Hi,
I installed Vista and I was wondering what kind of anti-virus software I need to install. What's the best over all, and if there's anything free?

Sorry for the basic question.. I'm a happy Mac user so I'm new to Windows and AV.

Well, right now, I'm not using any anti-virus, but from past experience, Norton has some pretty good anti-virus apps, though I haven't treid then om Vista (I plan to get it soon). CA is one that you should stay away from, it caused problems for me and slowed down my computer a lot. ESET NOD32 ( http://www.eset.com/ ) is pretty good, it didn't slow down my computer, and seemed good. Windows OneCare has gotten bad reviews,mm but I haven't tried it yet.

So, for now, I reccomend ESET for now, but I'll tell you how the others are on vista (Symantec and OneCare).

Cheers,
Matt

btw, I was just wondering, comming from the mac, what do you think about Windows Vista?

AVG Free is the best. :D :P

Thanks for the help. I'll check out ESET and AVG. :)

I actually have Windows installed on my MacBook Pro. The install was great; BootCamp made a partition for me and the Vista installer is nearly as slick as the OS X version. It only took about 40 minutes to have it up and running. I can use OS X or Windows whenever I want.

I never really used XP, but it looked a bit like a child's toy or something. Vista looks a lot better, a big improvement. The other Macs in the house recognized it right away and networking wasn't a problem at all. Vista has a really cool media center. The Flip 3D thing is sort of neat and I like the preview that comes up when you however a window on the taskbar. I've been using Dashboard on my Mac for years, but the Windows Sidebar thing is cool. I like how it loads right on the desktop. The search is also pretty good. I've been Spotlight on OS X for a long time, and its nice to Windows can search the same way too.

Overall I'd say its a pretty solid OS except for a few things. I need to use a screen magnifier sometimes. The OS X version is instant and quite intuitive, but Windows Vista's lags a bit and has an odd placement on the screen. It also wasn't installed by default so I had to find it on the system disc.

I also installed Vista on a PC that used to run Linux. It has a lot of these blue screen things. I haven't seen any on my MBP yet though.

I guess my biggest gripe about it is that I have to get AV software. It seems kind of funny that a company can't keep its own software secure and actually recommends its customers purchase anti-virus software. Especially when they provide their own for sale. If OneCare makes the system more secure shouldn't they just include it?

Windows Vista is a cool OS, but I couldn't see using it for all my computing tasks.

You can try Kaspersky 7.0 it's a very good Anti-Virus software also....(i'm using it!) I switched to this Anti-Virus because of good reviews at it was recommended to have it like NOD32 and Norton....
Well if you want free Anti-Virus try AVG Free 7.5, it's a good Anti-Virus software and I have it before(yet mine is licensed software) but for me I recommend Kaspersky 7.0 because it doesn't slow down your computer also, Automatic updates not just daily,Startup scan, and more... ;)
Hope this helps :)

um can I ask what OS X version you are using btw....Leopard??Tiger???

I remember hearing good things about Kaspersky too. I'll take a look. When the AV software scans does it slow down your computer? How often does it have to scan?

I use Leopard and Tiger (we have several Macs).

Im using Win Xp pro with NOD32 from ESET. its a very good antivirus why dont you try that ? but i dont know if its working with vista. Panda also is very good but it slows the PC very much down.

Well Anti-Virus might slow computer when scans depending what level setting and computer specification.....for me I recommend to not to use your computer while scanning for performance reasons,
Depending what do you want when to scan, for me at least a once week, or much better as often as possible...yet Anti-Virus automatically detects virus like opening suspicious files...

btw you can try other recommended Anti-Virus if your not contended to it like NOD32,Norton,BitDefender.... ;)

Good Luck!

This post was last modified: 01-13-2008 11:18 PM by ArchTech.

I always let my pc scan on sunday night before i go to sleep when im doing nothing on my pc

I'm now running Windows One Care on my desktop, and AVG Free on my laptop. They both seem pretty good, with AVG's advantage being that it's free, and Windows OneCare that it has a very good UI and does more than just AV (like backups and tune ups for example).

They both seem good at removing viruses as well, and neither seems to slow down my computer, even while scanning (I'm running a scan on my laptop with AVG as I'm typing this).

So basically, it depends on if you want free and a less polished interface, or to pay to get extras and a nice interface.