(:WAV) hi all
as we know, CAVS 2.0 virus sigs is inferior compared to other AV (but i love it), so can you guys give me a suggestion, what virus scanner(s) (FREE, ofcourse ;D) should i have as additional protection? and where can i get them. many thx.
:Beer
Ganda
The two most favoured free AV programs seem to be AVG and Anti-Vir (Avira)
Avira - http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php
AVG Free - http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-virus/us/frt/0
Ewen 
hi Ewen (:WAV), thx for the reply.
but i mean virus scanner (on demand), not a resident AV. i know one ==> Norton virus scanner (google updater), but since it’s Norton, errr 88) .
ganda
You can use either just don’t turn on the real time scanning.
Ewen
Hi, You could try eset online scanner(but this adds 16mb to your hard drive) and bitdefender online scanner(make sure you change settings that allow you to decide what to delete). Stuart
Problem with bitdefender on demand scanner is it slowed my down my computer to snails pace unlike the online scanner(not saying it does this to everyones though)!
Gandya: if you’re planning to use CAVS for real-time protection and others for on-demand scanning (good plan BTW
), there shouldn’t be a harm to install more than one and disable the real-time thingy like Ewen stated, provided that you backup your pc prior (like with Zsoft Uninstaller or something). Unless AVs nowadays are deeply rooted into the OS that can still cause conflicts with real-time features disabled???
The online scanners like Eset and Kaspersky require ActiveX and IE to use, so if you don’t mind traversing the mine fields, knock yourself out. (Keep in mind that Kaspersky’s can’t remove the baddies this way).
So you would advise against online scanners? How about a squared online? Also there are pitfalls using full blown AVs as demand only unless designed that way (bitdefender). Me thinks many a person can’t wait for that day when CAVs is finally unleashed!!!
My mine field description was more for humour than anything because I myself have used both Eset’s (once) and Kaspersky (twice). I found that Eset was around 1.8 times faster in scanning and just about as fast as it was when I had the actual version.
Have you tried bitdefender 10(free) if not do so it could make your computer as spritely as a ninety year old!
If you followed through my past posts on my history with AV’s you’ll realize I’m not using any AV and haven’t besides the above scanners and one test drive with Antvir (which was good BTW and the scan speed matches NOD32) most of this year. There’s simply no need for my own computer.
You know your own system best ! Some have to experience things to gain knowledge.
i can’t do it. it’s a li’l bit risky (about the double AV & the Active X).
thx for the info guys, appreciate it, keep em coming.
Ganda
You’re starting to confuse me: you don’t want the double AV, yet in your first post it seems that you want an additional AV scanner ???
And if you’re afraid of driver conflicts between multiple AVs installed on your computer, even the online scanners (whether they require IE + ActiveX or not), will require some kind of software files to be installed on your computer. The exception is if you’re using one of those single file scanners at a time such as jotti or virus total, but those are obviously not want you’re looking for.
edit:
Ok I think I know what you want: a pure AV scanner with no real-time capabilities whatsoever. There’s a cure: Dr. Web CureIt to be exact :):
http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit
That one doesn’t require installation according to the website. Bonus for you.
I’ve also heard about BitDefender as a good AV, free without real time protection. Can’t really say more since I’ve never used it.
About the ActiveX… I’ts not dangerous for this. It could be exploited by nasty sites (besides IE7 requires user approval for the ActiveX that may be exploited), but you don’t have to worry about Kaspersky et al. doing that, do you. So if you use IE7 to go to Kaspersky’s (or whoever’s) site and perform a scan, there’s nothing to worry about.
Exactly what i want! thx Soya. i don’t want a “full” AV, coz i’m afraid i would mistakenly activate both realtime scanner. butthe minus point is: this Dr.Web doesn’t have automatic update feature.
OK, so far i have 3 choices:
- Norton security scan (google updater)
- Bit defender
- Dr.Web cureIt
not enough to make my final decision yet, are there Avast scanner or avira scanner available? (on demand only?)
and one more thing,a little bit off topic, but since the topic was mine 
:
anyone know about “threat fire”? i’ve seen the page, it’s called “behavioral analysis”,something like that. and what’s the difference(s) compared to AV heuristic scanning then?
ganda
Avira and Avast are always the same as far as I know, there are no separate on-demand only versions, but you can deactivate their resident protection to avoid conflicts. Anyway what I heard about BitDefender (again please look for something who has actually used it unlike me and for test results) is that its signatures are as good and better than many others, the only reason why it’s not a contender for the “best free AV” title is because the resident protection is not included in the free version. But then again you couldn’t care less about that.
I reckon “behavioural” would be synonimous to “heuristic” in this case, differet vendors use different words. Then again heuristics are just second-derivate signatures, or glorified signatures as Melih says. Identifying a criminal by his modus operandi instead of his fingerprints, says me.
Well I know another one for you, just for on-demand scanning.
ClamAV ! I used it before, it has a slow scan but a relative large database. Windows version is here http://w32.clamav.net/
Hope I could help you
Xan
P.S. As I already said that you could use Bitdefender, I haven’t actually miself ever seen a slower boot-up and pc results. ???
But the chose is not up to me