# Antivirusing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirusing/254626 "2004-07-12T00:00:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirusing/254626/1 "2004-07-12T00:00:03Z")
Could some knowledgeable Doper(s) point me towards the best antivirus software on the Net today, without my having to pay an arm and a leg to get a hold of it (free software, needless to say, would be a plus! šŸ˜ƒ )? Bear in mind that Iā€™m far from a technical wiz so installation (and maintenance/operation) would have to be fairly simpleā€¦ Iā€™m not exactly looking for bells and whistles: just software that would protect me adequately against viruses floating around. Is there a site out there which tests and compares (pros and cons) the different softwares available on the Net and in retail? Many thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirusing/254626/2 "2004-07-12T00:12:15Z")
[AntiVir Personal Edition](http://www.free-av.com/) by [H+BEDV](http://www.hbedv.com/en/) is free. They donā€™t seem to be such a big brand name internationally, but so far I never had any problems. The nice thing is that the Personal Version is completely free, including unlimited data updates, without any ads or other annoyances. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirusing/254626/3 "2004-07-12T00:18:08Z")
[url=ā€œ[http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php](http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php)ā€]AVG from Grisoft is free for personal use and has a good reputation. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirusing/254626/4 "2004-07-12T00:38:40Z")
You should really read the ā€œHave a computer problem, read this firstā€ thread as it has more links than youā€™ll ever care to know about. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirusing/254626/5 "2004-07-12T14:01:59Z")
Thank you for your input. **Chairman Pow** , my badā€¦I Should have checked that thread first. Iā€™m still looking for a site comparing the pros and cons of the different types of software, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirusing/254626/6 "2004-07-12T16:33:23Z")
> [@omni-not](#): > > Thank you for your input. **Chairman Pow** , my badā€¦I Should have checked that thread first. Iā€™m still looking for a site comparing the pros and cons of the different types of software, though. I use AVG real-time as do a lot of the dopers here. Iā€™ve not had any trouble with it. I also use Etrust (that came with my DSL) and the trendmicro to ā€œspot checkā€ AVG. AVGā€™s caught a couple of potential trojans but neither of the other two have ever caught anything. I can only assume that 1) AVG works fine or 2) I havenā€™t ever gotten a virus (trojans aside). I also tried Avast!, but the damn thing installed a keylogger! I got rid of that fast.