For several years I have been running Avira antivirus, but it looks a though this

may the source of the problems I have been experiencing recently

So I have removed Avira.

The question is what to replace it with?

I am looking for a reliable, prefereably free programme.

MS Security Essentials has been suggested.

Any other recommendations?

Thanks

Best of the best is the free version of Avast.

Avira muy complicado, glad I got rid of it.

Sunbelt Vipre http://www.vipreantivirus.com/ Paid for product,wont slow your pc down neither,i have it on 7 pc's and no virus/spyware problems in over 2 years of using it,have 1 month free full trial if i remember.

Check out http://www.av-comparatives.org/

MS Security Essentials is the best !!

Comodo Antivirus and Firewall (now called CIS) has served me extremely well for the past couple of years. I also scan weekly with Spybot S&D. Last time I had an undetected virus that was serious enough to prevent Windows from even booting was on my old laptop with Norton installed. Getting rid of that garbage also improved the boot time by about 40%.

Panda cloud and Commodo

I get all my free software off CNET....they also give editors and users ratings which helps me choose the software I need.....definitely worth a look.

A virus can sneak thru with any type of protection installed....the real question is what have you done about multiple redundancy backups? Don't bank on any one/many 1st line programs. Good luck to you Friend

I've had maybe 3 or 4 of them over the past 14 years. I tried microsoft security essensials,I never have any problems.It works really good.

Sunbelt Vipre http://www.vipreantivirus.com/ Paid for product,wont slow your pc down neither,i have it on 7 pc's and no virus/spyware problems in over 2 years of using it,have 1 month free full trial if i remember.

I use this also. Works very well. Has a 1 month free trial but is only $30 a year.

I have successfully been using AVG (www.grisoft.com) for many years.

I use NOD32 exclusively on Windows, Avast on Linux. NOD32 and Norton have excellent heuristics, which can spot unknown viruses. Some definition based AVs can have issues in virus "microclimates" like Thailand where a lot of local scripts and trojans propagate. Good heuristics helps defend against that.

I disinfect far too many AVG and Panda "protected" computers at work to ever trust them.

AVAST on the other hand has improved remarkably in the past few years.

I also use Avast and have it installed on most of the office 100 computers. I also have ClamAV & spam assassin on the linux firewall/e-mail server which intercepts all e-mail coming in and out.

I've also been using AVG Free for many years. Generally happy but some malware did sneak through recently, which I zapped by running Adaware, Spybot S&D and about 3 online virus scanners.

Avast gets my vote for free av, but I stick with NOD32 (not free) as it has been wonderful for me.

I have been running ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall for several year and the sub has just renewed

So I looked that their Security Suite which includes Antivirus

It looked as though they would charge me again for the upgrade.

I challenged them on the chat line and they offered to reverse my renewal payment for Pro.

This meant I could go for the Security Suite for just $5 extra ($34.95)

Then came their Black Friday offer with the Extreme Security for $25

That is $5 less than I wa paying for the firewall on its own.

What a bargain. I jumped at it.

http://www.zonealarm.com/security/cart.htm

Watch the script, or yuo may end up buying 2 or 3 copies instead of the one you need

The offer finishes Monday 29th November

They get their virus definitions from Kaspersky I believe, so it's got that working in it's favour.

Check out http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Thanks!

Maybe a few of the specialist here on TV should have a look at this test, below, and let us know what they think?

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_od_aug2010.pdf in PDF

LaoPo

I used to use Avast and NOD32 - Avast let me download a trojan which wrecked some havoc, then detected the trojan when I ran a full scan. I'd like Avast to explain how that is possible.

NOD32 is good but isn't all that user-friendly with Settings.

My recommendation is iObit Security 360 (CNET download link).

I had a virus and SpyBot couldn't find it and Comodo couldn't see it either, SAS (SuperAnitSpyware) saw it and removed it, I also run ZoneAlarm. take your pick.

I've used Avast for six years or so. I like it. It is free. It updates itself several times a day. It has caught several viruses. I am happy with it. I use Antimalwarebytes also. Same comments as to Avast, except you have to update it manually..easy to do. I also recommend Glary Utilities for lots of reasons. You are welcome. Cheers from Sattahip

I use the AVG free version with good success

Avast or MSE

Both are good alternatives to Avira.

AVG Update Cripples Windows 7

by Robert Boland

For those of you who are using Windows 7, you may want to watch out if your using AVG antivirus to protect your system. On Wedensday night, AVG released an update for it’s antivirus program which completely crippled Windows 7 64 bit systems and rendered them useless.

The problem leaves the machine in a continuous reboot loop. At the time of writing this, thankfully AVG have pulled the update and say it’s now safe once again to update your systems. They’ve apologised for making a mess of things and are now providing instructions on how to get your system back up and running once again.

The culprit was a simple virus definition update version 271.1.1/3292 (432/3292). The error message that appeared was

STOP: c0000135 The program can’t start because %hs is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

Luckily AVG have now got a couple of different fixes out, one simple quick and easy option is to boot into safe mode, and then do a system restore to before the AVG update. But in some cases users haven’t been able to boot into safe mode and AVG have a couple of different options for that too, there’s a bit of work in it though.

If you’re one of those people who have applied to update, but are yet to reboot your system and be affected by this issue, there is still a chance to save your machine. You need to find the preparations folder located at C:\Program files (x86)\AVG\AVG10 (64-bit systems) and delete it. You should then be able to reboot as normal.

If you still haven’t managed to get yourself sorted, AVG say they will be releasing a tool to sort it all out over the next couple of days, but if you’re still really stuck, try the AVG forums.

It’s ironic how the software that we trust to protect our systems from nasty viruses that cause these problems in the first place can actually turn against us sometimes!

Source: Windows 7 News

I'll add this link to the AVG forum in case anybody needs it: How To Disable AVG When The Operating System Cannot Be Started Properly

My GF has a Windows 7 64-bit OS and was running AVG until I uninstalled it just a week ago. Phew!

I use Kapersky which is very good and not expensive.

No need to look any further than Microsoft Security Essentials these days. It's free and despite what you might expect, its good. Avira is also good, if you can stand the constant nagging and popups to buy it.

AVG is the worst in my opinion and I encourage people to get rid of it.

MSE plus Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

I used to use Avast and NOD32 - Avast let me download a trojan which wrecked some havoc, then detected the trojan when I ran a full scan. I'd like Avast to explain how that is possible.

NOD32 is good but isn't all that user-friendly with Settings.

My recommendation is iObit Security 360 (CNET download link).

I have Malwarebytes and Avast at the mo.

Does your recommendation cover everything that my 2 do. Not up on this stuff.