Venusaur Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 I can't remember the actual specs of the laptop, but my mom's not too tech-savvy. Since it's a Windows laptop, anti-virus is 100% necessary. What are the best antivirus and antispyware programs for Windows? We'd like the price low, (preferably free), but if the around $100 ones crush the free ones then we might as well buy the $100 ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanarkin Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 (edited) why not get an antivirus online for free? I'm sure some people here will tell you some. Anyways, I have had norton before and it was pretty good IDK though we don't have an antivirus anymore :( Also why doesn't apple need antivirus 100% of the time? Edited August 19, 2010 by SlayerX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightmare Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 avast! is the best anti-virus you can get. It has a free version and it works amazingly well. There's a version that can be bought as well, if you're looking to buy stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEST TRYNDAMERE PLAYER Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 Free antiviruses will suffice if you're careful/aware enough. For an antivirus get AVG For a free firewall get Comodo. Also why doesn't apple need antivirus 100% of the time? Because there's a lot less viruses that are coded specifically for macs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H3X/AntiStyle Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 Best Antivirus ever: Computer literacy. It'll do more than keep viruses off of it, it'll also boost performance, prevent decay of the OS, and generally do a lot of awesome things. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balcerzak Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 I can't remember the actual specs of the laptop, but my mom's not too tech-savvy. Since it's a Windows laptop, anti-virus is 100% necessary. What are the best antivirus and antispyware programs for Windows? We'd like the price low, (preferably free), but if the around $100 ones crush the free ones then we might as well buy the $100 ones. Dual-boot linux. ;) In all seriousness though, I can't recommend AVAST! enough. AVG free is good too. I used AVG for years before switching to AVAST!, and have now been using that for years, and never once since undergrad (before I wised up about antivirus programs) has my machine caught an infection. I do visit my fair share of dubious sites, and have on occasion indulged in suspicious downloads, so it's not just a testament to my surfing habits. It's very important that you do not run multiple programs though, since they will tend to interfere with each other. Also why doesn't apple need antivirus 100% of the time? Since the largest target base is Windows, most viruses are written for Windows. Since fewer crackers/scriptkiddies/malcontents are interested in maliciously targetting Macs (or Linux) there's much less need to worry about viruses for those platforms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albus Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 I've used avast! in Windows and haven't had any problems. But most importantly this: Best Antivirus ever: Computer literacy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomDaDude Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 Norton all the way you dont notice what it does till you lose it '.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furby Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 (edited) Norton all the way you dont notice what it does till you lose it '.' And by "it," you must mean your computer, because it might as well do NOTHING with how useless it is. Avast! for Antivirus. I'd recommend MalwareBytes for anti-malware, but I've been running Avast from the get go, and it does everything it needs to. Being smart makes a malware protector useless. And it's completely free, and since Avast! 5, you don't even need to register. There's AVG and one other one that's interchangeable with Avast!, but they switch off between who is best all the time, so I recommend Avast personally since I know it works. Norton and Synaptec are beyond worthless, and aren't worth the paper the money is made out of. And anyone who recommends them has no idea what they're doing. EDIT: No one ever said decent anti spyware, so let me cover something. Make your default browser Firefox and get an addon called AdBlock Plus. Combined with Avast!, it makes a computer very save, and ABP can even be used to block specific bad parts of a website, so if there is a site with a bad ad for a time, you can just block the ad and still get to the site. Edited August 19, 2010 by Furby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Mercenary Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 I bought Norton and it was really good until the year passed and it spammed me with messages of supscription renewal - it's only good for a year or the time of the trial. I got Avast and until now it has worked great. It's probably the best free option! I also have AVG which is also great and has good antispyware. Also get AdBlock for any of the browsers your mom will use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Microsoft Security Essentials. It's Microsoft's way of apologizing for the many holes in Windows. If you have Adobe Reader and/or Java, keep those updated. Ditto with Windows itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenrir Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 A V G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treasure Chest Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 If you buy from Best Buy, you usually get Webroot for free. It works pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byte2222 Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 Microsoft Security Essentials. It's Microsoft's way of apologizing for the many holes in Windows. ^This After a bit of trouble with Avast and a first-minute virus ruined our desktop machine both it and my laptop now run Microsoft Security Essentials and it hasn't put a foot wrong yet. It helps that it's relatively lightweight software and it runs real-time protection so if anything tries to change the OS files it tells you and you can stop it. Just keep your virus definitions up to date and watch what you download. I don't think this counts as necroposting. I've been on forums before but they didn't have a rule like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiah Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 Assuming it's ok to post in this thread... I use avira as a free antivirus. Never had a problem. But I don't go looking for problems. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whase Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 I've never had problems with Norton. I've had AVG for a few weeks, it didn't find the virus I had. and I knew I had a virus, since I started receiving messages with links from myself (I have myself in my msn list, lolz) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H3X/AntiStyle Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Here's how it works. I simply do not have an antivirus on my computer. At all. Nothing. Then, after 5 months of ZERO "protection", I will install an antivirus, and run a check. The check NEVER comes up with ANYTHING at all, save for 1, maybe 2 false positives (Lolkeygens), and then I uninstall it. You do not need a virus 100% at all. Obviously, you don't need one period. You just need to learn how not to be retarded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Here's how it works. I simply do not have an antivirus on my computer. At all. Nothing. Then, after 5 months of ZERO "protection", I will install an antivirus, and run a check. The check NEVER comes up with ANYTHING at all, save for 1, maybe 2 false positives (Lolkeygens), and then I uninstall it. You do not need a virus 100% at all. Obviously, you don't need one period. You just need to learn how not to be retarded. *facepalm* I'm glad you've mastered the fine art of not getting infected, but I doubt that this holds true for the majority of the population, especially the "not to tech-savvy" ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byte2222 Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Even the best of us aren't invulnerable, I nearly had a mishap when I was just playing a game on a completely innocent site that never game me any problems before and a virus somehow managed to sneak in as a temporary file. If my anti-virus hadn't detected it and told me it was trying to access system files who knows what would've happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der Kommissar Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Don't waste money buying an anti-virus. Your best bets are Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast! Antivirus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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