[flyman]

Hi Everyone,

Being new to the Windows environment I just wondered if anyone can offer any advise on how I should protect Windows in Bootcamp.
As I was walking around PC World today I saw software from Norton, McAfee and Kaspersky. Is there any here that are recommended or should I look at something else?

[bobbob]

You should be OK with autoupdate turned on, but AVG antivirus is free and much better than Norton or McAfee which both suck.

[Hansi]

bobbob, on March 24th 2008, 09:03 PM, said:

You should be OK with autoupdate turned on, but AVG antivirus is free and much better than Norton or McAfee which both suck.

Yeah, I use AVG haven't had any issues yet.

[flyman]

bobbob, on March 24th 2008, 02:03 PM, said:

You should be OK with autoupdate turned on, but AVG antivirus is free and much better than Norton or McAfee which both suck.

Hi bobbob,

Quote

You should be OK with autoupdate turned on

Sorry I don't get this bit so could you explain please?

As for AVG I'll take a look.
Please note my new Mac doesn't arrive until next weekend so I cant get under the hood yet!




Just had a look at AVG 8 Internet Security and on the website its for sale at £39.99 - I thought it was free or is just the Anti Virus bit?

[Quicksilver]

I never use any sort of virus protection, and generally run without a firewall. While that sounds insane, if you're just using your Windows partition for gaming and know what you're doing (to start, don't use Outlook or IE and don't browse to sites you don't recognize), then you should be fine.

It's really too bad that I can't distribute my slipstreamed copy of Windows XP SP3 without running afoul of Microsoft. It might save novice users some time installing updates, removing crap, and optimizing.

[flyman]

Quicksilver, on March 24th 2008, 02:16 PM, said:

I never use any sort of virus protection, and generally run without a firewall. While that sounds insane, if you're just using your Windows partition for gaming and know what you're doing (to start, don't use Outlook or IE and don't browse to sites you don't recognize), then you should be fine.

It's really too bad that I can't distribute my slipstreamed copy of Windows XP SP3 without running afoul of Microsoft. It might save novice users some time installing updates, removing crap, and optimizing.

Is the XP SP3 much of an improvement on SP2 and is it supported ok in Bootcamp?

[No One]

flyman, on March 24th 2008, 02:15 PM, said:

Just had a look at AVG 8 Internet Security and on the website its for sale at £39.99 - I thought it was free or is just the Anti Virus bit?

The link for the free version of AVG is a bit buried. You should be able to download here.

By the way, I use the free version of AVG myself. I don't mind it auto updating, but I hate that it insists on dragging itself to the front and minimizing whatever game I'm in when it does it. Anyone know a way to get it to auto update silently?

[Quicksilver]

flyman, on March 24th 2008, 04:35 PM, said:

Is the XP SP3 much of an improvement on SP2 and is it supported ok in Bootcamp?

You should read up a bit on SP3. It's essentially the 100-odd updates that you have to download after installing XP SP2, compiled into one big update. Of course, it's a simplification, but what I said is mostly right.

[AussieMacGamer]

I use AVG, coupled with never going on any crap sites.

[flyman]

Thanks for the info everyone, much appreciated.

[Huntn]

I like System Suite 8, includes a variety of anti-virus, spyware, malware protection, and a variety of system repair and registry repair utilities.

[Silver Samurai]

I use McAffee since we get it here for free at school. (UofGuelph) No issues at all with it.
Although Kapersky is also an option if it's free but I have no experience with it.
I use to not have anti-virus back when I had a PC but I did nothing besides web surfing and didn't really download all that much.
Whatever you do stay away from Norton!!!! IT'S HORRIBLE!!!!

[QuantaCat]

I used to work at a software shop, and whenever someone asked us for antivirus protection, we always recommended kaspersky and SAD 32 or whatever it's called. SOD? SOV?


and for windows cleaning duty, I like norton utilities, called Systemworks nowadays. (yes, their antivirus is horrible, but I quite liked the utilities.)

[Drizzt]

QuantaCat, on March 29th 2008, 08:49 PM, said:

SAD 32 or whatever it's called. SOD? SOV?

Do you mean NOD32?

[PeopleLikeFrank]

One recommendation from others that I've been using is to set your main account as a non-admin account, and to have a separate admin account for when you need it.

Under Vista this is not so hard to use - you just need to put your admin password in when installing things, like OS X. It limits what spyware or viruses can do behind your back.

I've also been running AntiVir, and the Windows firewall. Since the machine is pretty much for gaming and modding, I don't worry about it too much.

[Dark_Archon]

I only use Windows for games so I don't bother with antivirus software. If something happens, it just means spending some time reformatting. I've been using Vista Business X64 for >1 year and haven't had any virus problems. If you are smart about using Windows, you shouldn't have to worry about anything.

Besides, reformatting in the event that you do have issues is more than a fair trade for not having to put up with bloatware like McAfee or Norton Antivirus all the time.