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 Avira AntiVir Personal Edition is my top pick if you're looking for the best protection against viruses. It is very light on resources and the detection rate of viruses and rootkits is outstanding, however, there are some reservations. First, it does not include antispyware protection or e-mail scanning, they are only available in the paid version. The lack of an e-mail scanner means that AntiVir won't warn you of infected emails before you open them. However, should you open an infected email, AntiVir will still spring into action, so it doesn't mean that you're not protected from email-based infections. Second, AntiVir's updates are usually slower than Avast and AVG, and occasionally stops updating for short periods of time due to server problems. Although AntiVir has advertisements that appear with every update, these ads can be disabled. Finally, AntiVir Personal Edition Classic has a time-limited license. It is renewable, but be aware that you'll have to periodically go through the hoops. Neither Avast or AVG is as effective in detection of viruses as AntiVir, but both are more complete products, and less intrusive in use.
 Avast! Home Edition is an excellent product for average users, in particular those who do not have a real-time antispyware product, although its funky media player style interface is not to everyone's taste. Avast is the least restricted product out of the three, with both anti-rootkit and anti-spyware capabilities. It also has full real-time capabilities, including a web scanner, an e-mail scanner and IM and P2P protection. Avast is fairly light on resources, and is also the only product out of these three to continue support for older Windows platforms. However, Avast has a relatively high rate of false postives. It also requires periodic re-registration, whereas AVG Free does not. The sharware version also includes a script blocker, PUSH updates and various other features.
 AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition has been continuously refined since it was initially released in 1991. The latest version makes further improvements to an already solid product. It now includes spyware, phishing, and email scam protection. Its detection rate is still very good. Regular automatic updates come quickly as before and, despite rumors, the new email scanning feature is not trial limited to 30 days. It has grown considerably in size, is heavy on resources and has very slow scan speeds. The automatic updates occasionally did not work on my computer. By default, it installs the AVG Security Toolbar with Yahoo search. Free and paid versions are available; the differences are that the free version has anti-rootkit disabled, provides Linkscanner Lite instead of Linkscanner Pro and has no technical support other than a free user forum.
These are excellent free antivirus that provide a real alternative to the major antivirus software.
You can increase your protection if you run on demand scans with another antivirus. On demand scans can be run regularly to check for viruses and other malware that may have been missed by your main scanner. If you have a good preventive security strategy in place, however, the extra protection this offers is minimal.
Obviously, if you disable the real-time protection of AntiVir, Avast!, or AVG they can be used as on-demand scanners.
 Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool is an excellent on demand scanner, with good detection rates and strong removal capabilities. However, it requires you to download the whole file again if you want to update it. Also, bear in mind that the detection won't be as good as the current Kaspersky products, which has a newer engine.
 Dr.Web CureIt! is also an excellent choice as an on demand scanner. It is a portable application and has strong removal capabilities. However, it suffers from the same flaw as the Kaspersky AVP Tools - it cannot update. Also, Dr.Web has not been scoring that well in recent tests. Nevertheless, it is still a good choice as a secondary/tertiary on-demand scanner.
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Hey guys anyone have opinion on Comodo Anti Virus / Internet Security?
I have just installed it and am keeping an eye on the next beta, the heuristics of that apparently found 99% of what (avira+kaspersky) found together. In my opinion it looks like huge things to come in the security suite.
Comodo say that 12 months after the release of Security Suite it should be the best suite out there, Oh, and its free!!!! :).
Saying you will beat the competition is something I usually wouldn't believe but Comodo is a reputable company and already has a great hips/firewall combo.
Something you guys should watch out for.
Hi guys! I currently have avira as my real time scanner and avast as my on-demand scanner. My question is it better to use avast or avg as an on-demand scanner or is it better just to use kaspersky? Thanks!
I recommend avast! Home Edition (free) as Real-time (on-Access) scanner
and
A-Squared Free as on-Demand (Backup) scanner.
Why?
a) the Real-Time protection of avast! Home Edition (free) is Better
than the one of Avira free.
Compare how the avast! Home edition (free) is much closer to the paid edition
than what is the Avira Free to its paid edition:
http://avast.com/eng/avast-compare-home-professional.html
http://free-av.com/en/products/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus....
b) Detection rate of A-Squared Free is higher than the one of Avira free.
