Opinion: Best FREE Antivirus software

Heksmeester

Heksmeester

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My subscription to a paid suite has expired. I'm thinking of installing AVG Free again but I've had some bad experiences with it in the past and apparently its protection is a bit dodgy these days.

What is your preferred choice and why?
 
Microsoft Security Essentials does the job. Free too.

That and common sense. Don't click on dodgy links etc
 
Cheap pay option could be Kaspersky? But yeah, suppose MSE is best. You could also get Malwarebytes Free and Super Anti Spyware and do occasional scans manually.
 
I would go with AVAST Free, and would avoid Avira at all costs.

I'm using Kaspersky Internet Security at the moment. It's effective but damn
irritating! :mad: If I didn't get a year's subscription for free, I would get rid of
it and go with ESET.
 
Last edited:
Microsoft Security Essentials, with Comodo Firewall and Malware Bytes - job done ;)
Reasons: Free, effective, small resources print, easy to configure, catches all problems so far
 
I have been using Avira for the last couple of years. It was very good at the beginning, but they have become slower and more annoying with the "pay us" pop ups everyday. Been using avast on my main pc for the past two days (after some internet researching on the exact topic of this thread). So far a positive experience.
 
ashfaak said:
Why avoid Avira Totempole?
Click to expand...

It's missed quite a few obvious Viruses. :( Much like AVG. :mad:
That being said, no free AV is perfect, I prefer to use a an AV in
conjunction with SuperAntispyware, Malwarebytes and Spybot.

I'm paranoid, but in Feb 2011, my Credit Card was taken for over
R11 000 :sick:. Thankfully, ABSA's fraud department reversed it in
less than 10 days. :)
 
My buddy uses mse. He borrowed me his hard drive. Avast picked up 2 viruses on his drive that mse didn't.
Also avast doesn't have as many false positives as mse does.
 
I did some in-depth research into this a while back. At that point, it yielded that Avira seemed to be top of the logs. I have tried many different packages including from what I can recall Avast and AVG - both of them failing to keep out a few nasty viruses. I have been using Avira now for a number of years and have not had a single problem with anything sticking. Keep it updated, don't visit dodgy sites and I am sure it will protect you just fine :)
 
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