Is free virus protection worth the hassle?

The paid anti-virus software is going to be better in most cases. With most programs, the paid versions are going to be better. Most of the time with the free programs, they rely on donations to develop the software. This means they don't have as much funding to keep everything up to date. I use McAfee as well. I'm lucky though that I don't have to pay extra for it because it comes with my internet connection. ~Kythe42 http://lemurianphoenix.blogspot.com

im using avg free version and its doing a good job it updates everyday sometimes twice a day so my comp. is doing good, beside if ever i had a problem my stepson fix it quick coz he builds computers.

I just want to add up that there are also operating system that works fine or even more that windows that is free. LINUX. So I believe there are people who love to create program not just to have money but to have prestige in virtual community. If you will search for the top anti-virus that Mcaffee only ranked 6 http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ and now I will recommend a anti-virus which is almost identical to the top 2 in that list which is Kaspersky. This one is being given for free by AOL.com that is run under in Kaspersky engine. You can try it and you will be surprise that it might be better that what you are using right now. Here is the link: http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp?

If I am rich, I would take the option you are using. That is, to pay for the anti-virus software. Unfortunately, I am not lol. :P I have been using AVG free for YEARS and I have not got a single virus attack. But then again, I know how to protect my computer and I am half a geek. The free anti-virus has worked well for me and I see no reason to change it for now. :PP

Different security programs have different features. Kaspersky is one of few remaining that offers rescue disk creation, which is useful if your system files are damaged. Of course, it may do you just as well to do a repair install, or use a drive imaging program that you can use to backup and restore everything. Basically, what every home computer should have is antivirus and antispyware with automatic updates, scheduled scanning, and real-time monitoring (also POP3 scanning if you use an e-mail client, such as Outlook or Thunderbird); as well as a firewall with IPS (Intrusion Prevention Systems) to block known malicious protocols. These days, signature detection, and even most heuristics currently available will only take you so far. Most threats these days come in the form of drive-by exploits when you visit a site (legitimate or not) that happens to be infected. An increasing number of modern firewalls can detect and block anomalous protocols, which is a technique that offers greater proactive protection than signature detection. There are free products that do all these things. AOL Safety and Security Center is an all-in-one, which uses McAfee VirusScan, McAfee Personal Firewall Express, and CA PestPatrol antispyware. It does all of the things I mentioned, and is fully automated, requiring minimal user intervention. It's also a bit lighter on resources than your full version. :) Your friend is right. I'd suggest you install two things: McAfee SiteAdvisor to verify a site's legitimacy, and LinkScanner to verify safety. This would give you an idea just how many sites these days are infected, as well as help you to steer clear of them. Salute! -santuccie P.S.: Laughing at dumb jokes is still good for your health!!! AOL S&SC: http://daol.aol.com/safetycenter SiteAdvisor: http://www.siteadvisor.com/ LinkScanner: http://www.explabs.com/products/lslite.asp

hello friend i always use the free virus protection and update it, after a month or so i change that, but i avoid the 'free error cleaners', 'free scans', they always say 100+ virus were found, 80 could be cleaned, PURCHASE our product for removal What a headache bhuwan

I would go for the free version. There are good anti viruses such as Avast and AVG which can detect quite a considerable amount of viruses. If you upgrade and pay for the antivirus I think you ll receive better service but that does not mean that your computer is not going to get a virus. I think it all depends on which sites you browse and how much careful you are. If your browse warez it is very likely to end up with spyware on your computer.

I use AVG free edition and find it works fine. When I bought this new PC over a year ago they gave me Norton Anti Virus free for a year and I found it gave me lots of regular problems and seemed to slow down the PC, when the year was up they asked me to renew at a cost of about £50 so I decided to go back to using AVG free edition which I'd used for 4 years prior to getting this PC with no problems. It's been several months now and I've had no problems with it all, uninstalling Norton has actually made my PC work better! I work in IT and asked my very technical colleagues what they thought of AVG and they said it's a fully capable free bit of software and there's no reason to pay for anit-virus software if free software does the work just as well! x

I use AVG which is free and have never got a virus I've heard it's the best, I have to check for updates manually but that's no trouble. I use zone alarm firewall to that's free and automatically updates so it goes to show you can protect your computer for free.

I bought PC-cillin for my computer and l find that it works great. I have used the free on- line protection and a few times a virus had been undetected. So l would rather be safe then sorry. To me if your going to spend all that money on a nice computer, fast connection and what not, why not spend the extra money on a decent virus protection. The same applies to Spyware protection.