# Solved: what is the best free antivirus out there



## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

Hey guys i was wondering what the best free anti-virus software is out there i recently (like 2 months ago) went out and purchached internet security suite and all i have gotten was grief....(Blue screen of deaths, vary slow system) and the like. well i am sick of it and deleted all of it. now i am wondering if somebody can point me in the direction of an antivirus that works and wont slow me down so much
thanks,
Adam

P.S
is there any way to get everylast piece of mcafee off the computer there are a few componets left thanks again


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## rextilleon (Feb 10, 2004)

I use AVG---very good.


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

I will give it a shot then..
thanks


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## mtzlplex (Aug 5, 2002)

Been coming to this forum for too long to way what is best AV, if you ask 20 people, you will probably get 20 diff answers. I have tried several free ones, and the one I kept was AVG free edition. I have had it for over 2 years, not one problem, and was the easiest for me to understand.


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

thanks Peter and rex,
well i will give avg a try because 2 out of 2 rating isnt bad
let you know how it goes
Adam


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Have you done search on here for this query?
As mentioned above, you'll most likely find many more answers/replies of various opinions and thoughts... of course, that's why (a) you are here, and (b) you are asking questions... 

Me, I still favour avast! for antivirus.


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## smeegle (Jan 18, 2004)

Alienadam, try this website to remove mcafee from your computer.

http://9337387.home.icq.com/index.html


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

hey,
thanks for all the help...i am going to give AVG a shot. and the files i have left over for mcafee is 
1)mpfbocks.VxD
2)vshinit.VxD
3)mpffirew1.VxD

and i need to get rid of those...or atleast from comming up when i start the computer up and it says that i deleted this file and something still refures to those files above. (something like that  ) 
if i can get rid of those then i think ill be good to go for right now anyways
thanks guys,
Adam

also,
thanks smeegle for that sight it did help


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

well....AVG didnt do tis job like it was suppost to so il try avast


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

What didn't AVG do right?

It won't fix errors from a bad uninstall of McAfee. I did a quick search for McAfee removal on google and these are the hits I got: http://www.google.com/search?q=manu...illa-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
You'll have to find the entires in the registry for the missing files and remove them.

NIS Security 2004 would indeed not work properly on your computer as it barely has enough RAM to meet the requirements.


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## rancid (Jul 2, 2004)

AntiVir Personal Edition 6.26.00.01

Even though viruses have now grown very numerous, one thing hasn't changed: our commitment to provide you with all-round protection. The reliability of AntiVir is demonstrated in numerous comparison test and references featured in independent trade journals.

The AntiVir Personal Edition offers the effective protection against computer viruses for the individual and private use on a single PC-workstation. In order to make possible an easy operation, the AntiVir Personal Edition is developed to the essential points.

You'll be amazed how thoroughly AntiVir protects:

- detects and removes more than 80,000 viruses 
- always among the winners of comparison test featured in computer journals 
- the resident Virus Guard serves to monitor file movements automatically, 
e.g. downloading of data from the internet 
- scanning and repair of macro viruses 
- protection against previously unknown macro viruses 
- safeguard against cost generating dial-up program 
- protection against trojans, worms, backdoors, jokes and other harmful programs 
- easy operation 
- Internet-Update Wizard for easy updating 
- protection against previously unknown boot record viruses and master boot record viruses 
- quality "Made in Germany" 
- support is free of charge via AntiVir Bulletin Board

For information about the fully featured, network-enabled AntiVir Professional Edition please visit www.hbedv.com.

download http://www.majorgeeks.com/download955.html


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

> Triple6-
> What didn't AVG do right?


It didnt protect me from a virus it told me there was a virus but that was about it. it wouldnt heal it and it wouldnt quarintene it ad it couldnt delete it. all i could do was ignor it. :down: :down:

rancid- 
Hey ill look more in to this one too. thanks for your help  
Adam


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## SIR****TMG (Aug 12, 2003)

:up: AVG...6.0....


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## jydiver (Dec 27, 2002)

Hi all,

I had the same problem with avg pro, it was on my comp for about 2 weeks when my system started acting weird, don't remember exactly what, but something prompted me to do an online virus scan and it found 10 infected files. I uninstalled it and now have NOD32, it's not free but I'm very happy with it.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If the infected files are in the System Retsore folder then they are protected by Windows and can't be touched until System Restore is disabled. Some anitivirus programs do not even scan the restore folder for this reason which is something users should be aware of since if they do a System Restore it can restore the virus.

I personally use Norton Antivirus 2003 and haven't had any issues with it even though Symantec bashing is all the rage on this board.


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## ladyas (Feb 24, 2004)

i also tried avg but my wireless network did not like it so now I use AntiVir Personal Edition 6.26.00.01 and love it. I have to update it every 14 days but for it to be free and it to work on my comnputer i have really enjoyed it.