*** I don't understand why someone erases my posts! ***
If you keep erasing my posts, I will keep posting them!
Posts are only removed if they break our rules, are considered "old", or takeup space by duplicating information. We always put our Registered Members first, so try registering if you want consideration.
Hi
Personally I believe if you are using Avira, you don't need other on demand scanners... Kaspersky is way better than Avast and AVG.
instead use on demand scanner of SAS or MBAM..
I know gizmo posted a way to disable the annoying Avira popup ad that appears randomly. Now I can't find that tip. Did Avira make him take it down? If not, where'd it go?
Steps to make Avira popups go away...
Windows 2000 / Windows XP Pro
1. Go to Start > Run.
2. Type gpedit.msc and click OK.
3. Navigate through User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.
4. Double click "Don't run specified Windows applications".
5. Enable it and click show.
6. Add "avnotify.exe".
7. Click OK on all open windows.
8. Restart.
Alternate:
1. Start > Run: secpol.msc (You can also access this program through 'Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy' this is useful if it is easier the location of this rather than the file name)
2. Right click "Software Restriction Policies," Choose "New Software Restriction Policies." (Skip this step if there are subfolders in Software Restriction Policies already.)
3. Right Click "Additional Rule" folder > New Path Rule.
4. Where it says Path, Type the path of avnotify.exe on your computer, or use the Browse button to find it. (On XP64 using a default install of Avira, the path is: (C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe)
5. Make sure the "Security Level" Dropdown menu is selected as "Disallowed"
6. If you would like to make sure it went through correctly, open the Additional Rules folder, and verify the path and security level.
7. Enjoy the absence of nag windows.
Windows XP
1. Boot into Safe Mode.
2. Log into an account with administrator privileges.
3. Open [driveinstalledon]:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic.
4. Right click on avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security > Advanced.
5. Click on Edit-> Traverse Folder / Execute File-> deny-> OK.
6. Repeat for all users.
7. Reboot your computer normally.
Windows Vista Business/Ultimate
1. Open the control panel through Start > Control Panel.
2. Go to Administrative Tools > Local security policy.
3. Click on Software Restriction Policy > Action > Create new restriction policy.
4. Right-click, and go to additional rules > new path rule.
5. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic and double-click avnotify.exe.
6. Set the security level to Disallowed.
7. Click apply and OK.
Windows Vista Home Premium
1. Go to C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe.
2. Right-click avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security.
3. Under the group or username SYSTEM, click edit.
4. Put a checkmark under the DENY column for "read and execute".
I do not know about the Gizmo post, but Jonathan T. (the editor of this section) posted this info in the comments here:
"To remove the popup ads in Avira AntiVir, follow this website and to disable the splash screen go here. "
Just search for "disable avira antivir popup" on the internet.
Maybe someone know - can I to use Drive Sentry alongside with Avira (or other AV)?
Oh - yes you can - if you believe their compatability tests on the website - Avira is one they say you CAN run alongside DriveSentry to give an increased layer of protection.
Thank you for answer.
I think avira is the best and avg comes the next.But does avira work with avg?
Not if they are both running in real-time, you should only have one for that. If you want, you should be able to use AntiVir real-time and AVG on-demand or vice-versa.
I think avast is the best
Be interested to hear others views on the new Drive Sentry AV/AntiSpyware app.
GUI interface is probably the best I've seen, and, given the complex nature of security programme settings anyway is easy enough to navigate and configure outside of the defaults if you wish to. On install it "detected" my Avira free and recommended removal but having read their website compatibility test report I went ahead and so far no issues at all. Allows full control of everything likely to read or write to/from the drive or registry (making it easy to close out any unwanted Microsoft apps) and in addition to the blacklist and whitlist defaults offers community based popup recommendations for allowing or denying programmes. Early days but at first glance seems excellent and also tested and safe to run with all Commodo apps so users of the firewall like myself need have no concerns there either.
Forum support is personal, prompt and precise. If this app turns out to be as good as it looks we have another free winner. Please advise if any other users have had issues with this.
DriveSentry is recommend here: http://remove-malware.com/uncategorized/drivesentry-31-review-install-co...
