Last night I installed the latest version(90 days free) of Windows Live OneCare on my Vista Ultimate 64 bit PC. The interface is sleek I must admit. How does this compare with other free alternatives like AVG or Avast? What are the detection rates?

Never used Onecare but for 64 bit I found Avast is the best, most people prefer AVG but I personally found it annoying, as it stamps a signature in outlook emails.

Why would you want to pay to protect your computer? Just get AntiVir + Comodo Firewall + Windows Defender.

If I were to pay, I'd get NOD32 or Avira Premium. but AntiVir (the free version of Avira) is really good... and Comodo Firewall and Windows Defender do a decent job.

Definitely Check this out: http://www.av-comparatives.org/

bottom line, it's not as good as other pay solutions.

I haven't yet paid for it. 90 days is a long enough time to start zeroing on a stable free antivirus solution. Hopefully Avast or AVG can suffice. But not much good words from AVG 8 either. So kinda confused as of now.

You would have to be a bit of a one care to pay for it TBH, if you want totally free do as dmd3x advises, for pay for software ESS (Eset Security Suite) is recommended.

AVG also scored really well on av-comparatives (score of Advanced +) as well as Avira. It seems Avira is more popular around here though.

to protect a PC use the following

-SUPERAnti-Spyware
-S&D (Optional)
-AVG 8.0

Found at Filehipp.com

Onecare is good, I've used it ever since its first release [and im a beta tester as well but thats besides the point]. Plus its tuneup features and stuff make it a good all-round pc protection thing

Best free antivirus software: Avira AntiVir.

+1

It's a pretty decent piece of software and has kept my computer safe since it was in beta.

-Spenser

I agree with Razorfold. I have been using One Care since beta and love it. it has prevented me from getting many trojans and viruses. plus the added centralized backup feature and beefed up firewall... it has it all. The bigest feature I find most useful, is the one care circle. you can install one care on multiple computers (all of the PCs in my house plus my parents and sister's) and can monitor them from my PC. if there is an issue (missing update, backup not running, virus detected, etc...) i know about it and can tell them to do something or let me connect up with them to clear it up.

Agreed, it's definitely not a bad piece of software, quite good in fast, but Programs like kaspersky and nod32 are better.

This is a great product. Its very simple to use, simply install and it does most of the work in the background. You do however need to allow some rules like when a new network is detected. Other than that you dont get the annoying pop ups like with Zone Alarm, asking you to make the decisions. Its not as sysmte heavy as Nortons, which has so many parts to load and slows your system in general. I know security buffs will say Kaspersky is beter, but its much more complex to use. This is the Apple Ipod of security software. Its easy to use and best of all does most things in the background!

It uses a 3 colour coded system:
Red- implying something needs attention NOW,
Yellow - some things need doing,
Green - its all good

It comes with firewall, antivirus, spyware and backup.
Everything can be set to automatically do things at a set internal (like every month etc).
However there is the option of choosing the "start tune-up" button, which does everything, and fixes everything as well.

Unless Norton's you dont get that message saying "i cant fix it, you do it!"

You also have the option of adjusting the start up applications.
Also there is an advanced option to automatically backup your photos to an online storage.

You also have the option to share printers between the three systems you have setup to use your OneCare.
There is also a monthly report that shows you everything that has occurred, graphically, and its easy to understand.

Overal im happy with this application, it does everything for me, so i dont have to spend hours removing viruses that other programs failed to pick up!


BOTTOM LINE BUY IT
unless you like fiddling around with programs for hours!

Works well - stays in the background and out of the way. I have read that it has lower detection rates that other name brands but I dont know how many systems I see in our pc repair shop that come in with AVG, Avast or others that report themselves clean once you install Onecare and do a complete scan have mutiple viruses active on them. I liked AVG for years but it seems to me they have really slipped in the past year. Onecare complete scan is pretty slow but otherwise works great. Backup is not as full featured but gets the job done. I use it on my home system also after seeing how well it worked on customers systems. Its kinda funny seeing all these peeps "Oh noes, you must not pay for security software" while spending hundreds or thousands on the game of the week. But you got the demo and judge for yourself I think you will be pleased by it.

