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Best of the Free Anti-virus Choices?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the protect-yerself dept.

iamjoltman writes "I've been looking to replace the McAfee anti-virus on my parent's XP machine. So, I've been looking at the three free anti-virus choices, AVG Free Edition, avast! Home Edition and AntiVir Personal Edition. I know there are other options, but I believe any others are only on-demand scanners, and that's not an option. So, what does the Slashdot crowd think is the best of these choices? Keep in mind, I'm only looking in anti-virus, I'll go elsewhere for firewall or malware protection."

5 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory (this *is* Slashdot, after all): by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 0, Offtopic


    This is the best free anti-virus product by far.

    I'll go elsewhere for firewall or malware protection.

    No need...the above link has that covered, too.

    Seriously, though, what exactly do your parents use the XP machine for? Is there a particular reason an alternate, less susceptible OS wouldn't suffice?

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    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:Obligatory (this *is* Slashdot, after all): by MarkByers · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      This is the best free anti-virus product by far.

      It's a bit risky mentioning 'the Other operating system' on a story which only Windows users need to read. They have safety in numbers here.

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      I'll probably be modded down for this...
  2. Ubuntu? by davebgimp · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    If all they're doing is basic email, web browsing and other simple applications, you might want to try switching them over Ubuntu Linux. Try popping in a live cd, available for download on the project's site http://www.ubuntu.com/ and that will give you a good idea as to hardware compatibility. If all is well, try it out or do a dual-boot and have them give it a test drive. If they like it, run that as their sole or primary OS. No more viruses. Other than that, I'd go Mac if I were you.

  3. Single Best AV Solution... by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Linux.

    Available to download in multiple distros.

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    May the Maths Be with you!
  4. Between a firewall by Lord+Crc · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    and a good brain, I don't seem to miss having any AV. Last time I had a virus was around DOS 5.0 days. And I use Windows (although not for the firewall ;).

    I generally find AV software to be in the way, generating conflicts with other software and generally slowing the machine down a LOT.