Worry-Free antivirus?

[ddrueding]

This is stemming from a thread I just started in the tech support forum, and expands the matter.

I have a friend who is not the easiest to work with - Beating my head against the wall for half a day trying to work with Norton AV is easier than trying to explain why she should switch to a better program. But at the same time she means quite a lot to me - I've just flown to Portland, OR for a week to help her move. She has a Dell Dimension 2400 (P4 2.2Ghz, now with 768MB RAM, 40GB 7200RPM HDD) that is now in great condition. I reccomended a Dell with a service plan because it's simply too hard and takes too long for me to get up here and fix stuff.

I trust the hardware firewall integrated with the DSL modem combined with XP's firewall to handle the intrusion stuff, but I need a bullet-proof and effective anti-virus solution. I know what to do in a business enviroment where I can walk to the persons desk after the alert is given, but I want one that can be relied upon to update itself, detect viruses, and remove them all without requiring any input from the user. Without notification would work as well.

Free is great, but not necissary. Thoughts?

 

[Mercutio]

I tell any and all of my students, in every class I teach, to ditch Norton or McAfee for AVG. I do this without any reservation. It works better and doesn't try to be some kind of extension to the OS. I got tired of bitching out home users who can't be bothered to whip out a credit card once a year.

I like Kapersky AV a lot, too, but it requires a subscription just like everything else.

 

[ddrueding]

...AVG.

Great. Any great tricks for making it act in a bullet/fool proof way?

 

[ddrueding]

Wow. That was remarkably easy. There is no configuration to speak of, it seems to just, um, work. And with a footprint thats only a fraction of NAV.

Thank you so much to all who helped on this thread and the other in tech suppot (Merc, Tannin, Sol, and all those who read but had nothing to contribute - thanks for keeping your mouth shut ).

 

[CougTek]

Both Avast and NOD32 find virus that AVG let pass on customers' boxes that we repair. But both Avast and NOD32 aren't free.

 

[Buck]

NOD32 or Kaspersky.

 

[mubs]

I tell any and all of my students, in every class I teach, to ditch Norton or McAfee for AVG. I do this without any reservation. It works better and doesn't try to be some kind of extension to the OS.

Seconded & recommended; I ditched Snorton for AVG and couldn't be happier.

Once installed, AVG:
1) Updates itself automatically, no fuss, so long as there's an internet connection (unlike Snorton, whose DeadUpdate never worked properly and couldn't be fixed)
2) When it finds something bad it automatically quarantines it in the Virus Vault.

You can always go to the AVG control center and view the Virus Vault or empty it.

It's a super product, and free for home users. Everybody I know, I'm switching to AVG. It's a shame Snorton still makes money off the shit they produce.

 

[time]

NOD32. Detects rootkits (apparently). Now has an optional thingy where if something looks suspicious, it phones home with the essential details (or something like that), so Eset can identify and handle nasties even sooner.

 

[Bung]

Avast 4 is free for non-commercial home users. Some AVG users have migrated.

 

[ddrueding]

I use Nod32 in all my business enviroments. It really is awesome and has a really small footprint, but it does cost some money. I am capable of selling people on things, but it's that much easier when things are free.