I realize that these have been much discussed, but I’d like to hear current views of the savvy and sophisticated (e.g. Dopers).
What are your recommendations for antivirus software? I’ve been using Norton, but have come to feel it’s a bit too intrusive. Anyone know about F-prot?
Ditto for anti-spyware. Anything better than SpyBot and/or AdAware?
Norton AV blows great steaming goat chunks. I’ve been using AVG free edition lately, and it’s relatively unobtrusive and very effective.
I recommend either of the A’s - Avast or AVG.
Both are free and consume FAR less memory and processor power than Norton.
In addition to anti-virus and anti-spyware software, I can’t recommend ZoneAlarm enough. (It’s a program that alerts you whenever a program is trying to do something over the Internet.) Install the free version and don’t turn it off. I got a rootkit once (still don’t know how) while I had my ZoneAlarm turned off for some reason and it installed about fifty other pieces of crap before I had the sense to turn ZA back on. By that point, it was hopeless – I had to wipe the drive and start over. Even then, ZA allowed me to disable the spyware to the point where I could at least go through my documents and confirm everything was already backed up.
Indeed. And if you’re feeling the urge to spend some money, ZoneAlarm Pro includes a spyware scanner that automatically udpates periodically.