Assorted News 20 – Some Antivirus Options 🙂
n this edition:
Generic News
AVG requesting people to update to 8.5 and other Antivirus options 🙂
AVG requesting people update to 8.5
In the last week or so, those of you using AVG Free Edition have been getting popup messages requesting that you download version 8.5.
It doesn’t seem that long ago that they were asking us to upgrade from 7.5 to 8.0; and back then the upgrade made some sense because it gave some additional capability in the form of anti-spyware coverage. However, the change from 8.0 to 8.5 has virtually no new features that I can see, and is probably more of a marketing move hoping to trick you into buying a more capable but unnecessary version…
And Other Antivirus Info…
So, we’re at a point again where we need to decide if AVG is still the way to go. I’m beginning to waver on this point, as increasingly I’m hearing reports on assorted podcasts that the other well known free one, Avast, is outperforming AVG.
If you’d like to stick with AVG, you can update it by clicking here: http://www.avg.com/filedir/inst/avg_free_stf_en_85_287a1483.exe
* Download size is approximately 60MB – OK for broadband users but about 6-8 hours on dialup.
* (If for some reason that page doesn’t work, try http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe instead)
If you’d like to try Avast instead, you can download it here: http://files.avast.com/iavs4pro/setupeng.exe
* Download size is approximately 32MB – OK for broadband users, about 3-4 hours on dialup.
* If you’re getting Avast, remember to uninstall AVG before installing Avast – having two at once is like having two cats in one room – sometimes they’ll get on, but other times they’ll … well you know…
And if you want to buy one instead…
If you feel like spending money on a virus scanner, the best one at the moment appears to be “MalwareBytes’ Anti Malware” as it outperforms both AVG and Avast. Fortunately they have a free version too, but it only scans when you tell it to unlike the others above which scan continuously. You can download it and run it now and then just to check if your freebie’s really doing it’s job 🙂 It’s cheap too, and a tiny download – $37.
It’s available from http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php – Approx. 3 MB – 30 minutes on Dialup.
(Nod32 is another popular good choice too.)
Please don’t buy Trend, Norton or ZoneAlarm if possible. Here’s a list of the problems I’ve had with these three products just in this month:
Norton: Allowed a number of viruses and worms through that AVG later detected and removed. (Happens too often these days.)
Trend: Appears to have broken file sharing in an XP Home system, Slowed a PC to a crawl by using 400+ MB RAM
ZoneAlarm: Slowed systems to a crawl by using 400+ MB RAM, broke printing from Office programs to HP Printer, Broke DHCP (wireless networking).
They’ve all caused other problems in the past as well. For those of you with older computers, do you remember how they suddenly became slower when you added or updated one of these monstrosities? 🙂
All of the above three feature a firewall as well as antivirus. This is virtually unnecessary for the average person because Windows already has a firewall; plus for those of you on ADSL Broadband or Recent Satellite connections (Non-USB) your modem is also a firewall.
Cheers, Mike
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