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Best Free Antivirus Software
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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. Despite vendor's claims, no single antivirus solution, or indeed any one security software, can be relied upon for total protection without safe surfing and computing practices. 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; for more information check out our Security Wizard. 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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Discussion
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The main downsides are the slow scan speeds and the lengthy amount of time it takes to quarantine malware, though in my opinion these are rather trivial concerns, as for example a scan just be run overnight. 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.
Panda Cloud Antivirus has a behavioural blocker and web protection, which will certainly increase your security. However as you can simply use one of the other free AV's with a separate behavioural blocker (for further details see our Security Wizard) to achieve possibly even better protection, this is not necessarily an advantage. One minor reservation I have is that PCA seems to erroneously detect certain browser/system-related applications, for example VideoCacheView, and because of the automatic quarantine this made it a fraction bothersome.
However, there are some minor reservations. 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 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. Also, AntiVir contains a rather intrusive advertisement every time it updates. Although AntiVir had signature updating problems in the past, this issue seems to be fixed now.
These free antivirus programs are excellent software that provide a real alternative to the major commercial antivirus products. Please help us by rating this review |
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free antivirus, antivirus software, antivirus download, best antivirus software, anti-virus, anti-virus software, avast antivirus, avira antivirus, microsoft antivirus, free anti virus, anti virus software. |
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Please visit our freeware forum to share and discuss your views and get advice on free security software, including antivirus software. To post in the forum you need to register first but that's quick and immediate. |
Quick Start Guide: http://www.avast.com/download-documentation
Forum: http://forum.avast.com/
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| This category is maintained by volunteer editor JonathanT. |
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I do not doubt some people have problems with Avast, there are literally millions of PC configurations out there. However, I have had no problems with Avast in regards to start up time and I have it installed on a network of 5 computers that I administer also judging from the avast forum, the problems seems to be isolated.
The point is don't take your personal experience as a matter of fact.
He wasn't taking his experience as 'a matter of fact'. He said that it *seemed* to him that a recent update had made Avast resource-heavy, based on his experience of his own boot-up time. I agree with you about the millions of configurations out there; it's just one-of-those-things that I'm another who has found that Avast slowed / stalled my boot-up times, too, this presumably due to the fact that my configuration is no longer sympatico with Avast.
TYhanks to this thread, and Midnight Cowboy in particular, I'm running Panda Cloud now. Boot-up time is back to where it used to be. The only caveat I'd make about Panda Cloud is that precisely because it is cloud-based, a scan takes a small eternity compared to an app which, like Avast, is locally, rather than remotely, based.
Geeezeee is not alone in having troubles with Avast Free. What used to be an excellent program has now grown to be so ambitious that it has crippled my boot time. Neither Geeezeee nor I are alone in encountering this: Avast forums and other Internet channels feature similar complaints.
There seems no acknowledgment of the situation by Avast, and the so-called fixes offered by Avast enthusiasts -- involving the selective disabling of various Avast components -- achieved nothing in my case. Reluctantly, therefore, I have Revo'd out Avast Free: I cannot bear another almost-4-minute-boot with the orange ball sitting in my tray and spinning sloooowly, then stopping, then turning, then freezing and making every other computer function in accessible until it un-freezes itself.
Which leads me to the Kingsoft 2012 AV also mentioned here. I use Kingsoft's PC Doctor and, for what it is, it's pretty good, though I wouldn't trust it 100% because it's not as informative as it ought to be about the "issues" it claims to identify.
According to Revo, the company responsible for PC Doctor is Kingsoft PC Doctor. The original download of this app -- and I was very, very careful to monitor the installation -- nevertheless led to the simultaneous install of Kingsoft Office 2012. I didn't want it. Didn't ask for it. According to Revo, Kingsoft Office is from Kingsoft Corporation. I Revo'd out KO and, notwithstanding that experience, decided to try Kingsoft Antivirus 2012. This, according to Revo (after installation) is by Kingsoft Internet Security.
All these are minor points, a reflection , perhaps, of the fact that Kingsoft seems to have not only a variety of names but various Kingsoft websites.
What happened after this though was a textbook lesson in why only an idiot (such as myself) goes anywhere near CNET nowadays. I went to whichever Kingsoft website happens to feature Kingsoft Antivirus 2012 and clicked download. But no direct DL was possible. Instead, Kingsoft re-directed me to CNET. I loathe CNET's download practices but on this occasion figured OK, I'll just have to live with it.
