"Paul H" wrote in
:

I use Avast and AdAware on my XP netbook, my wife's Vista laptop and my
W7 notebook. PC Mag and PCworld give Avast top ratings. No mention of
AdAware, although last year PC Mag said both were top picks. Both mags
give Microsoft Security Essentials mediocre ratings.

Consumer Reports gives Microsoft Security Essentials thumbs up, but what
do they know compared to PC Mag or PCworld.

I would like to have real-time mal-ware protection - not have to run
AdAware frequently (a very slow process), and do the update 1st. Is
there a better free alternative?

MSSE is rated the 'best' free product he

http://lifehacker.com/5433229/micros...free-antivirus

I have been running it on XP and Vista since it came out of beta and I am generally happy with it.