I'm looking for free virus protection....?

Question

We recently bought a new laptop and it came with Norton already installed on it, but in order to keep it we have to pay for it. Until We can afford to actually buy virus protection, I'm looking for something I can download for free. Something that will protect against spyware, adware, and hijackers in addition to viruses...Any suggestions?

I have already tried AVG, but for some reason it won't connect to the server to update. Does anyone know why?

Help, suggestions, and advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

AVG  recently had a problem updating but it's fixed now

I have used AVG Anti Virus, Zone Alarm Firewall, Spy-bot Search and Destroy and Ad Aware both spy ware killers for years. They are all free for personal use and I have had no trouble with Viruses Trojans Hackers etc. I have just upgraded to AVG free 8.0 and all seems good so far. Zone Alarm allows a lot of personal configuration unlike the Windows Firewall. They can all be downloaded from http://www.download.com/ I also use Windows Defender from the Microsoft site. It is safe to use two anti-spy products but never use more than one A/V as it can cause conflicts. You should run A/V and anti spy weekly. Hope this helps

Answer 2

Try a online virus scan here are some address to try Safety.Live.com...TrendMicro.com...get some protection Comodo.com is offering a complete security suite free and yes they can be trusted if you want to do it yourself I recommend Avira.com along with Safer-Networking.org(spybot search&destory) or SpywareBlaster from majorgeeks.com or Lavasoft.com...MalwareBytes.org is another good one to consider although the last two don't offer free protection some even recommend two anti-spyware scanners just to be on the safe side the other bit of advice i have to offer is external firewalls they hardwire to the machine with usb or firewire hook up now thats cutting edge tech.Remember paid is usually better than free however since Comodo.com kind offer that may not be the case anymore     just a little bit of extra information in case you need it later copy it and save it for future reference