Problems Activating PC Guard

[Markjp]

Hi

I am in the process of rebuilding my PC on a new Hard Disk and decided I would use the free Virgin PC Guard this time instead or Norton.

Anyway all went fine until I needed to activate the software, I put in my primary email address and password and it failed. I got the message:

"You may not perform this action as your subscription is disabled"

I phoned CS and they told me that the email I was using was not my primary one and quoted a computer generated alpha numeric email, which they then reset the password on and enabled the pc guard.

Well PC Guard now works on my pc but I am concerned about this email address. It is not my default and never has been. I can log on to this account through the virgin website and can also login to main account that I have had for years.

I'm not quite sure what is going on and am concerned that I may now have 2 accounts and is PC Guard protecting me properly if I'm logged in under one account and the pc guard is activated under another.

Anybody any ideas?


Thanks

Mark

[Stuart]

I personally would avoid PC guard. You can get good protection for free.

For antivirus, I personally use Avast Antivirus (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html ), although a lot of people use avg.

For a firewall, I use Comodo (http://www.comodo.com/ ) although they have introduced an antivirus into the new version.

For Antispyware, I use a combination of Spybot ( http://www.spybot.com/en/index.html ) and Adaware ( http://www.lavasoft.com/index.php )

[chickendippers]

I'm not quite sure of the reasoning behind it, but what you describe sounds perfectly normal. It's certainly something I've had since signing up earlier this year. The obscure username seems to be the only way to login to Selfcare.

[Markjp]

I personally would avoid PC guard. You can get good protection for free.

For antivirus, I personally use Avast Antivirus (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html ), although a lot of people use avg.

For a firewall, I use Comodo (http://www.comodo.com/ ) although they have introduced an antivirus into the new version.

For Antispyware, I use a combination of Spybot ( http://www.spybot.com/en/index.html ) and Adaware ( http://www.lavasoft.com/index.php )

What are your reasons for avoiding PC Guard?

Does it not give good protection? Or are there issues with running it? or both?

Mark

---------- Post added at 18:15 ---------- Previous post was at 18:14 ----------

I'm not quite sure of the reasoning behind it, but what you describe sounds perfectly normal. It's certainly something I've had since signing up earlier this year. The obscure username seems to be the only way to login to Selfcare.

Thanks

Feel a bit more at ease now.

Mark

[Jelly]

PC Guard doesn't provide as much protection as the free standalones which Stuart linked to.

[Stuart]

What are your reasons for avoiding PC Guard?

Does it not give good protection? Or are there issues with running it? or both?

Mark



It does give OK protection, but has been known to fowl the system up when uninstalling. I've also heard reports of it slowing the system down.

However, the utilities I link to give better protection (in fact, in independant test, Avast Antivirus has been known to beat most of the commercial virus scanners on accuracy of detection of viruses).

They also use fewer system resources, so the system runs faster. Avast and Comodo use a little of the system's processing power, as does Adware when it is scanning.

However, Adware uses none when it's not scanning. Spybot also uses few resources unless it is scanning, but due to the way it works (it actually sets up the browser to prevent downloads of known badware), it can still provide good protection.

Finally, if you are using Windows XP, I would recommend you install Windows Defender from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=435BFCE7-DA2B-4A6A-AFA4-F7F14E605A0D&displaylang=en .

That last one is built into Vista.

[Markjp]

It does give OK protection, but has been known to fowl the system up when uninstalling. I've also heard reports of it slowing the system down.

However, the utilities I link to give better protection (in fact, in independant test, Avast Antivirus has been known to beat most of the commercial virus scanners on accuracy of detection of viruses).

They also use fewer system resources, so the system runs faster. Avast and Comodo use a little of the system's processing power, as does Adware when it is scanning.

However, Adware uses none when it's not scanning. Spybot also uses few resources unless it is scanning, but due to the way it works (it actually sets up the browser to prevent downloads of known badware), it can still provide good protection.

Finally, if you are using Windows XP, I would recommend you install Windows Defender from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=435BFCE7-DA2B-4A6A-AFA4-F7F14E605A0D&displaylang=en .

That last one is built into Vista.


Thanks for yur advice Stuart.

With regards to Firewalls Is it ok to stick with the Windows XP version?

Thanks

Mark

[chickendippers]

I've never installed a software firewall on any of our family computers and haven't had a problem. A good virus scanner will prevent anything nasty from happening.

[Jelly]

Unless you're worried about a small performance drop, get a good free firewall as well.

[Stuart]

Thanks for yur advice Stuart.

With regards to Firewalls Is it ok to stick with the Windows XP version?

Thanks

Mark

As long as you have at least Service Pack 2 installed, then the Windows Firewall is pretty good. The one included in Service Pack 1 and below was, to be frank, pointless as it didn't do a good job of blocking incoming connections (one thing a firewall needs to do) and provided no control of outgoing connections (the other thing a firewall needs to do).

The one included with XP SP2 and SP3 is OK, but not as good as the Comodo firewall I recommended in my first answer.

Another firewall that is supposed to be good (and a lot easier to set up that Comodo) is Ashampoo Firewall ( http://www2.ashampoo.com/webcache/html/1/product_2_0050__.htm ) although I have not used it.