# Quality virus checkers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quality-virus-checkers/188763 "2003-07-16T00:17:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marlow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Marlow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlow)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quality-virus-checkers/188763/1 "2003-07-16T00:17:19Z")
I was trying to download MSN messenger, but I couldn’t. The download stalled at 1%. I can download most stuff, but some sites won’t download for me. I suspect a virus; what would be a good checker? ---
**Author:** ![bhb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ab992/32.png) [@bhb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bhb)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quality-virus-checkers/188763/2 "2003-07-16T00:23:40Z")
there’s a good free online one at [http://housecall.trendmicro.com](http://housecall.trendmicro.com), you could also buy the software they have there. I have Norton Antivirus it is very good. When I first installed it, it found 67 infected files and deleted/neutralized all of them, it also stopped a malicious script on someones website and stopped a infected file I was downloading off Kazaa, that was all in one week so I’m content with its performace. ---
**Author:** ![bhb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ab992/32.png) [@bhb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bhb)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quality-virus-checkers/188763/3 "2003-07-16T00:25:08Z")
err… that’s not loading because i put a comma after it, try this link: [http://housecall.trendmicro.com/](http://housecall.trendmicro.com/) ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quality-virus-checkers/188763/4 "2003-07-16T00:25:42Z")
Norton (Symantec) Antivirus is the best. That aside, I have never known a virus to interfere with a download like that, unless it is running in the background and freezing up your whole computer (sucking resources). ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quality-virus-checkers/188763/5 "2003-07-16T05:33:25Z")
You can scan your computer without installing anything permanently: [http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/](http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/) [http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/default.asp](http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/default.asp) [http://housecall.trendmicro.com/](http://housecall.trendmicro.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quality-virus-checkers/188763/6 "2003-07-16T07:19:48Z")
I use (and am very pleased with) AVG free edition from [www.grisoft.com](http://www.grisoft.com) ---
**Author:** ![Satz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@Satz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satz)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quality-virus-checkers/188763/7 "2003-07-16T13:28:42Z")
I second AVG for free, but in my company I prefer Trend. Supporting 350 PCs and roughly the same amount of Macs we found Norton a POS(lousy update time(s), crashes upon installs of FRESH Win-installs, etc.). On the Mac side we have little choice. On the PC side Trend rocks! HTH,