freeware antivirus?

[foolsguinea]

OK, I think I'm done with Avast! Any suggestions for a freeware antivirus that might be more likely to catch virus like a net than to catch virus like a cold?

[Shagnasty]

What wrong with Avast! It is my personal choice. AVG is a close competitor in the free anti-virus market if you want to give that one a try. They are both good.

[Shagnasty]

Missed edit window.

What wrong with Avast!? It is my personal choice. AVG is a close competitor in the free anti-virus market if you want to give that one a try. They are both good. Anti-virus software doesn't catch everything. You need it plus anti-spyware and anti-malware software as well which is often free also but a slightly different question. You have to keep the anti-virus definitions updated. If you do that, Avast! has never let me down finding true viruses, worms, etc. Don't run two true antivirus programs like AVG and Avast! on the same computer at the same time because they can fight. You can combine them with anti-malware tools however. Malware isn't a real virus but something like spying. popup, or advertising software that doesn't truly hurt your computer but is still annoying or invades privacy.

[foolsguinea]

I have Avast! & Spybot. But I'd taken Spybot off because I thought they would fight. Sunday my computer apparently lost power, & when I rebooted Google Chrome would not load. In trying to fix it, I reinstalled Spybot, put on a new version of Firefox, then... noticed that my Windows Firewall is just gone, & I lost sound mysteriously.

Do I need a third program?

[foolsguinea]

Spybot-S&D, that is, though I probably have the worm of that name as well.

[voltaire]

Other than Avast, and AVG, there's also Avira.

[BigT]

Originally Posted by voltaire

Other than Avast, and AVG, there's also Avira.

And Avira is better than both. Heck, free AVG is so bad that it doesn't even make the top ten with free antiviruses. Oddly enough, the paid version is actually better than most if not all other paid antiviruses.

The biggest problem with Avira is that it has a nag screen every time it updates. Google avnotify, (or look in the GQ antivirus thread) though, and you'll find out how to remove it (in a way that, in my opinion, does not violate the software agreement.)

The other one people seem to like, which was a little worse than Avira last year (but I don't know about this year) is Microsoft Security Essentials. It's main drawback is how long it takes to do a full scan.

Also, all of this is in the GQ antimalware thread. It also explains that spyware programs and antivirus programs are not the same thing.

[Imasquare]

There's also Microsoft Security Essentials which combines anti-virus and anti-spyware. I've been using it for the past few months without issues.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...2-33d813687a7f

Previously I was using AVG, also without problems. It also does anti-virus and anti-spyware these days. Be careful when downloading it though. The web page tries to confuse you into downloading a trial version which will require payment once it expires.

http://free.avg.com/au-en/homepage

[sevenwood]

Originally Posted by Imasquare

There's also Microsoft Security Essentials which combines anti-virus and anti-spyware. I've been using it for the past few months without issues.

Same here, but for a year or so.

[ZipperJJ]

I switched everyone in my care (parents, brother, in-laws) to Microsoft Security Essentials about 6 months ago and they are all doing just fine. I run it myself as well.

[Lobsang]

I also use Microsoft Security Essentials.

Microsoft can actually make things that work and don't piss people off. This and Windows 7 so far.

[Wile E]

A little hijack here. With so many decent free antivirus programs available why do the pay ones still expire after a year and expect you to basically pay for the program again in order to update? I might be willing to pay for a good program if support never expired or the yearly subscription were minimal, like $10 a year.

[Lobsang]

My cynical assumption is that AV you pay for gives you lots of extra stuff you don't actually need, stuff that actually bloats your computer unnecessarily and makes it run slower.

IMO Free AV is more than adequate for the job.

[PhiloVance]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

I also use Microsoft Security Essentials.

Microsoft can actually make things that work and don't piss people off. This and Windows 7 so far.

This. MSE and Win 7 are both winners.

[Vinyl Turnip]

Originally Posted by BigT

And Avira is better than both. Heck, free AVG is so bad that it doesn't even make the top ten with free antiviruses.

I switched from using (free) AVG to Avira on several computers and found---particularly on my wife's Vista laptop, which is far from a powerhouse---that it did not slow the system down as much as AVG, which (the latter) tended to make booting/powering down and general disk operations sluggish.

[Telcontar]

Are there any sites that compare the programs on objective grounds? I run AVG but other than "No, I don't seem to have gotten any viruses" i can't really evaluate its quality.

[Digital Stimulus]

I volunteer to be the dick who says, "Linux".

A few months ago, I had to evaluate antivirus software for work. I found that Avast! got the highest ratings of the free packages. I wish I could remember some of the others...but I do recall that one reference I used was Consumer Search.

IIRC (for non-free options), and I was surprised at this, Symantec got a very good rating also, seriously upgraded for its 2010 offering from their terrible 2009 evaluations. I was also surprised that ZoneLabs suite was ranked as mediocre, as in 2009 it had fairly high ratings.

[RealityChuck]

Another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials. It's much faster in scanning and doesn't slow your computer much at all, almost as though they had an "in" with the developers of the operating system.

[control-z]

I was on AVG until they bugged me to death with forced upgrades and having to hunt for the free version.

Now I'm on Avira but I've also installed MSE on other people's computers with no complaints. I like how MS didn't call it something like "Microsoft AntiVirus", IMO the name they chose is confusing.


For any anti-virus that does a daily scan, I'd suggest finding the scheduler and turning the daily scan off. Doing one scan is fine, but after that you're wasting your time and slowing your system down when the anti-virus scans every file that is read or written anyway.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

Another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials. It's much faster in scanning and doesn't slow your computer much at all, almost as though they had an "in" with the developers of the operating system.

