[Vortex3]

I read several of the threads here about antivirus protection. I just had HP techs remove a virus from my Vista system and I want to install a good, reliable, preferably free antivirus software (I had Norton but it expired). HP suggested AVG 9.0 and a friend suggested AdAware. I read in this forum that AdAware slows down the system, which I don't want. I also read the free Spyware Blaster is good. Should I go ahead with Spyware Blaster or download AVG as HP suggested? Thanks.

[cnm]

Spyware Blaster gets run just once to do some settings. After that it is only run to get updates. It does not scan.

We recommend MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
The free version does scans on demand; the Pro version runs scheduled scans and has online protection.

Read So how did I get infected in the first place?

[Budfred]

Also, you are getting antivirus and anti-malware mixed up...

AVG was originally an antivirus, SpywareBlaster and AdAware have never been antiviruses... AVG now also includes a lot of other stuff in their suite and I personally don't recommend it anymore partly because of that...

Avast is one of the better ones available for free and I prefer NOD32 if you are going to pay for it...

As cnm said, for anti-malware, MBAM is probably the best... SpywareBlaster is a good option to run no matter what else you have...

[Vortex3]

Thank you both for your help and clarification. I'll check out Avast, MBAM and SpywareBlaster now.

[cnm]

I like Avira very much. It's got a fine reputation, only flaw is a tendency to false positives, but you can configure it to avoid those. And the free version will put up a large popup once a day urging you to upgrade. But you have to love a program whose scanner is named "Luke Filewalker".