[Jeff]

I am a longtime user of AVG free edition. After seeing the evaluations on
http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2005_02.php
I decided to download, install, and try the free version of BitDefender
because it had a higher detection rate.

But, I notice that Virus Shield their component for "Real time scanning" (or
"On access scanning") is disabled in the Free Edition. It seems to me that
this is a serious negative in comparison to AVG where it is available in the
free edition. Maybe I should go back to AVG or another free AV.

Am I right?

--

Jeff Stevens
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
jeff@stevens.com

[Galen]

In news:%23kkqeP%23aFHA.3016@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl,
Jeff <jeff@phony.com> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

> I am a longtime user of AVG free edition. After seeing the
> evaluations on
> http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2005_02.php I decided to
> download, install, and try the free version of
> BitDefender because it had a higher detection rate.
>
> But, I notice that Virus Shield their component for "Real time
> scanning" (or "On access scanning") is disabled in the Free Edition.
> It seems to me that this is a serious negative in comparison to AVG
> where it is available in the free edition. Maybe I should go back to
> AVG or another free AV.
> Am I right?

Real time protection is a very key part of AV. Not having real time
protection means that you'd be required to actually scan all items before
they are opened. Beyond that various sites can deliver unwanted packages as
well with the security settings of IE as they are. One of the free AV
solutions is viable provided it has real-time scanning in most cases. For
protection/security I'm not sure I'd want second best if the first is
affordable. The greatest threats these days seem to be blended threats such
as a trojan that acts like a virus as well. Combined with a real-time
anti-spyware application you should be in good shape.

The site is not going to open here right now, I have no idea why not.
Perhaps they are down?

Was this rated?

FREE avast! 4 Home Edition:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

I've seen people saying that it was a decent application and had done them
well.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

[Jeff]

My reply is at the bottom (see, I am learning!).

Galen wrote:
> In news:%23kkqeP%23aFHA.3016@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl,
> Jeff <jeff@phony.com> had this to say:
>
> My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
>
>> I am a longtime user of AVG free edition. After seeing the
>> evaluations on
>> http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2005_02.php I
>> decided to download, install, and try the free version of
>> BitDefender because it had a higher detection rate.
>>
>> But, I notice that Virus Shield their component for "Real time
>> scanning" (or "On access scanning") is disabled in the Free Edition.
>> It seems to me that this is a serious negative in comparison to AVG
>> where it is available in the free edition. Maybe I should go back to
>> AVG or another free AV.
>> Am I right?
>
> Real time protection is a very key part of AV. Not having real time
> protection means that you'd be required to actually scan all items
> before they are opened. Beyond that various sites can deliver
> unwanted packages as well with the security settings of IE as they
> are. One of the free AV solutions is viable provided it has real-time
> scanning in most cases. For protection/security I'm not sure I'd want
> second best if the first is affordable. The greatest threats these
> days seem to be blended threats such as a trojan that acts like a
> virus as well. Combined with a real-time anti-spyware application you
> should be in good shape.
> The site is not going to open here right now, I have no idea why not.
> Perhaps they are down?
>
> Was this rated?
>
> FREE avast! 4 Home Edition:
> http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
>
> I've seen people saying that it was a decent application and had done
> them well.
>
> Galen
..................

> Real time protection is a very key part of AV. Not having real time

That is what I thought. It was not cear that they had disabled it in the
"free" version until I had installed it. I ran a full scan with it once it
was installed and it found nothing, so my AVG was doing a good job.

Their website is at
http://www.bitdefender.us/bd/site/downloads.php?menu_id=21

The http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2005_02.php
site rated them very highly (94.02% - one of the top 2-3) which is why I
decided to try them. I had never heard of them previously. Obviously the
rating is for the paid version. I suspected that might be the case which is
why I had asked the question about if they used similar engines. I never
thought they would actually disable a crucial part of the protection.

Actually, I am pretty well protected and use uptodate versions of Zone
Alarm, Ad-Aware, SpybotSpybot, Spyware Blaster and - until now - AVG. I
might try the free version of AVAST next. If it is not satisfactory, I might
just go back to AVG which has worked wel for me.

--

Jeff Stevens
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
jeff@stevens.com