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

Hey thanks u guys.... keep the suggestions comming because if one doesnt wokr then another will and when i find the one i need for me then ill let you all know.... although right now i havent run in to any more viruses but at the present time antivir Personal Edition it working for me... but they all do untill i get in to a virus mess.. as i have stated before i used to have Mcafee and it worked great except my computer couldnt take the burden it put on it... maybe ill go out and buy an antivirus once i get one that works out good....
but thanks for the advise so far :up: 
Adam


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

does anybody know anything about defender pro 5 in 1
defender pro

^this is a pioc of the box but i cant find anyhting free for it and was wondering if anybody knowe anyhting bout it


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

The antivirus i have now (Anti-vir 9 pro) is working great and i still have some system resources to play with  so i am doing good and i think this can be closed


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## Di3t_C0ke (Nov 27, 2003)

AVG is the best Free Virus scanner around, AVAST is garbage imo.


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## [email protected] (Jul 4, 2004)

I love the free version of AVG antivirus and have never had a problem!!!! There are also updates available every day to keep you protected form the latest virus's!!!!


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## keithy397 (Jul 11, 2004)

[email protected] said:


> I love the free version of AVG antivirus and have never had a problem!!!! There are also updates available every day to keep you protected form the latest virus's!!!!


Couldn't agree more. I've had the free version for a year with no probs at all. AVG Pro is too much for a home user, I tried it.


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Di3t_C0ke said:


> AVG is the best Free Virus scanner around, AVAST is garbage imo.


Can you say why, what reasons, AVAST in your opinion is not so good?

And/or why AVG is the cat's meow?

Thanks!


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## keithy397 (Jul 11, 2004)

All a matter of preference isn't it? If any particular one works for you and you're happy with it, it'll be the best?!

Cheers.


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

one thing i should have mentioned way back is ontop of free i need a program that is gental on system resources.....


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## DCutter (Sep 12, 2004)

I'm not expert at anything, in fact I'm here looking for answers to a different problem altogether, but Free almost always catches my eye. I've tried McAfee, Norton, AVG and Avast. Mcafee and Norton are not free so they are not concidered here. I have a 98SE box with AVG and this XP Pro box with Avast. I like them both, but lean toward Avast. In addition you might want to get SpyBot, Swat-it, ad-aware and zone alarm. All have a free version. Since you use 98 also get mozilla firefox web browser. It's a stand alone browser where as explorer is part of you're OS. If it gets attacked it can corrupt the OS. Mozilla's alot like explorer.


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Hey there DCutter... welcome, and thanks for the post.

Have you had any probs w/ Mozilla? Just curious, before I place it on my 98SE.

thanks!


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## angeldust (Jul 26, 2004)

I use avast! free version its indepth scan might take a while but that's why it is called an indepth scan eh. (also has a quickie)


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

On 24July04, alienadam, you mentioned that you were using Anti-vir 9 pro - how has it been for you these past few months? Has it been gentle upon your sys resources? As I think I mentioned before, for me at least on this system, Avast has caused me no problems - using ZoneAlarm Pro, w/ a clean-up via Ad-Aware version 6 [until 2 more weeks, then will switch to their upgrade; which will hopefully be bugless by then!  ]


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

MSN Hobbes,
Anti-vir 9 is the only one that has been gental on my sys resources. and i use AdAware SE now and i havent had any problems other then running out of system resources...the i started using it in safe mode and no problems yet but ill let you know if i do... i recently stopped using spysweeper because it sucked up sys resources (that is along with aim, aim+, ZA, antivir, and a few open iinternet explorer pages up.... you know just the essentials 

also, i think that firefox is a pretty nice application. i have been using it (along with ie 6) sience version 0.8 it hassent let me down yet...infact every time that ie goes down for some reason or another it takes its place with ease


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## DCutter (Sep 12, 2004)

Thank you for the welcome. Mozilla recently revamped the browser making as easy to use as explorer. Since it's a stand alone program it has a delay between clicking the icon and actually opening. Other then that I have had no problems and the delay isn't realy a problem or inconvenience. It also comes with some other bells-n-whistles that left with the memory dump I did after getting it set up the way I want it. I'm suckin the net through dial-up and I did notice a slightly slower download speed, but not much. Besides, all I have to do is sneeze and dial-up slows down. Dial-up is also the main reason I stopped playing MechWarrior on-line. Would you like a lil cheese with my whine? Hehehe.


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

hey i just got nod32 and i want a site or something that i can test it on...(although i have already gone to pandasoftware.com and tested with the eicar file but i want something else that few people have heard of and isnt going to be destructive if something does go wrong.... thanks again,
Adam


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## J-Son (Sep 14, 2004)

NOD32 is my favourite anti virus but the only free good one i think is AVG


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## DCutter (Sep 12, 2004)

Alienadam, here's a site to get your PC checked for vulnerabilities with respect to the internet. Yes it's free. 
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Google search - shields up


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

DCutter, thanks ill try it


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

i tried it and it says im all good...thanks a little relief ... now i have a question, although a little off topic but anyways... is there any ways to get ZA Pro to block all downloads unless i tell it other wise because my little sister keeps downloading stuff she shouldnt and this is the only way to stop it.....(i hope)...or a simple program that is password protected and blocks only ports (like 21)...just something so that the only way something can be downloaded is though me


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## alienadam (Mar 14, 2004)

all i feel i can do for right no is block the sites (which i have done)


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