I've used AVG for years, but lately I've learned that the folks in the know prefer Avast or AntiVir, both of which are also freeware antivirus programs. AntiVir seems to have the edge. I just replaced AVG with it on one virus-ridden pc, like it so far, haven't put it on the others just yet.
Dan
I'll write them on my list, thanks. Full System Scans, show I have no viruses. Now that I've said it, I'll probably be getting them by the truck load. Let me knock on wood real fast. Done.
I use AntiVir as an on-demand scanner with AVG as my resident scanner on some machines.
If you have AVG installed, Uncheck the resident scanner option when you install AntiVir. As a note, during the AntiVir install there is a dialog box that asks you if you want AntiVir to set up an install key, or something similiar to that. I've found that checking that will sometime hose an install. I'm not sure why.
Once AntiVir is installed, open up the scheduler and set it to get an update and run a scan periodically. AntiVir is strong in its ability to scan inside archives, which makes it great as an on-demand scanner, such as after a download. It's update procedure is a little more clunky than AVG, which makes AVG more user friendly, IMHO and makes AVG easier to use as your resident scanner.
I use this combo on XP SP2 machines and Windows 2000 machines successfully. For some reason, my wife and daughter's HP laptops have a hard time with AntiVir and AVG, so I use AVAST on them. I'm very happy with Avast, as well. Set it and forget it.
With those AV's, Spyware Guard, Spyware Blaster and Microsoft Anti-Spy you can keep an XP machine pretty safe.
All free, BTW.
HTH
longjack