I use kaspersky, but my sister has dropped off her computer for me to expunge of viruses. I'm going to reformat it, but I wanted to install something that will prevent me from having to do this again next month.

 

I've recommended and known people who used the free version of AVG antivirus for years with no problems. About once per year, when the automatic definition updates stop, you'd have to update it to the next free version.

I use norton on my primary laptop. My secondary laptops, the ones the grandkids may use, has AVG on them.

 

I gave up on AVG due to bloat, and went with Avast. They have a pretty decent boot up scan option. I'm not sure but I thing AVG does to.

A site I'm fond of, MajorGeeks.com, has a forum devoted for vetted people (John Public can not interfere) to help people with problems like this, and a suite of programs to help clean the infected machine out (with a procedure to match).

 

I gave up on AVG due to bloat, and went with Avast.

Exactly what I did, but that is NOT how I avoid viruses. I make a backup copy of the C: drive and hide it where the owner can't lose it. DVD in a baggie, hidden partition, spare HDD that isn't plugged in...

Usta use Norton Ghost but got a free copy of Acronis True Image with a HDD purchase, and I like it. That one doesn't require a whole partition for each backup copy.

 

Hello,

There are many free versions (home) of the mainstream anti virus programs.
This page will give you an overview:
http://freeware.wikia.com/wiki/Lists_of_freeware_antivirus

Bertus

 

Exactly what I did, but that is NOT how I avoid viruses. I make a backup copy of the C: drive and hide it where the owner can't lose it. DVD in a baggie, hidden partition, spare HDD that isn't plugged in...

Usta use Norton Ghost but got a free copy of Acronis True Image with a HDD purchase, and I like it. That one doesn't require a whole partition for each backup copy.

Ironic you should mention that. Right before I started working on my sister's PC I just replacd th HDD in my laptop. My HDD was making the whining clicking noise and I knew it didn't have long to go. Along with the new HDD I bought, I bought acronis. I was a little wary because I couldn't find anywhere on the box where it explicitly stated that it can make a drive clone. Well, I got it home and it worked beautifully. It has the clone option, and I like it a lot. 40$ well spent. I wish they would have given it to me like they did you . I tried using that same drive to clone onto my sister's PC so she would have WIN7 + Kaspersky + all my other good software, but it didn't work. I guess my laptop motherboard & her PC motherboard had irreconcilable differences.

 

my virus cleaner is 'format'. I use plug in drives for different levels of exposure, sandbox when in doubt, pass apps through a 'clean' environment, and format my frontline drives frequently. Keeping them physically small and doing an image load rather than an install (<10G) takes little time.

Any drive/partition under power is susceptable to infection.

 

I'm a Linux guy....

But... I've got Avast on the Win 7 laptop, the GFs laptop, GFs daughters laptop, and my daughters laptop. We've never had any problems with viruses. After the three months trial, we register for free, and the updates, both programs and virus definitions comes on a regular basis.

I'd go for Avast.

 

I think I will be with Bill in this, soon. With the help of "Task manager" you could see that Avguard takes lot of your resources much too often.

I recall trying MSE solutions and based on a wrong judgement, I discarded it. (RAM in one of my PCs was much too small for the task). I would like to give a try of it again.

My daugther, who is about to get a laptop as present, to replace her current PC, complains, I can say she is who is opening the access of viruses to her computer.

Avast you say? Why not?

 

I use kaspersky, but my sister has dropped off her computer for me to expunge of viruses. I'm going to reformat it, but I wanted to install something that will prevent me from having to do this again next month.

You can look around and find coupons for free kaspersky with mail in rebate. Just pay the 9.99 or 19.99 and they'll refund your money. Or just buy a 3 or 10 pc code foro $15-$40 and sell out licenses for $10 each if you know people. I'll buy 2. The only diffenece between the cheap chinese versions and hte real ones is the cheap ones just update from the china server. They work great.

 

The brand with free Acronis is, "Seagate".

As for cloning the OS to a different computer, Micro$soft figured out how to stop that a LONG time ago. They even figured out how to stop Magical Jelly Bean. I used to use that so I could install XP from any OEM disk I had, then change the secret number to the valid number on the sticker on the side of the computer, then go online and activate the install. The last time I tried Magical Jelly Bean, it wouldn't change the validation number that my OEM disks had to the one on the computer I was fixing. Just another way to make sure you have to buy a new computer when you lose the original install disk. Great reason to clone a brand new computer before the owner starts changing things.