CA Anti-Virus Software vs McAfee etc?

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 27 Jun 2007 5:46 am

Anyone familiar with CA (Computer Associates) Anti-Virus software? How it compares to McAfee or other popular brands? The guy at the store says it's better but I don't know whether to believe him... Anyway, they're offering it for $79* with an $80 mail-in rebate. The first year is free, then you pays as you goes, like the others. Opinions? Thx,
jc

* Well, I see it for sale online for just $49 bucks but if they're rebating the whole price, who cares what the sticker price is...

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 27 Jun 2007 6:05 am

That sounds high for Antivirus software or even a suite of programs.

I had the C.A. EZ Armor suite, that Roadrunner offered free to their subscribers. I used it for about 2 years but it tended to slowdown the computer with it's security monitoring and they used an outdated version of ZoneAlarm Pro for the firewall.

Avoid McAfee and Norton they are both "bloatware".

I'm now using the Microsoft Windows Live One Care and it's a relatively small package and doesn't seem to "slow down" the PC. It will work with XP or Vista. The 1 year price for that is about $33 or $39 and that's for up to 3 PC's. You can download a 90 day free trial version of this from Microsoft. I've got a couple of clients that have switched over to the One Care and they seem to be happy with it.

Bill Moore · Post by **Bill Moore** » 27 Jun 2007 6:12 pm

AVG It's free.

Richard Bass · Post by **Richard Bass** » 27 Jun 2007 9:21 pm

I also use the free AVG, have for several years, no problems at all, updates every day automatically.
Richard

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 28 Jun 2007 9:38 am

Jack, Norton has a large RAM usage. How is Microsoft Windows Live One Care in that respect?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 28 Jun 2007 11:25 am

Leryo, Here is a comment on OneCare posted by a user.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview ... erthread=y

The only reference I could identify for OneCare in the Task Manager for my Vista system shows 1,016K memory usage.

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 28 Jun 2007 12:22 pm

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 28 Jun 2007 8:08 pm

Jimbeaux,

As stated above - AVG. Daily updates, as soon as you boot up, and FREE.

Since I've been using AVG and about 5 other ANTI programs, including Windows Defender (also FREE), I have had NO problems at all.

I also use the FREE version of MAILWASHER. You click on MW first, before opening your email.

It's a screening program. You can actually read your email right there in Mailwasher and decide right then and now whether to allow that mail to go thru or not.

You have the option to either BOUNCE, DELETE, or BLACKLIST.

Check 'em out.

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 29 Jun 2007 5:20 am

I had Norton and switcher to AVG... it's great!!!!!!!!!

Will Holtz · Post by **Will Holtz** » 29 Jun 2007 5:51 am

Another happy AVG free user.

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 29 Jun 2007 7:32 am

Another long-time satisfied user of AVG Free.

Why pay? Besides, most of those commercial anti-virus programs are becoming huge, intrusive, and sometimes VERY difficult to totally uninstall, when that time arrives.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 29 Jun 2007 7:44 am

OK, I'm sold on AVG. Will try it when my new puter arrives. Thanks!

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 18 Jul 2007 8:35 pm

OK, I found the AVG website, but I sure don't see any 'free' version. There's a trial version but it looks like that runs out after awhile. Are you guys just using the free trial version over and over, or did they used to offer a free version and they wised up since then?

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 18 Jul 2007 9:26 pm

http://free.grisoft.com/

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 19 Jul 2007 2:57 am

Thanks!