AntiVirus

[Fr. Dougal]

Just bought a new PC from Dell... seems pretty decent, although it's a little laggy starting up a web browser. (It's cause there's so much shit pre-installed, and so many damned processes running. A quick check of the famed BlackViper XP services list should take care of that.)

But one of the big resource hogs is the antivirus program. It came with some free trial of McAfee, along with their spam killer software and some other stuff like a firewall. Problem is, I have the full Norton suite with most of the same shit... and that also takes up a ton of resources.

Does anyone know which one is less memory/resouces-intensive? Or which is better? I've heard okay things about both. Honestly, I only like Norton because of Go Back... which has saved my ass a ton of times when I fuck up my system.

Anyone have a preference as to antivirus/spam utility software? Wondering if it's worth buying McAfee...

[al885]

Avg

[UnOriginal]

I love my AVG

[HumpX]

Symantec (Norton) is like 3 times the size of McAffee and has much more resources. Both programs are very intrusive though and next year Norton will be going strictly with a web based solution to stop piracy (yes, let us laugh). I'm hearing the smaller companies like Panda etc have good prioducts and theres serveral free solutions as well.

I would do some research , check some reviews etc. before making a decision.

...and next time DONT BUY A DELL GODDAMNIT! :hamm:

[Fr. Dougal]

lol... got a good deal on this one. Although, I can't seem to get the fucker to stop hourglassing. There's some feckin' process running and I can't pinpoint what's making the cursor flash with a quick hourglass every second apart. I'll figure it out eventually.

I really did want to build my own box, but I just couldn't be bothered with all that shit.

[Fr. Dougal]

Is AVG good enough? I feel like something free can't be that good.

EDIT: Nevermind... just checked the website. Thought for some reason AVG was free.

[HumpX]

lol... got a good deal on this one. Although, I can't seem to get the fucker to stop hourglassing. There's some feckin' process running and I can't pinpoint what's making the cursor flash with a quick hourglass every second apart. I'll figure it out eventually.

I really did want to build my own box, but I just couldn't be bothered with all that shit.

Your best bet is to do a complete 'selective" re-install minus all the OEM garbage software that Dell installs. Better yet just download a copy of WinXP Pro with all the critical updates and use that instead. Theres so much 3rd party junk that they pre-install that many times it ruins system performance.

Good luck with the system anyway. :action-sm

[Fr. Dougal]

Your best bet is to do a complete 'selective" re-install minus all the OEM garbage software that Dell installs. Better yet just download a copy of WinXP Pro with all the critical updates and use that instead. Theres so much 3rd party junk that they pre-install that many times it ruins system performance.

Good luck with the system anyway. :action-sm

Thanks. :) Wouldn't know where to get a legal copy of XP Pro anyway online. Don't really feel like shelling out money for it when I have a brand new computer here.

This one is the Media Center version of XP. It's pretty cool, but like you said... lots of pre-installed shit from Dell. I had them send me a reinstallation CD for XP. Not sure if that's just for the OS or if the cd has all Dell's shit on it too.

I think I'll just pick around on this and see what I can get rid of. I have a feeling it's something to do with McAfee that's causing this hourglassing.

[CrisK]

Is AVG good enough? I feel like something free can't be that good.

EDIT: Nevermind... just checked the website. Thought for some reason AVG was free.


Here is the link to the free version of AVG:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

[yellowstonesteve]

if you're looking for a "total package", Panda makes a great product, but I can't attest to how much it will bog down your PC compared to McAfee/Norton.

[Ballbuster1]

I have a Dell laptop and use McAfee on it since I get it for free from
Comcast. Had no problems with either.

[PestCoast]

Media Center is essentially XP Pro with a few extra doodads so no need to look for XP Pro. You should seriously consider removing everything that came preinstalled. (Especially the Dell branded programs. Dell preinstalls a lot of "programs for dummies" that waste immense resources.)

Norton home versions suck ass. If you can get your hands on NAV Corporate Edition it's not bad at all - it uses much less resources & is easier to control and won't try to take over your whole computer. The drawback is that they still charge for definition updates (unless you can find a "fixed" subscription which shouldn't be hard to do).

If you don't have Service Pack 2 for Media Center, get it. If you have SP2, turn on the Firewall on all network connections, turn on Data Execution Protection (Control Panel - System - Advanced - Performance - DEP), download & install Windows Defender. Defender isn't perfect and runs a bit slower than AntiSpyware did (fuck you MS), but it does the job fairly well for keeping shit out of your system. For the most part, with those settings you can run a virus scan once a week (AVG, NAV, whatever) and not need run the real-time monitors (other than Defender). No matter what, scan every file you download from the internet before you run it.

I also strongly recommend uninstalling Yahoo! toolbar or Google Desktop if either is installed. Both are extremely inefficient.

[MetalSign]

Wouldn't know where to get a legal copy of XP Pro anyway online.

LOL. Is there a such thing as a legal copy of XP Pro? I've never seen one...

[BigBuffaloFan]

AVG is great for a free Anti-Virus. Auto-updates and if you want to upgrade you can buy a package. I have been using free AVG for over a year with no problems and put it on everyones PC that I fix and they like al lot. Also the shit the computer manufactures put on bogs down the PC out of the box. It is also not so easy to uninstall. I always put a clean image on my new PC's.

[Fr. Dougal]

I just wiped everything and did a clean install. Much better. Almost don't want to roooon it with Norton. (on Norton Day, no less!)

Think I'll just get AVG, thanks!

[BeezerBlanks]

I hated AVG. Had it on my old computer and went to install a copy of norton I had received with my laptop on it and after uninstalling it, out of curiosity I was browsing my registry and avg left so many goddamn files in there if baffled me. I never really liked it. No problems with norton, I don't care if it takes up some resources, I don't really game on my computers too much.

[SOS]

McAfee takes up less resources but you already have Norton....

Kill processes that you don't need.

Don't run 2 anti-viral/anti-spyware/firewall suites at the same time

[VersionX]

LOL. Is there a such thing as a legal copy of XP Pro? I've never seen one...

I don't know if there is one out there, but I just got the WGA "this product is not genuine" message when I logged on my computer...any way I can get around this without shelling out cash to Microsoft?

[jpc165]

i use symantec antivirus corp. edition. very low mem usage. and i use spydoctor for the other shit.

[CJMello]

Is AVG good enough? I feel like something free can't be that good.

EDIT: Nevermind... just checked the website. Thought for some reason AVG was free.


Better than the big two. I recently converted myself too.