[digitaloracle]

My Norton security subsription recently ran out, and I do nto wish to pay for another one. So, I am looking for a free program with these features:

1.) NO ACTIVE PROTECTION WHATSOEVER. I despise ti, just sucks up performance.
2.) Scehduled scan. I make up for no active protection by doing a nightly scan.
3.)The program must remain completely unloaded at all times EXCECPT when I launch it or it performs a scan. It must unload completely when finished, without have to resort ot "violent" methods for killing it.
4.)Obviously, the thoughness of it's scan, the reliability/timing of updates, and the program's ability to protect itself from viruses (so it will function properly on an infected system, WITHOUT running anything active)

Of paramount importance is that it never run or update without being executed by me or a scheduled task. I was rather impressed with how norton seemingly slimmed down once everythign was disabled.

[talldude123]

Well, Norton will slow your system down. I have used older versions, before 2004, and they seem to be fine on memory.

However the new version from 2005 and up, have a new process called "ccproxy.dll" that takes up 100MB on average, and i think that's high for an antivirus. So ditch Norton.


I did find this antivirus test on Google, and may help you on finding a good free antivirus.
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1260/


Personally, i find Avast antivirus to be a great free antivirus. You can turn off it's on-demand scanning, but i leave it on. I've heard about AVG, but i dont like the interface, and it's limited on features.


According to the antivirus test, ClamWin and AntiVir catch the most viruses, while Avast is #7 on the list. To my suprise, Norton Antivirus 2005 was below Avast, and most free antiviruses. That tells you something.


Here are some links to free antiviruses:

ClamWin
AntiVir
Avast Home Free
AVG Free

[jonny_uk]

i use AVG, yes its active scanning (as you call it) but my pc is far from the fastest you can get, yet i wouldnt even no avg was there, and on taskmanager on processes you can see it uses very little system power

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

I use Avast! Home Edition...but AVG is good as well.

Although they have various active shields, you can disable them.

[DefragMyHead]

yea, Avast.

[Biker-Boy-Nay]

NOD32 or AVG Free Edition will do the work

[maroon1]

use Avast home edition

[Trifid]

I use AVG, didn't know that it did active scanning though. It has the scheduled scan though. Not bad on resources though 10MB combined memory usage it uses.