Looking for a free Virus Protection Software

Shimrra

Shimrra

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So I am giving my mom my old laptop since I don't use it anymore. I wiped everything off and installed Win7 so now I need some recommendation on what is a safe and reliable virus protection for her. Thanks.
 
I use the free version of avast!, I've had it on my past few computers now and it works great. It can automatically update itself (a lot of the programs can do this actually) which can be very beneficial for somebody who isn't really that into computers. I just got my Associates in IT Support and the ones most of the people used were otherwise avast!, avg, or MSE.

Here's a link where you can download the free version of avast!
http://www.avast.com/index
 
All of them are okay and depending upon what nasty / naughty sites you visit, none of them will help you if the people know what they are doing. The problem is that all anti-virus programs are signature based. Find the signature, change a byte in the code and evade the signature.

If you are worried about your web browsing and catching something nasty, spin up a virtual machine for browsing only. There are a number of them available either with VMWare player and VirtualBox are the biggest but there are others. This is the best, and cheapest alternative for home users. Load, browse, wipe, repeat when done.

With that said, something is better than nothing and having an AV program on your system will probably prevent the script kiddies from owning your system. It will not stop anyone with knowledge.
 
If you want the best open source AV - you should use Clam AV. I worked for the company that owns it for nearly 5 years. Best AV in the market. It is also non-intrusive and updates every day.
 
[quote name='s0undwav3']If you want the best open source AV - you should use Clam AV. I worked for the company that owns it for nearly 5 years. Best AV in the market. It is also non-intrusive and updates every day.[/QUOTE]

It's also an on-demand scanner only; no real time protection (at least last I checked).

I'd recommend either Avast, Avira, or Microsoft Security Essentials. Also look into Sandboxie, it runs your browser in a sandbox so that browser threats are pretty much eliminated.
 
Microsoft Security Essentials is the best if you're going to be giving it to your mom. I installed it 18 months ago and haven't seen it since. There's no popups, notifications, manual scans, updates, etc. Set it and forget it. Best thing MS has ever done with Windows.
 
I have to agree with the set and forget for MS Security Essentials. I have it and forgot I even had it till now.
 
Avast stilll (AVG is bad) but now Avast has some random installed program too called Nalpeirion - that it doesn't tell you about and you can't uninstall (that I saw in a quick check).
 
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