I've always liked AVG, and I'm using the paid version. I hate hearing about the email stuff being limited to 30 days, but I suppose they want to push people a bit harder to get their paid version.
After all, they are a business, and it costs them money to create their software.
It's very cheap - I only pay once every two years. I pay more to Stardock for all of the software and games I buy through them.
I would
much rather you search for free versions of other antivirus software than to pirate it. Please don't pirate software. For one thing, it's often riddled with trojans, spyware, and viruses - the pirating underground is full of hackers and crackers who want to open your computer up to their whims. In addition, it's not supporting the company. If you don't pay for a product, that company is not getting money to support their product.
What I simply don't get is people who
claim to like a company, but absolutely refuse to offer an ounce of financial support for their products. If your budget is tight, start putting any left over money into a savings account. It should build up quickly in two years. $4/month is all you need to save up for two years of AVG.
My philosophy is simple: If I like a product or a company, I do what I can to support them. Seriously, how can I expect them to keep creating and improving their products if I don't support them? My money is a resource for them to use. If they find themselves without that resource, they can't pay their employees, they can't pay their utility bills, they can't pay for their website, they can't pay for anything.
They're being nice enough to offer a free version - which ultimately is a huge cost for them, because they're spending money developing it and getting nothing in return.
Yeah, I used the free version for a while, and I still use it on older machines. My primary machine has the paid version, as well as my parents' computer.
I don't use anti-virus software. I never get any viruses.
How would you know you have a virus if you have no way of detecting it?
Today's viruses do **NOT** eat up CPU like older viruses did. Just in case that was going to be your reply. I've heard that "my CPU isn't overloaded, so I must not have a virus" story a million times. On machines with active viruses on them. Today's viruses are designed to send occasional spam emails, and they're doing it for profit. They are not the script kiddie "let's make a virus for fun" kind anymore.
I highly recommend at least doing a scheduled scan, even if you do not use a real time scanner. You can still have the protection without using your computer's resources.
I myself have not had an active virus on my system in a long time. But I know that because I check for viruses. I run a scheduled scan every week when I'm at work.
I
have, however, seen several attempts to infect my system. Not just through downloaded files and emails! Web pages are increasingly attempting buffer overflows and trying to use known exploits. Keep your OS and browser up to date, and update and run that virus scan regularly.
