Best Free AV

"Paul in Houston TX" wrote

| I have been using MSE for the last year and have never gotten a virus.
| Prior to that for 20+ years I did not have any anti-virus and never got a
virus.
| (virus = virus, trojan, rootkit, etc.)
|

I still don't use any kind of AV. But I like to
have it on a computer that guests use, and
for friends/family who I help. Explaining the
details of online safety just doesn't work.

En el artículo , Mayayana
escribió:

Is there any decent, no-funny-business, free
AV still available?

Microsoft Security Essentials. No-frills, regularly updated, doesn't
slow down your system, works, still available for Win7.

Forget the commercial ones. You don't need them

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) "Between two evils, I always pick
(")_(") the one I never tried before." - Mae West

On Tue, 4 Jul 2017 11:41:41 -0300, pjp
wrote:

In article , am says...

Is there any decent, no-funny-business, free
AV still available? I want to just download a
real installer and run it, without any signup, online
installers, ads, etc.

What's wrong with Microsoft Security Essentials given none of them give
100% protection, can't.



It's true that no anti-virus can provide 100% protection. But some
provide more protection than others, and more is better than less.

Nothing is wrong with Microsoft Security Essentials. It's not a bad
choice, but as far as I'm concerned there are better choices, such as
Avast and Avira.

On Tue, 04 Jul 2017 20:02:04 +0200, FredW wrote:

Have you tried asking in alt.comp.anti-virus?

Not much happening there.

No surprise if one keeps posting to the wrong newsgroups...

--
s|b

On Tue, 4 Jul 2017 09:46:28 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

I know this has been asked before, but I haven't
dealt with AV for awhile. Avast keeps timing
out and I'm not sure there's any longer a fully
free version. Sophos requires (at least) signing
up with personal info. (Even the signup page has
a tracker from Facebook.) AVG was bought by
Avast and seems to be adware. (According to
MajorGeeks.)

Is there any decent, no-funny-business, free
AV still available? I want to just download a
real installer and run it, without any signup, online
installers, ads, etc.

http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_...up_offline.exe

Any good?
280MB.
Avast does have a bit more to it than some others.
Be ready to use Custom install - it cuts out crap and you can use just the
bits you want.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

FredW wrote:
On Tue, 04 Jul 2017 12:17:23 -0400, Paul wrote:

Mayayana wrote:
"Jack Fate" wrote

| I used to have Avast but now I have Avira free. Note there are TWO free
| Aviras. One is a suite that will nag the **** out of you to upgrade and
| the other is just the AV which doesn't nag much.

220 MB download. Does that mean I got the bad one?
I only saw one option.

The download page breaks out the components. 221MB is
just the antivirus portion. The other cruft is smaller.
Signature based scanners, you have to expect at least
100MB of signatures.

https://s7.postimg.org/wygjewn23/components.gif


That is the Avira Free Security Suite
which is not the Avira Free Antivirus.


I presented that page, so you could see the entry
for the Antivirus-only item (221MB), then compare it
to the other three (smaller) components.

And before you install products like that, either spend
some time finding how the product "pays the bills",
or, use your standard approach for handling
"untrusted software", before you install it.
I've done this a few times, and been surprised and
the amount of crap in some of them.

Like, how about that product which was using its
own security certificates and doing an MITM attack
on the browser. Real, clever, stuff.

It's because all these behaviors are not documented,
you have to use your "tongs and asbestos gloves"
for the fewest surprises.

Just because someone offers you an AV product,
does not mean they have your best interests at
heart. I think you understand that.

Paul

Mayayana wrote:
"Paul" wrote

| And AV software is the kind of stuff I'd be taking
| apart in WINE for a look first :-) All this so-called "free"
| stuff, usually has its share of intrusions. I saw the word
| "toolbar" being listed as a feature.
|
It turns out the Avira download is a 7-Zip SFX.
Nothing suspicious inside. No folders with names
like "Adobe" or "Toolbar Candy" or "Shop Til You Drop".

Well, if I ever see the word "toolbar" in any product
description, I usually freak out, right on the spot :-)

And that's when the "tongs and asbestos gloves" come out.

Paul

"PeterC" wrote
|
| http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_...up_offline.exe
|
| Any good?
| 280MB.
| Avast does have a bit more to it than some others.

Have you used it? I was thinking I remembered that recent
versions required signup, or timed out, or some such.

"Mayayana" news Tue, 04 Jul 2017 21:12:21 GMT in alt.windows7.general, wrote:

"PeterC" wrote
|
| http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_...up_offline.exe
|
| Any good?
| 280MB.
| Avast does have a bit more to it than some others.

Have you used it? I was thinking I remembered that recent
versions required signup, or timed out, or some such.



signup, no. An email address, yes. They don't verify it's valid. If you
give them an 'email address', it's good for a year. If you do nothing
after install, it runs for 30 days. I'm not sure what happens after the
30days because I've never tested that to see. When I load it for
clients to keep them a little safer online, I just give it some
completely made up thing that resembles an email address, unless the
client wants to use a real one. You don't want to go with default
install though, you do want to do a custom install and uncheck
everything except for file scanning; the other stuff isn't necessary.




--
https://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php

Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

En el artículo , Paul
escribió:

Well, if I ever see the word "toolbar" in any product
description, I usually freak out, right on the spot :-)

How do you react to "ribbon"?



--
(\_/)
(='.'=) "Between two evils, I always pick
(")_(") the one I never tried before." - Mae West

Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artículo , Paul
escribió:

Well, if I ever see the word "toolbar" in any product
description, I usually freak out, right on the spot :-)

How do you react to "ribbon"?




If you install enough Toolbars, it qualifies as a ribbon.

http://www.keepbusy.net/pics/pic-dump-93-19.jpg

Paul

Il giorno Tue 04 Jul 2017 06:18:27p, *Paul in Houston TX* ha inviato su
alt.windows7.general il messaggio news Vediamo cosa ha scritto:

Prior to that for 20+ years I did not have any anti-virus and never
got a virus.


because it was included in your body: it's called BRAIN

--
/-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ T /-\
-=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- - -=-
http://www.bb2002.it
............ [ al lavoro ] ...........

En el artículo , Paul
escribió:

If you install enough Toolbars, it qualifies as a ribbon.

http://www.keepbusy.net/pics/pic-dump-93-19.jpg

Holy crap.

I wonder how long that takes to load a webpage? If it ever does.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) "Between two evils, I always pick
(")_(") the one I never tried before." - Mae West

On 07/05/2017 03:00 AM, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artÃ*culo , Paul
escribió:

If you install enough Toolbars, it qualifies as a ribbon.

http://www.keepbusy.net/pics/pic-dump-93-19.jpg

Holy crap.

I wonder how long that takes to load a webpage? If it ever does.

Where was the web page??? LOL

On 07/04/2017 08:46 AM, Mayayana wrote:
I know this has been asked before, but I haven't
dealt with AV for awhile. Avast keeps timing
out and I'm not sure there's any longer a fully
free version. Sophos requires (at least) signing
up with personal info. (Even the signup page has
a tracker from Facebook.) AVG was bought by
Avast and seems to be adware. (According to
MajorGeeks.)

Is there any decent, no-funny-business, free
AV still available? I want to just download a
real installer and run it, without any signup, online
installers, ads, etc.





MSE has been trouble-free for years.

An AV is important but the most critical tool is common sense.