I use this and like it. The only thing annoying is it does throw a pop-up at you when it updates the virus signatures. But if you know what you're doing, you can set a local policy to kill it.

-HM

I've always liked AVG, and I'm using the paid version. I hate hearing about the email stuff being limited to 30 days, but I suppose they want to push people a bit harder to get their paid version.

After all, they are a business, and it costs them money to create their software.

It's very cheap - I only pay once every two years. I pay more to Stardock for all of the software and games I buy through them.

I would much rather you search for free versions of other antivirus software than to pirate it. Please don't pirate software. For one thing, it's often riddled with trojans, spyware, and viruses - the pirating underground is full of hackers and crackers who want to open your computer up to their whims. In addition, it's not supporting the company. If you don't pay for a product, that company is not getting money to support their product.

What I simply don't get is people who claim to like a company, but absolutely refuse to offer an ounce of financial support for their products. If your budget is tight, start putting any left over money into a savings account. It should build up quickly in two years. $4/month is all you need to save up for two years of AVG.

My philosophy is simple: If I like a product or a company, I do what I can to support them. Seriously, how can I expect them to keep creating and improving their products if I don't support them? My money is a resource for them to use. If they find themselves without that resource, they can't pay their employees, they can't pay their utility bills, they can't pay for their website, they can't pay for anything.

They're being nice enough to offer a free version - which ultimately is a huge cost for them, because they're spending money developing it and getting nothing in return.

Yeah, I used the free version for a while, and I still use it on older machines. My primary machine has the paid version, as well as my parents' computer.



How would you know you have a virus if you have no way of detecting it?

Today's viruses do **NOT** eat up CPU like older viruses did. Just in case that was going to be your reply. I've heard that "my CPU isn't overloaded, so I must not have a virus" story a million times. On machines with active viruses on them. Today's viruses are designed to send occasional spam emails, and they're doing it for profit. They are not the script kiddie "let's make a virus for fun" kind anymore.

I highly recommend at least doing a scheduled scan, even if you do not use a real time scanner. You can still have the protection without using your computer's resources.

I myself have not had an active virus on my system in a long time. But I know that because I check for viruses. I run a scheduled scan every week when I'm at work.

I have, however, seen several attempts to infect my system. Not just through downloaded files and emails! Web pages are increasingly attempting buffer overflows and trying to use known exploits. Keep your OS and browser up to date, and update and run that virus scan regularly.

Yes ,but no mail scanning after 30 days.I get 2-5 e-mails a week so maybe it's not even that big of a deal.

I suspect that as development costs rise,this less free, more limits trend will continue. I'm ok with that, but I will use this opportunity to try out something new. I have heard good and bad about just about all (well, no good about Norton,lol,which came pre-installed on my HP) Nod32 is very highly regarded, I was happy with AVG ,Avira is well integrated,etc. It would be great to have one app for a-v and spyware. That would no doubt require a purchase that I can't afford right now.I really appreciate the input from everyone as most all of you have far, far more experience than I. Well, back to mowin' the field I call a yard.Thanks, everybody   

Wizard1956 we all have been there, that's not to say that all of us have turned into experts, some have, not all.   

About the 3mail scanning. Depending how you have your email set up your ISP may be doing that scanning all ready.   

AVG was and still is my choice for good reliable *FREE* virus protection.

I already noticed the version 8.0 recommendations and knew very well that one day this had to come. Similar process as going from 6 to 7 to 7.5 and so on.

The eMail scanner new limit for 30 days would make sense if it could give them more paying customers; Would you do the same if you also had a company to maintain and employees to pay?

But there's something to say about the whole Anti_Virus security method(s) used by the industry as a whole; some stuff out there is either completely useless, fairly complex to handle, system resources over-grabbing or plain silly waaaayyy too expensive beyond its main purpose ; piece of mind and protected (somehow) PC assets.

My major concern has always been that this entire function should be given out absolutely FREE to anyone & everyone (not a single exception) logging to the web -- it's in the best interest of plenty if not all of us to DO and encourage active measures to either eliminate or at least get high control over these issues. All of your ISPs may just offer you an indirect solution also... but, they're after your ca$h -- duh. I pay for the service, it MUST be worth what i spend on it. Including flaws monitored and properly-swiftly fixed by whomever.

Besides, the infra-structure is already available and with MS crazy profits - i wonder what it would take to convince a central decision power even if Government(s) driven. International or not, btw.

I will wait and see. I rarely get any viruses at all ( other than single browser trojan caught by AVG ) so I doubt I will ever buy an anti-virus program. I will however switch if it gets too resource hog or ineffective.

AVG, get the hint. Macfee and Norton used to be good, but then they did what you are doing now...

