General discussion

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #2171676

    Ok Guys and Gals… I need some advice

    Locked

    by cmiller5400 ·

    I have been a loyal AVG user for years (using the paid version for the AV / Firewall combo). In my experience with them I have never had a virus or malware infection on my computer. I just received a email from them as it is time to renew my protection. Like everyone else, they want even more money this year 🙁 With money being so tight at this time, in doing some research, I ran across Comodo’s products. Anyone have any experience with this software (either good or bad)? I can get 3 years for 3 pc’s for $48 bucks. At AVG it is only 1 pc for 2 years for $72.

    Or is there any other software you would recommend based on your personal experiences?

    Thanks in advance!

All Comments

  • Author
    Replies
    • #2427604

      One thought

      by ouritlady ·

      In reply to Ok Guys and Gals… I need some advice

      If you are that happy with AVG did you consider maybe dropping to the free version as the AV and running something like Zone Alarm (also available free for home use) as the firewall? I’ve never used the AVG paid version so not sure if it offers additional features that wouldn’t be covered by that combo, but I’ve been using those two plus periodic scans with CCleaner and Malwarebytes as backup and not had any issues.

    • #2427562

      If your machine is clean,

      by charliespencer ·

      In reply to Ok Guys and Gals… I need some advice

      I wouldn’t pay for any AV. There are plenty of free AV tools that may not do the best job of removing an existing malware but do excellent jobs of preventing initial infections.

      I’d go with MS Security Essentials, teamed with the nagware version of ThreatFire. The resources footprint is small, the updates are automatic and quiet (other than the ThreatFire pop-up once a month or so).

      Knowing the best preventative practices can be more effective than a malware app. If you open suspicious e-mails, click on unexpected pop-ups and shortened or obscure links, open sites despite your AV’s warnings, and engage in other ill-advised behaviors, it won’t matter what software you run. If you use your head, you can use a couple of decent free tools with confidence.

    • #2427553

      I used Free AVG until they gave me a false positive

      by tony hopkinson ·

      In reply to Ok Guys and Gals… I need some advice

      Well the false positive wasn’t the issue. When I clicked on the fix button and it “suggested” I purchased the full version in order to proceed, I got a little bit upset.
      Since then I’ve been on free avast with no issues.
      Never really considered paying for av.
      Firewall wise I rely mainly on my hardware, windows firewall is running as well

    • #2427522

      My take

      by michael jay ·

      In reply to Ok Guys and Gals… I need some advice

      I am on Comcast and they provide a “free” license for Norton Security Suite, i say “free” because they must include it in the price somewhere. ATT uses McAfee and I believe Charter has F-Secure.

      In the past I have read reports of the bloat of Norton and McAfee and how it just kills performance, as far as I can see from here at least Norton is not a resource hog, it just sits there and works.

      Your provider may also have something, I suggest you look into it, and since you are already paying for it, might as well use it, at least try it and see if it works for you.

      • #2427500

        The things with on demand scanners

        by tony hopkinson ·

        In reply to My take

        is if you don’t want them to get in the way you have to configure them. By default they scan just about everything. For a basic appliance user that doesn’t usually get in the way too much. The areas where I’ve seen thing gets hammered, are doing a restore on a database and it kicks in and scans backup sets and your volume files. Or you are building a reasonable sized application and it scans all your object files, dlls and exes as they are created. We use MacAcfee at work, so all the devs ended up with excluded folders and file types for doing things like this. They are expensive operations in themselves, throw in a few a/v passes and even a high spec dev machine, will seriously drag it’s arse. Course that means a bit of discipline on our parts as well, downloading SeeBritneyNaked.exe into your Build folder, being a baaaaaad idea. 🙁
        Can’t say I’ve ever noticed it on my personal box.

        Not just Norton and Macaffee, do it either I’ve several of them run into the same issue, Trend was the most recent one.

        • #2427451

          Norton does not seem to dog the pc too much

          by michael jay ·

          In reply to The things with on demand scanners

          but there is another part that my ISP insists you have, Constant Guard, that piece of software does slow the pc badly, so I disabled it.

    • #2427514
      Avatar photo

      I’ve been using Microsoft Security Essentials

      by Wizard57M-TR ·

      In reply to Ok Guys and Gals… I need some advice

      for the last couple of years, in combination with MalwareBytes Antimalware as
      “on demand” scanner, no issues, have caught a couple of attempted browser
      shenanigans. Prior to MSE, I used Avira Free and didn’t have any problems
      outside of rather slow scan times. Although some of the ratings have lowered
      the rank of MSE late last year, I’ll probably stick with it. If things don’t improve
      however I will go back with Avira. I’ve read good reports about Avast as well,
      and may give it another go. I gave up on Norton around 2005 or so, and
      McAfee even earlier, though I did use it some in 2008 only because it was
      provided as part of service with my ISP. It just seemed to slow everything
      down and want to take over everything, the same reason I gave up Norton
      (after being a beta tester for Norton for ages). Some of the antimalware rating
      sites have given new version of Norton high marks, but after years of being
      a resource hog, I’m skeptical. Many years ago I used AVG…it was pretty good,
      but sometime in like 1999 or so, it too started slowing everything to a crawl.
      AVG also wants to install browser toolbars, search helpers etc. and from what
      I’ve read these can be a hassle to remove. My recommendations:
      1. Microsoft Security Essentials or Avira
      2. Avast
      3. Norton (if provided by ISP, otherwise weigh the cost/benefit carefully)
      Along with any of these, use the free version of MalwareBytes as an on demand
      scanner on a regular basis (weekly) just to be sure.

      • #2427476

        Avira has gotten a bit viral in recent years

        by slayer_ ·

        In reply to I’ve been using Microsoft Security Essentials

        First, they got rid of that hack to get rid of the nag screen.
        Now they play with NTFS permissions to give the installation folder special permissions that somehow block even the computer administrator from modifying it. Even in safe mode you can’t touch the folder.
        They also added one of those toaster nag screens that keeps giving you ad’s and can interrupt programs. I have also had the nag screen lock up and prevent you from closing it, and you can’t end task it because it has that same odd user permission.
        So I can’t recommend Avira anymore as a free virus scanner.

        Security essentials does exactly what a virus scanner should do, protect your computer, and stay quiet about it. I have it installed on my parents computer and they have no idea it’s even there, it updates and scans quietly without slowing the machine down.

    • #2427513

      Free AVG

      by forseys11 ·

      In reply to Ok Guys and Gals… I need some advice

      Would definitely go with the Free AVG option. Have it on a number of devices over the last few years without any issues.

    • #2427495

      I use comodo. good IF…

      by locrian_lyric ·

      In reply to Ok Guys and Gals… I need some advice

      If your computer is clean, Comodo will keep it that way. The only thing is that the software is paranoid, and by default will ‘sandbox’ programs it does not recognize, which may require that you then click on ‘do not sandbox again’ and then restart the program as it may not work properly in sandbox mode.

Viewing 6 reply threads