Free Antivirus Software?

[Chicago Jake]

As you all know, I am a cheap bastard, and proud of it.

I have a computer, not my main one, that I use primarily as a music server. I rarely connect directly to the internet with it, but it is on my local network which has web access. The Norton license that it is currently running is coming up for renewal. I'm not sure I want to fork out another thirty or forty bucks for virus protection for it, given its limited time in the direct line of fire.

I've heard that there are plenty of FREE anti-virus programs out there that are every bit as good as the paid ones. Is this true? Does anyone have any experience? If so, which ones are best?

Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me (and the rest of us) and maybe save us all some cash........Jake

[Chicago Jake]

Never mind. I did a search. RH discusses it here:

tnmc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=techtalk&action=display&thread=618

And then more recently, he recommended NOD32 over AVG.

Any updates to those recommendations, RH? And anyone else have any experiences to share? Thanks!........Jake

[Exildo Wonsetler Briggs III]

Some geeks on another board swear by Avast. I had it on one computer, AVG on another, and Avast seemed to work fine. I could not find any way to shut it down, however. Oh, you can put it in "standby" mode, but I could not remove it completely from memory. There are times when I need to do that.

That is the kiss of death, so I deleted it from that computer. NO FUCKING PROGRAM will tell me what to do! McAfee tried that crap and I deleted them too.

..........Bob

[Robin Hood]

I still stand FIRMLY behind NOD32. Avast is better than AVG, but AVG isn't horrible either.

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Best Free Antivirus

[Chicago Jake]

Here's a new idea: Cloud-based anti-virus software. Panda Cloud Anti-virus claims to be the first AV program "without an update button" because virus definitions are maintained in the cloud. I don't know if it is any good or not, but it's a clever idea.......

www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355828,00.asp

[Ardbeg... innit]

An interesting idea Jake. I wonder however, what would happen if someone were to hack into the Panda's server. Seems like it could be an interesting challenge for hackers with the potential for huge damage if they succeed.

[Chicago Jake]

Good point. Of course, they could do that with regular-old update-based AV software. F'rinstance, hack into Norton and mess with their latest update file. As soon as everyone downloads it, same effect.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Difference being if someone hacks into Norton they arent immediately reaching into your machine, with Panda they are.