free antivirus

[burymecloser]

I've been using Avast for years, and it's taken good care of me, but the upgrade to Avast 6.0 killed my computer. I re-installed Windows (XP), and 6.0 killed it again, so I think Avast is out until the day I get a new OS.

XP doesn't support AVG 9, so I'm looking for a new AV. Right now I'm running the free version of Malwarebytes, but that's obviously not sufficient by itself. Any recommendations for a good free antivirus program?

 

[Patches]

I've always used AVG and never had a problem. And one of my computers is XP. It's running version 10 right now without a problem.

 

[burymecloser]

Maybe it's just the free version that's not supported?

I would love to be wrong about this.

 

[Patches]

I use the free version.

 

[Rail Tracer]

I've always used AVG and never had a problem. And one of my computers is XP. It's running version 10 right now without a problem.

Ohhhhhh, you obviously didn't happen to come by a time that they wrecked my computer to the point that it wasn't booting correctly (It kept rebooting and rebooting [I had to look up how to fix it on my laptop because of it.])

But yes, I had no problems with AVG... other than that little snag. Better than most other free antiviruses out there anyhow.

 

[burymecloser]

Eh, it won't even let me run the installer: avg_free_stb_all_2011_1382_cnet.exe -- says AVG 2011 is not compatible with my OS.

 

[Patches]

What version of XP are you running? Home/Professional? 32/64 bit?

SP1? SP2?

 

[burymecloser]

What version of XP are you running? Home/Professional? 32/64 bit?

Home. And I think AVG thinks I'm running Windows 2000. XP is definitely supposed to be supported.

 

[Patches]

Supposedly it's not compatible with Windows Service Pack 1 for XP. Is it possible that you have not upgraded to Service pack 2 or 3?

Right click My Computer. Select Properties. There should be a section that says "System" with your version and service pack number.

 

[burymecloser]

Yeah, it is service pack 1.

 

[Patches]

Yeah, it is service pack 1.

That's your problem then. If I were you, I would upgrade the service pack and then install AVG. *takes off Tech Support hat*

 

[JocktheMotie]

Microsoft Security Essentials is very good and actually pretty highly rated among free and even paid antivirus. /inb4zomgMSsuxorz

Also, XP is up to service pack 3 now. A lot of stuff won't work without you upgrading to that in the first place.

 

[Icarus]

I actually had a similar problem. At one point, I attempted to upgrade Avast and it must have messed with some network settings because it wouldn't let me back online. I did a system restore and then uninstalled it. Comodo Antivirus is quite good and I've heard good things about Microsoft Security Essentials as well. In my opinion, AVG used to be the top AV several years ago but they've slipped in the ratings recently.

 

[rav3n]

If you're using any of the free third party firewalls, there's likely conflict with Avast 6.0.