that are otherwise in working order but just have a hate-on for letting MSE install (which does happen, Microsoft couldn't code an installer if the fate of the world depended on it), I just throw Avast on instead rather than bashing my head into it.

Terralthra · Post by **Terralthra** » 2012-03-19 01:58am

That's odd. The only problems I've ever had installing MSE happen when the person I'm installing it for has a pirated copy of Windows that won't pass WGA.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2012-03-19 08:19am

It doesn't happen often in clean systems, but sometimes leftover OS damage can leave a system unable to install MSE after virus cleanup.

Also, I want to killfuckerize whoever at Microsoft thought it was a good idea to use Windows Installer and Windows Update for MSE. News flash, fuckers, viruses sometimes break those, particularly the latter.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2012-03-19 08:40am

Can we perhaps make a sticky thread with antivirus info inside? It will save us another wave of "what to use" posts in the future.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2012-03-19 10:01am

White Haven wrote:Also, I want to killfuckerize whoever at Microsoft thought it was a good idea to use Windows Installer and Windows Update for MSE. News flash, fuckers, viruses sometimes break those, particularly the latter.

Once a virus is installed you can't trust the system anyways!

Post by **Dalton** » 2012-03-19 02:46pm

Tolya wrote:Can we perhaps make a sticky thread with antivirus info inside? It will save us another wave of "what to use" posts in the future.

Huh. There was one, damned if I know where it went though.

noncredible · Post by **noncredible** » 2012-03-19 08:15pm

phongn wrote:
White Haven wrote:Also, I want to killfuckerize whoever at Microsoft thought it was a good idea to use Windows Installer and Windows Update for MSE. News flash, fuckers, viruses sometimes break those, particularly the latter.
Once a virus is installed you can't trust the system anyways!

Never trust that a virus has been removed if it was removed while the infected operating system was running.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2012-03-19 09:42pm

Trust, but verify. I know painfully well how resistant to removal many viruses are.

Post by **Edi** » 2012-03-21 04:50am

MSE, Avira and Avast are all fairly good choices. Wouldn't go with anything else.

If you absolutely positively must also use something else in addition, Malwarebytes and Spywareblaster are good, non-intrusive things to use as passive backup.

Korto · Post by **Korto** » 2012-03-21 07:20am

Any advice on on-line virus checkers?

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2012-03-21 12:13pm

Dunno what you mean by that exactly, but there is one I use occasionally:

https://www.virustotal.com/

Post by **Edi** » 2012-03-21 04:26pm

Korto wrote:Any advice on on-line virus checkers?

F-Secure has a good one. TrendMicro Housecall is also decent and I think BitDefender had something like that too.

MrDakka · Post by **MrDakka** » 2012-03-22 01:22am

I felt that Avast gives the most bang for the buck, so to speak, compared to other products at least when I downloaded it 2 years ago.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2012-03-22 10:51pm

Dalton wrote:
Tolya wrote:Can we perhaps make a sticky thread with antivirus info inside? It will save us another wave of "what to use" posts in the future.
Huh. There was one, damned if I know where it went though.

I thought so too. I only posted after looking for it and coming up empty.

At any rate, I went with MSE. Norton's spamming my e-mail now, though. -_-

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

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