My daughter got a laptop with windows vista. it had mcafee on it and I took it off. I put AVG on it and her computer is locking up. I don't know if this is the AVG or not. Can anyone recommend a good antivirus? I also put on spybot and adaware. Is this good for windows vista.

AVG shouldn't cause her computer to lock up. There could be other problems. I run AVG and AVAST on my systems and they work well with Vista. Could be some driver issues that cause your system to freeze.
I think Avast is better than AVG. Do a search and see what appeals to you.
"PattiChati"

"PattiChati"

Your lockup is due to something else. I would not have spybot and ad-aware run in the background. Vista comes with Windows Defender for antispyware and it is quite good.

Richard in AZ wrote:

reccomendations for alternative AV products on my site (see link in my sig)
Top-Windows-Tutorials.com
FREE step by step guides, tutorials and advice for Windows users. All our video guides are full size and 100% advert free!

PattiChati;329555 Wrote:

Hi PattiChati,
Avast Home Edition is a good Free antivirus program. I never had a problem with it yet. You do need to register it, even though it's free. Here's the link:
'_avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html_' (avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html)
I can't remember specifics, but I read of some people having problems with Spybot. I would make sure the version you had was made for your version of Vista 32/64.
Hope this helps, Shawn
brink
"Practice makes perfect, then you reinstall" '_Vistax64.com_' (vistax64.com/Vistax64.com) Please post feedback to help others

What is the problem with McAfee? It works fine for me.
"PattiChati"

"PattiChati"

issue. It's possible the removal routine didn't get all of Mcafee off the system, you might want to check their website for complete removal procedures.
Also, if this is happening regularly, there are likely several references in the Event Viewer under Administrative Tools. Look for events that seem to coincide with the lockups as the information within the event may give a clue as to the source of the issue.
Michael Solomon Backup is a PC user's best friend DTS-L.Org: dts-l.org/

you might want to go to the mcafee web site and download the uninstaller. uninstall avg. run the mcafee uninstaller. install avg again . and see if it helps.

mikeyhsd comcast.net

"PattiChati" My daughter got a laptop with windows vista. it had mcafee on it and I took it off. I put AVG on it and her computer is locking up. I don't know if this is the AVG or not. Can anyone recommend a good antivirus? I also put on spybot and adaware. Is this good for windows vista.

Not sure what is causing your PC to lock up, unless McAfee's security centre is causing a possible glitch following your removal of it.
Take a look at the following link for a comprehensive comparison of different antivirus products...
av-comparatives.org/
When you get to the website, click on the 'comparatives' button on the left hand side. Then read the online results and report for February 2007 and May 2007.
It should give you a good idea of how the different products perform.
From experience of a range of different antivirus products I would probably agree with the test results which seem fair / balanced.
Mark
"PattiChati"

McAfee is just a "hair"better than Norton Antivirus which is a bloated, resource hog, which does more harm to your computer than good. It slows down your system, prevents programs from running, blocks internet sites (with the Internet tool on Norton), among other things.
Best thing to do is ditch McAfee and Norton and get Avast or AVG Free. Both have free versions, have small footprints, are effecient, and did I mention, Free?
Check them out and do some research. There is better out there.
"Arthur Bucione"

You advise uninstalling the pre-installed Norton and using only AVG (I have both on here now)? Maybe Norton is causing problems or using resources of which I am unaware? I have never been a fan of Norton, but, as I say, it came pre-installed with the new computer.

"Columbo"

Yes, by all means get rid of Norton. Norton will slow down your computer and if the Norton Internet Security product is installed, there are many issues with bringing up certain pages, all sort of stuff. Yes, get rid of it and check out either AVG FREE or AVAST (which is also free). You will be much happier.
Do a Google search on the above products and you will see.
Good luck.
"Ryka"

Both Norton and McAfee have been overloaded (over-bloated?) for quite some time. Neither one does any better than the free programs availible. I use the pre-installed for the initial trial period, while breaking a new computer, but I completely remove it and install freeware.
KB
"Ryka"

Richard in AZ wrote:

AdAware doesn't run in the background. You have to manually run it to scan for malware.

It is prudent to use several anti malware programs, not just one as some pick up what others don't. None are 100%. It is also prudent, if you think you're infected to run various on line anti virus programs along with your resident program.
To the OP. What did you do to uninstall McAfee and did this problem start *immediately* after you uninstalled MCafee and installed AVG?
Alias

I'm not too impressed with Defender. I loaded Adaware and it found 60+ pieces of spyware that defender didn't catch.
"Richard in AZ"

Running Norton AV 2007 here. It uses very little system resources.

