Last year I bought that McAfee protection thingy for about 20 quid.I thought once you had shelled out for one of these then that was it.
Now im getting messages off them saying my 12 months have run out and its going to be another 40 odd quid!
They can nob off as far as im concerned.Can anybody recommend what I should get now,preferably something that costs nowt.
I know Steve Roebuck recommended something the other year that I used but ive forgotten what it was.Im no expert with computers as im sure you all know so any advice would be very welcome.

P.S. I dont look at mucky stuff either so it hasnt got to be a sooper dooper anti virus thingy!!

This one is quite good AVG free anti virus free.avg.com/

This one is quite good AVG free anti virus free.avg.com/

Karlos i use comodo anti virus which is a free anti virus programme, and never had any problems. when you first install it keeps asking your permission but once it knows you allow programmes it stops asking, i have used it for two years. antivirus.comodo.com/ also has other free software on the site.

Karlos i use comodo anti virus which is a free anti virus programme, and never had any problems. when you first install it keeps asking your permission but once it knows you allow programmes it stops asking, i have used it for two years. antivirus.comodo.com/ also has other free software on the site.

anyone who uses virgin media, can download PCGuard from the virgin website and this is free of charge. I also recommend downloading and usng SPYBOT on a regular basis, as this has always found more spyware than any of the other protections i use inc norton. The current issue (205 15 Jan2009) of Webuser has a prevent pc errors section, with links to free software to sort your pc out. According to the article the two best antivirus tools are free.avg.com or www.avast.com. For spybot goto www.safer-networking.org andto protect against malware (although this latter one seemed to slow down my pc, so u need plenty of memory) is www.malwarebytes.org and if u need to fix your registry use registry-cleaner.comodo.com hope this helps m8, might be worthing getting the latest webuser incase of problems in the future.

anyone who uses virgin media, can download PCGuard from the virgin website and this is free of charge. I also recommend downloading and usng SPYBOT on a regular basis, as this has always found more spyware than any of the other protections i use inc norton. The current issue (205 15 Jan2009) of Webuser has a prevent pc errors section, with links to free software to sort your pc out. According to the article the two best antivirus tools are free.avg.com or www.avast.com. For spybot goto www.safer-networking.org andto protect against malware (although this latter one seemed to slow down my pc, so u need plenty of memory) is www.malwarebytes.org and if u need to fix your registry use registry-cleaner.comodo.com hope this helps m8, might be worthing getting the latest webuser incase of problems in the future.

Some advice from the pro's now



AVG is the computing equivalent of the chocolate fireguard, it stops windows moaning about not having any Antivirus but thats about it.

Also within the current version of AVG it has a nasty habit of redirecting all your web traffic through AVG, and while you said you do nothing dodgy, this can have a detrimental effect on your browsing speed.

So free options you can look at for AV protection are [url=http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.htmlAvast[/url as someone already mention is good, but can be a little resource hungry on your PC.

A better option would be [url=http://www.free-av.com/en/download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.htmlAvira[/url. This rates very highly in most virus protection reviews and outperforms most paid for products, its my personal choice of AV.

Spybot as suggested by Rob is excellent for keeping all the nasties that aint viruses away.

If you are using router you have no need for a firewall on your desktop PC, tho if you are using an ADSL USB modem, or one of those Mobile Broadband dongle things then you will need a firewall.

If anyone wants anymore PC advice just ask

I am using both AVG and Commodo. If i had to choose i would go for AVG which seems to be the easier to get on with. Either though would do a good job.

You lying get

Running 2 anti virus products is counter productive and is more than likely crippling the performance of you machine, its trying to work with both hands tied behind its back. AV works by scanning every file that is opened to check if it is infected, your computer is doing the same job twice, this as mentioned can cause performance issues, but can also produce "false positive" basically you AV software thinking the activity of the other AV software is a virus.

You only need one AV product and as previously stated AVG is the chocolate fireguard of anti virus.

Of course if you wanting to look at paid anti virus you cannot do any better then Eset NOD32 (daft name I know).

Strange that as a techy mate of mine (who used to work for Microsoft testing programs etc) swears by AVG and Ive never had any problems with it.
I get conflicting advice from all over the place, the IT Techs at work say something completely different!

Well I am a Microsoft Certified Professional & Microsoft Certified Trainer and I do manage a Cisco Networking Academy and a Microsoft Academy

Why is not important to run a firewall if you have a router. I know my router has a so called inbuilt firewall, but my pc firewall still blocks a hell of a lot of traffic when i look at reports.

I use virgin cable which is obviously not ADSL. Are you saying that with my netgear router i dont need a firewall running?

Not denying your obvious knowledge Steve, just putting my own experiences of said problems forward.

Thanks for all your help lads.

Whats a router? Is it that box that plugs into the phone socket? Im with sky broadband with a square netgear box.Does that mean I still need that firewall?

I would if I could get away with it.Thing is im as thick as pig when it comes to computers so I cant cover my tracks.Its also the missis's laptop so if theres any filth on it its her to blame!

A router enables you to connect more than 1 pc to your broadband, also can let you connect consoles, or even wifi enabled mobiles/smartphones. So itsa extra piece of equipment which goes between the wall connection and your modem.

Think steve will be able to give you a better explanation though!

Cheers Rob.

Ignore what I said about Web user, I subscribe to it, and the new issue came out today....

Now you're in my domain , a Router is a woodworking machine, it has many uses and can be a very profitable piece of equipment if used correctly LMFAO !!!!!!!!!!!

www.webuser.co.uk/specials/275380.html a useful list of free software recommended by webuser. Just used the video converter!

www.webuser.co.uk/specials/275380.html a useful list of free software recommended by webuser. Just used the video converter!

Good call.

Oh my were entering the dark waters of IP addressing, be warned all who enter here.

Yes Karlos the white sky negear thingymabob is a router

and its pronounced Rooter, unless your American



Right if you are behind a router the only thing publically visable to the outside world is the router interface that connects to the internet. This gains what is refered to as a public IP address which is provided by your ISP. Dependant on your ISP this IP can change (its not a problem) or it can be static.

All your computers, consoles, smartphones or any other devices are on a private network behind your router. These are assigned IP addresses on what are called private address ranges, as part of the TCP/IP protocol these addresses are not passed to the internet and are purely used by devices which are internal to your network.

Just to scare you all, if you were to find out your computers IP address by going to the start menu on your pc, choosing run, entering CMD, then and the black screen of doom type ipconfig I would lay money that the majority of you have the IP address of either:

192.168.1.2 or 192.168.0.2 with subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and a default gate wat of either 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1.

To prove that point heres mine

Im very confident in posting it here that im safe and no one can attack me


[url=http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capturezq5.jpg[/url
These are private IP addresses we can all have the same one, I do



So back on topic of computer protection now, a router will not by default allow any unsolicated traffic into a network that did not originate within it. It acts like the most surley nightclub bouncer...your names not down your not coming in. But if you have the magic stamp on the back of your hand you can come in.

Worse case scenario is that a hacker can see your router, if you've changed the default password to access it, or its arealdy a secure one or the abilty to access it from the web has been disabled (it is by default on most routers) there is very little they can do with it to gain access to your computers inside your network

The only way something can get into your network with a router is if you invite it in.

Switched to Avira yesterday after reading this thread. Very impressed.

Cheers Steve

Thanks Steve, very useful information.