OT: Free Anti Virus Program

[Atrocities]

Panda Scan
SpyBot
Adware

Are these any good?

[se5a]

I dont know about panda, but the other two are not AV software, they are antispyware proggys.

AntiVir Personal is a good free antivirus
http://www.free-av.com/

[Atrocities]

Thanks.

I found a GAME PLANETED unknown trojan on my computer. After hours of investigating it was discovered to be the by product of Secure Rom and or Diablo's latest patch.

When Game, Music, and software companies secretly place adware, spyware, and trojans on your computer, they, in my honest opinion, are violating the Use At Own Risk laws that protect them.

[Fyron]

SpyBot and Adaware are absolutely crucial pieces of software. They each catch spyware that the other misses.

These days, it is not sufficient to just have an anti-virus program. You need a full suite of protection. Anti-virus, anti-trojan (the better AV programs can handle trojans decently, but will not always be able to eliminate a trojan), and anti-spyware. Using a non-garbage web browser (such as Mozilla Firefox) will prevent a lot of this crap from being able to install itself through web browsing (Internet Explorer is currently the main cause of virus/trojan/spyware infections, seconded by MS Outlook). Additionally, it is a good idea to run a firewall.

[Ed Kolis]

Avast (www.avast.com) is free for noncommercial use

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Anti-trojan? Where would I find one of those, perferably free? Why wouldn't mcafeee eliminate it?

[Fyron]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
Anti-trojan? Where would I find one of those, perferably free? Why wouldn't mcafeee eliminate it?

Depends on the trojan. The people that write these things stay up to date on program suites such as McAffee and Norton and constantly write trojans, viruses, etc. that can defeat them. This is why constant updates are necessary... McAffee should generally be able to detect the trojan, but it might fail to be able to remove it. Nastier trojans generally require specific steps to remove, which vary depending on the trojan.

[Atrocities]

Trojans are nasty nasty things. Creators of such things should be casterated with a dull butter knife.

[Possum]

http://www.free-av.de/

A splendid AV program

[Possum]

Atrocities said:
Trojans are nasty nasty things. Creators of such things should be casterated with a dull butter knife.

I wouldn't let them off that easy.

Such people are barbarians at the gates. The very idea that anyone would dare to defile and vandalise the internet is little short of sacrilege.