Reliable anti-virus?

[Rath Darkblade]

I'm urgently trying to find a reliable anti-virus system. I'm currently using AVG 8, but it's been a real pain for the past year or so - and now it's trying to refer to the wrong online update control file (avginfoavi.ctf instead of avginfowin.ctf), so I think I've had enough. (I'm using Win2K and a dialup connection, btw).

Does anyone know of a good, free anti-virus system I could use instead? I've tried Symantec (which was, needless to say, a pain); I've also tried NOD32, which is good, but which only offers a 60-day trial version. At the moment I'm tossing up between Avira (which looks good, but which received conflicting antivirus-test reports, which is confusing) and Avast! (which also looks good, but which needs to be re-registered every year... and I'm not that eager to do that).

The other option I have is to uninstall and reinstall AVG, followed by re-downloading the updates. However, because of my dialup connection, that sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

Any ideas? *worried*

[the_doctor]

ive been using avast for about 16 months now. just went through re-registration, took just a couple minutes to get the new code in email and pop it in the client. easy. certainly worth the time for the year worth of coverage on my windows boxes.

[Rath Darkblade]

What does the registration involve for avast? *curious* I haven't had to register an anti-virus program - or, for that matter, an anti-spam program - but most programs have different registration systems, if at all. Some just require a name, others have asked me for my address and phone number too, whereas others still asked me for even more details - which is what I find rather annoying. *grimace*

[DeadPoolX]

A good free anti-virus is made by AVG. One Maia uses is called e-scan and there is a "free" version of it, but it's extremely limited. The only way to get full functionality is to pay for it.

[the_doctor]

What does the registration involve for avast? *curious* I haven't had to register an anti-virus program - or, for that matter, an anti-spam program - but most programs have different registration systems, if at all. Some just require a name, others have asked me for my address and phone number too, whereas others still asked me for even more details - which is what I find rather annoying. *grimace*

When you register for Avast, you sign up on their web site for an account (you do this anyway when you download it). They email you the code good for 1 year and you paste it into the box in the program. When it expires you go back to their site and click the link for a new code. Repeat the copy-paste. Easy, quick.

[Rath Darkblade]

Sounds good. I figured that the easiest way for me out of my dilemma is to re-download AVG and do an uninstall-and-clean-reinstall. Worked like a charm! *grin* But if it gives me any further problems, I'll probably give Avast a try. Thanks!