Any free virus software?

All these recent worms have started to make me worry. Normally, I have a copy of norton that is updated and came with my laptop. I just use it from my laptop to search all the hard drives on my home network for viruses. Well, a few days ago my laptop craped out and I haven't talked to dell about getting it fixed yet. Now I'm left without virus software, and I just got an email informing me that an email I sent contained a virus...although I never sent it. Anyway...is there any free virus software out there worth using?

I use Grisoft's AVG. It is entirely free, as are the updates, and it does its job well. You can find it at:

www.grisoft.com

I'll second AVG. I've been using it for a while and no viruses yet.

I use Anti-Vir. I think its made by a german company. Completely free, small, effective, and easy to use. I'm constantly amazed at how they update the program just about every week and the virus file every other day.

http://www.free-av.com/

Edit-Just looked at the above recommended program. AntiVir doesn't have disabled features, reduced options, or lack of tech support. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Give it a try.

Mark

My vote's with AVG too... So far so good for the last 10 months or so... caught a couple of viruses for me in that time too. Try it out!

Let me get this straight: you need a couple of virs ? No prob, PM your e-mail and I'm going to forward you a couple )

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zmoz said:
Anyway...is there any free virus software out there worth using?

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http://housecall.antivirus.com from Trend Micro

I was just about to go buy McAfee for my Dad who is completely computer illiterate.
Do any of the above programs nag at you to upgrade or to update virus definition files?
I want something I can just install for him and forget.
I'll update it for him manually every week or so but he just can't deal with programs nagging at him.

GJW, AVG won't nag you to upgrade. You can tell it to automatically update or you can tell it that you want to handle it yourself. All he'll see is the icon in the sys tray, until it finds a virus ( of course ).

Joe

The thing I like about AVG is it doesn't use anywhere near the system resources as the big guys. Just plain and simple, I like that.

As for the updates on AVG you can do it manually or automatically, it will even do a dial-up at a preset time to update, that is if the puter is on /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

IMO also, the program AntiVir®/9x by H+BEDV Datentechnik GmbH seems like an excellent (free for home use) virus software that offers frequent updates. (I've updated five times in the last 2 days!)

I have used it without a hitch for over a year now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

I just installed and ran AVG Antivirus, courtesy of an email I got from them tonight. It found a hoax (phoney) virus in a little program I got a couple of years ago ("quake.exe" - makes your screen jiggle), but otherwise my system was clean.

Well yes there's lots of free virus', unless your the Gov. than to pay for'em. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I don't have a free AV preference

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zmoz said:
I just got an email informing me that an email I sent contained a virus...although I never sent it.

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Don't worry, that's just an automatic bounce.

E-mail worms go through your address book and send out hundreds of messages with random "TO" and "FROM" address fields.

Some businesses have an AV program that scans the mail and send a bounce to the address in the "FROM" even if it's fake. Its worse than worm its self.

If you had an e-mail worm you wouldn't get a bounce, they don't use your real address.