Allotments 4 All

our new comp came with the above system on it for 90 day trial, any advice for a new one, we've one vote for a.v.g, any advice greatly appreciated  ;D

Perfect timing manicscousers, my Norton has just reached the end of it's life and when talking to my sister the other day (the computer expert in our family!) she said whatever you do don't pay for virus protection go with AVG
Apparentley she found out through Martin Lewis on Money saving expert ...
(Link to article)
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/free-anti-virus-software

Mine is due to at the end of month so I think I'll go be going for AVG. Keen to know what others think?

I have used AVG for years!  Its one of the best free anti virus softwares out there.

I would definatly recommend it.  Be aware to uninstall all of the Nortons stuff first though and turn on the XP/Windows firewall if you using the one with Nortons too.

grrrr...second attempt & I didn't copy the 1st...right then. My new PC had 90 days AVG installed - and they expect me to PAY after that? LOL No chance..I'll install free AVG. Have already installed Spybot.

I kept the DT article which recommended these (and which I've already got working well on my desktop PC) so I reckon we're all going the right way with this one.

Avira Antivir is really good free one.

I used AVG for years and never had any problem with it - in fact when I first loaded it onto my old computer, it picked up a trojan which (according to dates) Norton had been overlooking for a month.  I did find that AVG was starting to become a bit bloated so now use Avast.  It is just as good but (unlike what I was advised) is also just as bloated as AVG.  So either is my vote - both are better (and freeer) than Norton IMO.

avast is very good as is AVG, if you want firewalls try zonealarm,  also for spyware  try adaware and spybot both are free

thanks for your advice, just gotta wait for it to wear off now  ;D

to state the obvious .. it depends in part on how comfortable you feel installing and maintaining a range of security products (free or not) to give you anti-virus, firewall, spyware etc.

My daughter is fairly hopeless when it somes to things IT and it is much easier (accepting the cost) to do one install (Norton in her case) ... particularly as I have to act as her IT support person!!

You probably know this already but it is as important - if not more so - to ensure that you do Windows updates regularly (I am assuming that you have Windows) as many viruses exploit vulnerabilities in Windows. Microsoft fixes these problems quite quickly - hence the need to do regular updates.  Hackers presume (probably rightly) that the majority of people seldom bother to do the updates. There is reputedly a new(ish) virus which is difficult to detect that scans your system looking to see if you have any one of 13 known vulnerabilities so that it can get in.

we're on windows vista, on automatic updates, do we need to do anything?

No - that's fine. You are covered. You dont have to do anything.

Also, Vista, being new, there are significantly less vulnerabilities than in XP .. for the moment.

hmmm, I thought Microsoft had a reputation to release it full of bugs, and fix them as they crop up with people who have the software :D

From past experience :)

sorry .. I should have said less "known" vulnerabilities!