need an anti-virus

**IsaacTheHungry** · 2013-12-29, 09:00 PM (ISO 8601)

I currently have McAfee (yes, yes, bla, bla, poor choice, but I have my reasons) and am looking for anti virus and anti spyware programs. I am not looking for long term, just a few scans and then I will take it off.

and free please

any suggestions???

**Rain Dragon** · 2013-12-29, 09:23 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by IsaacTheHungry

I currently have McAfee (yes, yes, bla, bla, poor choice, but I have my reasons) and am looking for anti virus and anti spyware programs. I am not looking for long term, just a few scans and then I will take it off.

and free please

any suggestions???

If you only really need it for a few scans, maybe Trend Micro's Housecall?

**Don Julio Anejo** · 2013-12-29, 11:17 PM (ISO 8601)

Yarr, avast!, mateys!

Really, the only but absolutely amazing choice when it comes to free antiviruses. There are also Avira (doesn't seem to have quite the same base/support) and AVG (became bloated over the last few years).

Though by now most suites offer a free version by now, except the too-established ones like Norton or Kaspersky.

**Flickerdart** · 2013-12-30, 03:25 AM (ISO 8601)

I use Avast, and can vouch for it, but it's not the most bulletproof thing out there. I've had some nasties that it couldn't handle, and that NOD32 pounded into the dust. There's a free trial on the download page, but I think it's only 30 days or something.

**Beige Dragon** · 2013-12-30, 04:36 AM (ISO 8601)

I'd recommend AVAST. I'm not sure how good it is at spotting viruses already on your computer, but I do know that its protected me from malicious downloads time and time again.

**Don Julio Anejo** · 2013-12-30, 07:21 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Flickerdart

I use Avast, and can vouch for it, but it's not the most bulletproof thing out there. I've had some nasties that it couldn't handle, and that NOD32 pounded into the dust. There's a free trial on the download page, but I think it's only 30 days or something.

Generally, they've all got slightly different algorithms, so something that's completely ignored by one AV might be detected by another, and vice versa. NOD32 is really good though and is a de-facto corporate standard in a lot of places.

**EmeraldRose** · 2013-12-30, 01:34 PM (ISO 8601)

We've been using AVG lately. I admit to being very annoyed when it constantly wants us to purchase additional "protection" like firewall stuff and extra internet monitoring.

And when it pops up and kicks me out of my games.

**Brother Oni** · 2013-12-30, 01:55 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by EmeraldRose

And when it pops up and kicks me out of my games.

There should be a Gaming/Silent Mode or something similarly named in the settings or options that prevent it doing that with full screen games.

If you play your games windowed, then it shouldn't kick you out.

**EmeraldRose** · 2013-12-30, 02:13 PM (ISO 8601)

I will look at the settings. I'm generally just playing Skyrim through SKSE from Steam.

**noparlpf** · 2014-01-01, 03:47 PM (ISO 8601)

Microsoft Security Essentials has worked fine for me for a while.

**Astral Avenger** · 2014-01-01, 03:59 PM (ISO 8601)

Obligatory that someone mentions this too.

**SowZ** · 2014-01-03, 02:11 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Don Julio Anejo

Yarr, avast!, mateys!

Really, the only but absolutely amazing choice when it comes to free antiviruses. There are also Avira (doesn't seem to have quite the same base/support) and AVG (became bloated over the last few years).

Though by now most suites offer a free version by now, except the too-established ones like Norton or Kaspersky.

Seconded. There are a few obscure bugs Avast will miss, but do a full manual scan and you should be good to go.

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