9 replies to this topic

[Satsume]

I'm looking for a good virus scanner for my new laptop.

Both Avast and AVG seem popular.. I just want some opinions. Or is there an even better virus scanner out there?

[Paranoid]

I'm looking for a good virus scanner for my new laptop.

Both Avast and AVG seem popular.. I just want some opinions. Or is there an even better virus scanner out there?

Does it have to be free?

[Paranoid]

I'm looking for a good virus scanner for my new laptop.

Both Avast and AVG seem popular.. I just want some opinions. Or is there an even better virus scanner out there?

Does it have to be free?

[Satsume]

Yes, I'd prefer freeware.

[hornet777]

Try and use both, and maybe a couple others as well. There is not single best; just make sure that if you use resident protection, you only have one activated, and use the rest as manual scanners.

[thirdlife]

I'm looking for a good virus scanner for my new laptop.

Both Avast and AVG seem popular.. I just want some opinions. Or is there an even better virus scanner out there?

I really like AVG. Been using it for over 2 years without problems.

As far as Avast goes, I've only used the 64bit edition once, so I can't really comment.

[Marina]

Avast! I found the best, I had problems with AVG if always seed to forget how to update. No problems with Avast been using it for 3 years

[Tuxedo Jack]

I stick AVG on all the Windows machines I use that aren't servers, since AVG Free refuses to run on server editions of Windows (and I run Server 2K3 as a desktop OS, heh).

It's not bad, and I've never had issues with updating. It _is_ a pain when I'm trying to dissect malware, but that's about it./

[Trilobite]

I haven’t used Avast for a long enough period to learn all of it’s idiosyncrasies.
I’ve installed AVG on a few of my systems with only one complaint…there is no good way of temporarily turning off the active monitoring. (This feature can come in handy if you want to perform an active scan with another antivirus program as running two at one time can cause numerous problems)

As far as detection rates, I tested both of them a while back along with a number of other antivirus programs on my library of viruses, worms, backdoors and Trojans. As I remember it, Avast had better detection rates than AVG on my library. However, the last comparison test I ran was over a year ago and both Avast’s and AVG’s definition files have been updated significantly since then. Subsequently, their detection rates could also have changed significantly in that time.

[Paranoid]

I haven’t used Avast for a long enough period to learn all of it’s idiosyncrasies.
I’ve installed AVG on a few of my systems with only one complaint…there is no good way of temporarily turning off the active monitoring. (This feature can come in handy if you want to perform an active scan with another antivirus program as running two at one time can cause numerous problems)

As far as detection rates, I tested both of them a while back along with a number of other antivirus programs on my library of viruses, worms, backdoors and Trojans.  As I remember it, Avast had better detection rates than AVG on my library.  However, the last comparison test I ran was over a year ago and both Avast’s and AVG’s definition files have been updated significantly since then.  Subsequently, their detection rates could also have changed significantly in that time.

Well the other free antivirus in the big 3 with real time scanning is Antivir. I believe that Antivir and AVAST have generally better detection rates than AVG.

But if you are looking for backups, you can use superior engines that have on demand only like Escan , Bitdefender, online scans etc.