Free Antivirus - 2015 Version

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Avast has always been rated as a top-class antivirus and anti-malware product. Even the free version is exceptionally easy to use, and effective at preventing unwanted malicious software reaching your computer.

In the case of the 2015 version, which is currently getting more than a million downloads a week, the situation remains the same. It's still a great product that's easy to install, and definitely worth considering if your paid-for AV subscription is about to end. Or, more importantly, if you got a new PC for Christmas and it was supplied with AV software that only includes 6 months of updates.

You can download the latest Avast 2015 from https://www.avast.com/index and it's around 5 MB. The program is malware-free according to VirusTotal and Web of Trust, as you might expect.

There's also a useful review of the product at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/software/1000264/avast-free-antivirus-2015-review if you want to know more.

Remember that it's never a good idea to have more than 1 antivirus program installed. So if you're switching to Avast from another product, uninstall the old product and restart your PC first, before installing Avast.

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Do any of you remember a website where you could upload a file and it would scan it with approximately 60 or s9 engines?

THANKS

Robin

You have Virus Total where you can submit files or URLs to be scanned. https://www.virustotal.com/

Indeed. And as I mentioned every time, all the software I ever write about here is checked with VirusTotal.

@MC,

I've been running Linux full-time for the past 5 years. Prior to that, I dabbled in the live cd's to get my feet wet, so to speak. I have a business of computer repair & upgrades which is basically due to MS. 90% would be virus or reinstalls to bloated machines with the other 10% being actually hardware issues (PSU, etc).

I try to mention Linux Mint to clients but people are very resistant to change (especially many older people). They'd rather deal with the issues of Windows than change.

The crazy thing is that about 80% of people don't do much more than email, web browsing, music & photos...which Mint runs and handles brilliantly.

Oh well, all I can do is try, right?

Cheers

Whatever operating system you run, it's a good idea to use some sort of AV software. For example, if someone gives you an infected Word document and you forward it to one of your customers, you'll never know until it's too late.
@ Geekomatic, Pretty much duplicates my own experiences although when we were servicing live customers the majority of trashed systems were related to the use of registry cleaners or similar tools and not infections. Another humorous side to this, I use a small local ISP and they introduced a rule to their contract stating users without one of the antivirus programs on their recommended list installed would receive low priority for service calls. This because (according to them) a significant number of connectivity issues were being caused by infections. As their network often fails I went along with this (choice of 5 commercial products). After some time I queried the result and they said the rule had been removed because it hadn't made a jot of difference. :D MC - Site Manager.

The issue is two-fold: malware installed which skirts the AV (& I see it on systems running all of the top AV contenders) & users running with administrator accts.

When you think of it, it's really crazy that every PC running Windows doesn't come with a manual on the basics?

My electric kettle came with instructions, ffs...

I have to warn the unsuspecting "normal" home computer user.

Please read this installment of the Emsisoft blog and you know what I am talking about:

http://blog.emsisoft.com/2015/01/17/has-the-antivirus-industry-gone-mad/...

From my daily experiences with non-geek computer users I know that the Emsisoft article is fully true. There is absolutely NO conscience or moral behavior left in the computer industry. And for me that holds true for the software AND the hardware guys.

Am glad that a few like Qihoo 360 hasn't gone down the same route.
These kind of unfair competition lawsuits has been there against Qihoo since ages, ever since it started soaring in popularity among the users and because of their successful business model. Time and again the representatives have responded with messages like these: "To some people, Qihoo 360 is a thorn in their eyes, but I would like to tell you this is not true. Qihoo 360 will not do such things because we would lose the trust of our users and ultimately, our business."
I second this post wholeheartedly. This issue was not the only, but mostly the main reason why I switched to using Linux for 95% of my time. Strange too that when I first began "converting" Windows users to Linux with physical installs and dual boots two years ago the return rate to Windows was more than 50%. Now it's less than 20%. :) MC - Site Manager.
Good article by Emsisoft, and I support the things posted in it. It's quite unfortunate that because of this, the freeware in whole has come under question, which is really not how it should be. We all know there are excellent freeware around, and people should be aware of them. It's a shame that these practices by software vendors, including the antivirus vendors are bringing a bad name to freeware.

Refer back to my post. AV is pointless if it's not running.

Thanks for your opinion,

Cheers

Whatever the pluses Avast may have, their Privacy Policy is for the birds. I stopped using Avast when they tried to 'sneak' a new Privacy Policy during their virus definition update. The major change - they would start tracking what sites you visited, and deliver content based on that tracking. Even if you don't mind that type of Privacy invasion, the fact that they tried to sneak it onto my computer, caused me to drop Avast and switch over to AVG, also highly rated. I've not had any problem using AVG, and it has certainly blocked numerous attempts to 'violate' my computer.

AVAST is a great alternative for a free antivirus and has been in the top 5 for many years. It has very good malware detection and removal rates. I personally use AVIRA Free Antivirus 14.0.7.468 and find it to be much lighter on resources than AVAST. It also has a slightly higher detection and removal rates and Avira does a very good job so it's my preferred free antivirus until something else comes into the picture.

I like Avast, but the only two problems I had with it were that it always wanted to uninstall legitimate Chrome browser extensions, and the ads when an upgrade was available, which had the effect of misleading my less adept family and friends to click the wrong link and install the trial version instead of the free version. I use BitDefender Free now - no ads at all, and minimal user interface, at the cost of all the bells and whistles that Avast (and others) come with.

I have come to really respect Avast Free. I now load it for anyone without AV- as it has so many pluses:

The verbal side of it is fantastic. You know when things occur because you hear it. You know it's functioning & updating. Most of all you know it's still "active".

I cannot tell you how many computers I am called to repair that have expired or knocked offline AV! In MS's infinite wisdom (NOT), they decided it was a wonderful idea to "hide" all the icons behind a tiny arrow that most don't know about...so, they don't know their AV is off. First thing I do is "show all icons" & explain why.

I also like that Avast warns about updates to other programs- very good. Low resource use, as well.

Overall, it's an impressive product & I'm happy to recommend it personally.

Cheers

Does this recommendation over
ride the number one position of the Commodo AV

This is not a review article but a topical news item about Avast! posted in the Hot Finds section for the reasons given. MC - Site Manager.

Will this AV program "play well" with MS Security Essentials? Toby

You cannot run MSE and another antivirus (that has real-time protection) on the same computer so you should choose one or the other. http://blogs.microsoft.com/cybertrust/2011/06/02/does-microsoft-security... Based on current independent test results, Avast! would be the preferred option by some margin. MC - Site Manager.