free anti-virus/spyware etc. protection

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If true at least you wouldn't be in any position to pay for the pornography.

[MrGongGong]

If true at least you wouldn't be in any position to pay for the pornography.

It is (IMV) The Cure's best album though ...................

[Curalach]

any suggestions gratefully received

Mercia, although I have now been using Kaspersky for 3 years for my pc and my wife's laptop, I used to use AVG which is free and with which I never had any problem. This rather begs the question "why change?"
It was a recommendation from someone I trust and it manages to update itself without impacting on system performance.
I would still say that AVG is well worth a try and I would go back to it if Kaspersky were not so inexpensive from Amazon.

[Anna]

I use AVG (free version) I run Malwarebytes once a week to double check for malware, it's very effective. I also have Windows Defender which doesn't seem to do anything useful that I can see. Zone Alarm caused conflicts with Virgin security when I was with them but I thought it was good.

[Don Petter]

I've used AVG (free versions) for many years now, with no problems. (Oh, but don't install LinkScanner, which slows things down a lot.)

I have also heard it said that the free Microsoft Security Essentials is good (Windows only).

[robk]

I've used Microsoft Security Essentials for a couple of years. I have noticed no reduction in speed and have not had any virus problems although occasionally MSE has found and sorted possible attacks.

[mercia]

thanks all - plenty to choose from

[Pegleg]

My recommendation for free anti-virus/spyware etc. protection is to use Linux. But if you really must use Windows these links are worth reading:

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/w...-security.html

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/w...rity-more.html

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/safe_web.html (this is a bit out of date)


I only run Windows in a virtual machine and so far Microsoft Security Essentials has proved adequate.

[Frances_iom]

..
any suggestions gratefully received

Linux - usually free on several magazines - I suggest Mint12 - no problems re buying an expensive O/S and then paying 25% of your processor cycles to avoid problems

[Resurrection Man]

You may find it inordinately difficult to remove all traces of Norton from your PC unless they have changed things since I last delved into the murky world of PCs. There were (are?) many stories of bits of Norton lurking about under the hood and causing no end of problems. I like my computing clean, simple and easy to use and although I am a tech-head would far rather use it than fiddle about with it. Hence the Mac.

Slightly OT I was reminiscing the other day about the various versions of Mac and Apple stuff that I've had. From Apple II's (and personally heavily involved with the development of add-ons to them at the time), to the very first tiny Mac SE. Before that there was the 660AV...an audio-visual version that was light years ahead of Bill Gates who was still locked in a world of 80 x 24 character screens and DOS. The very small Powerbook 100. Several more powerful Powerbook Lombard G3s. A chunky G4 MacPro. Think there may be a few that I've missed along the way! Been a long long time. And currently an iMac.