Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09
6:27 -0500, doncee
> <nopsamdbc9814@nospamswbell.wanted> wrote:
>
>
>> Need to rid myself of NAV on my XP machine. Installed latest version in
>> April & have had numerous boot up & other errors ever since. Am thinking
>> of Avast or AVG as a replacement along w\ Spybot. Any pro's or con's on
>> these or on some others that should look in to. Thanks in advance
>>
>
>
> Getting rid of NAV is an excellent thing to do.
>
> Avast is a good choice, and a much better one than AVG. Here's my
> standard post on the subject:
>
> For an anti-virus program, I recommend eSet NOD32, if you are willing
> to pay for it. If you want a free anti-virus, I recommend one of the
> following three:
>
> Avira
> Avast
> Microsoft Security Essentials
>
> You also need anti-spyware software. I recommend that you download and
> install (both freeware) MalwareBytes AntiMalware *and*
> SuperAntiSpyware.
>
Ken,
I too recommended eSet for years. However, there is an important problem
with all versions beyond 2.7. Put simply, there is no good way to
schedule scans at off hours if your computer suspends itself when idle.
For example, my computer initiates a full scan at 4:00AM every morning.
The scan is described by a BAT file and the MS scheduler quits the
suspend and runs that BAT. When the scan is finished the log is kept
with the logs of scans initiated by the eSet scheduler or started
manually. The 2.7 scheduler will not break a suspend and later versions
provide no advertised BAT interface. All versions offers to run a missed
scheduled scan as soon as possible. That means the next time I use my
computer (and wake it up) I will have a background scan running. That is
not acceptable to me since I often use CPU- and memory-intensive
applications - that is why I schedule scans for off hours.
I've contacted NOD32 directly and inquired in the user forums about the
problem. For some reason the problem has not and will not be fixed. No
reasons or guesses why have been offered. Since 2.7 is no longer
current, I have decided to switch our computers next time I need to do
yearly renewal of virus definitions. I like the product but they have
elected to not be compatible with modern architectures that features
energy management. The only ways I can use later versions are to 1)
schedule scans while I'm on the computer or 2) not use suspend when
idle. The former reduces productivity and the latter costs a few hundred
dollars a year.
This is not meant as an attack on you main recommendation, I too like
eSet. It's just that my usage model and that product are not compatible
and I think many other people have the same problem; many of them don't
know it.
--
Jeff Barnett
