Roboscan Free

[Wepynx]

I sure hope guys can help me because my best friend is driving me crazy. About a week or so he installed Roboscan free version. Well I told him that the site and program hasn't been updated since 2013. He called me yesterday (9/3/15) and told me that the virus definitions just updated to that date . And all the definitions are now up to date. He only uses it because it is light and doesn't slow down his system, a P4, 3 GB RAM. Is he safe using that program ? I told him I would ask. Thanks.

[MidnightCowboy]

This might sound like a harsh comment but anyone who chooses an antivirus for how "light" it might be cannot really be interested in their security at all. The idea behind installing software like this is to choose something that best matches your surfing habits because online is where the most threats exist. Even so, an antivirus is just one component in the necessary strategy for staying malware free and ultimately there will be some speed impact on the system. If the system is so under powered as to be unacceptably slow with security software installed, then moving to Linux is the obvious choice. Otherwise I have Panda free installed on a low end Samsung laptop and the speed I have is perfectly fine. In any case I would always recommend to select one of the more respected and regularly tested brands of which there are plenty to choose from.

[George.J]

Roboscan Free isn't that good and in my testing seemed to be really weak. I tested it with a malware pack of 96 samples and it caught just 58 of them. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Wepynx]

Thanks for the guys. I use Panda Free on one, Bitdefender Free on another and I run Bodhi Linux on an old laptop that had Vista on it. I have no problems with the speeds either, but I told him I would ask. Thanks again.

[Anupam]

Avast free also runs quite light. I have been using it for years now, and I also used it on my old P-IV system, and it ran pretty light.

Just choose custom installation when installing it, and choose only the components that are required, or desired.

[George.J]

I agree with Anupam. Avast is really light on the system. And also Avast 2015 has improved their scan engines and heuristics capability. It's performing really well.

[Wepynx]

Thanks for help. The message is loud and clear. Goodbye Roboscan.

[Burn-IT]

You also need to be aware that Linux is becoming an increasing target for virus as well.
Also many viruses nowadays target browsers and add ins and they will often be common across operating systems.
Don't forget that your machine will likely run X86 or X64 machine code whatever your OS is so any nasty written using assembler or low level machine code will still work. That is what AV software looks for.