Free Anti-virus question

I used AntiVir free Personal Edition for several months and liked it. It
has a good support bulletin board. However, I couldn't always get the
automatic update to work, and whenever there was an updated virus definition
file available it had to download the entire file, not just the updates.
Finally, whenever a new program release became available it was necessary to
reinstall the entire program from scratch.

I now use Avast! free program and like it uch better. The updates are
automatic when you boot up, audio messages tell you when the virus database
has been updated or a virus has been detected, and it has separate functions
for scanning e-mail, internet browsing, instant messaging, etc. Some users
have said it slows their computer down on start up. This is probably so.
It also seems to scan slower than AntiVir does. But it seems to catch a lot
and operates transparently, so I prefer it now to AntiVir.

Hope this helps.

"Jason" <spacenjasset.TakeThisOut@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:c0i9m4$75o$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...
> "Edward Hodges" <ethodges3.TakeThisOut@netscape.net> wrote in message
> news:dfqdnWrEjJnhmrHdRVn-sA@comcast.com...
> > has anyone heard anything about (or knows anything about) AntiVir Guard
> > (www.free-av.com)... is it reliable? is it flawed? any info would be
> > greatly appriciated
>
> I have used this software. It seems quite reasonable, but I think some
> posters in this group have said I may not detect some of the older
malware.
> However, as we know today a bigger problem is internet worms. I imagine
that
> any av-software will do a good job of detecting worms becuase they are
> usualy quite easy to detect now -- unfortunaly such software genrally
can't
> detect new viruses. The other problem is the volume of spam these internet
> worms genrate.
>
> I am tempted to say that no AV software is significantly better than
> another, for sorting out the problem in genera, but some are much better
at
> detecting certain things than others. It's a bit academic when a new piece
> of malwre turns up though isn't it. You are better off having a av product
> then you are without one. I think you should also consider installation,
> support, frequency of updates and the like when you do choose.
>
>
>
>

David wrote:
....
> I now use Avast! free program and like it uch better. The updates are
> automatic when you boot up, audio messages tell you when the virus database
> has been updated or a virus has been detected, and it has separate functions
> for scanning e-mail, internet browsing, instant messaging, etc. Some users
> have said it slows their computer down on start up. This is probably so.
> It also seems to scan slower than AntiVir does. But it seems to catch a lot
> and operates transparently, so I prefer it now to AntiVir.
....

All right - _and_ the on-access scanner of Avast! can easily be
switched ON and OFF which is important for me (installing SW; gaming
etc.).

Roy