Free Antivirus Downloads.

[pop3]

Having downloaded free trileware in the past, I found myself having problem's with my computer that I never had moment's before the download, The alarming thing was that I could not get rid of them, It make's me wonder if the virus come through the download in a bid for you to purchase the full Antivirus package from the company ? What do you think ?

[mbkudu]

You get what you pay for? I was thinking of doing but, was persuaded by a friend not to do it. I bowed down to the corporate whores and bought it. So far, so good.

[digibum]

You get what you pay for? I was thinking of doing but, was persuaded by a friend not to do it. I bowed down to the corporate whores and bought it. So far, so good.

I'm not sure that's true. As someone who has contributed to and benefited from the open source software movement, you don't always get what you pay for. If what you say was true Linux would suck. Sendmail would suck. Mozilla/Firefox would suck.

Here's a list of some good (and free) AV and Anti-Spyware software:

AVG Anti-Virus, considered to be one of the better packages out there regardless of price (which, in this case, is free)

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php

SpyBot Search and Destroy, probably better than any other commercial product on the market today.

http://www.safer-networking.org/

Also, because many viruses prevent anti-virus programs from installing you might want to scan your system prior to trying to install any anti-virus software.

Housecall from Trend Micro, makers of PC-Cillin (a good commercial product but the scanner is free)

http://housecall.antivirus.com/

[katyusha]

http://www.nod32th.com

In English and Thai.

[francois]

hi'

beware of trying to install 2 antivirus program

not later than yesterday, I went to repair a computer with a system conflict ...

they just thought that 2 antivirus were better than only one ...

norton installed and running, and they installed Fsecure ...

the system was hanging ... frozen, and both of the antivirus were disabled ...

I uninstalled Fsecure in safemode, and everything was back after a small cleaning in the registry ...

one is enough, just have to keep it up to date

cheers

francois

ps; a free antivirus is doing the same job that a licenced one, less options as and usual "they" say, more support, and free-upgrade ...

up to you to decide what are your needs

the installer of free AVP doesnt' work on win XP SP2 ... tried it, failed!

Edited October 13, 2004 by francois

[bkk_mike]

Might be useful if he actually said what it was he downloaded and installed.

He appears to be labelling all free software as crap because one download doesn't work...

[george]

I recommend downloading a 30 days trial from http://www.norman.com

(click download, and then Trial versions).

It's a nice, light anti virus program that takes it all!

/George

[waldwolf]

Having downloaded free trileware in the past, I found myself having problem's with my computer that I never had moment's before the download.......

As to your original question, if you download trialware from the manufacturer's own website (eg: Norton AntiVirus @ www.symantec.com), the chances such downloads contain virus's is virtually nil.

Now, if you download such programs from "other" sites* (eg: warez sites) then there is a possibility it may be infected. You should always scan such downloads using antivirus and/or trojan detection software (then say a little prayer).

Chances are, you were already infected by a virus from another source. Certain virus's will detect, attack and attempt to "disabled" all antivirus or anti-trojan programs.

AntiVirus and Firewall's utilities seem to cause the most problems when installing new software. One should always shutdown (disable) these, before installing new programs. Many people recommend you do the install in "Safe Mode".

* This also applies to bootleg (pirated) software.

[pop3]

Very good point waldwolf, mabe I did download from a dodgy site, Thank you.

[pop3]

Might be useful if he actually said what it was he downloaded and installed.

He appears to be labelling all free software as crap because one download doesn't work...

Im not labeling anything, just a question about what people think, my question is simply, is it possible for the free download to give you a virus so that the only way to fix the problem is to purchase the full package to get rid of the virus that THEY gave you ? The program I downloaded was norton 2003, a freind had a problem with spy hunter,

[bkk_mike]

Might be useful if he actually said what it was he downloaded and installed.

He appears to be labelling all free software as crap because one download doesn't work...

Im not labeling anything, just a question about what people think, my question is simply, is it possible for the free download to give you a virus so that the only way to fix the problem is to purchase the full package to get rid of the virus that THEY gave you ? The program I downloaded was norton 2003, a freind had a problem with spy hunter,

Sorry - didn't realise when you were talking about free antivirus downloads, that you meant a trial version. - I thought you meant a genuinely free antivirus.

Since that's the case, assuming you downloaded from Norton's own site, it's more likely you already had a virus that you didn't know about, and it tried to prevent Norton from running.

(Did you download Norton because you thought something on your PC was a little weird already?)

Personally - for home use, not business use - I just use AVG. (price is right - Free, although it doesn't seem to like registering to my gmail address, had to use my hotmail one). For the PC I use to talk to the office, the company gave me Norton (and the VPN software checks it's installed - so no choice in the matter). Kids PCs just have AVG and Zonealarm - both of which are picked up and checked for being up to date by SP2.

[pop3]

Yes bkk_mike, mabe I had a virus already in, it's quite possible but I haden't had any problem's, nevermind this thred has been very useful to me, thank's everyone for your reply's.