Virgin Media PC Guard - Virgin Media Broadband

guygamps · 05-10-2008, 16:54

I have several PCs in my house, some which are "critical" used for business and important home related things, and some of which are non critical, used largely just by the kids fo playing internet based games, and by Mrs G for occasional use of Yahoo mail/.EBAY.

For the "critical" machines, I spent a long time comparing several antivirus products (free / non free), over time I tried Norton, kasperksy, AVG, McAfee and settled on a particular McAfee chargeable product with which I am satisfied.

On the non critical PCs I have installed the free Virgin Media PC Guard. One thing I like is that is comes wiith a pretty thorough parental control feature. It also seems to included pretty much everything and more than my McAfee product has.

Laregely for the fact that it has all these things, most importantly the parental control features and that it is free, I am thinking now of installing it in place of McAfee on one of the critical PCs that the kids use, this after my 9 year old came across something that put the heebee geebies up me.

McAfee want me to pay for an upgrade to parental control features.

bearing in mind that I haven't myself had any difficulties with it, but then I have not used in anger for any period of time, any PC running it, I checked for user reviews, and they seem universally terrible? But tend to complain about installation issues (which I know about and know how to work around).

So, should I go ahead and put it on a critical PC that gets lots and lots of use? or is it really that bad to be avoided.

Forum comments welcome

Thanks

Guy

05-10-2008, 17:52

i prefer to have a paid for antispyware error smart an pc gaurd running together,running them sepratelly can pickup thing's that each oppisate systen fails to pick up,both have pro's & con's, would never go back to one running,and defanaitly would no let pc-gaurd run on it's own(%100)certains about that. Its always worth a second scan, a separate set of results so you can check each other programs results ie, what it picks up, and what it doesnt, you very rairly get the identical results for 2 diffrent kinds or software, security must be paramount for you ,with kids, so keep both, in my opimion. sorry for typos.

TheBigM · 05-10-2008, 18:02

You mention trying out several anti-virus software packages but were these solely anti-virus or "internet security suites".

PC Guard has a poor reputation in several areas: installation, running/compatibility issues, comparatively poor detection and removal rates.

You can't tell much by "trying" out most security software since it is designed to sit in the background and work. Most software is set and forget and issues like usability do not matter as much as in office or multimedia software.

I strongly recommend using Kaspersky Internet Security on your critical PCs for the most thorough protection. You can buy multi-PC licences which are cheaper (I think Kaspersky sells it in 1-PC, 3-PC and 5-PC variants). Out of "free" software I recommend Avira Antivir Classic. You can even remove the nag screen from the free version.

If upgrading in the future, consider putting something like Ubuntu on the non-critical PCs, they will do what you want them to do, have a lower hardware requirement and be generally more secure than windows.

Until the recent version I also used to recommend ZoneAlarm Internet Security which was good on antivirus, antispyware, firewall and various other bits e.g. identity protection, antispam and parental controls.

petey286 · 05-10-2008, 18:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by guygamps

I have several PCs in my house, some which are "critical" used for business and important home related things, and some of which are non critical, used largely just by the kids fo playing internet based games, and by Mrs G for occasional use of Yahoo mail/.EBAY.

For the "critical" machines, I spent a long time comparing several antivirus products (free / non free), over time I tried Norton, kasperksy, AVG, McAfee and settled on a particular McAfee chargeable product with which I am satisfied.

On the non critical PCs I have installed the free Virgin Media PC Guard. One thing I like is that is comes wiith a pretty thorough parental control feature. It also seems to included pretty much everything and more than my McAfee product has.

Laregely for the fact that it has all these things, most importantly the parental control features and that it is free, I am thinking now of installing it in place of McAfee on one of the critical PCs that the kids use, this after my 9 year old came across something that put the heebee geebies up me.

McAfee want me to pay for an upgrade to parental control features.

bearing in mind that I haven't myself had any difficulties with it, but then I have not used in anger for any period of time, any PC running it, I checked for user reviews, and they seem universally terrible? But tend to complain about installation issues (which I know about and know how to work around).

So, should I go ahead and put it on a critical PC that gets lots and lots of use? or is it really that bad to be avoided.

Forum comments welcome

Thanks

Guy

If you are wanting to run PC Guard on machines that are in any way business orientated and you get a problem on those PC's then you have ZERO comeback with Virgin as PC Guard is only intended for residential use.

Use a commercial product or contact the Virgin business arm for advice. http://www.ntltelewestbusiness.co.uk/

guygamps · 05-10-2008, 22:56

I did try Kaspersky but was not impressed, from the off I had problems with scans aborting, or the program freezing during scans. I had the same problem with Norton 360 (in both cases on my critical work PC), McAfee has been fine and will stay on that PC, no questions.

I do have another PC though which is used extensively by both me and the kids, me for non work related but critical stuff, and the kids for various things. Mc Afee is on it at moment, but has no parental controls. So I might put PC Guard on it which includes parental controls.

That PC "hosts" all the family's music collection, 400CDs worth, about 8000 photos, and 100 DVD Iso image files. Plus it hosts two printers. All the other PCs in the house access this media and the printers by normal networking with it courtesty of a Workgroup.

