F-Prot for DOS
www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is OR www.f-prot.com' TARGET='_blank'>www.f-prot.com (i don't know which one it is now, but you enter at www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is and sometimes it REDIRECTS you to f-prot.com)

A decent FREE DOS on-demand scanner, but don't let the name fool you: It's just as effective in 95,98,NT,2k,XP,ME! It has earned the best rating by security experts all over the world. It can be used to create emergency diskettes, and best of all: NO MESSY INSTALLATIONS. Just unzip into a folder and you are done. The website also has monthly, sometime bi-monthly updates to virus signatures. The bad: No on-access resident scanner, dos interface has meager help that may confuse novices. For novices: THE default settings ARE ALREADY EXCELLENT, and NO TUNING NECESSARY. Dos interface also may intimidate people, no mouse support. The bottom line: Use it as a quick, light routine scan (Less than 1.5mB Zip file), but don't count on it being your primary gun.

F-PROT for Windows
www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is' TARGET='_blank'>www.frisk.is OR www.f-prot.com' TARGET='_blank'>www.f-prot.com
As accurate as the Dos version, only now ADAPTED FOR WINDOWS 95/98/NT/2K/ME/XP! Excellent program, cheap and not bulky (5MB). Excellent, if not perfect, detection rate and easy-to-use.

McAfee Viruscan
www.mcafee.com
One of the major names in the Antivirus world, it is not as good as it sounds. It includes a weak firewall (see the firewall post) that serves NO GOOD. Not many features, PDA scanning for the 2 or 3 viruses out for PDA's. The makers must have ran out of ink several times slashing erroneous check marks on the comparison, because I have it and tested the firewall-antivirus combo with a few hundred viruses aand trojans, and it seems to have failed miserably. Still many bugs, and the most concerning one is it crashes intermittently when coming out of standby in XP. Bottom line: Don't get it.

Norton Antivirus 2001, 2002
www.symantec.com

BEST antivirus program. Most accurate detection and most features. However, it is extremely bulky(about 45MB install) and also carries a 30 dollar or more price tag. The 2002 and 2001 versions use the same scanning engine, so protection is the same but the 2002 version adds Windows XP support and also freshly redecorates the interface. Generous Help files explain everything. One feature I like the most is the size of AV updates and the frequency of updates. The first update may be about 5MB, but subsequent updates are LESS THAN 100K!!! Updates are available WEEKLY, and sometimes more frequent if something happens. The scanning engine is INFINITELY UPDATABLE. This is THE NUMBER ONE CHOICE for an AV program. Few last comments: IF you are using any other AV program, get Norton instead. IF you have the 2001 version, don't bother updating it to the 2002 version (which tends to be slightly slower) unless you are installing Windows XP, since 2001 and 2002 OFFER SAME FEATURES AND PROTECTION.

Grisoft AVG FREE
www.grisoft.com