I should like to say that there was an uncheckable option for some add-on called Webroot. But I never found one. It seemed to be a mandatory part of the CNET download. Still, I reasoned I could uninstall it afterwards.
The download concluded and I began the installation of Kingsoft Antivirus 2012, but before I could get any further, the Webroot app kicked in, even though I hadn't actively installed it, and began scanning -- again, I never asked it to. Resigned to a yet further waste of my time, and the disruption of the Kingsoft Antivirus 2012 installation , I gave it a few minutes and then thought ah, to hell with this, and stopped the Webroot scan.
But by this time it had found a malware threat.
Guess where?
In the very CNET download of which Webroot itself was a part.
I shut down Webroot, uninstalled the damn thing, and then on returning to the downloaded Kingsoft Antivirus 2012 executable found it wasn't there because Webroot, in its dying throes, had deleted it.
Ho-hum. Thanks, CNET. As there seemed to be no way of DLing Kingsoft Antivirus 2012 from Kingsoft other than via CNET, I Googled for Kingsoft AV and discovered that Softonic was hosting an earlier version. I figured that this wouldn't be plagued by the self-destructive CNET Webroot, and that once installed, I could then update the Kingsoft app.
The Softonic download came up with some utter rubbish about an EZ Reader of Craig's List (yeah, right: perfect for me, a resident of the UK) and I unchecked that option. But it also came up with -- and installed, without my permission -- another app whose name escapes me but sounds like Mahoo or Yahoo or some such. So, uh, thanks for that, Softonic.
Installing the earlier version of KIngsoft AV went without a hitch and I clicked on the update button. A half dozen attempts failed. Checking on the Kingsoft forum it seems that the update failure was a commonplace.
So-ooo. . . I've given up on Kingsoft AV. There may well be a direct download link somewhere that doesn't involve CNET and its unwanted Webroot auto-install auto-scan auto-self-destruct but really, I can't be bothered: if the developer can't even host its own software, then it seems best to look elsewhere.
Thanks to this excellent review, I'm now off to try the Panda AV. I used Avira in the past but what with its repeated attempts to get me to convert to the commercial version and, at that time, repeated failures to update, I've no desire to go back to it. I used AVG way back when but eventually that turned out to be much too unreliable: its false flagging of positives was pure paranoia. Prior to Avast, I ran MSE, but after a while noticed a system slow down that could only have been attributable to the Microsoft program.
As someone else wrote on this thread, everything has a season: software that was good at one time isn't necessarily going to continue on liike that. Likewise, apps that once were pretty hopeless can in some cases be transformed. There's no sense in having 'user loyalty' to a bunch of code.
How Panda will work out, I've no idea. I'm just hoping that after the huge disappointment that Avast turned into, I can get back to having an AV which does its job on my computer without requiring me to sit here and eat a three course dinner whilst it laboriously marshalls tanks, ships, submarines and aircraft on my front lawn, all in the name of defence.
Hi Mike
Very well rewritten!!
I'm Logan from Kingsoft Internet Security, let me try to explain something.
1. We hate CNET installer either, but many software vendors choose to link to Download.com for some reason, even some big ones (Iobit etc). And we always update direct download link in our forum and facebook page.
2. kingsoft internet security belongs to Kingsoft Corporation, but also works as a standardalone company. Kingsoft PC Doctor and Kingsoft Antivirus were developed by kingsoft internet security, Kingsoft Office is handled by Kingsoft Corporation. I know it is a bit complicated, cause i also can't understand the relationship when i'm in the first few months in kingsoft internet security.
3. Sorry to hear that you choose Panda AV other than Kingsoft antivirus 2012, hope we can have you someday :D
Hi Logan: thanks for post. Yup, the corporate thing is a wee bit confusing, though is as nought to the weird approach Kingsoft has to downloads: no point in having a tempting store-front if the door is permanently locked. It was only thanks to Naren that I realised, Kingsoft AV 2012 is directly downloadable from a Kingsoft user forum. As Anupam rightly says, why doesn't Kingsoft offer that link on the AV 2012 website? Hope you can help get it sorted.
Thanks for your replies, and the interaction here.
