Recommended Antivirus Software

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Antivirus software has been essential for several years and the programs are mature and quite effective. Any antivirus will protect you from most viruses, worms, and trojans. None will protect you from all, so there is not a perfect solution. Our main recommendation is that you have an antivirus program. Which one you have is a matter of personal preference.

We have used the current versions of McAfee, Norton, and TrendMicro and they are all effective. We find the marketing tactics of Norton annoying, but the software is very good. Any of these three will get the job done. To their credit, all of these companies give away virus/worm removal tools when a particularly ugly threat is on the loose. No need to have their software, just download the removal tools. This is not a replacement for having real-time protection, but is helpful if you are infected.

We are going to stray from the big commercial programs here. There are alternatives that are almost as good as the big boys, but free with no nagging to buy another year of updates.

AVG Antivirus. There is a free version for home use that is a surprisingly refined product. It has everything you need including automatic updates, memory-resident scanning, and scheduled file scanning. All this for free. If your tired of endless subscription costs from the big boys, get AVG Antivirus Free Version. US Netizen Recommended Version 8 released may 2008.

HouseCall. HouseCall is a free online virus scanner from Trend Micro. If you suspect you have a virus and can't update your antivirus definitions, go to HouseCall and scan for free. US Netizen Recommended

Microsoft Malicious Program Removal Tool Available as a free download or automatically executed when you run Windows Update.  Very small and effective. Free to licensed Windows 2000 and XP users. Download here.

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