[X4U] Boot Camp success - now, where to get my armor

[Philip J Robar]

On Apr 9, 2006, at 8:22 AM, Stroller wrote:

>
> On 9 Apr 2006, at 2:28, Jim Robertson wrote:
>
>> ...There are 3 and 12 month "free" trials
>> available from Microsoft for various third party anti-virus  
>> programs. ...
>> Any good ones that are free and not time limited? Major
>> requirement is that they not get in the way of ActiveSync operations.
>
> AVG is free for personal, non-commercial use: http:// 
> free.grisoft.com/doc/1
>
> The commercial version is still a bargain at $40 for 2 years. It  
> beats the pants off Norton & McArfy.
> http://www.grisoft.com/doc/Purchase/lng/us/tpl/tpl01

Not according to PC World. In the current  issue McAffe was rated #2,  
behind BitDefender, Norton was #5. The three free programs, AntiVir,  
Avast,  and AVG came in 7th, 8th, and 10th out of 10 respectively.  
The biggest weakness of the free programs is that their heuristics  
for dealing with unknowns are weak.

Article:	http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124163,pg,1,00.asp
Chart:	http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124475,00.asp

I was using McAfee on one machine, and Avast and AVG on two others.  
Since I get McAfee free as a Comcast customer I'm going to switch to  
it on all of my Windows machines.

As far as anti-spyware programs, you already have MS Defender.  
Lavasoft's Adaware and Spybot Search & Destroy are free and well  
though of though usually not top rated. Yahoo has free spyware  
scanning as part of their toolbar. Sunbelt Software's CounterSpy and  
Webroot Software's Spy Sweeper are consistently at the top of PC  
Worlds reviews. (As has been the core of Microsoft's Defender in the  
past.)

I have the first four installed on all of my PCs and I just bought  
Spy Sweeper and it's companion Windows Washer for $10 after rebate at  
Fry's Electronics. I have both Spybot's and Defender's active  
components turned on. They both go off under different circumstances  
leading me to believe that there's little overlap between what  
they're both looking for and that having both of them on is a good  
thing. Spybot in particular has an actively maintained black-hole  
list of malicious web sites and keeps good watch over Window's registry.

In tests none of the anti-spyware programs find/catch everything so  
having several installed seems like a good idea.

Phil
--
"Those who would deny liberty to others do not deserve it themselves."
-- Abraham Lincoln - 1859