Reccomend me some (free) good anti-virus software

[Sionnach Glic]

I recently got a new laptop, and the only thing protecting it from the evils of the internet is a very limited subscription to Norton. Anyone know some good anti-virus stuff I could use (preferably free)?

[SteveK]

Windows defender picks up a lot of stuff . . . even its more of an anti spyware than anti virus though

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... layLang=en

I also like Adaware, even though that's more of an anti spyware thing too

http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

[Tsukiyumi]

There's also AVG free edition, which works pretty well for me.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

There's also AVG free edition, which works pretty well for me.

I myself have AVG free edition on my Windows drive. Although my antivirus prescription nowadays tends to involve running Linux most of the time, this isn't for everyone (as I was just discussing with a computer engineer friend of mine who has used it) since it just lacks that "polish" in the way of ordinary usability in some ways. Even before I started using WIndows infrequently at home, I hadn't had a virus in a while - certainly a lot better than I was with computer viruses about 5 years ago when I'd be in the shop every week at times (literally!)

[kostmayer]

Avast is another good free one. It hasn't failed me (yet)

[Mikey]

I know folks are going to shout me down, but I have a free version of MacAffee from my ISP and I've been very happy with the whole suite. Firewall, AV, task scheduler, even the self-repair module have been great. The only issue I have is that it updates itself daily, and takes a bit of time.

[Teaos]

Staying away from certain types of sites also helps... but since thats not realistic....

Also I also second CPH, run a OS thats not windows, most virus' are written for that.

[thelordharry]

Easier said than done.

I use this one and swear by it:

http://www.comodo.com/

It's an AV and a Firewall in one. Sure, you get a firewall with Windows but it's very basic and nowhere near as good as this one.

They also offer a memory resident malware protecter:

http://www.comodo.com/boclean/boclean.html

Which I use and have never been infected.

If it's too late, then this is a great malware remover:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/ma ... -setup.exe

Hope that helps

[Captain Picard's Hair]

A friend of mine who is a computer engineer by degree once remarked to me that any antivirus program can protect you from infection to some degree and may detect an infection, but generally they aren't great at rooting out viruses once you get one; he usually says the prescription is to do a clean reinstall of Windows - in the process, reformatting the HDD. This does jive with my experience that I've really never seen antivirus help too much when I have caught an infection. He also doesn't see one as head and shoulders above the field in protecting systems, but he says that one should rather look for the program that has the least impact on the rest of the system in the way of consuming RAM and processor cycles and slowing the system.

[thelordharry]

he usually says the prescription is to do a clean reinstall of Windows - in the process, reformatting the HDD.

I work in the IT Service area and in the very rare event of a server being infected by a virus, that's the first thing we do. We don't even bother trying to clean and disinfect, just trash the server, perform a low level format and then rebuild and restore data from the last backup. This is the ONLY way you can guarantee the virus has gone...

Malwarebytes is great though. I know several people that swear by it and it's worked where the likes of Lavasoft, Spybot etc have dismally failed.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

he usually says the prescription is to do a clean reinstall of Windows - in the process, reformatting the HDD.

I work in the IT Service area and in the very rare event of a server being infected by a virus, that's the first thing we do. We don't even bother trying to clean and disinfect, just trash the server, perform a low level format and then rebuild and restore data from the last backup. This is the ONLY way you can guarantee the virus has gone...

Malwarebytes is great though. I know several people that swear by it and it's worked where the likes of Lavasoft, Spybot etc have dismally failed.

Isn't security one reason why so many web servers run Linux (the "LAMP" setup)? I heard there was this one big bug that went around Windows servers in the early '00's that induced a lot of people to move away from Windows servers.

[thelordharry]

The high 'service' costs usually put most people off. You have to pay someone a lot of money for their expert knowledge of Unix or Unix-like OS but the market is flooded with people who can support Windows systems so they're ten a penny, sometimes as cheap as a dime a dozen

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Gotcha. Ironic, since the OS itself is free!

BTW, Ian, is DITL run on a Linux server? It's phpbb and php is php not usually associated with Linux?

[IanKennedy]

Gotcha. Ironic, since the OS itself is free!

BTW, Ian, is DITL run on a Linux server? It's phpbb and php is php not usually associated with Linux?

Yes, we're on a linux of some sort Debian I think, as for PHP it will run on just about any OS, we run it on our Macintosh servers at work. You can even run it on Windows.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Ah, OK. Thanks.

I'm happy enough running Linux most of the time; though there are a few annoying nits I can work around them. The desktop is fast and more powerful than the Windows desktop - but those nits and bugs are enough that many ordinary users would get a bit frustrated at times.