Why don't you provide a direct link to the antivirus on your site? Also, why not provide download on other reputed sites like Softpedia, MajorGeeks, etc.
Is Panda not included in the RAP 100 testing? Anyway how would Panda AV do on a laptop that is not constantly online? Wouldn't this be less effective against malware seeing that it is totally cloud based?
Direct link to download Kingsoft AV 2012
http://www.kingsoftsecurity.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=686&sid=365a32...
Naren: sincere thanks for that! If only I'd stumbled over it instead of falling into the clutches of CNET and Softonic . . .
Anyway. I'm now seeing how life works out with Panda Cloud, but thanks to you have been able to bookmark the direct download link for the Kingsoft AV.
Much appreciated -- thanks to you and Midnight Cowboy, that's now two possibilities that await should the Panda and I eventually discover grounds for divorce.
I have been using Avast on my PC since long, and not once I have encountered slow booting of my PC. I am using the latest version... and since a few months, I am using a PC with configuration of P-III 550 MHz, and 512 MB of RAM. Yet, even with this configuration, and latest version of Avast, my PC does not experience slow booting. So, if my PC with an old configuration is performing well, then it certainly will perform better on modern configurations.
Therefore, the ones who are experiencing slow bootup, should look for other issues on their PC, rather than blaming Avast.
Also, about CNET, we have many times warned users about wrapped installer, and have also an article about it on the site.
Hi Anupam
I disagree that MikeR's comment was a rant. OK perhaps a little long but not a rant, merely someone sharing their detailed experience. I can tell you that my atom powered netbook's startup time slowed by around 1 min following the last upgrade of Avast. When I uninstalled it my startup time was considerably faster, albeit I now had an unprotected machine.
Panda followed, and this also seemed to impact my boot times so was swiftly uninstalled. Avira next and this seems nice and light with the least system impact on my netbook.
Hope this information, while obviously based my own personal experience, is deemed useful and not a rant.
Thanks for your comment, such to the point comments with information are helpful. I still disagree about MikeR's comment. Previously too, he has posted such long and rant-ful comments, and we have deleted such comments.
About Avast, I don't know why the boot time increased that much on your machine... but on my machine, the boot time has not changed, remains the same as the previous machines. On Avast forum too, I do not see people complaining about boot up times. There were complains yes, but with the previous version, which had some bugs, and not of boot up time.
So, if not all people are experiencing it, then I think one's individual PC setup needs to be checked, if other things are contributing to the bootup time.
Avast has been light on my system. Avira is even lighter.. but with Avira, there are other things... first its update process, then it takes too long for folders with exe files to open and be available for operation, and then there is of course the problem about their advertisements.
Avast and Avira remain my top choice amongst free AVs. Some say AVG has worked good for them, but not on my PC for some reason.. runs heavy.
Anupam:
Every computer in the world has a different configuration from the next. Just because I have had boot time problems with Avast doesn't mean you will, or have.
Equally, just because you haven't experienced that doesn't entitle you to come on here and claim I'm "ranting" about Avast when I'm obviously not.
I posted a detailed comment because it was relevant to not one but several aspects of the content of this helpful article.
Just for the record, Avast is now uninstalled from my machine. Boot time has accelerated by 1 minute 40 seconds. I'm sorry to have to lose Avast but clearly its impact has been too disruptive where my machine is concerned.
I don't know who you are, Anupam, or where you're from but you don't have a monopoly on wisdom or experience.
A very well written piece MikeR. I had high hopes for Panda but it also seemed to have a detrimental affect on my atom netbook's startup times. Currently on Avira, and yes, the constant nagging to buy the commercial product is a pain, but it does seem to run nicely on my machine.
Let us know how you get on.
Thanks Geeezeee. It's certainly a lot less intrusive at boot-up on my computer than Avast was. Whether or not it does its job as promised, only time will tell. Sorry to hear your experience of it turned out not to be entirely satisfactory; I guess it's all about different strokes / softs for different folks / computers.
Oh, and I'd be very interested to learn how you get on with Avira, too. During the time that I was using it, someone somewhere -- I can't remember, but it might even have been a Gizmo tip -- came up with a way of stopping Avira's nag screens. Wish I could remember what it was!
Check out also FortiClient Lite.
http://www.forticlient.com/lite.html
Uses the same technology as their commercial suite, except without the firewall and a few other bits, and is right up with the big boys in the test results.
