Advice needed: Antivirus software

[Greybar]

Google has failed me. So, I'll turn to the geek-delphi.

What AV software should I put on my PC?

I don't use the machine that much, but I figure I really should replace the Norton that expired in late summer. I wasn't particullarly thrilled by Norton Internet Security, and am tempted to buy the McAfee home product just because we use McAfee at work and I figure at worst I'll at least know how to turn on exclusions and stuff.

The reviews I can find via Google are either subscriber only, are from 2002, or are consumer-vote sites that generally have only 1 or 3 votes per product (i.e. data useless).

Plus there's names out there now that I have no experience with: (Panda? AVG?)

Windows XP Home
1.67GHz, 256MB
Use GMail now, so don't need Outlook/POP coverage
Use Firefox, so don't need to cover IE's problems

thanks in advance!

 

[Soel]

I am currently using AVG, mainly cause its free, and I'm tapped for cash right now. Can't say I'm overly pleased with it, but I guess that's mainly the sceptic in me remembering the adage, "you get what you pay for."

I was using Kaspersky Personal Antivirus, which was fantastic! It was light on memory usage, and very thorough during virus scans, finding bits that others (Norton) didn't.

I do not recommend Norton, as it hogs memory, and has a penchant to uninstall incorrectly.

My only experience with Mcafee was the low-end version, and that was really crummy...

 

[XCorvis]

AVG is good enough, and it's free. I'd recommend it. I have my parents running it, and they report no problems with it.

 

[IronWolf]

I've had decent luck with AVG.

 

[Agamon]

AntiVir is really good. And it comes highly recommeded by Leo Laporte, too. I run it on my laptop, and I'm adding to my main PC with the expiraation of Norton this week.

 

[Aus_Snow]

For Windows XP + Firefox / Thunderbird etc., I currently use NOD32, but it's a paid service. I highly recommend it though.

Otherwise yeah, AVG should do the trick.

 

[ssampier]

I'm a big fan of the Japanese anti-virus maker Trend Micro. It's fast and it finds many viruses; not free, but worth the money.

For free anti-virus, I love AVAST! I dislike the interface of AVG.

 

[Greybar]

Thanks for all the opinions, folks.

I think next weekend I'll look over AVG again and may go with that.
Since it's free, if I don't like it then it's easy to try something else.

 

[mps42]

Avast, matey

I have to vote for Avast! over AVG. Avast will find stuff that AVG wont and its' also free. In my opin, if you want free, go with Avast!

 

[greymist]

I've used AVG on 2 PCs for the past couple of years and have been quite happy with it. I agree with the comments about Norton, a good anti-virus engine that has gone the path of bloat.