Questions on free virus options, Short turm (crash, icons, installed)
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I am planing to give this computer to a friends kid and get a new one. The Norton's that I have on this computer is almost expired in a month or so. The computer will already have Norton's on it so I am not going to renew the copy I have now. I don't want to hand the kid a computer that has no protection at all but I am not gonna pay the Norton renewal for a computer I don't plan to keep. While I would like to assume that the kid will go to the store and get a better anti virus reality tells me that he won't
I looked at Cnet and see two free anti virus programs that seam to be higher rated. AIG and Avast.
Cnet used to be such a good place for recommendations on such matters but time has let them fall short. If I could get some opinions on this from a few of you on which free anti virus would be the best for the price I would appreciate it.
I completely agree with Microsoft Security Essentials. It is just as good as any Antivirus you can buy, better than most and it is completely free. It updates automatically if you set it to do so, so it is maintenance free unless they release a completely new version in the future. When friends and family buy a new computer I uninstall the factory installed antivirus and now install Microsoft Security Essentials. I used to use a different free one up until MSE came a few years ago. We have not had any problems at all using MSE and we are completely satisfied.
I haven't used Internet Explorer in years but what I will say is that for a kid IE may be easier because some webpages have issues with other browsers requiring various plugins and what not but all sites are fully tested to work with IE since it is by far the most dominant browser. I would probably just leave IE as the browser for a kid. A lot of people don't realize that whether you actually use Internet Explorer for your browser, it still starts and runs in the background because it is intertwined into other workings of the Windows OS. You actually use less resources by using IE since it is already running anyway. You can see this by firing up task manager while using a different browser and you will see in the list of processes that IE is running.
I personally use firefox because I can use it across different platforms and keep the same look and feel along with syncing my bookmarks.
I completely agree with Microsoft Security Essentials. It is just as good as any Antivirus you can buy, better than most and it is completely free. It updates automatically if you set it to do so, so it is maintenance free unless they release a completely new version in the future. When friends and family buy a new computer I uninstall the factory installed antivirus and now install Microsoft Security Essentials. I used to use a different free one up until MSE came a few years ago. We have not had any problems at all using MSE and we are completely satisfied.
I haven't used Internet Explorer in years but what I will say is that for a kid IE may be easier because some webpages have issues with other browsers requiring various plugins and what not but all sites are fully tested to work with IE since it is by far the most dominant browser. I would probably just leave IE as the browser for a kid. A lot of people don't realize that whether you actually use Internet Explorer for your browser, it still starts and runs in the background because it is intertwined into other workings of the Windows OS. You actually use less resources by using IE since it is already running anyway. You can see this by firing up task manager while using a different browser and you will see in the list of processes that IE is running.
I personally use firefox because I can use it across different platforms and keep the same look and feel along with syncing my bookmarks.
It is much easier to download and install random crap with IE than other browsers. IE is still the most popular browser so its the most targeted by malware writers. I rarely have compatibility issues with Firefox or Chrome. At the very least, setup a limited user account for the kid to use and teach the parent that not every random thing that wants to install on a computer is good.
I should add that the kid is in his late teens. He is going this summer to work for a friend of mine in Colorado to save money for collage next year. His need for the computer is more as a communication tool and time spender for now.
After ECA's post I read up on Microsoft Security Essentials and it looks pretty strong and self managing so that seams to be the best idea, I appreciate the advice. I will keep IE on, mostly because that is what his parents have on the home computer and he is familiar with it.
I have chrome on here now so I will leave it as the default but if he wants to change it he can.
AVG is a pretty good free one too but Microsoft Security Essentials seems to be better and they release updates more often to provide better protection/quicker response to zero day viruses or malware. I used to use AVG also, then used Avira Antivir for a while until I found MSE. Uninstall AVG and give MSE a try and I bet you will stay with it.
I like Avast personally. It has caught and fixed many viruses for me.
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