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml
Many thanks indeed for the heads-up, MC. Truth to tell, I'd never heard of this particular app until you mentioned it here. Thanks, then, for the links: I'll follow 'em up straight away. As with all software, it's very much a case of trial and error, and if I run into problems with Panda Cloud then it's very reassuring indeed to have another avenue to turn to such as forticlient. Much appreciated!
Thanks for the pointer, may well try it out.
I appreciate that like themes, these things are a bit personal but FortiClient Lite is well worth a look. I can't say how it's likely to run on a production unit because mine is a built machine, but I do have several folks here who originally ran FortiClient Standard when it was available as a free suite, and then changed to FortiClient Lite plus a firewall. None have become infected and none report any system issues.
Thanks for all the great advice in one place.
I think half the reason people become unstuck and run into trouble is that there is too many single applications for every possible event. There needs to be more all inclusive packages available.
I've been running Security Essentials for a few years now but got into trouble when a Nero update dropped a Rootkit.Win32.TDSS Trojan onto my PC. It all went pear shaped very quickly after that. My browser kept going to E bay while I was investigating a removal tool. I had to run IE and Google Chrome side by side just to get to a windows site, flicking from one to the other until I could screen shot the solution and have a friend download TDSS Killer.
My reg files were a mess so I had to re-install Windows.
Now I scan everything I download, I guess you could say, like many others I learned the hard way ;0)
This site is great, I'll keep popping back. Thank you
I'd reccomend Comodo internet security use Chirons guide to installing it and you have one hell of a setup, Very very strong!
Thanks for the advice, I'll look into that ;0)
Why this one?
If you're looking for an all inclusive suite for free then this one might appeal.
http://free.agnitum.com/
In some tests the antivirus doesn't quite match the top tier programs, but the firewall HIPS component is top rate. Running this along with the new version of WinPatrol (being released today!) and using the WOT extension for your browser will eliminate most risks.
http://www.winpatrol.com/upgrade.html
http://www.mywot.com/
You might also like to consider the excellent Returnil System Safe Free.
http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/products#compare
Switching this into Virtual mode allows you to try out new software and/or upgrades to see how these interact with your computer. If you don't like what you see, a simple reboot returns your PC to the exact state it was in before the latest installation. This program is compatible with most other antivirus programs and also contains its own real time protection component should you choose to enable it. I use Returnil myself when checking out new Windows software.
I ran Avira for the longest time but got fed up with all the constant advertisements, so I decided to install MSE. However, my computer won't boot when I install MSE, and as the recovery it goes back to the last checkpoint which was before MSE was installed - lol.
So now I'm going to try Avast instead.
My pc booted after I installed Avast but only about 1/3 of my startup programs started. After poking around, I discovered that Avast has an 'autosandbox' feature.
After I turned off the 'autosandbox' feature and rebooted, everything worked.
Just a tip for future users of Avast.
Why would you want to disable one of the main security features?
It is vital to read the user guide before installing any new security software. This enables users to gain the best advantage for their own needs, and also (as in this case) avoid unwanted events.
http://www.avast.com/download-documentation
Can someone please provide a list of all the reputable AV testing sites?
Listed here:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/probably-best-free-security-list...
Im on AOL, i had the same bother as most as regards AVG taking Google off my toolbar and search engine on Internet Explorer and replacing with its own "Secure" search instead and stopping me from getting access to my ISP address, i rang those wizards of knowledge in the Indian call center, no joy, i may as well have asked my dog for assistance, they are as much use as a glass eye, i got the usual reply to my problem, "see your vender sir", but at least he didnt go dumb on me or cut me off, after 5 hours through the night i eventually removed it from internet explorer but it remains in my program files and all avenues have not been able to remove it, i crippled most of what was still running it but 2 dill,s foiled anymore victory, but the consolation prize is that everytime i go into Program files its there to remind me of what a craphead i was for downloading it, other suspects are Avast, and Norton, which can slow your computer down so much you can eat your dinner before a page turns over, dont ask me how i cured this 5 hour problem, i havent a clue, im glad i live in the UK and dont own a gun like you Americans have because if i had i wouldnt be writing this now, i would be in Jail for stalking Bill Gates. Have a nice day.