Monday, December 26, 2005

Free Virus Scanner Roundup

I have been helping someone I met in an Age of Empires game over the internet with some computer troubles for the last hour or so who didn't even have a virus scanner. There are a few good free ones that I mentioned to him and that I figure some of you might be interested in (besides, I haven't had a post for the windows people in awhile).

First off: AVG antivirus by Grisoft. This is a good and pretty mainstream scanner that works well. It has both a free and a commercial version, the free version can be hard to find if you don't know where to look. The free version can be found at free.grisoft.com . Use the Get AVG Free link on the left to download. It used to work well on all versions of windows, but recently there have been some problems with windows 98 so if you are running 95 or 98 then the next choice might be for you

Avast: Is another free virus scanner which works well (and some think is faster than avg). The interface is a bit clunky and the default skin is also pretty bad but it is skinable so this is easily changed. The options are limited but it does work and what do you want for free? One major downside is that you have to reregister each year, which is free but a pain. Check out the free version here. There is also a new Linux version to be released next month which I may try out later (not that there are many Linux viri)

As a temporary measure, you can also use trendmicro's house call scanner from internet explorer for free. It runs as an activeX control so takes almost no install but doesn't run continuously so is less protection. You can find House Call here.

Of course a virus scanner alone is no longer enough. You should also be using a spyware scanner regularly to protect from identity theft and keep your computer running smoothly.

I recommend AdAware from Lavasoft myself. It is easy to use (just be sure to use the update button before each use) and doesn't seem to miss much. You can get it here.
I do have a friend who prefers Spybot S&D but I find the interface difficult. Take you pick, but run one or the other at least monthly, maybe more often and whenever your computer seems "slow".

You should also be using a firewall such as Zone Alarm, but I will get into that further in a later post, for now treat your computer nicely.

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