PC Guard

amsmarle · 15-04-2008, 09:57

Hello,
We are on M package, cable, & in L21 area, we decided to try out the Virgin PC Guard, so downloaded it and then commenced the install process, which went ok... but it instructed us to agree to remove Mcafee from our PC, in order for the PC Guard to continue, which we did, and then when we re-started our PC it told us we had to register PC Guard, now this is where the problem is... everytime we attempt to register it, it either tells us we have timed out or we have to choose more than one bundle.

But we only want the PC Guard!, Virgin has told us that there is a problem and we will have to be patient!!, (since Sunday), we cannot safely download anything at all at the moment ("we now have no net security") as Virgin instructed us to remove our existing security to be able to install theirs and now we can't reister their software.

I have sent email and made two phone calls and I still cannot register PC Guard, surely there must be a manual facility to just be able to register their own Software

Any advice would be well appreciated

Alan amsmarle@aol.com

johnh605 · 15-04-2008, 11:38

Hi there.

I have been with NTL/Virgin for over 3 years.

There are many many people who swear by McAfee but I'm not so sure about PC Guard.

Personally I wouldn't bother with PC Guard and frankly I dont see the need when there are plenty of programs out there which will do the job.
I use a 4 year old laptop which obviously isn't as fast as the latest but when I tried to load the program I had problems from the start, either it wouldn't install or when it did, my system slowed to a crawl.
I have the following installed and running and have no problems with any of them.

Zonealarm Free Firewall, AVG Professional Antivirus, and Winpatrol free.

With what Virgin are hoping to do with Phorm etc, that last thing I would do is to install any software from them unless it is essential to the running of your system.

John H

amsmarle · 15-04-2008, 11:58

Thats very interesting John H, thank you for your reply, I know someone else who, also uses the very same combination of virus security as you, and he says the same... no probs, I am interested to try out the various ones available, I can always re-install Mcafee.
I will have to read up about the Phorm? situation I'm not sure what you mean?

Cheers

Alan

Itshim · 15-04-2008, 12:03

Virgin came up with all sorts of problems this morning - only answer I uninstalled it leaving McAffe on.Given the choice ( I was happy to let the two run) it would be McAffe every time

smeagoly1 · 15-04-2008, 12:05

Hi, there have been many topics regarding PC Guard and tbh most are against using it.

The plus side is, it's better to have it on than nothing.

The downside is.... it's a pain in the preverbial and no way as good as many other freebies on the market.

PCGuard is mega Resource hungry and slowed my system down quite a bit.

The free alternatives many people swear by are.
Zone Alarm, Ashampoo and even Commodo for firewalls
Avast for virus scanning.

JadeFalcon · 15-04-2008, 12:31

i ALWAYS advise dumping anything like pcguard / mcafee / norton as they are ALL system hungry, i always prefer a tool to be good at ONE thing and not try to be half good at everything, so i suggest using the standard windows firewall, with AVG free edition for the antivirus and ad-aware/spybot S&D (both free) for spyware detection and removal. these 3 running will consume alot less space and resources than any complete package

Itshim · 15-04-2008, 13:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by JadeFalcon

i ALWAYS advise dumping anything like pcguard / mcafee / norton as they are ALL system hungry, i always prefer a tool to be good at ONE thing and not try to be half good at everything, so i suggest using the standard windows firewall, with AVG free edition for the antivirus and ad-aware/spybot S&D (both free) for spyware detection and removal. these 3 running will consume alot less space and resources than any complete package

Tend to agree with you. Saying that was running both PC guard & McAfee 08 - yes I know & my new PC still flew. Until PC guard went belly up today.
New PC came with Vista & that does not like AVG at all,hence Mcaffee.
Would go back like a shot to my old set ( which was as you list here). But life was to short to keep AVG & fix the download problems it kept on having / not to mention the number of times it hung.Still while I was doing this I learnt a few things!!!

hoggie · 15-04-2008, 20:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by JadeFalcon

i ALWAYS advise dumping anything like pcguard / mcafee / norton as they are ALL system hungry, i always prefer a tool to be good at ONE thing and not try to be half good at everything, so i suggest using the standard windows firewall, with AVG free edition for the antivirus and ad-aware/spybot S&D (both free) for spyware detection and removal. these 3 running will consume alot less space and resources than any complete package

100% spot on

AVG updates def.inf file when you start your PC/LAPTOP.
spybot you just update before you scan.
ad-aware is the best and you also update before you scan.and there add-block is easy to use.
PC Guard is always checking back and using bandwidth. and windows own firewall is better(i have a NAT enabled router so no need for a software firewall).
imtwo weeks into a one month test of pcgaurd and will report back with results. so far not good

amsmarle · 16-04-2008, 08:29

Hello again,
Thanks to you all, for all your advice, the Virgin registering site is still not working, and inline with all your recomendations I have decided to abandon the idea of using PC Guard, I have installed AVG.

First real problem with Virgin, "NOT IMPRESSED", they instruct me to remove existing security to enbable there own, then you are left in limbo, not able to register their security, and having no security at all on your system

Thanks again

Alan

Sparkles · 16-04-2008, 12:48

Hiya - I just registered as a new member and intended to post the question: Does anyone here use that PCGuard software provided free by VM, and if so, how do you rate it? Then - presto! - saw this thread already exists. Having read the existing posts, I can confirm what others have said about AVG, AVG Anti-Spyware, SpyBot, and Ad-Aware - all of which I run on our computers, all of which are free, al of which have performed amazingly well and I am a heavy net user, so you might have expected that at least something would have crawled in and onto my system, but nay. I happily and strongly endorse and encourage anyone to give these great freebies a go. Good luck, Alan!

Itshim · 16-04-2008, 14:02

Am I the only one that has had trouble with AVG working with Vista ? Think if I am I might just go for a reinstall, but life is to short to try & it to fail again

cleshe · 18-04-2008, 23:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by JadeFalcon

i ALWAYS advise dumping anything like pcguard / mcafee / norton as they are ALL system hungry, i always prefer a tool to be good at ONE thing and not try to be half good at everything, so i suggest using the standard windows firewall, with AVG free edition for the antivirus and ad-aware/spybot S&D (both free) for spyware detection and removal. these 3 running will consume alot less space and resources than any complete package

Adaware used to be wonderful, but the latest one is worse than Norton for using up your memory. It even pinches it when not running, I would avoid it like the plague now.Oh- it can also be an absolute swine to uninstall .