i'm considering go legit with our windows xp, and if i do would like to install a nice, easy to use anti virus, i know there are norton and macaffee available, but honestly know nothing about either one...it seems there are others that i would probably have no idea about...so i'm needing some recommendations, please, i'd appreciate it.

i personally use AVG's anti-virus and you can downlod it for free. both norton and mcafee are pretty good anti-virus's. If you plan on buying a bundle package i would suggest mcafee's as they have what is considered the best spyware and firewall on the market at the moment. if your looking for all free stuff, avg for anti-virus, spybot search and destroy & adaware for spyware, and zonealarm or sygates free edition for a fireewall. spybot search and destroy recommens immunization plus another free program to use so that you are better protected from active x objects that other spyware may miss.

i've never used anything but Norton Antivirus. it seems pretty good to me... never had any serious virus problem and quite regurarily it catches virusses in incoming emails.

it's also easy to use and update.

i second Windigo's opinion on AVG..

Avast Antivirus is good...and you should try the new Kapersky...very good with embedded firewall.

Norton. If you want free .. AVG.
I sell both Norton and Mcaffe, I also get to see every pc that comes in with virus and issues. As Windigo said, Spybot S&D and Adaware SE personal edition are the best for spyware and adware, but for virus, I see more pc's with McAffe that are fucked up, and almost none with norton... However, some ppl swear by McAffe, it is good, but in my experience, just not up to Norton's standards.

fuck that....Nortons fuckin' blows....it won't catch even half of the new trojans out there....i had nortons and still got fucked with a trojan virus.....

Pandas and Xoft seem to be very good for new viruses....but i've pretty much abondoned all hope in virus protection.....i store important files either on disk or on my d-drive....and if fuckered, i just reinstall my operating system...

I have been using Nortons for as long as I can remember. I have never had a virus, its nailed them all.

ditto

I have Norton, and got a trojan that ate my .exe files, and now I can't run 16 bit ms-dos programs.
Now I am sad, Toy Story and 101 Dalmations sit on the shelf unused.
(pooter came with win XP already installed, and so can't repair it as don't have the disc, NOW I SEE THEIR EVIL RUSE!)

fprot! http://www.f-prot.com

It's great, lots of addons, and if your running linux (like me) it's free!
Also there are lots of pattern updates!

Norton: overpriced crap... requires too many snippits to run.

McAffee: Overpriced crap.. also requires too many external scripts to run...

Fprot: simple, command-line version avaliable, secure.

and thats why no one has ever heard of it, because its better than the best.

you should be able to go to a library (preferably at a college) and check out a disk for like $15 or $20.....most college libraries have XP readily available because so many CPU classes use XP, especially word, excel, and all that....so they got have it there.....but i don't know if you need to be a student to get one....but just check libraries....and if you're smart, you'll burn a copy and save the key

I use Norton...I have no choice. As part of the internet service agreement in my res, we have to use it, and not any other kind...which is total bullshit. I got a trojan a couple weeks ago and it fucked over windows so I had to get my 98SE disk and Key code because it prompted me, telling me I'd never used windows before. THEN I had to reformat my drive because none of the programs worked when I finally got the key entered. I didn't even have a start menu, it was worse than safe mode, just my desktop wallpaper and nothing else. Nothing even in the CTRL-ALT-DEL list.

NOW, since I had no idea what I was doing in the bios, I didn't copy my (probably safe) personal files over to my second hard drive out of sheer ignorance of how to use a computer...so I have practically nothing left except a few flash animations...which are useless since I don't have the software to reinstall.
AND i'm only running on 16 color, 640x480 resolution, and NO sound...Apparently I didn't bring enough of my system disks to school with me, assuming the fucking antivirus would CATCH any system-crashing shit. *grumble*

That being said, anybody know where I can get my hands on the correct display adapters to start seeing things properly again?

eeek....that sux yo....

yes, always SPLIT YOUR HARD DRIVE and save your "valuable" and "personal" files in the D-drive....trojans mainly just fuck up your C-drive....

if norton's did for you what it did for me, run it in safe mode, it'll locate the virus but can't remove it (thatz why norton's is gayer than shit...most trojans nortons can't do shit with)...there is a way to go into the registry key and change the code.....but, itz tricky, and you really gotta know what you're doin.....also, most trojans won't let you open notepad, 'cuz through notepad you can easily corrupt the virus

All this talk of "Trojans"...

They normaly just grab valuable info and "hide"...

yet, WORMS, and various virii (other then trojans) are much more dangerous.

Sybex.s, wow, what a bitch, this one targets your USER.LOG, and it appends malicious code to it so WINDOWS causes various crashes...

Ahh, who'd forget ILUVU.vbs... famous for creating soo many copies that bandwidth on t3 servers dropped to the archane speed of a 56k...

These trojans you speek of shouldn't cause much damage unless the've been "living" in your system for a very long time...

As long as you've got the virus, find the file, use D_comp, or decoNix to decompile it,
and learn from the ASM source.

Just my opinion.

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune, ever consider linux?

Linux: Speed, Power, Stability, Flexibility, Support, AND FREE.

Try it, I'd be more then happy to help you trouble shoot.

There IS one thing linux cannot yet do, (untill early next year), that's compile flash movies without the knowledge of C++...

f4L should be done soon, but when it is, MicroZoft will loose a few thousand more customers...


Later.

Its funny how you all talk of getting trojans and shit, and nortons can't do shit about it and all, yet norton has nailed and prevented every single one I have ever been hit with. Maybe yous should learn how to set it up and use it properly

hahaha...so funny

no, itz just that any anti-virus protection has to try and keep up with new viruses...sometimes you get hit with new viruses, and norton's can locate it, but can't remove it...but you can't get an update for itz either not available yet, or the virus won't let it...

besides, there's millions of viruses...and trojans are one of the more popular...just search random back-pornographic pages, and you're likely to get a trojan...norton's can't compesate for them all...

but overall, norton's is okay, but after gettin' hit with a virus, i basically said fuck it...i just watch what i do on the net, and don't wander too far...norton's has been askin' me to update for like 3 months now...but fuck it...i just hope i don't get hit with a virus...

and who is webgovernor and why does he have my IP address and all that other stuff?

true true, there is no one perfect antivirus for anyone, what seems to work well for some ppl, does not always work well for others, and some ppl swear by a certain company, and someone else another, its always been this way. Funny how that works.

as for webgovernor's signature, thats just a little applet you can dl off the net and put in your sig, it catches anyone who is looking at its info. garg has one in his sig too.