Lightest (best?) Antivirus software for XP

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jahc

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#30682 17-Feb-2009 18:57

I hear Avast is lighter and faster than AVG. I need something free to stick on an older PC, maybe 512mb ram, Pentium4 or similar. It had McAffee but we're removing that because its dead slow.

Thanks for any advice guys!

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#196360 17-Feb-2009 19:03

I like Avast and have it running in all my PCs...

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Damager

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#196366 17-Feb-2009 19:29

I'm a fan of Avast also. I have it on all of my pc's and laptops.

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JAMMAN2110

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#196371 17-Feb-2009 19:53

Avast here too, even on "multimedia only" systems and not a single issue to report..

larknz

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#196372 17-Feb-2009 20:19

I like Avast as well. Updates are automatic and happen regularly.

johnr

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#196376 17-Feb-2009 20:43

Avast rocks

John

macrogeek

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#196409 17-Feb-2009 22:26

avast is awesome ,,, also , many friends of mine use Kaspersky and it's doing very well with them :)

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jahc

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#196412 17-Feb-2009 22:30

A lot of people have replied saying "avast is awesome!".. but does anyone know for sure whether Avast is faster than AVG?

johnr

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#196414 17-Feb-2009 22:36

jahc: A lot of people have replied saying "avast is awesome!".. but does anyone know for sure whether Avast is faster than AVG?

You be the judge and install free home edition

John

Ragnor

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#196424 17-Feb-2009 23:41

Going against the grain here I always use Avira Antivir on my desktop (non server) machines. It's fast and scores well in detection tests like http://www.av-comparatives.org/

You do have to make one tweak to disable their self promotion nag screen that launches after every update but it's very simple: http://www.elitekiller.com/files/disable_antivir_nag.htm

ZollyMonsta

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#196426 18-Feb-2009 00:14

freitasm: I like Avast and have it running in all my PCs...

Same here... Just be sure to disable the sounds... else you may get a BIG fright when it informs you the database has been upgraded ;) Scared us a couple of times until we turned sounds off. :)

nate

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#196430 18-Feb-2009 02:00

ZollyMonsta: Same here... Just be sure to disable the sounds... else you may get a BIG fright when it informs you the database has been upgraded ;) Scared us a couple of times until we turned sounds off. :)

I also run Avast and it's great, on the recommendation of Jamman2110 of all people.

I too turned off the sound after getting a fright everytime it updated...

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JAMMAN2110

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#196476 18-Feb-2009 11:17

jahc: A lot of people have replied saying "avast is awesome!".. but does anyone know for sure whether Avast is faster than AVG?

It beats every AV program I've ever used.. And I'm the guy that decided to install as many of them as he could to see what it would do to a computer. Avast wins hands down.

eXDee

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#196521 18-Feb-2009 15:12

Avast is pretty good for free but it loves false positives. Avira is pretty nice also, but i personally use NOD32 which constantly does well in the AV tests also.

JAMMAN2110

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#196541 18-Feb-2009 16:19

eXDee: Avast is pretty good for free but it loves false positives. Avira is pretty nice also, but i personally use NOD32 which constantly does well in the AV tests also.

I've only ever seen one issue with a false positive and Avast, and that occured on a laptop with a faulty memory controller that was also running above 50 deg C. Maybe you should check your memory controller? :)

eXDee

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#196720 19-Feb-2009 15:27

Interesting that a memory controller would affect avast giving false positives...
Nah someone i know has a laptop with it on it and it gives false positives on some things (not sure what, not my laptop), though i recall them saying some were encrypted.

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