What is the best free virus checker for a PC running Windows XP?
Oddly enough, free anti-virus programs are MUCH superior to every commercial anti-virus program I know of. And I learned that the hard way! By all accounts Norton is a poor performer and hogs system resources. And McAfee is even worse; their software is not only awful, but their support is an absolute nightmare. I documented my experience with them on my blog, including a transcript of a rather surreal conversation with one of their customer support people. In independent tests, the free anti-virus program Anti-Vir was best at identifying new, unknown viruses. It has a very light system footprint compared to commercial programs. It self-updates daily. I’ve installed it for dozens of friends and family members, and not ONE of them has had a problem with system infections since. There are also several other free security programs which are a must-have these days: The programs and techniques recommend
On Windows XP I’ve used Grisoft’s AVG for years without any serious problem. That program combined with Microsoft’s Windows Defender has done well to protect my system from virus and malware. AVG is free for personal use and can be downloaded from http://free.grisoft.com. Windows Defender (which is now standard wit the Vista release) is not automatically installed with Windows XP but can be downloaded from http://www.windowsdefender.com. This program has a fairly low overhead and runs silently in the background until there’s an issue or concern and then will prompt you will the necessary warning and options for handling it. If you have concerns about spyware on your computer you may wish to also consider one of the following two programs — both of which have some overhead associated with them, but are free and effective:
I use AVG Free. It’s free to download and use, it updates itself every day automatically and you can schedule scans for off hours. Avast and Avira’s Anti-Vir also get very good reviews. Bear in mind that an anti-virus program is only part of a good security system. That’s why the commercial products that cost big bucks have lots of modules to do different jobs (and also bury your machine with performance robbing active programs). I addition to AVG I also run WinPatrol, AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy. These are all free (although I bought the commercial upgrade to WinPatrol for the additional features.) Sources: http://free.grisoft.com/ http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html http://www.free-av.com/ http://www.winpatrol.com/
