PC Virus Protection

[Blackee]

What do you use to protect your PC?
Do you pay, or do you use free virus protection?
I use avast antivirus and have done so for 3 years.
Never had an issue (touches cranium)

Discuss..

[daviescr]

Maybe I'm tempting fate and call me crazy, but I use no antivirus protection at all. I'm a bit of a cynic and just see the big businesses making money out of people's fear!!

PC is on 24/7 and in the 4.5 years we've been here, never a hiccup. Back up important files weekly, have a clear out once a year. If I get hit, then cest la vie - good opportunity to UG to WIN7 or buy a Mac.

[Lily]

AVG Antivirus here, no problems and have been using it for years.

[Blackee]

Wow Chris!!
What about when you are receiving emails with attachments? Do you have a scan setup or freewheeling also?

[daviescr]

Generally only open emails with attachments from trusted sources, we only use hotmail on this PC, so is all web based, and they seem to do a pretty good job of keeping out the spam and phishing emails, while locking down dodgy attachments.

My work laptop is another matter: We have very strict policies in place - using Symantec AV, plus when accessing the many hundreds of databases on the US servers, we have to use a VPN client. Plus there is always the knowledge that 'they' can log every movement when inside the VPN, makes you play very safe!

[Australis(Shell3155)]

Used Nortons for a few years in the past for work pc, what a nightmare.
Moved to Avast and have been using for years and very happy, only time i had a virus was when i hit a dodgy link and was that split second that i didnt THINK. Thought about it latter while hassling to remove it. it has picked up a few of recent, while surfing sites.
Run Ad_Aware every now and then for a clean out. seems to work.

[Anthony Violi]

Avast is by far the best IMO...been using it since 04 and will never try any other brand. We are actually a reseller of AVG products, but i dont like them myself.

[mutley]

I am not a big fan of any products at the moment. AVG is my preferred tool for family and friends, however, has bloated in recent times and consumes more system resources than ever.

I did managed to find the following 3 part review titled "Free Antivirus Shootout: AVG vs AntiVir vs Avast!" at the URLs below:
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/smb- ... 34746.aspx
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/smb- ... 34747.aspx
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/smb- ... 34748.aspx

I am at the point where I would be happy to swing over to something equaly as reliable as AVG with a smaller memory footprint. Let us know how you go.

[nafets]

Avast is by far the best IMO...been using it since 04 and will never try any other brand. We are actually a reseller of AVG products, but i dont like them myself.

Same i have been too!! Its great, lets you know straight away if you are on an insecure site!