I would have to disagree, I used to sell computer equipment for JB and I myself would never run norton or trendmicro on my system.

You just have to be aware of what could potentially be harmful on the internet, I ran without anti malware tools for the better half of 2 years without a single hassle and was only due to recent times of others using my computer I've installed AVG Free (soon to be AVAST).

Norton and Trendmicro use way to many system resources for the protection they give. My system is no slugger either e6700 @ 3.33ghz, 8800ultra 768mb, 4gb OCZ HTC PC6400 Ram.

Hijackthis is probably the best tool on the market for free but you have to know what your doing with it (which is the problem for most computer users)

Also programs do give you false positives where they believe the program/file is a virus in which case it isn't. When I switched to vista (for a short time) I noticed I couldn't run half of the programs I wanted due to false positives.

I guess this topic is much like tyres

I'm far from an expert on antivirus, but in my experience the pay-for versions tend to be better at catching things at the point of impact. There's plenty of free tools for scanning and cleaning crap up...but if you've got a functioning antivirus/firewall to begin with then there is no need for anything else.

But yeah you're right, it all can be subjective. I'm just of the opinion that you're better of getting something decent that you can set and forget.

...or go and buy a mac!

better hide behind that couch after that comment tab

Yes Mac sucks balls....

Anyway, I have Trend micro only because its free to me but this program is soooo greedy its not funny, 07 trend was ok but 08 is just crazy. I have no slouch of a laptop (top xps from dell) and without the program installed it takes 40sec from push of power button to load everything and over 3mins with trend installed!

I only keep it as its free for me as I said and I do alot of money transactions over the net plus it has its own firewall and realtime scanning.

My bro is an IT for hunter health and he actually steers away from it now and uses AVG just because trend is too greedy.

I also use Avast.. I have Avast Pro v4.8.1227. I also use Ad-Aware Se for spyware removal.... I recommend both..... Google is your friend.... Just put .torrent after the file program names....

Farkers I just bought 09 Trend Micro, got me stuffed it it works or anything.

Scotty

Guys, not wanting to hijack this topic, or sound like a know it all (as I am defiantly not) however there is a lot of mixed feedback... so hope some of the following helps...

Just to clean a few things up for a few of you... (IMO)....

Having been in the IT industry for over 10 yrs, in tech support and network management, system building, sales management, product management, and now running my own IT biz full time (rather then AH as its been for the past 8 yrs), I am confident to stick my neck out on a topic such as this one... Having worked for companies such as Fairfax, Elite Industries/Compucon/TPG (PC manufactures), and supplied and worked with guys like HP, Acer, Dell, IBM/Lenovo etc. I hope some of the following advise carries some weight!

Firstly - Avest is FREE, not just a 21 day trial.... All you need to do is register an email addy and you will be issues with a full 12 months free license... Simple... (and we are yet to have found registering the email addy is used for spam or anything of the likes... so safe on this one)...

AVG is good, however we have found a lot of issues and conflicting of other programs which clash with AVG... Not the easies thing to manage for any normal home users in this case... Good but not worth the hassle... (by clash I'm referring to later installing a suite such as Nortons IS or the likes - even after running AVG uninstall)...

Try McAfee HouseCall (online based) AV scanner.. Would be my recommendation before installing AVG... Again a free scanner however will load up your net connection...

Nortons (Symantec), is about the best 'typical' home user all in one solution, "Full Package" internet security suite.

For roughly $90 you get a 3 user/PC license and can manage a typical home network with general ease.

Mcafee, Trend, CA are all not bad, however dont appear to be as manageable for most home users... So our bet is go with NIS.

Mac OS - while being very reliable without the usual AV issues which come with PC's, there is now a number of viruses floating around which appear to be creeping into Mac OS (GUI built on Linux)... WE run both Mac and Pc's...

All PC's we build now come with Avest as a min. As mentioned in an earlier post the boot scan which is available with Avest is exceptional and very aggressive...

Which brings me to the next point, the difference between most AV is in fact the method and manner in which they are able to detect the virus, what they do with it once detected and removal. Hence why we are so happy with Avest.

As a general note, there is approx 3-5 major AV list or core AV building companies, US based, Israel based, and a few others. From these companies 90% of all AV programs are built and integrated!

So whats the major different between each... NOT BLOODY MUCH, other then the way they go to task - basically!

If you want a serious solution get a hardware based firewall, and look at gear from Symantec, SOPHOS etc but we are now talking enterprise leave gear and $$$$$$$....

Hope this helps!!!

Mac OS (GUI built on Linux)...

Offtopic, but MacOS is NOT built on Linux. It is built of BSD which is an entirely different OS.

ws

howcome you didnt review SUPERanitspyware?

I use Avira free anti-virus on my PC at home...

http://www.free-av.com/

Never had a virus, it stops them straight away, auto-dates as well. It does throw up a nag screen after an update but it is not resource hungry like AVG.

I have heard good things about AVAST but I would never use Nortons as it is resource hungry and almost impossible to un-install once you realise it's crap and it's making your PC run like it has a virus.