What anti virus software should I get for new laptop?

[Barbara Member Find all posts View Profile Close Barbara]

I bought a new thinkpad t60 on ebay and should get it tomorrow. I want to make sure that I have some antivirus software on it right away.
What antivirus software do you recommend?
Thanks.
Barbara

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Are you looking for Free or to pay?

If you are paying I like www.pandasoftware.com For free AVG is good, You can get that from www.download.com

[maiwah Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close maiwah]

McAfee or Symentac is very good too...

You should make sure you get total protect for laptop against Virus and spyware, as well as serve as personal firewall.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

Personally, I would run away fast from Mcafee and Norton complete security software products. They will bind up your computer so badly that you think you have a 286 Intel chip in your computer. You will be very dissatisfied. I use AVG, the free antivirus and it does not have a negative effect on my computer at all as it runs in the background.

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

I have never been a big fan of Norton products but I use Mcafee on my home PC's and am very happy with the suite. Mike is right about these products if you just put them on straight out of the box and use all the defaults but if I find if you tweak Mcafee it does not interfere with your operations and you get very good protection. It is however, a cost item.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Norton isn't Norton anymore

Personally, I would run away fast from Mcafee and Norton complete security software products. They will bind up your computer so badly that you think you have a 286 Intel chip in your computer. You will be very dissatisfied. I use AVG, the free antivirus and it does not have a negative effect on my computer at all as it runs in the background.

I totally agree. Norton and to a lesser extent McAfee are living off their past reputations. The current products are not good. They are expensive (to get the full suites of protection), slow and "take over" your PC. The names have long been gone and big conglomerate vendors own them now. Not recommended.

I do recommend Trendmicro PC-Cillin Internet Security Suite. $49 for antivirus, anti-spam, anti-spyware (rudimentary but it helps) and firewall in one. Add the free Spybot Search and Destroy, AdAware and Windows Defender and you are very safe. As an alternate Computer Associates EZ-Armor is pretty good and many high speed internet providers supply it for free (it helps them too if your PC isn't spamming the world).

AVG is also a good choice (can't beat free) but lacks the anti-spam and firewall the others offer.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I'm an AVG proponent, and you may be able to pick up the missing features elsewhere. A while ago I had Kaspersky which worked quite well (cost) but I could never figure out or find how to renew it, so I got AVG and saved.

[Barbara Member Find all posts View Profile Close Barbara]

I totally agree. Norton and to a lesser extent McAfee are living off their past reputations. The current products are not good. They are expensive (to get the full suites of protection), slow and "take over" your PC. The names have long been gone and big conglomerate vendors own them now. Not recommended.

I do recommend Trendmicro PC-Cillin Internet Security Suite. $49 for antivirus, anti-spam, anti-spyware (rudimentary but it helps) and firewall in one. Add the free Spybot Search and Destroy, AdAware and Windows Defender and you are very safe. As an alternate Computer Associates EZ-Armor is pretty good and many high speed internet providers supply it for free (it helps them too if your PC isn't spamming the world).

AVG is also a good choice (can't beat free) but lacks the anti-spam and firewall the others offer.

What is the difference between the Trendmicro PC-Cillin and the Pandasoftware that Frank recommends? I just lost my last laptop (to virus I think) and want to have best protection on this new thinkpad T60. The lower the cost the better, free sounds great.... but I am willing to spend to get the best protection.
I think the laptop comes with a free trial of Norton, do I need to somehow delete that?

Thanks.
Barbara

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

What is the difference between the Trendmicro PC-Cillin and the Pandasoftware that Frank recommends? I just lost my last laptop (to virus I think) and want to have best protection on this new thinkpad T60. The lower the cost the better, free sounds great.... but I am willing to spend to get the best protection.
I think the laptop comes with a free trial of Norton, do I need to somehow delete that?

Thanks.
Barbara

I have had both in the past. I found that Panda seems to get the first response on a new virus. IMO Panda is the best out there. I believe that, The Platinum is there best and most expensive. You can try it for free if you like by downloading a 30 day copy.

http://www.pandasoftware.com/product...a=particulares

[turbolift Member Find all posts View Profile Close turbolift]

I use http://www.spamfighter.com/VIRUSfighter/ for virus protection and http://www.spamfighter.com/Default.asp for my email. Both are Microsoft certified and work very good.

Don

[Hostelling Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hostelling]

What to use with AVG

For free AVG is good

If I use AVG Free. What would be a good Fire wall (free) and pop-up blocker (free) to go with it.

I do use a secure router, but want to be sure.

Daniel

[I-DE-HO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close I-DE-HO]

If I use AVG Free. What would be a good Fire wall (free) and pop-up blocker (free) to go with it.

I do use a secure router, but want to be sure.

Daniel

If you have MS windows xp it comes with a built in firewall (go to Control Panel/Windows Firewall to activate). Google has a free pop-up blocker.

Phil

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Free may be ok but it's not the best.

If you have MS windows xp it comes with a built in firewall (go to Control Panel/Windows Firewall to activate). Google has a free pop-up blocker.

Phil

The windows firewall only handles half of the job (I think it handles incoming traffic but ignores outgoing - might be the other way around who cares). I wouldn't depend on it for any type of adequate protection. A step up - but still far from complete - is the free Zone Alert version. You need to have the paid version for complete protection.

Again just the firewall or a good anti-spam (and anti-popup unless you use Firefox or Netscape) is going to cost you $30-$50. Why not use Firefox or Netscape for popups and PC-Cillin ($49 or less) for anti-virus, anti spam, firewall and more. It's a bargain for the protection you gain.

Be VERY careful about free antivirus and anti spyware offers. Many are spyware themselves and will cause you no end of heartache.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

John Was it not Zone Alarm that tries to take over your computer? Personally I hate some of the fire walls as it stops many programs from working and can be annoying at times when all ways asking for permission to allow a program to work.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Frank - I haven't seen that with Zone Alarm. It does do a good job at blocking so you have to "train" it but thats what a firewall is supposed to do. If it lets everything through automatically you aren't being protected. Now the Norton and McAffee firewalls do take over and are nightmares to configure and use. I don't recommend either.