anti virus program

[Bamboozle]

Just like flyfishing products there are lots of opinions on software.

I had and hated most of the big name programs. Getting completely rid of McAfee is a tricky proposition but it can be done without reformatting your hard drive. It takes some registry work and some clean-up programs but after it was completely gone; I went with what was recommended to me by a Microsoft tech support person from Hotmail:

Trend Micro

It doesn't hog system resources, it includes a full suite of products like spam blockers, spyware, firewall, kiddie protection, key logging protection and lots more and is boxed as a three licence copy at WAY less than McAfee or Norton. I get a discount each year for a new license and pick up my copy at Staples.

[Normand]

[quote=Bamboozle;249196]Just like flyfishing products there are lots of opinions on software.
[quote]

boy is there!!

after reading all of the opinions/suggestions on this thread, i'm still not sure which one to go to.

thanks to all who responded.

avast = 2
avg = 6
macafee = 3
norton = 2
ca = 1
microsoft = 1
trendmicro = 1
mac = 1
spyhunter = 1
eset = 2

[DShock]

I am switching to this;http://www.eset.com/
Thanks tailingloop!
Doug

[Brian Moffitt]

Normand,

Just to add an additional .02 to the mix. You have recieved a ton of good suggestions. I'd advise trying a few and see which one fits your needs. Most if not all of the recommended solutions have a trial of some kind (30 day, 60 day, etc.) so you can see if they work for you.

Better than anyone on the board, you know what your situation is, and what will work best for you (sounds like a rod recommendation doesn't it?). Download a trial of one of the recommended AV solutions, install and see if it works for you. When the trial is over uninstall and download another and so on. In the end you may have tried 6 or seven products and then you can decide which one fit you best.

In the end, any reputable AV solution is better than none at all.

Brian

[Flyandtie1]

I use Windows One care. I like it, pretty neat.

[Bamboozle]

Just to add an additional .02 to the mix. You have recieved a ton of good suggestions. I'd advise trying a few and see which one fits your needs.

While this is a good suggestion it may not be an easy one. I can't speak to personal experience with any other program except McAfee but COMPLETELY uninstalling some virus programs can be EXTREEMLY difficult.

While a complete uninstall may not be necessary; some software for the same purpose may have conflicts with incomplete uninstalls. I had a HECK of a time getting Trend Micro to work properly until I completely vanquished McAfee from my system which wasn't a simple one step process.

YMMV

[Brian Moffitt]

Bamboozle,

In my experience (going on 10 years as an IT guy in a variety of capacities), I have only seen one product which subornly refuses to uninstall and that is McAfee. Over the past year or so I have been researching various products trying to find the one which best fit my performance needs but also provided high quality protection. As a result I had to have installed/uninstalled at least every one of the mentioned products from my Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 system. None of them (McAfee did not make the cut on even getting a trial install) caused any system problems on uninstall and none caused me to revert to backup becuase of an issue.

As you noted YMMV and this is true with anything. As I noted, it was just my opinion based upon my experience.

Brian

[Normand]

thanks to all that responded. i went with Computer Associates and really like this program.

[drc]

I have used AVG, Zone Alarm, Mcafee, and Norton. I am now using a trial version of Micro Trend. It doesn't use the resources of my computer, like the others did. Hence, no slow down in computer performance. They are a little shy on the Tech support though. My recommendation is to download the 30 day trials, and see for yourself which one works for you.

[MontanaMoose]

I know, you're sorry to hear I have a computer with ME. There is no longer any support for ME and I can't use my isp's free 'High Speed Security Suite' since it won't load. What's weird though is that I use that comp from time to time and I'm running without virus protection or a firewall. I do notice after about 50 or 60 uses that it begins to slow down. Before that happens though, it's really fast. Maybe faster than my new wiz-bang vista home premium. Maybe.

Here comes the really interesting part. Once it slows noticeably, I'll reformat the harddrive, which takes all of an hour. But then it's really fast again and since I don't store anything on the ME, it's a great email, FAOL and general surfing tool. Kinda like a stripped down car...no back seat, no radio, no carpet or mats etc. You, know...gets great mileage, is fun to drive and no one else wants to drive it.

Not advocating 'running bare' but I sure can whiz through my email, FAOL and even do some high velocity surfing.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose