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Introduction
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Antivirus software provides an essential layer of protection from a multitude of virus, trojan, worm, spyware, adware, dialer, keylogger and rootkit infections. Traditionally antivirus programs just detected viruses and spyware removers just detected spyware but nowadays the boundary between antivirus and spyware removers is unclear. Most current antiviruses have at least reasonably good detection rates of all forms of malware. Malware includes viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, dialers, keyloggers and rootkit threats that perform malicious activities on a computer. With the huge increase in malware, antivirus software cannot keep up with detecting all of it. But using more than one real-time antivirus uses much more system resources, can cause conflicts and even reduce protection. So I recommend you only choose one antivirus for real-time protection. Instead, you can increase your protection using other security software. I looked at several free antivirus programs which are vital in protecting your computer from virus threats and other types of malware. |
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First, AntiVir does not include web or e-mail scanning capabilities; this is only available in the paid version. The lack of an e-mail scanner is not really a disadvantage, it just means that AntiVir won't warn you of infected emails before you open them. But 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 has advertisements that appear with every update, although you can disable these ads. Although AntiVir had signature updating problems in the past, this issue seems to be fixed now.
Microsoft Security Essentials is the best choice for average users because of the minimal user interaction required. It automatically updates and removes threats. No registration is needed, apart from a quick validating of Windows, and there are no nag screens or advertisements. The main downsides are the slow scan speeds and the lengthy amount of time it takes to quarantine malware. MSE also is not available in certain countries so users there will have to look elsewhere. Note that Microsoft Security Essentials requires a genuine copy of Windows to install.
These free antivirus programs are excellent software that provide a real alternative to the major commerical antivirus products. 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, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, keyloggers, rootkits and other malware that may have been missed by your main antivirus scanner. If you have a good preventive security strategy in place, however, the extra protection an on-demand antivirus scanner offers is minimal.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition deserves a special mention because it is so popular. Although this venerable antivirus was once highly regarded, I feel that in recent times, although it is not bad, it is not comparable to the above mentioned free antivirus software. It has grown considerably in size and resource usage, has very slow scan speeds and also advertisements (but they can be disabled). I'll also mention several popular free antivirus programs which I considered but did not include in the review because of low detection rates.
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Comments
Thanks for a good review in my opinion, I will be making use of Avira soon only because AVG is really resource hungry as you mentioned in your review and with personal experience in using AVG 8, don't get me wrong AVG is great but i never do scans only virus database updates. When using AVG to scan your computer it's like leaving it alone for video rendering! :)
Why is my message deleted??
I say it again ;) with no bad intensions..
Is this someting?
Anti Malware-Spyware-Virus that runs in a complete virtual system that is separated from the actual operating system..
Returnil Virtual System 2010 Free Antivirus
http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/products
Returnil Virtual System 2010 is surprisingly light on resources. When idle, the program uses only 18 megabytes for the program to function and only adds one new process at 9 megabytes when a virus scan is in progress. In addition, the virus scan only used a maximum of 15 percent CPU power. Surprisingly, even though Returnil takes a full system snapshot, the whole hard drive usage is only a 100 megabytes.
Returnil is not a true AV in the sense that most people will understand because it majors on the use of virtualisation technology. It is also complicated to understand and work with compared to the solutions offered here. There is also no option to return your computer to a "clean state" with the free version which IMO makes it crippleware.
This thread is typical of the queries you see about Returnil.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?s=c5b065287845537fdc5b4d77...
If you have an advanced knowledge of Windows and like this type of program then Returnil is an alternative option but in the context of what we are trying to achieve here it is not suitable to be included in this review.
MC-Are you saying that all activity done such as downloading and general browsing while Returnil(Free) is in virtual mode is NOT deleted upon restart leaving a totally clean pc? THAT was the main reason I have been using it! If not is there a free option that does provide this?
It's the restore function that is omitted in the free version.
http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/products#compare
This being the case you can achieve the same thing far more simply and without any of the risks by using Sandboxie alongside a normal AV.
http://www.sandboxie.com/
Thank you for making that clear,
i did not install it but only wanted to know if it was known software out here..
Greetings
Why is Avira top choice??
Avira 9 was amazing but 10 has fallen really short.
I have watched tests of Avira and it's shields let some easy malware slip through. On the other hand Avast and MSE have done pretty well.
A new comer to the AV world is Rising antivirus Free and it's shields managed to catch all but one and for a free AV that's not bad.
I just installed the latest version of Avast 5 which was posted over at Wilders. I had to uninstall the prior application before installing the new, which according to the Alwil website should not be necessary. Anyway all works well except the Mail shield.It is "off" and I am unable to turn it on. Anyone else experience this problem?
It's possibly just the "pre-release" and not the "final" release.
INTRODUCING: New pre-release build of avast [5.0.656]
I also have to add, that the yesterday pre-release posting over at Wilders didn't get as many hits or comments, that I thought it would.
http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/performance/performan...
New test is up!
Thx, very interesting. From gizmo's point of view it's a pity these tests did not include AntVir and MSE.
I guess one could expect that those AVs that are the least effective would have the least impact on our system performance. From these tests that's not always the case.
Why were MSE and Avira not tested?
This is explained in the introduction.
I'll probably be shot down in flames here but unless you have an old machine this must surely be the worst reason possible for choosing security software :)
Not sure I agree. Take NOD32 for instance. Universally lauded as one of the best A/V clients. Detection rates are great with minimal false positives but when downloading executables or archives, it takes an excessive amount of time to scan them upon download completion. I have a pretty nice computer but it sometimes locks up my system for minutes at a time after a download finishes and there's pretty much nothing I can do except wait for it to release my CPU.
Compare that with with Avast or Avira who can almost scan the downloaded files almost instantly, yet they don't come close to NOD32 in overall features.
It's getting to the point where you can't go wrong with any of the top A/V clients in regards to the their detection rates/false positive ratio. Which makes things like their scanning performance all that much more important.
Can you elaborate please on the myriad of features that Nod 32 has that Avast 5 does not?
I agree wholeheartedly on the basis as you describe it, but the general tendency is just to look at test results and then make a decision based on the list at the end without reading very much about how they got there.
The majority of Avira owners I've ever encountered for instance do not have the rootkit scanner enabled or the full selection of additional threat categories. IMO choosing a solution you can understand and work with is the most vital decision and everything else is secondary to that.
I agree though that the tech savy may well choose to swap to a less drive intensive or faster solution if the protection performance is similar to what they already have, and why not :)
Really, MC, is there a specific reason why these features are not enabled by default in Avira? In the paid version they are?
7isHeaven has said it all below. I hasten to add that this same scenario applies to a lot of other security software which just gets installed at default without any attempt to read the help file and adjust settings based on personal need.
I agree that MSE is looking more and more like the obvious choice for folks wanting a load and forget solution.
The reason they are not enabled by default in the free is simply becuase it's free. You get what you pay for so if you upgrade to the paid everything that is "supposed" to be enabled is enable by default. Avira just assumes that when you download the free you will everything in default. But it's best to read as much info as you can on the product so you can make the free product protect you computer @ peak efficiency and maximum security benefit. Or the easy way out would be to be use Microsoft's outstanding Security Essentials which encompasses "everything" as far as malware catching including rootkits and requires no college degree to set up. The new malware engine has my vote. But........the choice is yours my friend :)
Yeah guys you're both right. If you don't choose custom installation when you install Antivir then it's pretty difficult to find your way through the expert configuration which is very badly designed, obviously on purpose.The main UI of Avira is as simple as it gets, which is always a good thing, but if you wanna tweak the settings then you're lost! And it doesn't matter if you're a novice or above average, it's just confusing!
Is anyone familiar with a program called Wuzzup? I could not find much info about it on the web. I did download the program but it was estimating 10 hours to fully scan my laptop...It also had a false positive of a Microsoft Word program file that ClamWin falsely identified too.Any opinions on this one?
Not impressed with either the program or the direction it appears to be heading in. Others mileage may vary though. More discussion here:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?s=7d49ae296c57750acc029c8c...
Does anyone have any info or links regarding Security Essentials 2.0 beta. I find the internet quite mum on the product :o
You need a windows live ID and to sign up with windows connect.
This site may be of interest, scroll down for the beta.
http://mintywhite.com/windows-7/7security/complete-guide-protecting-pc-m...
Thanks for this helpful link! I done an experiment with the "default actions" tab regarding MSE :o Most people download MSE and accept the default settings as is but I changde the severe, high alert, and medium alert settings to remove and the low level to quarantine instead of leaving them to the reccomended settings and proceeded to this website i usually go to that is ridden with ads to download movie trailers and clips and low and behold MSE caught a piece of adware! It was labeles as a medium threat and the description it gave me was labeled as a malicious popup! As a MSE user since feb it had never caught something like this before so I have surmised two things. One I changed the settings or #2 which is probaly the real reason is Essentials was updated on the 19th with a new malware engine.
About Avast, major drawback is that it is designed to NOT run in Safe Mode (at least for WinXP), which definitely makes Safe Mode with Networking a non-option. Sad but I only realized this the other day after tearing my hair out trying to figure out why it wouldn't load, either automatically or manually. Tough to isolate potential PC problems (especially if need internet connection) without a running AV program!
Avast good in boot scan, it will eliminate the virus in boot scan. choose delete option.
Thanks, I knew that but virus removal wasn't my point. Instead, it was the lack of AV protection while on internet in safe mode (other reasons to be in safe mode than solely virus/etc concerns). I wanted to specifically note this drawback for other forum visitors.
I thought that was the point of safe mode, it stops 3rd party software from running. Can you start Avast manually whilst in safe mode?
I've been an avira man for several years now.. back when it was hard to even find a review on it.. but after doing a lot of internet research and updating my knowledge.. I like Rising better.. and avira has apparently lost some stability since it's 2010 release.. I still use avira on half my machines.. and rising on the other half.. I'm a savy user and do not get detections but i am curious way you say Rising gets low detection rates.. i've seen nothing about that anywhere else.. and as far as i've known have been claiming VB100 scores.. Also it's what i put on most all of my novice users' computers and they all seem to love it.. easy to understand and doesn't bother you.. aswell they have no infection problems using that and the free antispyware product it offers.. and WOT .. and if they have a descent machine i'll add threatfire, and always opendns. But like i say everyone i've shown it to has loved it.. and i use it on my laptop.. very low resourses and just so easy to understand.. plus the thumb drive immunization built in.. i just really want to hear more from you about risings security programs cause i feel in my personal opinion they now offer the best free av and possibly the best free antispyware aswell.
This is one example of Risings performance which really is very poor.
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml
Even in their own regional testing they are right toward the bottom of the pile. Check out the May PDF here:
http://www.pcsecuritylabs.net/
also when running win 7 i have noticed some issues with avira clashing with windows defender.. and in a couple cases would install but not run.. and windows 7 say i have no antivirus.. have not seen any issues with avast there or rising.. but yet on some win 7 pcs i've installed avira fine.. and even left it running with win defender... which i also didn't notice anything as far as realtime free antispyware prevention.. i saw scanners.. and rootkit and hips.. but not realtime anyspyware.. like terminator vs defender vs rising pc tools. vs.. spybot teatimer vs.. etc....
Why not just install Microsoft Security Essentials and you won't even have to run windows defender with another av. sprinkle a chromium based browser in the mix with the phishing malware filter activated and you shoud be fine.
the antimalware engine of mse was updated today so it's an even more viable option now than ever
the engine version i'm showing is 1.1.6103
today i switched from avast to avira.
ran full scan found 5 detections.
uploaded to virustotal.
1/41 2.4%
0/44
0/42
0/42
1/42
fwiw dr.web was the one that alerted to both.
i think i'll go back to avast.
Can you please explain your results? I cannot understand them.I am new to personal computers and the jargon. Thank you
all 5 of those detections were false positives by avira.
if you see the review of avira the "cons" say many false positives.
the percentage means hardly any other anti virus detected those as real viruses/trojans/ or rootkits.
oh yeah i almost forgot should i restore all these before i switch back to avast?
thanks
if I am using Panda cloud Free edition and was going to switch to a light av would you recommend avast or MSE? I know Avira is good I don't want the pop ups. MSE heavier then Avast and how do they rate against panda cloud?
I find Panda Cloud to be the lightest AV on my XP-machine and then Avast. Both Avira and MSE are too heavy as far as I am concerned, though I would like to use MSE because it is probably better than any of the above mentioned AV's.
I'm wondering should I just go back to Avira. I do like panda cloud because it is light just not a fan of the ads. Is Avira still the best at detection I notice MSE is up there now. Where does it stand as of now with the ratings on this site. Avria MSE then Avast? I hear avira is going cloud based and also thought there was talk about adding the behaviour based detection to the free version later this year. I do like version 10.
Go with the AV you are comfortable using. There really isn't much difference between them except for how one might run better with your machine and setup. I like Panda Cloud and Avast, but only use one or the other. Right now I switched back to Panda Cloud, because I like the lightness. I only use a router and window firewall, SRWare Iron and Prevx Safeonline from Facebook. I'm not paranoid, so don't pile on different security software, that will slow my xp-machine down and I periodically use Malwarebytes, Hitman Pro for on-demand scanners. I will also scan with Dr Web Curit, if I think my machine is infected.
If you practice "safe browsing", you're quite safe with either Avira, Avast or MSE.
For me, Microsoft Security Essentials along with a combination of Comodo internet security (only the firewall and Defense plus components), a host file and of course, Firefox with noscript and safe browsing and installing all the latest updates from Microsoft has kept my system safe and clean.
I also take care not to browse unknown sites dealing with warez, keygens, cracks and other such crap which regularly serve out malware.
I also use sandboxie to run unknown programs. Again this is only my security setup and might not work out for another person
sir,i have used avira personal antivirus&avast free antivirus,please cleareafy me that which is good enough for my window seven&also give me maximum protection for my pc.please email me with ur answer.thanks
If you have specific questions about an anti-virus or if you want specific help, then please check out our forums. Our forums are made for these types of questions.
I am an amateur PC user, and I'm finding it difficult to figure out how Hitman Pro updates itself. Is it independent of signatures, and does it rely on the cloud community for updates? But *when* does it connect to the internet? It doesn't sit in my system tray; it just scans my PC after the boot, when my PC is usually not connected to the internet.
Please clarify my doubt.
Thanks in advance.
-Spruce.
Have you checked the program settings to make sure it does not scan on boot. After my small stint with it, I always made sure I had it configured to not scan @ boot. I don't think it updates behind your back unless you have it configured it to do so. At least it never updated unless I opened the program my self. I had threatfire set @ maximum setting so when something tried to create an internet connection on my computer it would alert me. Hitman Pro never done that with me, although user experience may vary based on how you use your computer. As soon as I download a program, especially if it is free, I always open the program and configure it to not update automatically so that I can manually update it myself. If I find that I have numerous programs on my computer, I have a sticky note stuck beside my computer to remind me to manually check for updates regarding the programs on my computer. My process for using Hitman Pro was as follows. On my least busiest day of the week, I would do full scan with Security Essentials. After that, full scan with Malwarebytes, then culminating with a scan using Hitman. That way, Hitman being the last one, it would pick up whatever Essentials and malwarebytes happened to miss. I did that once a week.
Thanks for the clarification.
I checked the program settings and deliberately let it scan on boot.
I want to know how to *update* Hitman Pro. You told me about configuring it, but I couldn't find a button on its interface to let me update. I *do* want to update it. How will I know if I'm running the latest version? Because it never updates itself automatically, as you said. Neither does it launch itself when my PC is connected to the internet, nor does it sit in my system tray.
Please let me know.
Thanks, in advance.
:-)
You don't update Hitman Pro. It checks each file it scans against its definitions, but these are stored in the cloud. Thus it doesn't need to download these definitions to your computer.
Hitman pro recently released a build 108 or either 109 which was supposed to protect users against the LNK threat in Windows. But once users downloaded the fix on patch Tuesday and then a new version of Hitman pro came out and the message on their splash screen when you open the program would say you have the latest patch from microsoft to protect against this threat. That same day i downloaded the new build and decided to uninstall it that evening along with Kantaris media player which is a free media player. Needless to say after i uninstalled both of the programs i was not able to download any movie clips using Interent explorer but was able to download them with Google Chrome. the error mssg it gave me with IE was something "port 80" being closed. So i'm wondering if the uninstallation of Kantaris caused this or the uninstallation Hitman pro. Has anyone had any problems with Hitman pro meddling with ports 443 or ports 80 to protect users against the LNK problem or could it be when i used Revo to uninstall Kantaris it messed up IE. Something is up with Hitman which is the reason why I posted this becuase using Threatfire to its maximum setting i get to see what tries to form a connection and threatfire goes super crazy when i launch hitman pro and update it. :( that's the beauty of threatfire i guess, it exposes everything.
Does anyone have any theories.
it's not malware, done a scan with threatfire, mbam, essentials and of course hitman
I see on many comments that the e-mail address is "not verified."
Please, how does one go about getting one's e-mail address "Verified?"
This tag is added automatically to un-registered posters by our Drupal system. The usernames for full members appear in blue, like your own.
This type of event is always a possibility, especially if Revo was used at it´s advanced setting. This being the case it is always important to check exactly what you are instructing to be deleted because some of these could be shared files needed by other applications to run. If this wasn´t the case then there´s too many other possibilities to hazard an accurate guess. Have you tried doing a system restore to before this point?
Man, have i done a system restore :) I went beyond that! The day after i went out and bought a windows 7 update disc, was running vista sp2. I done a clean install on my cheap computer running sempron 2.2 single core processor with one gig of ram. Flawless. Right now i'm running ie8 with two tabs open and have had it running for the most part of the day with security essentials only using 470 mbs of ram. No ram leakage whatsoever.
Hence the name "7isHeaven". Windows 7 manages resources so well. Keep in mind i didn't upgrade to try and get rid of the problem. I'm not sure what caused the error. I think Kantaris might have becuase when i installed it, ie started asking me where i wanted to save my movie clips at on my computer instead of just playing them using windows media player. Still it had me wondering. Being a former panda cloud user, i'm going to give this cloud thing, including Hitman pro a short break. Using cloud programs uses internet bandwith. I might even dislodge Security Essentials from my computer and install Threatfire. I'm thinkg when Essentials goes to 2.0 version it will beocme bigger and consume more resources like most software. The good thing about threatfire is that it always stays the same for some reason. the version now has not deviated from the size and scope the past versions.
Well, I am more than happy to admit that I resisted he "change" big time and reverted back to XP twice. Eventually though I was able to appreciate the real advances made by Windows 7 and am now very happy with it.
I also use Kantaris now in preference to my old time favorite VLC except for audio where I prefer Spider.
I´ve recently been running the MSE beta and although I appreciate the improvements I´m not altogether so sure about the direction. I think your own observation about a possible journey to bloat town is very likely to come true :)
Since the latest release of FortiClient though I´m sort of in 7H now myself (watch the numbers carefully because version 4.2.1.0255 is not yet on the download sites) because here at last for Windows 7 is all of the sort of components I like in one package. OK,so it won´t break anyone´s test results records, but for my level of risk it´s still more than adequate.
