Whats a good Free antivirus

[quote name='Screwhead281']Malwarebytes. It's found more viruses than the Norton I have.[/QUOTE]

Be careful of false positives.
 
free.avg.com

I use AVG on every machine I have. If I were to ever shell out money for AV protection, I would likely get the paid AVG or Kaspersky.
 
[quote name='Lonedragon87']thanks guys downloaded AVG[/QUOTE]

AVG is the worst choice out of those that you could have made. It has the poorest detection rates, and uses the most system resources.

Avira is much better, in both regards.
 
AVG is not nearly as good as it used to be. Avira gets annoying with the popups once a day.
Windows Live Security Essentials is what I run on all of my windows installations.
 
Used to use AVG a few years ago, but didn't seem to be keeping all the riffraff out the last couple years. Been using Avast for about a year, working great and I just set it to never show me any notification unless something is going wrong, which has been almost never. Every once in awhile I wonder if it's even still there, but I open the main program and it's working well behind the scenes.

Once I get an excuse to, I'll probably switch over to try Microsoft's, because I like to keep things consistent.
 
Well, I see the OP already made a decision, but I want to just agree with everyone about the downfall of AVG. It was indeed the best years back and it was used on all of our computers, but it just is not as good anymore.

I personally find Avast! to be the most appealing both in terms of aesthetics and functionality.
 
Avast is the best I've tried. I HAVE tried them all and compared them in terms of security and memory usage. Avast won for me. I will be the first to admit avast had an absolutely horrible interface to the point it was hard for me to recommend to non-techies. Good news though! They completely redid the ui! Looks MUCH nicer now and a lot easier to use.
avast_5_free_main_610x462.png
 
Interesting - I haven't had any issues with ClamWinAV - basic, free, runs in the background, updates almost daily...

But I haven't had a virus in 10 years, and at least half of that time I wasn't using ANY antivirus program.

Here's the key: Keep your wife/girlfriend/friends/parents away from your computer.
 
I've been using avg for a few years now and it hasn't let me down yet. Although, I did do that special offer thing where you get the paid version for free every time but I don't think it's all that different as I have the free version on another pc.
 
I think you should give Linux a shot. Don't let the nerdy stigma push you away. Sure it might take a couple days to learn what's where, but after that you'll have a a faster, more stable OS. You'll never get a virus again. Also. Its free!
 
[quote name='Lawyers Guns N Money']Microsoft Security Essentials came out on top (for the free versions) in Maximum PC's latest roundup.

I used to use AVG, but it got bad in recent years, switched to Avira, but the popups are annoying. I'll be switching to MSE in the near future.[/QUOTE]

My avg is about to run out in a month so I may give that a try before renewing avg.
 
[quote name='Fatsobob']Avira gets annoying with the popups once a day.[/QUOTE]

You can disable those really, really easily. Google "avira notification disable."
 
[quote name='Skoad']Every once in awhile I wonder if it's even still there, but I open the main program and it's working well behind the scenes.[/QUOTE]
Haha, case in point:
[quote name='GeoHolyhart']http://download.cnet.com/i/bto/20100115/avast_5_free_main_610x462.png[/QUOTE]
When did they do that? That's awesome, both the update and the fact that I haven't noticed.
 
[quote name='Strell']Microsoft Security Essentials
Avast!
AVG
Avira

Take your pick.[/QUOTE]

from the latest Maximum PC -

Avast! --- 5 out of 10 / still to slow to take seriously

Avira --- 6 out of 10 / a servicable solution if you supply your own smart computing habits

Microsoft Security Essentials --- 8 out of 10 / windows live onecare reincarnated for the masses


Personally - I use MSEssentials, Superantispyware, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware... all good products. I was once an AVG fan but started using the MSEssentials when I bought my new computer.
 
[quote name='Lawyers Guns N Money']Microsoft Security Essentials came out on top (for the free versions) in Maximum PC's latest roundup.

I used to use AVG, but it got bad in recent years, switched to Avira, but the popups are annoying. I'll be switching to MSE in the near future.[/QUOTE]


Go MaxPC!:D

I used to use AVG for all of my machines, but the version 8 ( I think?) caused all that bandwidth sucking with the preemptive scanning, so I went to Avast. Now I'm using MSE and I'm really happy with it.
 
Try comodo, I go everywhere online and have never gotten a virus or spyware, sometimes I get paranoid and download something other then comodo to make sure it's actually working, and it is, as the other anti viruses don't find anything either.

P.S
Comodo asks permission for everything, it's like vista x 10 :(
 
I'd agree Microsoft Security Essentials is the best free option right now. I previously liked Avira best, but MSE seems to a take a little less resources. AVG went down hill and avast was a resource hog compared to the other options.

If you decide to pay I'd recommend Nod32.
 
Is MSE user-friendly, especially for someone who's never had a computer before? My parents' free Norton trial just expired.
 
[quote name='shieryda']Is MSE user-friendly, especially for someone who's never had a computer before? My parents' free Norton trial just expired.[/QUOTE]

Once I installed it, I don't think I had to do anything else. It updates automatically. And it periodically does a system scan according to the schedule. Sometimes I forget it's even there. When I download a file, I can right click and do a quick scan with MSE.
 
I used to run AVG...ditched it and now use Avast! on my laptop and Comodo on my 2 desktops. Tried Avira at one point too.

AVG and Avira gave a lot of false positives. While I've gotten a few from Comodo, I have been very happy with it.
 
I use Malwarebyes and Avast, both on my personal machine and all the systems I work on.

Avast's boot-time scan option is fantastic for cleaning up some of the shit my family brings me to clean up.
 
I use Avast mostly just to keep the red flag on my Windows 7 down....has aesthetics and seems to run smoothly!
 
+1 for Microsoft Security Essentials, it's nice and stays out of the way. Doesn't even have a popup to tell you it updated the definitions.

Oh, and Malwarebytes isn't an anti-virus, it's an anti-malware program.
 
[quote name='hobbie8046']AVG FTW.

Avast! will piss you off to no end.[/QUOTE]
lol yeah it worked but irritated with me constant updates especially when your volume is up
 
[quote name='xilly']+1 for Microsoft Security Essentials, it's nice and stays out of the way. Doesn't even have a popup to tell you it updated the definitions.

Oh, and Malwarebytes isn't an anti-virus, it's an anti-malware program.[/QUOTE]

Since when are viruses not malware?
 
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