I hadn't realized there was a free version of BitDefender, then I found out about BitDefender 8 Free. It's a scanner only, and I was thinking it might be a good addition to my layered-freeware security setup. Anybody familiar with it? Got any opinion?

Just because it's fast doesn't mean it's good. Panda has been well known for false positives.

When I found out about it was right after I'd run a BitDefender online scan. Between the update and the scan it took 2 hrs 35 min. It found 2 suspicious files, and deleted them, even though I ticked "ask me for a prompt" instead of "delete". If I'd had the opportunity, I'd have uploaded them to jotti.org, but they're gone.

Having it on the computer would be faster, and hopefully more controllable. Whatever Resident AV I use, I want to have a backup, relying on online scans for that has its weaknesses. If you've got really bad malware, you might not even be able to get to the online scans (I've had that experience).

Last time I tried Panda, it wouldn't work. It tried to install some kind of accelerator, which didn't work, but left some garbage behind that was really hard to get rid of. After that experience, I'm reluctant to try it again. And I agree, the new Trend Micro scan sucks. The eTrust online scan is pretty fast, though, and I'd expect it to do a good job.

Well, I installed BitDefender 8 Free Edition, updated it, and ran a scan. It is quite a bit faster than the online scan, though I still wouldn't call it fast. It is supposed to quarantine "infected" files, too, though I didn't have any infected files. One annoying thing, though, when it updates it leaves 2 files on my desktop, getfile.dat and x_dtrace.log.

Wad about F-Secure Anti-Virus Scanner?...i recently bought it and love it very much...

Wad about F-Secure Anti-Virus Scanner?...i recently bought it and love it very much...

You apparently missed the word "freeware" in my original post.

It's not creating those files on the desktop anymore. 2 things happened, because I hadn't got around to telling the other users of the computer about it. One deleted the shortcut from her desktop (even though it wasn't enabled for all users, it put shortcuts on everybody's desktops). This removed everybody's shortcut. Another got a WinPatrol alert about a new startup program, and blocked it.

It wouldn't start even after I re-enabled it, so I used its self-repair function to get it going again. Then I deleted the desktop shortcuts which that had re-created, and made a new shortcut on my desktop. Next update, no stupid desktop trash.

One other problem with it, I can't get it to run in safe mode. That was another advantage I thought I could gain over the online scan: the ability to scan in safe mode.