"PattiChati"

More than likely, those "pieces of spyware" that Adaware found were nothing more than just harmless cookies.
-Michael
* Greg:

NOD32
eset.com

* PattiChati:

If you have two antivirus programs loaded in memory at the same time, many times it will cause problems. Having both installed is OK, but I would pick one or the other for real time protection and run the other ONLY when I wanted to scan suspicous files or behavior.
A Professional Amateur...If anyone knew it all, none of would be here! CarGodZeroOne hotmail.com Change Alpha to Numeric to reply "Ryka"

Look at this article for free av comparisons. wiki.castlecops.com/AntiVirus_Comparison
"Ryka" : You advise uninstalling the pre-installed Norton and using only AVG (I have : both on here now)? Maybe Norton is causing problems or using resources of : which I am unaware? I have never been a fan of Norton, but, as I say, it : came pre-installed with the new computer. : : : : : "Columbo" : : > McAfee is just a "hair"better than Norton Antivirus which is a bloated, : > resource hog, which does more harm to your computer than good. It slows : > down your system, prevents programs from running, blocks internet sites : > (with the Internet tool on Norton), among other things. : > : > Best thing to do is ditch McAfee and Norton and get Avast or AVG Free. : > Both have free versions, have small footprints, are effecient, and did I : > mention, Free? : > : > Check them out and do some research. There is better out there. : > : > : > "Arthur Bucione" : > : >> What is the problem with McAfee? It works fine for me. : >> : >> "PattiChati" : >> : >>> My daughter got a laptop with windows vista. it had mcafee on it and I : >>> took it off. I put AVG on it and her computer is locking up. I don't : >>> know if this is the AVG or not. : >>> Can anyone recommend a good antivirus? I also put on spybot and : >>> adaware. Is this good for windows vista. : >>> : >> : > :

Yeah. That's what they were. But when I had XP installed, I would never have that many spyware cookies.
"MICHAEL"

The o/s is not really responsible for placing cookies on the machine; the settings in the browser security options and where one surfs are the primary controls for web installed cookies.
Historically, and consistent even in XP...3rd party applications like Spybot and AdAware in Vista, find more supposedly suspect items than Windows Defender. If 3rd party or AV suite tools that look for similar is/are not in use on Vista, Windows Defender should be utilized. Many would suggest to continue with Defender in place and active and use the 3rd party tools in periodic manual mode.
Its also important to note that presence of a cookie(a text file) does not always indicate active phone home tracking spyware.
...winston
"Greg" : Yeah. That's what they were. But when I had XP installed, I would never have : that many spyware cookies. : : "MICHAEL" : : > More than likely, those "pieces of spyware" that Adaware found : > were nothing more than just harmless cookies.

"PattiChati"
Kind of old news now, but you didn't give brand some times what to do about a problem depends on models ect. On my Gateway I can return to a restore point befor the soft ware uninstalled. It already saved my day, so has AVG buy the way, I must have downloaded every peace of W98 freeware on every sight, it didn't always react the same, (different virus different triggers) but it always came back. Please post back and let us know how you came out, that way we all learn. >

bitdefender...best antivirus.vista compatible and it's made by softwin...merita tot

"PattiChati" wrote:

"PattiChati" wrote:

I too have AVG Antivirus and AVG Anti-Spyware, nither have caused any real issues. The only problem I had was when I logged off, or rebooted my PC, Vista "Blocked Some Programs From Running at Startup." Again, not an issue; Just run these anyway from the Defender menu that pops up in the task bar. Grisoft is working on a fix for this by getting complete certification for Vista from Microsoft for these products in the near future. Other than that, I would say you have made a good choice as I have had both of these products (AVG Antivirus and Anti-Spyware) for a little over a year and they have not done me wrong.
"PattiChati" wrote:

One major tip, never use Norton, MacAfee isn't that great either. If you want to pay for a program Kaspersky Internet Security and Nod32 are very good.
If you do not want to pay there are some really good free ones: Avast! and AVG are good for viruses. Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D are good for spyware and adware.
If you have something that you just can't get rid of, HijackThis is good. It will run a scan and then you paste the log file into a form at hijackthis.de, they will analyze your running processes and tell you if you have anything bad. The cool part is that it is like a one second scan.
"Columbo" wrote:

