Anti- Virus

[Dollie]

Please help a technophobe - my computer is running sluggish lately - its usually extremely quick - could it be because I haven't an anti-virus programme on it? Also if thats the problem, can anyone recommend which anti-virus to buy and where would I buy it from? Sorry if this sounds lame - PC's are not my thing. Thanks ever so.

[Kozmic Blues]

Bring your computer to someone to check it and clean anything off it.

anti-virus software Norton,McAfee or pro shield 2006 are some good ones.

Get an anti-virus asap.

kozmic

[Postdog]

For a freat free one, try AVG antivirus. Personally, I think it's better than Norton.

http://www.freedownloadhq.com/avg.asp?s=gouk&a=avg

[Monkey Magic]

Could well be spyware which is slowing it down as well. Try something like the program Spybot which you can download off the net (and update it!)

Cheers

[tellboy]

Assume you run Windows XP .Go to Start -Programs-Accessories-System Tools then run Disk Cleanup then same thing run Defragmenter. Then Install Ad Aware Free Edition. Run and remove all spyware.

Dont but anti Virus use AVG Free Edition. I am absolutely certain that Norton AV was slowing my PC down and causing it to take ages to shut down. Hope this helps.

[tellboy]

Typo above That should be "Dont buy an Anti Virus use AVG "

[Dollie]

Thanks guys - will try your advice - cheers. Doll x

[fo3nix]

I would entirely *disagree* with kozmic above. norton is perhaps the worst AV program available.

my advice is to install AVG Free, as tellboy and postdog say:
http://free.grisoft.com

also, get ad-aware personal (free also):
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-E dition/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aw are&subj=dl&tag=top5

finally, are you sure that you don't have any AV program installed? most PCs these days come with norton or mcaffee or some other program installed, at least a demo version.