virus programme: need your help

[RadioMaster]

I used to run the free programme "AntiVir" for a few years, till it caught a virus I couldnt for the life of me get rid off. After I set up my whole system again, I was going with a trial version of Norton AntiVirus 2005, which works pretty well so far, but this month the trial time runs out, and I'd have to buy a 12 month subscription for ~45€.

My question is:
What are your experiences regarding anti-virus-programmes? Are there any free ones that keep your computer clean (AntiVir obviously couldnt lol), or is it worth to subscribe to a paid service, for the sake of your computer?
If so, would it be a good idea to subscribe to Norton for a year, or did you make negative experiences with them/know a cheaper solution that works as good or better?

[Hypnobabe]

I don't know about anti-virus, but i do run spybot search and destroy, and ad-aware SE on mine, and they're both pretty good programs, both available free on the t'internet...

[djfierce]

ok i have always used norton, and never had a single virus seriously threaten my computer, until a month or so ago when it detected a trojan, we were informed it had to be removed manually and that we should contact customer support, we did that and then were informed that they charge (m will correct me if i'm wrong) close to £80 to find and remove the virus, we couldnt afford that at the time and didnt arrive on yesterdays banana boat so we declined ignoring their scaremongering. A friend recommended that i download the free AVG programme and gove that a try, which i did and low and behold my puter has been clear of viruses and trojans ever since, so take from that what you will hun.

[AndyK]

AVG's very good for a freebie. Norton is ok, but they are a tad commercial. Panda Security do a good online virus checker too, which is reasonably priced and provides excellent coverage (for both viruses and spyware/adware). Sophos and Macafee are two good ones to look at as well if you're looking to spend money.

[R.]

Norton is evil and their Internet Security package is well known for opening up security holes because of bugs. Uninstall that crap (Good Luck with that because that's a tough job), and don't touch that software ever again.

Antivir and AVG are probably fine choices for free virus protection, but you have to make sure that you keep your signature files up to date. Kaspersky might be a good choice for a commercial package, because it comes with heuristic detection and a behavior blocker.

Best anti-virus/anti-trojan package is Brain v2.0 though. Use Firefox with either a limited account or "DropMyRights", with Adblock, Flashblock and NoScript in combination with the XP firewall, a free virus scanner and brain.

[Paul191]

AVG is great!

[Siobhan]

yep, I use AVG as well and I've never had a problem so far

[RadioMaster]

alright, thanks guys, looks like I'll have to look out for AVG