I use Norton Internet Security on all my PCs. I think it is the best product out there. However, be forwarned. If you have an older PC with 512 MB RAM or less and slower than 2GHz, Norton will seemingly want to take over your PC installing updates without asking. On my older PC, I turned off LiveUpdate and update it manually once a week. On my new PC, which has more than 2GB RAM and more than 2 cores, it is no problem at all. Also, you don't have to buy separate proucts. All you need is in Norton. Another thing, Norton also has a newer product, Norton 360, that is even better than Norton Internet security. For the best discount price (and I have looked), buy it on eBay from one of the several trusted vendors. I hope that helps.
"PattiChati" wrote:

Try using Kaspersky Antivirus. Very efficient, you would hardly notice it is running.
NOD32 is good, but I read that it can be too technical for an average user. I shied away from it myself.
"PattiChati" wrote:

Hi,
You can use avast antivirus. It is good, and does not slow down the system speed as compared to Norton and Mcafee.
"PattiChati" wrote:

I would suggest Norton Antivirus.
"PattiChati" wrote:

just use nod32 it works with vista has some very impressive features and i have not seen a speed decreas

Yes, Kaspersky Internet Security is one of the best if you are willing to pay, it is what I use. But if you want something free. Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D, and Avast! should cover you.
"home_user" wrote:

Norton is not very good.
1: It slows down your computer drastically. 2: I used to help people with computer issues and I still do, people are scared to turn off Norton's mail scanner to diagnose an issue because Norton uses scare tactics. It will say you are on protected and at risk of getting malware, when really, you don't need mail protect and having it off for a few seconds will not kill your computer. 3: Also, 9 out of 10 people who came to me with a malware issue were using Norton, true story. 4: My school uses Norton, I brought in Ad-Aware on a thumb drive and it found 10 things Norton did not.
Why I recommend Kaspersky.
1: It may hog a few system resources doing a full scan, but not as much as Norton, plus, it does background scans that seem to not take up any resources at all. These background scans include a mail scanner, a scanner to scan file you open, a scanner that scans new files, and a scanner that scans web pages you visit. 2: Kaspersky has one of the least annoying firewalls. 3: Kaspersky lets you edit its settings drastically so it fits your needs. 4: Kaspersky is as good of a scanner as Nod32, but easier to use.

"Christopher" wrote:

On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:11:00 -0700, Dr. Klienmahn

To those (and AVG as an alternative to Avast) I'd add as options: - AVG Antispyware (formally Ewido, ?best-of-breed) - A-Sqaured antimalware - Spyware Blaster
Spyware Blaster is not a scanner like the others; instead, it applies passive protection by placing known-baddies in Restricted Zone, blocking them as cookies, etc.
So there's no runtime overhead, unlike a resident scanner, and it doesn't conflict with scanners. It is best updated now and then, so that it can block newly-discovered baddies.

I use the Trend Micro Internet Security Suite 2007 and have had zero problems with it. I had NAV 2007 (I actually still have a subscription) but it was a dog from a performance standpoint. The Trend Micro software doesn't seem to bog things down at all and I have had it catch several little malware gizmos that tried to take up residence in my PC. Of course, its not free, but the best I can tell, it works great. They also allow you to install it 3 times legally. Of course, that is for multiple PC's in the home. My PC has Vista Ultimate installed, my kids' has XP home and my laptop has XP home (and is very old and slower than a snail), but the Trend product seems to work fine on it also.
Hope this helps, Benny
"PattiChati" wrote:

"PattiChati" wrote:

I currnetly use System Mechanic 7 Pro. on my vista. The computer does does show that i have a ant-virus softare or a fire wall, which does come with it, but avast is supposed to offer a free antivirus softaware that is recommend by a couple of Vista book + Hacking Windows Vista, which is a life saver. I had Hacking Windows XP,when i still had that comp. and it brought that old piece of junk from the brink of death,now I'm giving it to 12 yr old daughter for her starter comp. Just because Windows doesn't list it for the computer to register it, doesn't mean mean it wont work. The antivirus software in Systen Mechanic 7 Pro. is worth everypenny though. It caught a virus in the MBT(think i spelled that correctly)that Norten did not catch(i had the 30 day free trial,I just bought a dell that came with the dual core ,blah blah,blah) and it fixed a few problems that had already occured even htough it wasn't effecting the computer. I paid $50 dollars for it at walmart on 3,07 to get replace avg. Nothing wrong with it,but it doesn't delete the virus it will quarentine it.Leaving it to you to find it and delete it. But if you don't want to pay the new 4* program is avast.
"brink" wrote:

you might find that AVG is just as good and uses minimum system resources compared to others. recently switched from avast FREE to avg FREE and was amazed at the difference in system perfo