Sunday, May 18, 2008

New Anti-virus Recommendation

Problems with AVG?

Dan brought it to our attention that updates for AVG Antivirus version 7.5 are going away at the end of May, so users of this software will have to update to version 8.0. Dan mentioned that he did this, and the new version really slowed his computer down.


Other Good Choices Available
Our discussion about AVG prompted us to see if we could find other free Anti-virus software that we could recommend to listeners. The folks at About.com did a review of three free antivirus software packages for Windows. They included Avast, AVG, and AntiVir. I was surprised to read that AVG rated lowest of the three offerings. While AntiVir rated the best overall, Avast rated best as a general purpose antivirus product. Read the article from About.com for more details. (unfortunately, there is no date on this article, so I cannot tell how current it is.)


Having Difficulties with AVG, or need protection for Windows 98/ME? Chad recommends Avast
You can find the Avast website here. Windows 98 Users Only Avast supports the Windows 98 and ME operating systems. AVG and AntiVir do not.


Chad mentioned a product called ClamAV. It is an open source antivirus package that he uses on his Linux based computers. While there is a version of this software for Microsoft Windows, it lacks two important features:
  • on access scanning (on access scanning checks every file you open, and every disk/cd/usb flash drive that you attach to your computer)
  • email scanning (it only integrates with Outlook, not outlook express or other email clients)
Have you updated to AVG 8.0 or do you use Avast?
We'd like to hear from your if you have upgraded to AVG 8.0. Has it slowed down your computer, or have you not noticed much of a change. Post a comment, and give us your feedback. We'd like to know how it's working for you. Some folks have told me that they did not notice much change. Also let us know if you use Avast, and how you like it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I updated my AVG Free from 7.5 to 8.0 and now my Outlook 2007 freezes at splash screen. I have to attempt several times and end task each time before I get opportunity to start outlook in safe mode. I uninstalled all the AVG software but my outlook still won't work. Anyone have any ideas? I have run office diagnostics and the repair tool on office CD...but it still wont' work.

IT Connection said...

Anonymous:
I found some posts on the AVG forums related to outlook problems with AVG, but none directly addressing the "frozen slash screen" issue.

What is the operating system you are using? Have you applied Service Pack 1 to Outlook 2007?

It could be a faulty addin, but I bet you tried removing them already.

I found this article related to desktop search tool. Do you have it installed on your computer? If so, try disabling it.

Seems like you are not alone with this problem, but I don't see any definitive solutions.

Christina said...

I'm planning to switch to the AVG Free when my free trial of Norton expires in a month...

Is AVG FREE enough to protect me or should I also have a firewall, spybot software? And if so, do you have any recommendations!

Thanks!