Can anyone recommend a good cheap general "antivirus?"

[Bogie]

Okay. They done it again. They girlfriend's dad's office computers were abyssmally slow... Turned out that some of the stuff was that they had a couple of antivirus programs that were continually trying to do updates. Via a normally disconnected dialup line...
 
Okay... All that crap got yanked out, and it was vowed that the computers would only be used for business and e-mail.
 
Well, someone's been doing some surfing... They've got bad craziness going on... Maybe some crapware too...
 
What's hot now? Or should I just reload macafee, and tell 'em the slowdown is their own damn problem?
 

[wmenorr67]

Yes.

[mtnbkr]

AVG is free and seems to do a good job. 

Chris

[peteinct]

I use AVG and am happy with it. Macafee was bad for me they "upgraded" it and it became real hoggy. So I switched.  pete

[Bogie]

Okay... Told 'em to dl AVG... Nobody sez they did nothin'... Betcha someone installed some of the cutesie crap like smileys...

[Brad Johnson]

I use Pest Patrol - $30 a year.  Seems to do a good job.

Brad

[Ezekiel]

I use a Mac. 

[Risasi]

http://free.grisoft.com


I've been using it since they are at version 4.x  (about five years ago?)

Years ago they would even allow entire schools to use their software for free. They've since gone commercial, but they are still one of the top three I like (sophos and Norton CORPORATE being the other two)

[Tallpine]

Just crank the browser security settings up to where nothing will work 

[Vodka7]

No reason to use anything but AVG, unless you can get Symantec/Norton *corporate* for free.  Risasi's emphasis on corporate is very, very important.  Very.

Edited to add:

Virus infections aren't as common as people make them out to be.  Like you're guessing, slowdowns usually have more to do with dumb "free" adware downloads than actual virii.  Tallpine has a good idea with locking down the browser.  You should also check out the usual anti-spyware suspects like adaware and spybot.

For another route, my brother called me once with about a dozen seperate computer problems.  I went to his house, checked it out, and saw, among many other things that were almost as bad, BONZAI BUDDY.  I spent quite a while backing up all his data, doing a clean format, and restoring his data.  Then we had a long talk where I explained that the first format was free, but the next time I saw BONZAI BUDDY on his computer we were going to play whack-a-mole and that I would be the one with the bat.  Despite the fact that he's six inches taller than me and a good seventy pounds heavier, somehow the threat stuck and his computing habits are much improved

[Ron]

I have been virus and spyware free since I bought this computer.

AVG virus protection (free)

Windows Firewall, I know I know.... don't want to hear how the Windows firewall sucks. (stock)

Windows Defender (for spyware, free)

I have good browsing habits and only open files from trusted sources. Firefox is my main browser although I use IE on occasion.

I also use a registry mechanic program and Window Washer to clear out old trash.

This computer has XP Professional and has been the most stable trouble free unit I have ever had.

[lee n. field]

AVG.

Home user versions of McAfee and Norton are horrid pigs. 

They girlfriend's dad's office computers were abysmally slow

The corporate versions (of Mcafee and Norton) are completely different from the home user versions, but you're not going to find them on the shelf at Bust Buy.  I'd suggest Symantec Corporate AV, with as many licenses as appropriate.   In an office environment you're really supposed to pay for AVG (but it's still really inexpensive).

[Tallpine]

I should mention that you can make a list of "trusted sites" that have lower security settings, so that you can actually do something with them.

I had a bad pc flu last summer, and finally had to go into "safe mode" to edit the registry.  The virus was running a timer that wrote itself back into the "start" folder in the registry several times a second.  Previously, I had killed ones like that by editing the registry and then immediately killing the power.  No way to do it fast enough with that one, though. 

[RevDisk]

I second everyone's suggestion for AVG.  If they want a superior solution (that isn't free), go with Kaspersky.  I migrated our entire company over from Symantec to KAV and am extremely happy with the results.  Every other month or so, my boss comes across another non-vendor AV competition, and Kaspersky always ranks at the highest. 

[JimMarch]

I have to run Windows of some sort to take voting databases (Diebold so far) apart.  It's basically an MS-Access application.

But I'm not crazy enough to actually boot Windows, or for that matter connect it to the 'net.

I have a very basic single-core Celeron laptop with 1.5gig RAM.

I run Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Linux, tuned to the max, with Innotek's VirtualBox software creating a "Virtual Machine".  I assign anywhere between 512megs and a gig to the VM and boot WinXP in it.  Runs great.  I cut off all Internet/Ethernet/WiFi access to the VM, giving it access to the host Linux OS disk structure as a "network drive".  I can thus feed the VM anything it needs without giving it Internet access.

Web, EMail, word processing and similar general work happens in Linux.

THAT is how you safely run XP or any other Windows variant.  Otherwise you're just a prey species in the jungle. 

I got nuked a year ago despite every possible update and a paid/updated copy of ZoneAlarm Pro.  Haven't booted Windows since.  No regrets .  No crashes or glitches either, except for when I was experimenting with alpha code after doing a full backup .  Even then, the /home/jim directory holds every possible setting so with a new Linux loaded and that reloaded, I'm immediately back to normal.  No registry to mess with.  God I love it .

[280plus]

Did anyone mention AVG? 

[Sindawe]

Another vote for AVG.  I put the free version on my media box and my mother's PC, while the pay version goes on my workstation and servers.