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Virus Scanners:
Norton AntiVirus
NAV uses too many resources, and frankly doesn't do the job properly in lieu of detecting viruses. Auto-update works great, however you have to manually update it yourself every once in a while to get all the updates.
The last release of NAV that worked properly with Windows 98 or ME was 2003, however, if you have a newer machine, you can get by with 2004. 2005 is too much of a burden on both operations systems, since they did not have very good resource management.
Mcafee Virus Scan
Mcafee Virus Scan does not use very much in way of resources. The auto updates works very well. Registration is annoying, and so is getting the initial updates. The manual updates requires an active x control that you must download.
You must enter an e-mail address to register with McAfee, but when you de-select the please notify me boxes you don't get notified.
Mcafee is also known to eliminate select browser hi-Jackers. A PUP(Potentially Unwanted Program) as seen by McAfee can get annoying. if you use online games, you should make sure to trust some of the so called "PUP's". Some are merely links to websites, that mcafee states you might not want.
AVG Free Edition
Free Edition
Without much testing and use, I cannot make an accurate description of this software at this point in time. I have seen that it works to an extent, but not to the capacity of Norton or McAfee. It doesn't fully block trojan horses. It is, however, less OS dependant than the other two I have described. It is, therefore more likely that it will operate on a corrupted Windows than NAV or Mcafee.
Online Scans
Any form of online scan cannot and should not be be consided a primary source of virus detection. Online scan should be used as a last resort only. If your virus scanner does not work due to virus infection, and you cannot afford the heavy prices of a computer technician, then I'd run an online scan. What a computer tech sould do is pull the hard drive and put it into another computer and scan it. An online scan basically does that, just not nearly as well. Sometimes there are removal tools out there. It's a good Idea to check for those first. If you cannot access sites such as Mcafee or Symantec, than you are likely infected with a virus/trojan/hijacker.
Adware/Spyware:
Free Software tools:
After testing I have come to these conclusions:
SpyBot S & D
An OK Scan engine. not the best out there. It searces only for common occurances of files.
I have tested the registry protection and is mostly an annoyance. regular backups of the registry will protect your system without the annoyance while installing programs.
Spybot does perform a backup of removed files.
Spybot also uses a vast amount of your CPU while scanning 100% cpu usage.
Lavasoft AdAware SE
I found that adaware uses less resources than Spybot, and performs a backup of removed files.
It uses less resources, allowing you to multitask more easily, although not recommended.
It uses an excellent scan engine, with the option of scanning the entire hard drive or just scanning for common occurances.
Hitman Pro
Hitman Pro uses multiple AdWare and Trojan Scanners, including AdAware and SpyBot to do a complete job. Because it uses multiple Scanners, it picks up a lot of "garbage" that falls through the cracks of the others.
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Information has been updated and will continue to be updated as suggestions are made for testing.