Agreed. If you're going to pay, NOD32 would be your best bet IMO.

It's a great AVG, IMO. Better than Norton or McAffee IMO. I've used all three and OneCare's features kill the other two while being far simpler, I think.

oh please, save me the hassle

If you want a slow computer, go ahead and install AVG 8. It's boatware.

Avira is the fastest and finds most viruses.

I didn't really like it on my Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 install, but it's still better than alternatives like McAfee and Symantec, but I'd never take it over Kaspersky or NOD32.

That explains why my desktop turned into a boat when I installed AVG8.

AVG8 is not bloatware if you install and configure it correctly. I installed and chose not to install the Link Scanner. Right now I have three AVG processes running in services; Resident Shield (6.7mb); AVG Tray Monitor (1.2mb); AVG Watchdog Service (0.5mb). That's a grand total of 8.4mb in use.

Where AVG can be criticised is for its rising level of false positive detections, and it's for this reason I'm considering NOD32.

As for OneCare, I'd recommend it if you're not confident with PC administration, you will benefit from how user friendly it is. Otherwise check out some of the other suggestions in this thread.

Caveat - I've been in the Perpetual Beta of OneCare since day one.

That said, Microsoft has hired quite a bit of talent to really improve OC's virus detection. The big win for OneCare is the backup system. If you currently do not backup your data then onecare is a good idea. It'll back up to DVD, or to external drives. Restore works great even if you have to reinstall Windows. I would shop around for OC because it's MUCH cheaper to buy it on amazon, or newegg than to purchase it directly.

Personally I've always used Avast, but later on I've been thinking of just not getting any Antivirus software on my pc. Ad Muncher (as long as you update it) + Firefox takes out more viruses then any antivirus would ever do.

Avoid OneCare. It's software for dummies from Microsoft.
If you want great free protection go for AVG. Otherwise choose NOD32 / Panda Antivirus or Kaspersky.

I like one care, it integrates well, its not intrusive or resource hogging, it is very cheap (look on ebay you can get it for £12 / year for 3 machines) and it is effective.

everything above is spot on. I use it on three pcs, woks great. The best part is that you can manage all your computers from one, which is great (i can keep an eye on my dad, which is great). I recommend it, and you can find it on sales sometimes for really cheap (got mine for 20 bucks)

Before AVG 8 I would have said stick with AVG but version 8 killed AVG, OneCare is good.

The only problem I've ever encountered with WLOC is the fact that the virus definitions arn't the best. They've gotten better at it over the years, but I think it's definately worth the license cost.

Offtopic:

I will never ever recomment AVG to anyone again. Click to find out why. Horrible experience.

Are you joking? LOL

Have you tried the latest release from AVG? Link.

You can choose to not install Link Scanner. If you like. But either way. AVG Free is far better than OneCare IMO.



Get the latest version here, of AVG Free 8.

It's changed a lot since the first release. I can't believe people would choose WLOC.

Damn Straight.
Deletes all infections upon detection, not in the end. Detection rates are...outstanding. I've tried everything - Avast, AVG, even paid ones such as Kapersky and Panda, nothing compares. If you're going to pay for an Anti-Virus, get the paid version of Avira AntiVir along with ZoneAlarm and Ad-Aware.

One problem with Avira. FP happen quite often.

In fact currently I am using Avira Antivir Free Edition for the last 3 weeks. Really low on the memory side and not a single case of infection on my Vista x64 installation. The antivirus is actually remaining idle for most of the time except when my friends insert their infected USB thumbdrives into my PC and Avira promptly deletes the infected ones. Fully satisfied I must say. Really surprised to find out Live One Care's recent poor showing in a survey. Also Norton has come back strongly.

I don't know if you tried NOD32 but it really kicks ass!

I have been using Onecare since it was first in beta. Never got infected, the Firewall works great, the backup system is ok, the system cleanup is great.
I can't believe anyone that slags off onecare has actually tried it for any length of time.

Suck it and see!

Its not the best but its far from the worse. Works very nice on windows computers and simple to administer. Not to mention that its cheap.

Did I mention that its pretty easy on the resources?