It still has conflicts with Sandboxie, and I've also seen quite a few users with memory leak problems. Also the AV protection is quite untested and in my opinion AntiVir, Avast and AVG are much better. If I remember correctly the HIPS doesn't include much process protection. The community based popup recommendations are dubious, because it's basically relying on other users, who are probably not that knowledgable, to guess whether something is safe or not.
If it runs fine on your system, overall I think it is quite good as a HIPS (not AV).
JonathanT,
I appreciated your reply to my original question concerning Antivir. However, in the link under the word website I've encountered a problem of sorts...when i get to step 8 (restart). When I go to that link, it asks me to perform three specific tasks of which I am most ignorant: 1)Make sure you have an administrative rights on the remote machine and you can PING it? 2)# select options to shutdown or restart? and 3)Alternatively - Go to command prompt (start > run > cmd) on your workstation... and Type
shutdown -r -m \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with the IP address or computer name of the remote machine. -r option is for restart, don't use -r if want to just shut down the system?
What am I supposed to know or do regarding these three things?
Also, am I to immediately go to the set of instructions entitled Alternate as well or is that an alternative to the prior set of instructions?? I greatly appreciate your assistance and thank you very much in every possible way...
God Bless!
T. Hill
Hi
You just need to restart, there's no need to follow the instructions on the link.
The instructions entitled "Alternate" is just an alternative to the prior set of instructions.
Happy New Years......and tankey, tankey!!!
Hi,
I also stumbled upon the free DriveSentry the other day and am testing it currently. Up to now it seems solid and very comfortable to use. The great interface wants to make me believe that the developers put equal care into functionality and protection. But time will show.
What I can already say about DriveSentry, however, is that you need to understand that it does not only provide AV and AS protection but also implements a HIPS. The first screen presented to me after installation was the "Protected Folders" list with only a few folders in there. These are only the HIPS protected folders. AV ans AS is of course system wide.
HIPS stands for "Host-based Intrusion Prevention System" and describes the protection against so-called zero-days-attacks. Attacks from brand new malware that is still unknown to the big AV software protectors. DriveSentry takes a behaviour-based approach checking whether external programs are trying to change files or registry entries. A pop-up will warn you if that happens. It is very similar to a firewall, just that this one watches activities on your files and registry.
Once you click yourself through the settings of DriveSentry's HIPS you will see how much control you have via the configuration. It is fairly new to me too and I will see in the next weeks or months what it does for me. Having AV, AS and HIPS in one program seems very effective to me.
Best regards,
George
Hi
Happy New Year.. and thanks for the input. I guess in a way DriveSentry is a bit like a combination between bits of Threatfire and a grown up version of DSA! Still, the approach is quite different to anything else that's around so it must really be judged in its own right after some timely feedback. I accept JonathonT's remarks about the community based feedback (quite a few seeing the Iobit Smart Defrag that THEY installed as malware!!) and would only use this facility as a rough guide, but us usage numbers increase then so will the reliability of the information in the popups. The great advantage is that it allows you to run alongside some of the most widely used existing apps. so giving ample opportunity to test without degrading your protection. No doubt the next few months will confirm the real status of this programme but for now my congrats. to the developers for their efforts.
I'm not sure about that. If one user saw a pop up and pressed allow when it was actually malware, a second user would think it is safe and press allow, then a third user would see two people saying it's safe and press allow, and so on.
Sorry - but I thinks this assumes that the whole world is automatically dim. Once the user levels reach resonable numbers which, judging by their website activity will be quite soon, then I'm pretty sure there won't be too many "allow the SpottedDick.TrojanV3" advices. In any case, when unsure always best to block and investigate yourself.
Well of course not everyone is dim, but I think it has fair chances of happening sometimes. "when unsure always best to block and investigate yourself." If so, then what's the point of the community?
The point of the community (any community) is that it encourages and empowers people to become involved. Sure theres always the opportunity for "sheep syndrome" but the mathematical certainty as numbers increase is that the advice will become more reliable.
Does windows defender work it Avira and is defender anygood at detecting spyware anymore.
Windows Defender should work with AntiVir. But according to Steve (editor of Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover) it detected 0 infections in a computer full of malware (159 malware according to Superantispyware). So I would not recommend it.
Jon,
This makes no sense. Please elaborate..? Link to test? Link to how or why?
To much faith in SAS over WD I percieve. SAS is a newcomer I would doubt before WD, and I'm no fan of Windblows.
JB
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