CONSTANTLY "Searching for" and "downloading updates." CONSTANTLY requiring restarts, and finally, my CC was just dinged for $79.99 without my approval for subscription renewal. I'll dispute the charge today, and I suppose uninstall mcafee. Any suggestions for other anti-spyware/malware, etc., programs?
AVG Free
ReverendDexter wrote: AVG Free
QFT
The (free) Microsoft Security Essentials are pretty good and not as intrusive as some of the other products. I basically use it on all the machines that I don't have paid antivirus on.
For paid AV, I use Avira Antivir - they consistently get rated highly on the AV reviews I trust, and they're nowhere near $80/year. Plus, like MSE they're pretty non-intrusive and I doubt I've had to restart my machine because of an AV update in the last 3 months, if not a lot longer. Seriously I can't remember - I think I had a major version upgrade in the last 6 months, the minor version upgrades don't require reboots.
I used to like AVG a lot but I'm not impressed with recent versions, so I'm not using them anymore.
AVG Free
Essentially the same thing I run for work, Minus the central management counsel
Microsoft Security Essentials here as well.
It and Windows 7 have been running great on my machine for almost a year now.
Ive always used AVG for years with no complaints.
I agree that McAfee and Norton are often intrusive and annoying.
I have been running the other free - Advast - for a couple of years now and very happy.
I've historically liked AVG, though it seemed like they were getting pushier with the upsell, so I switched to Avast, which I also like reasonably well.
I don't spend much time on Windows at home, though.
In any case, between Avast and AVG, I see no reason to pay McAfee or Symantec. Make sure you do uninstall completely before installing anything else. I did antivirus tech support a long time ago, and conflicting installed av software was a common issue.
I'm glad you posted this. I just bought a laptop and it came with McAfee. I'm having the same problems with it.
Avira has a free version. It's what I use. It doesn't have some of the automatic (and somewhat useless) stuff turned on and it has a nag screen when it auto updates, but it seems to be the best out there, ESPECIALLY for the price.
I just keep backups of important files on DVD's and run no security at all. I get a virus occasionally, and all I have to do is start my PC in 'safe mode' (mash F8 repeatedly after the first single 'beep') and run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool. If MSRT hasn't updated recently enough I run something like Malware Bytes.
That's what I do (AVG Free) and Malwarebytes.
I got a virus a week ago. Launced in safe mode and Malwarebytes knocked it out in no time. We pay for something or other at work. Our IT guy ran whatever-it-is on a computer with a virus and it found nothing. Ran Malwarebytes and it took care of it. Good stuff. AVG Free and Malwarebytes seem to be prety good protection.
dogbreath wrote: If MSRT hasn't updated recently enough I run something like Malware Bytes.
I had to get an update for Malwayrebytes to get this one I had. I launced in safe mode with networking. That let me launch MWB and update it.
I have been an Avast user for like 8 years.
I see cursing and broken things in my future.
Please wait while we find an agent to assist you... You have been connected to Stephanie . Currently experiencing network delays, one moment please.... Network connection re-established. Stephanie : Hello, Welcome to McAfee Security Concierge! Stephanie : you will have to call customer service for that Stephanie : please call 888-847-8766 Thanks for being incredibly unhelpful. Your product sucks, and your billing practices are shady at best. I hope I've wasted 10 minutes of your life that you'll never get back. Have a lovely day.
Ooooooo i LOVE it when that happens!
I've had entertaining calls with Chase, HRBlock, and ATT all within the last week.
My account is now notated with each of those companies to get me to a supervisor the second my name pops up on their computers now. 
AVG has gotten bloated and slow, not to mention constantly trying to get you to upgrade. I use avira's free version and really like it.
EDIT: In theory, the little Pakistani Customer Service dude; "Vince" (hilarious,) was really fast and helpful. Proof is in the pudding. I'll believe it when I see the charge refunded. Worst case, AMEX consumer advocacy FTMFW!
I've found a couple of family computers with performance problems that were improved massively by uninstalling McAfee. They all run Avast now, and have been both performing well and virus free for years. I really wonder if McAfee and Norton are worse than the problems they claim to solve...
McAffee is a virus.
Avast Free + Malware Bytes.
poopshovel wrote: EDIT: In theory, the little Pakistani Customer Service dude; "Vince" (hilarious,)
I've learned that a lot of the time their name is something like "Kulathavaranee", and rather than having people try to butcher it, they shorten it to "Ranee", or Rene. This was a professor I had my sophomore year.
mtn wrote:poopshovel wrote: EDIT: In theory, the little Pakistani Customer Service dude; "Vince" (hilarious,)I've learned that a lot of the time their name is something like "Kulathavaranee", and rather than having people try to butcher it, they shorten it to "Ranee", or Rene. This was a professor I had my sophomore year.
I subscribe more to that theory that they're trained to sound American. Some call centers even assign certain dialects for calls from certain regions of the US. I'm surpriced "Vince" didn't call me "Partner" or some E36 M3.
I put MS Security Essentials on an older XP machine and it slowed the thing down to a crawl, sometimes completely dominating the processor. If you have an old machine, maybe consider something else, or at least see if there's a solution to the problem (I gave up finding one, as I have a new machine as of...two hours ago).
Dr. Hess wrote: McAffee is a virus. Avast Free + Malware Bytes.
I don't know about "is a virus," but his historical relationship with virus programmers is umm... interesting. And that relationship means no way in hell would I pay McAfee for virus protection.
Norton made cool little utilities once upon a time while Symantec made a decent but not groundbreaking antivirus program. Then they teamed up and backed their tools with an (admittedly very sweet at the time) suite of management utilities. These management utilities made the product very attractive for big organizations. And so damn near everybody started using them. Switching would be expensive so nobody (important) does. And so there's no longer any incentive for a quality product.
AVG is getting a bit aggressive on the upsell. This doesn't really matter to me personally, but does mean I steer less savvy relatives and such away from it as they end up with a temporary install of a bunch of extra crap they don't want.I haven't found much bloat in performance if you tiptoe through the upsell questions properly.
Avast is becoming my replacement for AVG, but it's not to the point where I'll replace AVG on a computer. But when replacing Norton/Symantec/whatever it now gets Avast instead of AVG.
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