4 replies to this topic

[Icedrake]

I have McAfee Virus-Scan Console right now and once the subscription runs out, I need another free live-scanning anti-virus programs. By live scanning I mean it keeps scanning your computer while you work in the background so it finds viruses right after it enters your computer.

[Anthony A]

Icedrake, on Apr 30 2008, 08:07 PM, said:

I have McAfee Virus-Scan Console right now and once the subscription runs out, I need another free live-scanning anti-virus programs. By live scanning I mean it keeps scanning your computer while you work in the background so it finds viruses right after it enters your computer.

Avast Free, AVG Free, Avira AntiVir Free. These have been discussed here 7 million times

[Icedrake]

Oh they do that? I always thought that you had to schedule them to scan sometime and that they wouldn't scan in the background.

[Andavari]

Icedrake, on Apr 30 2008, 07:11 PM, said:

I always thought that you had to schedule them to scan sometime and that they wouldn't scan in the background.

To do an on-demand scan you can schedule AVG and AntiVir to automatically scan for viruses daily, and they'll automatically take care of your system with nearly no user interaction whatsoever (except for their ad windows). However the free version of Avast doesn't include that ability to automatically schedule scans, therefore you have to initiate the scan manually.

"Scan in background" whatever you mean by that I don't really know, however; the resident shield (aka "real-time protection," "guard") of any run-of-the-mill antivirus software that's installed is always scanning files you're accessing, including web pages for malware, and some can be configured to scan the files on close too.

Note that you still need to periodically scan all infectable files, or all files on your hard disk and other media. Many antivirus software(s) automatically scan the whole system either everyday, or once per week. As detailed above both AVG and AntiVir do this automatically on their own if scheduling is enabled.

[Icedrake]

Ok thanks Andavari! I've just switched to Avast! and I'm liking it a whole lot so far.