Which free antivirus to choose?

Have used Avast for about 6 months on XP Home, it has behaved and caught the
odd Swen that gets through Mailwasher with no problems.

As for the paying for software against the Free argument, I run Norton
Corporate Edition on a W2k Server at work looking after a few dozen
machines, it needs handholding from time to time, the updates are large,
sometimes I have to force network updating to clients, but it does work.

Is it that much better than the Free AV programs, if it was we would all be
using it, and this thread would be pointless. Sorry for the rant feel a lot
better now and answered my own message in one go.

Andy B

"Harbinger" <me.RemoveThis@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:bo8qhu$1b7pub$1@ID-99513.news.uni-berlin.de...
> In article <BAQpb.24882$E51.16989@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com>,
> gcattanach-SKIP-.RemoveThis@prodigy.net says...
>
> > If you don't want to pay, Avast is the way, IMHO and I think it's better
> > than lots of expensive products.
> >
>
> Gregg,
>
> thanks for your answer; it has certainly given the reassurance I
> needed to use Avast Home instead of renewing the license of NAV.
> Considering that in these parts a software license can and will
> cost two to three times as it does in the US after taxes, budget
> considerations must drive all purchases.[1]
>
> [1] E.g., you can buy Office 2003 Pro for about US$600 after sales
> tax in the US, same package here costs about US$1100 *before* sales
> tax, and we are talking a percentage in the high teens...

"Gregg Cattanach" <gcattanach-SKIP- DeleteThis @prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:BAQpb.24882$E51.16989@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> "optikl" <optikl DeleteThis @comcast.spamtrap(remove).net> wrote in message
> news:JNMpb.103265$Tr4.279402@attbi_s03...
> >
> > If you are determined to stick with free stuff, stick with Avast. A
couple
> > of questions, though: Was your XP Pro system free?
> > No? Is the data on it worth anything at all to you? Yes? What about your
> > time? Shitty AV products and malware can cause corruption to your data
> > as well as cause you to waste time cleaning up their mess. Think about
it.
> >
>
> Despite the comments above, I've found absolutely nothing 'shitty' about
> Avast Home Edition. Any suggestion that Avast is malware is ridiculous.

I never suggested Avast was malware. Reread what I wrote. " Shitty AV
products AND malware can cause corruption..." I do think it's sort of a
shitty, buggy, product. And yes, I've trialed it.