Guy

jimjimjim1977 · 06-10-2008, 16:45

There's an Open Source AV called ClamWin, which is a free non commerical product. It does me ok, as long as you have a firewall and run spybot s&d from time to time all should be fine.

Just make sure that you don't do anything risky and follow the usual rules of being careful on the internet, clicking links, opening emails that you wern't expecting from people you don't know etc...

scruffpot · 06-10-2008, 16:58

Isn't Winclam a not on demand scanner?
I seem to go for antivir from avira the free edition and have malwarebytes anti malware. Did have spybot on my system but not anymore, however for firewall i use vista firewall but use vistafirewall control to chose what connects and where.
i do have a firewall on the router as well

05-10-2008, 16:54	#1
guygamps Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Services: NTL Broadband, Sky + Posts: 63	Virgin Media PC Guard I have several PCs in my house, some which are "critical" used for business and important home related things, and some of which are non critical, used largely just by the kids fo playing internet based games, and by Mrs G for occasional use of Yahoo mail/.EBAY. For the "critical" machines, I spent a long time comparing several antivirus products (free / non free), over time I tried Norton, kasperksy, AVG, McAfee and settled on a particular McAfee chargeable product with which I am satisfied. On the non critical PCs I have installed the free Virgin Media PC Guard. One thing I like is that is comes wiith a pretty thorough parental control feature. It also seems to included pretty much everything and more than my McAfee product has. Laregely for the fact that it has all these things, most importantly the parental control features and that it is free, I am thinking now of installing it in place of McAfee on one of the critical PCs that the kids use, this after my 9 year old came across something that put the heebee geebies up me. McAfee want me to pay for an upgrade to parental control features. bearing in mind that I haven't myself had any difficulties with it, but then I have not used in anger for any period of time, any PC running it, I checked for user reviews, and they seem universally terrible? But tend to complain about installation issues (which I know about and know how to work around). So, should I go ahead and put it on a critical PC that gets lots and lots of use? or is it really that bad to be avoided. Forum comments welcome Thanks Guy

05-10-2008, 17:52	#2
tm009f0737@blue Posts: n/a	i prefer to have a paid for antispyware error smart an pc gaurd running together,running them sepratelly can pickup thing's that each oppisate systen fails to pick up,both have pro's & con's, would never go back to one running,and defanaitly would no let pc-gaurd run on it's own(%100)certains about that. Its always worth a second scan, a separate set of results so you can check each other programs results ie, what it picks up, and what it doesnt, you very rairly get the identical results for 2 diffrent kinds or software, security must be paramount for you ,with kids, so keep both, in my opimion. sorry for typos.

05-10-2008, 18:02	#3
TheBigM Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: moon Posts: 8,064	You mention trying out several anti-virus software packages but were these solely anti-virus or "internet security suites". PC Guard has a poor reputation in several areas: installation, running/compatibility issues, comparatively poor detection and removal rates. You can't tell much by "trying" out most security software since it is designed to sit in the background and work. Most software is set and forget and issues like usability do not matter as much as in office or multimedia software. I strongly recommend using Kaspersky Internet Security on your critical PCs for the most thorough protection. You can buy multi-PC licences which are cheaper (I think Kaspersky sells it in 1-PC, 3-PC and 5-PC variants). Out of "free" software I recommend Avira Antivir Classic. You can even remove the nag screen from the free version. If upgrading in the future, consider putting something like Ubuntu on the non-critical PCs, they will do what you want them to do, have a lower hardware requirement and be generally more secure than windows. Until the recent version I also used to recommend ZoneAlarm Internet Security which was good on antivirus, antispyware, firewall and various other bits e.g. identity protection, antispam and parental controls.

05-10-2008, 22:56	#5
guygamps Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Services: NTL Broadband, Sky + Posts: 63	I did try Kaspersky but was not impressed, from the off I had problems with scans aborting, or the program freezing during scans. I had the same problem with Norton 360 (in both cases on my critical work PC), McAfee has been fine and will stay on that PC, no questions. I do have another PC though which is used extensively by both me and the kids, me for non work related but critical stuff, and the kids for various things. Mc Afee is on it at moment, but has no parental controls. So I might put PC Guard on it which includes parental controls. That PC "hosts" all the family's music collection, 400CDs worth, about 8000 photos, and 100 DVD Iso image files. Plus it hosts two printers. All the other PCs in the house access this media and the printers by normal networking with it courtesty of a Workgroup. Guy

06-10-2008, 16:45	#6
jimjimjim1977 Inactive Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 290	There's an Open Source AV called ClamWin, which is a free non commerical product. It does me ok, as long as you have a firewall and run spybot s&d from time to time all should be fine. Just make sure that you don't do anything risky and follow the usual rules of being careful on the internet, clicking links, opening emails that you wern't expecting from people you don't know etc...

06-10-2008, 16:58	#7
scruffpot Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Services: my imagination Posts: 2,491	Isn't Winclam a not on demand scanner? I seem to go for antivir from avira the free edition and have malwarebytes anti malware. Did have spybot on my system but not anymore, however for firewall i use vista firewall but use vistafirewall control to chose what connects and where. i do have a firewall on the router as well