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Replacing AVG
Centipeed
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Until about half an hour ago, I was a staunch supported of AVG Free for my anti-viral needs. I have updated to AVG 8, however, and now Steam is crashing because of page memory pool blah blah blah. They specifically name AVG as a potential cause.
So, I'm looking to replace it with something a little less resource intensive. Is Avast any good?
So, I'm looking to replace it with something a little less resource intensive. Is Avast any good?
Centipeed on
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I've gotten better performance out of it than anything else, zero software conflicts, and minimal resource usage. It's pretty much the best anti-virus software out there.
Do you use a firewall?
I have had one occasion to regret not using virus protection software, and that was my own damn fault. It's honestly so much more trouble than it's worth when you're not using Outlook or Internet Explorer.
But then Windows puts a security alert in your system tray telling you to get anti-virus! Or do you use Linux?
A big rule about security is that effort has to be balanced against what you stand to lose by not going further. It's often an issue of "good enough," for instance Bank of America or Citibank writing off a few million dollars in losses from a hack because it would cost much more to implement security that would have prevented it.
Now it's gotten to a point where malicious software doesn't just sneak onto shady sites anymore. My university's computer network had issues with a virus slipping in to screw with page rankings for the criminal hacker's business interests, myspace has been subject to various scripting "worms," instant messaging is used as a vector of delivery more and more, etc. But if you don't have a page you don't want to be defaced or screwed with, critical data to lose, etc., then reformatting (if it comes to it) if things go bad and just restoring your game saves, mp3s, and porn from backups isn't that painful (unless you have no backups in question, but even then we're not talking about critical stuff you lose).
Now, on a modern system just grabbing an open source anti virus program doesn't really take much effort so it's still recommended if it's not causing other issues like slowdown or incompatibility. It's just not a case of you being totally screwed without one, kind of like if you have an older car that has no air bags but still has good seat belts and brakes.
Mind you, if you DO have data you do not want to lose, like school projects, then look into Avast or something. When I started dealing with 5 gig project files, you better believe I put more security measures on my system.
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3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
I couldn't care less about the data on your computer if you get hacked. What I do care about is your computer being used in an attack on someone else.
People who don't use AV software because they're smart enough to properly use a computer are fine. People who don't use AV software because they don't care about their computer and/or its contents, need to be dragged out into a field somewhere and beaten with tire irons.