Free PC virus checkers ?

[Scottish_Skier]

Can anyone recommend a freeware / cheap PC virus checker ?

I was using "Aavast!" - but it seemed to slow my PC right down...
Perhaps because its a 5 year old windows XP machine ?

Just disabled Aavast and magically my PC is back running at a decent speed again :rolleyes:

What should I be looking to use instead ?

[RShea]

You could try the Microsoft Security Essentials. Otherwise many will reply with one of the following: AVG Free, Bitdefender, Antivir (but they have bad nag screens that pop up), or Comodo Antivirus.

[Velillen]

Im always suprised people complain about AntiVir and its "nagging popup" Its seriously only when you update and if you look for 5 minutes on the AntiVir website forums you can find out how to disable it (for free)

[stuckathuntermtn]

AVG free version plus spybot with immunize function, once again, ftw. Both can be had at download.com

[Bozo T. Clown]

I don't buy cloud computing, but it makes sense for virus scans, since they need to be updated all the time.

HouseCall - Free Online Virus Scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/us/index.html

[doughboyshredder]

security essentials , peerblock, and ccleaner then you're good to go without all the bullshit slowdown and freezing caused by shit like avg.

[jon gaper]

security essentials , peerblock, and ccleaner then you're good to go without all the bullshit slowdown and freezing caused by shit like avg.

peerblock,now peerguard,is worthless for this purpose

[Kai]

Malwarebytes anti-malware is what I use. The free version lacks some of the automatic features of their for-pay software, but it seems to work.

[Scottish_Skier]

Cheers for the comments & suggestions. Might experiment with AVG free. Though have seen a few comments that it has also become pretty big (and unwieldy?) on older XP machines.