[RTC List] Choice of antivirus protection

[G W Bell]

Here's a key sentence from one of the links:
"Like AVG, AntiVir lets you schedule updates and system scans but doesn't scan e-mail."

What kind of antivirus test doesn't include email scanning?  More to the point, who would want AntiVir on their home PC if it doesn't scan incoming email?

GB


________________________________
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 16:45:45 -0700
To: jhauser at pobox.com
From: treypc at gmail.com
CC: list at redwoodtech.org
Subject: Re: [RTC List] Choice of antivirus protection

Hi All

I thought I had better add my two cents to this excellent thread.

I subscribe to the paid version of the WindowsSecrets.com newsletter
and in May they posted an article about the best AntiVirus products
available.  Out of 37 tested, only 5 AV programs aced the test(s) and
one of them was a freebie: Avira AntiVir.  Here are a couple of
relevant links...

http://www.windowssecrets.com/2008/06/26/05-Get-top-flight-antivirus-without-spending-a-dime

http://www.windowssecrets.com/2008/05/01/07-Five-antivirus-programs-ace-the-PC-defense-test



I had been using avast! AV and found it to be a bit of a resource hog.
After switching to Avira's product I can say that I am please with the
results and my PC is snappier.  It's compatible with x64 versions of
Windows too (like mine).  I've also used Avira AntiVir to successfully
clean up a few family member's PCs whose commercial AV programs were
not doing the job.



There is a caveat - the free product has a popup during updates
advertising their commercial version.  The popup can be disabled by
simply renaming the avnotify.exe file installed along with the program.



Another program I read about and installed for a family member is
ThreatFire.  It works by "detecting malicious behavior" and reporting
its findings rather than having a database of know viruses.  It is
intended to be run concurrently with your normal AV as an extra layer
of security.



Guy

_________________________________________________________________
Got Game? Win Prizes in the Windows Live Hotmail Mobile Summer Games Trivia Contest
http://www.gowindowslive.com/summergames?ocid=TXT_TAGHM