Had AVG Free for yeasrs weith no complaints and no popup about 8.0 yet. I actually would like to upgrade to a paid version but all I want is the A/V, No firewalls, no popup blockers or email scanner, just a plain antivirus. Last time I checked they had some kind of suite they were offering and I didn't look much further. Maybe it's about time to check back.

After checking into that( I do my homework) both my mailboxes do have AV scanning as a standard feature, so AVG's is redundant. So now, really it boils done to switching to another company for better performance,if any, or staying with AVG who I know and trust, at least til I check out v8.0 for myself.The only thing I never liked about it was long scan times,up to two hours, for so little on my HDD.(35Gb) Maybe they've improved that,I'll see. I won't be broke forever....famous last words  

I've been using Avast for almost a year now, it works great. My IT person recommended it because I was using Norton (came with my Rogers Yahoo service), and it was so slow. Avast is skinnable. I'd recommend it.

We need one of the experts to stop by and explain just how an AV scan works. Could the time a scan takes be effected by memory and or cpu?

I'm not an expert at all but I would guess so since he said that and usually for me (also using AVG 7.5) it usually runs about 2.5 to 3 hours for about 400 GB worth of content. :NOTSURE:

i have been using AVG 8 free for a while now and have not come across this no email scanning after 30 days thing. Maybe you downloaded a trial version of the paid program?.

yeah i use nod32 but before that i used avg. pretty good software.

AVG 8 Pro (paid) no firewall is 34.99 for 2 years http://www.grisoft.com/ww.upgrade-free. Not too bad, $17.50 per year, that is less than $1.50 a month.

I have had the paid version of AVG since Sept. of 2001 and have had no problems or viruses.

*coughComodocough*

Comodo's actually quite good for everything. Though their firewall really owns (100%). And it's all free.

This is from the c|net site:"Some features, such as e-mail scanning, will work during your first 30 days using AVG Free but get disabled unless you upgrade".1,143,390 people can't be wrong,think I'll stick with AVG awhile longer. AMD64, 1.5Gb ram another 1.5Gb of readyboost,though I see no difference with it. Ram usage rarely hits 60%/ CPU same

I've been using avast for a while It seems to me to be one of the better free Antivirus programs. I think I'll stick with it .

i have been using version 8 for a lot longer than 30 days though, in fact ever since avg 8 was in beta. maybe thats why i get full functionality. i checked the install date and it's feb 08 when i installed it. all updates are working fine, email scanner fully functional. anti spyware fully functional.

I use Nod32 its by far the best Antivirus product I have ever used, it has an extremely low footprint you dont even notice it's there.

I used to use AVG, but once I tried the trial of Nod I couldnt justify using it anymore. I havent had a virus infection in a couple of years now. Nod isn't that expensive for relative piece of mind you get for your $

On the other security fronts, Commodo's free firewall is very good and I have grown to like spyware terminator which is also free.

Does anyone else hate these spyware programs which are always active? I find they slow your machine down more than the problems they are there to prevent.

Installed it today.

Be sure to watch; it will want to install a toolbar in your browser. If you don't mind that sort of thing, no worries.

So far so good, although it seems to be a tad slower in bringing up the main interface. And it appears they've integrated Anti-Spyware with this version. That should be a plus.

There is also a link checker that rates the links in Google (only search engine I use) as being safe or not.

No problems here on the email scanning timing out; my email host scans for viruses.

Here's what I use for security:
Spybot S&D
Comodo AV
Comodo Firewall
Firefox

One is never safe from malicious software, but with this cocktail you will keep a PC clean and protected. Or you could use Linux with its open-source community, but that's a tad extreme for some.

I never got any message about AVG 7.5 not being supported/updated anymore. I just wasn't able to update all of a sudden, and then spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out what was wrong with my old XP-Laptop. Grrr....

I now have switched to AVIRA as it performed quite well on the last program-comparison. I don't mind paying for a full version for my main rig, but my laptop is only online once about every two months nowadays and that is only to update Windows and other software.

I'll get 8.0 when I eventually get the nag screen. The mail scanner is of little use to me anyway, as I check my mail whilst its still on the ISP server [using mailwasher pro]. Anything I don't recognise or have a mail rule set up for does'nt get onto my computer anyway...

I've always been happy with AVG, so I'll stick with the tried & trusted.

Have you tried Avast! 4.8 ? The home version is free ...
I've been using it for over 2 years and no issues with it ..

Bravo Zubaz, I couldn't agree more.

By the way, Avast is a great FREE anti-virus program. Online Armor and Comodo are the two top rated firewalls made(also FREE)and there are several anti-trojan programs available for FREE. Try looking over the forums at Wilder Security and Castle Cops for information on many other security programs.