Another one for this.

[BigT]

Originally Posted by Digital Stimulus

I volunteer to be the dick who says, "Linux".

A few months ago, I had to evaluate antivirus software for work. I found that Avast! got the highest ratings of the free packages. I wish I could remember some of the others...but I do recall that one reference I used was Consumer Search.

IIRC (for non-free options), and I was surprised at this, Symantec got a very good rating also, seriously upgraded for its 2010 offering from their terrible 2009 evaluations. I was also surprised that ZoneLabs suite was ranked as mediocre, as in 2009 it had fairly high ratings.

Here's the list I used. (Apparently MSE is on there, and I just missed it.) It's a place that actually certifies antiviruses. I'm having trouble finding my source that AVG free uses a different (and inferior) engine than the pro version, but, seeing as I just cleared three viruses from (someone else's) system running AVG free that were all detected by Avira, I tend to believe it. Avira even detected the rootkit.

Also, I ran Avira on a P4 2.0 Ghz with only 256MB of ram, and it didn't slow the computer down at all.

[Chimera]

I would not recommend AVG if you use an iPhone. It does stupid wonky things to iTunes. If you have it and you ever have an experience where your iPhone isn't being recognized for some damned reason, first disable AVG. If that doesn't work, uninstall it. Bets that is what causing it not to be recognized. Likewise if you're trying to update your iPhone or iPod and it gets right to the end... and network timeout.

Of course, if you want the Anti-iTunes, get Panda. It cannot be installed on a PC that has iTunes on it, and you can't install iTunes on a computer that has iTunes on it. At least, that's my experience and what I've seen on-line.

[Imasquare]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

I also use Microsoft Security Essentials.

Microsoft can actually make things that work and don't piss people off. This and Windows 7 so far.

And Visual Studio (for programmers).

[minor7flat5]

I use Windows Security Essentials on dozens of machines because it's free. Most of the other free ones are not easily distributable and have licenses that disallow using them on anything other than a home machine.

Consumer Reports rated Avira and Windows Security Essentials numbers 1 and 2 respectively in their list of freeware security software.

Of the payware security suites, the much-hated Norton was number one, followed by BitDefender.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by Imasquare

And Visual Studio (for programmers).

I'm not a fan.

I could be wrong but didn't Visual Studio begin life as another company's product?

I was a Borland Builder fan.

[Macnbaish]

MSE for me, dropped Avast when it was released.

[Really Not All That Bright]

I've been using AVG for ever but it sure does hog resources. I'd like to try Security Essentials but the last time I tried Microsoft Freeware it was Windows Defender and they rolled it into some pay security suite like a week later.

[otternell]

I like MalwareBytes anti-malware program. IT folks at my company have also recommended it, its done a nice job of cleaning things up every time I have a problem.

[Random Design]

I'm on AVG but I find it a bit resouce intensive, how does Avira compare?

[Kiros]

Microsoft Security Essentials - it's relatively unobtrusive, it doesn't affect my computer's performance, and it has been really good at picking up even minor stuff so far. Thumbs up, and I have loathed AV programs for a long time.

[control-z]

Originally Posted by Random Design

I'm on AVG but I find it a bit resouce intensive, how does Avira compare?

I don't remember the older AVGs slowing the system down, except during the scheduled daily scan, which I disabled. I've never heard any speed complaints about Avira.

[flickster]

Maybe I'm the odd case, but I had just recently transitioned from McAfee to Microsoft Security Essentials and in less than a month I'm back on McAfee and have been fighting to clean my PC of some ugly for the past two weeks. I had wanted to leave McAfee at the end of my subscription period and go with a free alternative, plus one that sucks up less resources. Microsoft didn't work out for me. If there is a good news, I discovered that a McAfee is supplied for free by our AT&T internet service so at least I'm not directly paying for it.

While I was utilizing it, I was keeping MSE updated and running frequent scans, but it just didn't catch whatever this bug/trojan that infected my system and seems to still be morphing to this day.

[Purd Werfect]

Another MSE convert. I used to use AVG, but it got bloated and more obtrusive than it needed to be. Then I went to a paid product, Spyware Doctor with AV, because it was highly rated and did an outstanding job on my family's home systems. I just didn't want to spend money I didn't need to spend any longer. Work offers me Sophos, which is good, but a little trigger happy with alarms. A few months ago I went to MSE, and it's great. Every once in awhile, I'll run a scan with MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, but I see it as a tool to use after something's gotten in rather than a tool to keep things out.

[Purd Werfect]

Originally Posted by flickster

Maybe I'm the odd case, but I had just recently transitioned from McAfee to Microsoft Security Essentials and in less than a month I'm back on McAfee and have been fighting to clean my PC of some ugly for the past two weeks. I had wanted to leave McAfee at the end of my subscription period and go with a free alternative, plus one that sucks up less resources. Microsoft didn't work out for me. If there is a good news, I discovered that a McAfee is supplied for free by our AT&T internet service so at least I'm not directly paying for it.

While I was utilizing it, I was keeping MSE updated and running frequent scans, but it just didn't catch whatever this bug/trojan that infected my system and seems to still be morphing to this day.

None of these products are infallible by any means, and I'm sorry you got hit with a bad one. If you can identify the trojan in question by name, you may be able to find specific tools meant to get rid of it. Otherwise, if it's still on your system, you should consider reimaging. If it's on there and it's successfully avoiding eradication, it's impossible to know what you're system is possibly being used for, or what personal information you may be sending to evil folks.