Free AntiVirus Software - Discussion

Please leave any feedback about the Free AntiVirus Software article in this thread.

Looks good to me, you got all the main 4 covered

Just of note, AV Comparatives have released their Malware Removal Test (24th Oct) which involves all 4 of the free AV's named in the article. Just bear in mind that this is an anti-malware report as opposed to an AV report. MSE scored good in both sections, not bad for a first time test. Will be interesting when they give it a full AV test. I do know that it stops a few known nasty variants in its tracks including the TDSS rootkit infection which is missed by many AV's due to the hidden rootkit. Lets just hope Microsoft get it right and that it proves to be as reliable as it sounds.

AV Comparatives Report:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/image...moval_2009.pdf

Good article Ian, Note to torrent fans Avast live scans your downloads... very handy when your downloading Christmas Card Templates (legal of course ) as you don't want to be picking up some nasty software on the way, Avast will inform you if you start downloading some thing you don't want.

Thanks Ian

For years, I have not paid for anti-virus software. Why should I? Avast has protected me well with XP Pro, so I made it my choice (with some advice on this forum). Norton was preinstalled on this new PC, but it survived only two days. Slowed the PC. However, on my laptops with XP Pro, I installed MSE to give it a try. There is nothing wrong with free anti-virus, as long as it's good, and most importantly, realtime protection. That's where AVG fails on their free version. They want you to pay for it, and I respect that. There are also some good anti-spyware software as well. Ad Aware is good for a solid backup to catch tracking cookies,adware and spyware. So do your research, and most of you (except commercial users) should never have to pay for solid protection. The anti-virus industry has never received a cent from me, and they shouldn't from you, either.

Really the biggest threat to your computer when it comes to Viruses and such is the user themselves. Not surfing to Warez, Porn or other "suspect" sites plays a big part in keeping your computer clean

Being a responsible user is the best AV there is. My PC has been clean for 18 straight years, even with monthly "confidence scans" to assure that I haven't been careless.

That said, Avira AntiVir is consistently rated as the #1 AV solution by av-comparatives, and nobody's testing methodology is more thorough than theirs. It baffles me why anyone would use something else in the face of concrete evidence.

I agree with all of your posts on this article, especially the ones that hold the user responsible for the sites they click on. If you're a porn freak, buy a cheap laptop for these kind of sites. That way, you're main system won't become infected by them.

I used to be a fan of Avast until recently. I installed Avast, made sure it was up-to-date and the AV didn't find anything. I accidentally installed an older version of SuperAntiSpyware which helped the system a lot. Avast also made the computer feel heavy (slowed the system down, etc).

The two that we use at my office (both free/paid version) are SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes. If you'd like I can write an article up for both of them.

Goober, Avast has never slowed my system noticeably. They all probably do slightly. That's surprising to hear. As long as you found one that you're happy with and that you'll use properly, good luck.

The funny thing is I can install to test/try out may different Anti-Virus programs and some will run with each other without issue and others will get in each other way and horribly slow down my system so I always take that into consideration while testing.