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billbenson
08-19-2008, 02:39 PM
As part of looking into using Linux as my main operating system, I looked for free antivirus software that works well. The one that came highly recommended by a webmaster / IT guy for a large University as well as a number of other good sources is Avast. FREE avast! antivirus 4.x Home Edition, anti-spyware & anti-rootkit for Windows (http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html)

One of my concerns was whether it would work with vista. My wife has a new laptop with vista. It came with a trial subscription of Norton that is going to expire soon. A lot of programs don't work with Vista. According to Avasts web site, it works with Vista. When the Norton trial expires, I'm going to try it a try. There is a lot of free stuff out there these days.

By the way, open office also apparently works with Vista. For those not familiar with it, open office is an open source equivalent to MicroSoft Office. It can save and open all MS Office files and apparently works quite well. I don't use it because I have MS Office.

vangogh
08-19-2008, 07:36 PM
Avast is what I always see recommended in free anti-virus software.

Evan
08-19-2008, 09:01 PM
Avast works well with Vista.

Business Attorney
08-20-2008, 01:18 AM
I use avast! on all my home computers that run XP Professional and was planning to run it on my Vista-powered laptop when my Norton subscription expires (in 27 days). If you load it, please let us know how it works in about 26 days.

orion_joel
08-20-2008, 02:03 AM
The free Anti-Virus that i use is AVG, it works with Vista well, and i have been using it for probably 2 or 3 years now. When i got my laptop the first thing i did was uninstall in the free trial Norton and put it on. I just find that Norton tends to lock things down to much sometimes.

Paul Elliott
08-20-2008, 03:11 PM
I've used the free version of AVG for 3 years without a single problem. I have WinXP Home as my OS.

Paul

Aaron Hats
08-20-2008, 05:12 PM
AVG is much better than Norton and not nearly the resource hog.

orion_joel
08-20-2008, 09:00 PM
The only time it hogs resources is if it is doing a full system scan and then the machine has a very noticeable performance hit. However, once you get it installed, and ensure you have resident application running with email checking, then you should have no problems and no need for a full scan after the first time.