My daughter recently purchased a bare bones laptop from Dell to take to college. It did not come with antivirus software. I am using NAV on my desktop with no problems but I have read horrible reviews about NAV 2005 and McAfee as new installs. Can anyone recommend an easy to use anitvirus software that I can install on the laptop? Since she will be away from home I won't be able to help her should any problems arise. Also I imagine she will be hooked up to the internet 99% of the time so she will be vulnerable to attack. Thanks for any help, Patti

Patti, before you spend the money, be sure to check with the university. Most schools provide free antivirus programs. It is not entirely altruistic, as it is done to keep their computer system clean. Some of the best programs are Kaspersky, F-Secure, NOD32, Norton, McAffee. The best free ones are AntiVir, AVAST and AVG. Firewalls would be Sygate, Zone Alarm, Outpost, Kerio. There really is no need to buy a software firewall, as the free version is more than adequate for the average user. HTH

Avast! is probably the easiest to maintain as all up-dates are done while you surf the net and was rated #5 in consumer reports for September. Also I use Sygate personal firewall and they work great together. Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back with your results....thanks

If you go with a free antivirus I would consider AntiVir also. AntiVir is testing an icremental updater now.That was the biggest complaint with AntiVir...large,long updates. HTH, JB.