I´m pleased you´ve got yourself sorted though.
Have a great weekend.
Have a great weekend as well.
I suppose sooner or later I will have to register for this website because I'm dying to get in on some of the verbal action in your forum. The security landscape is changing at a very rabid pace but the freeware available is keeping up with pace quite nicely. I think I might be headed back to Threatfire since I learned how to manipulate it so that it would do my bidding.
Thank you.
Always remember its okay to use XP becuase XP stands for Xtra Perfect in my book :)
Avira needs to be reviewed again, the latest version 10 is not as good as 9. This is apparent in cnets' review and many people I have talked to. I have tried it, and it seems much more crippled than before; updates are even more of a major concern {never updated once on my machine], heck, even Hitman Pro dropped it! Imho:
1 Avast
2 MSE
3 Panda Cloud Free
4 Avira Antivir
5 AVG Free
So long as you do not have any expectation that the review should agree with your humble opinion!
I find the reviews here to be very well done. Doesn't mean I always use the top pick, just means I have an excellent short list to choose from.
As it happens I'm using Avast and keeping a close watch on MSE, so our humble opinions are the same. It's just that I don't think this should reflect on the work done by the category reviewer, or that we should presume to tell him/her what they should be doing.
It seems to me, that most top AV's are upgrading or changing faster than they can be tested lately. I guess it's a good thing, but kind of hard for a user to choose and get comfortable with a particular one.
A few things are quite important here. First, all of the various "tests" you will see around the net are all flawed in one way or another depending on your point of view. Here I'm talking about the recognized test labs and not the stuff posted on Youtube which however well intentioned should never be viewed as anything other than entertainment. The only way to make full use of these resources is to read their methodology statements and small print and then assess how relevant the results might be for your own needs. In the real world, a small detection percentage differential between one product and another should not prompt you to change it. Unless you use a specialist tool like AppRemover or another fully controllable third party uninstaller, the risk of leaving remnants behind in your system which will conflict with a new program are high.
I appreciate though what you say about getting comfortable with a program. I do believe that it is necessary to actually "like" something in order to get the most from it. Then you will be comfortable to work with the program and understand how to configure it to provide the best protection. I wonder for example how many people using Avira still don't have the rootkit or complete set of extended threat options enabled?
Very true MidnightCowboy and thank's for clarifying.
MSE is one to watch in the few coming months, it keeps getting better.
I recommended AVG, it's good especially the security suite version, but even the free version is good. hmmm, wonder why AVG wasn't reviewed here anymore.
AVG IS mentioned in the article towards the bottom.
The truth is that until very recently AVG was very bloated and had very poor test results.
I would encourage you to come visit our forums. There is a very recent discussion about the merits of AVG and how some of our editors feel that it has made a very strong come-back.
I agree with this statement taken from the forum and rootkits in my opinion are the scariest malware, Period! I won't use AVG, no way, no how...
"If the free version had antirootkit protection (the lack of it is a major downside on the 32bit systems)"
Has anyone tried the free version of Dr. Web Cureit? It seems to good an excellent job of cleaning any virus. It doesn't install, it just runs when you tell it to, so it's really made for cleaning up what other AV programs leave behind. The one negative is you have to re-download the current version every time you want to run it so you have the latest virus definitions.
I use a few different on-demand scanners and Dr.Web Cureit is definitely one of them.
My XP pro laptop ran a lot after bootup. Dumped AVG free and loaded Avast free - problem solved. Using Firefox instead of IE also made a difference.
I think Avast 5 is currently the best free AV. I tried Panda Cloud for a month and it is lighter than Avast on my XP machine, but it still has more false-positives than it should. So I will let Panda mature more before I use it again. I like Iron better than FF, or, the other top named browsers.
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