As a Computer Security professional, I have to supply my 'Home Computer' customers with a program that's both FREE and EFFECTIVE while also being transparent and not requiring registration, re-registration or re-payment.
I've tried almost every AV program on the market and the only one that fills all my criteria is
AVG 8.0 FREE. The newest version (8.0) also protects you from Spyware and Trojans. If you want, you can add a little extra Spyware/Trojan protection with "Spybot Search & Destroy" and you're home
FREE.
It only runs when you run it and is totally NON-Invasive, while providing your browsers with a very long list of web sites to avoid.
That's great protection against re-direct's to bad sites.
Norton and McAfee are
NEVER FREE, will seriously BLOAT your computer and are equally hard to remove from your computer should you ever want to. Both of those companies have been forced to create special removal tools to get their products off of a PC.
After a user (lady) had just paid Norton for an upgrade, it reported one virus which it said it could not remove. She called me in complete frustration.
I disabled Norton, installed AVG FREE and did a scan. It found and removed the one virus that Norton said it could not remove and then found 150 more which it completely removed. The lady was furious at Norton and called the company and demanded her money back.
She was more than glad for me to totally remove Norton AV and make AVG her permanent Anti Virus program.
I also installed "Spybot Search & Destroy" for her and did a scan, removing a ton of spyware.
Norton and McAfee do NOT protect against spyware.
Y'all have a great day now, Y'hear?
The Shadow
Phelps dominates the water! GO Michael !!!!