Any decent free antiviruses out there?

[Oyeve]

I use eset. My whole company uses eset. Never a virus.

 

[blankslate]

I'll also be using Common Sense 2012.

Where'd you find that?! They quit selling that in 1948 :^D

It's also terribly misnamed because it just isn't that common anymore.

 

[capeconsultant]

Giving Panda a try. Been using Malwarebytes pro and nothing else. No issues. I am an experienced user.

 

[Sauntache]

.

 

[Ayah]

It's also terribly misnamed because it just isn't that common anymore.

It's been renamed to "Above Average Intelligence" or AAI®

 

[uberman]

Another vote for Avast free anti-virus. I've been using it for 2.5 years.

 

[AdamantC]

I personally use Avast, Emsisoft, and Malwarebytes.

 

[Case Mgmt.]

I've been running free Avast for years on XP and Windows 8. I can't say enough good things about it. I've never been hit with a virus and I've never had to take my computer in to a shop for repair work.

 

[Bean7]

My combination is: Avira Antivirus + Comodo Firewall, both are free and they work good

 

[John Connor]

Same here! The only problem with that combination is that Avira doesn't like Comodo. SO install Avira first then Comodo.

 

[TheReaWarmonger]

Here are two that are fairly decent for them being free. They both are pretty effective, tho they both do have their own little cons.

Avira - Annoying nagging popup windows every time it updates definition database.
Avast - Huge amount of false positives.

Either or tho would work fine, I prefer Avast simply because it just does its job without being in the way. Tho myself, I don't run any real time antivirus engines. I scan my machine with Malwarebytes every so often. Common sense is the best protection there is, and its truly free.

 

[tosaytheleast]

Well based on articles comparing free antivirus software, the top three would always be AVg, Avast and Avira. Since you already have used Avira and you are not contented with it, your next option will be aVast. You can also try AVG but it will also give you a lot of false alarms in a day.

 

[Matt1970]

Well based on articles comparing free antivirus software, the top three would always be AVg, Avast and Avira. Since you already have used Avira and you are not contented with it, your next option will be aVast. You can also try AVG but it will also give you a lot of false alarms in a day.

Those sites lose me when they give Norton high recommendations.

 

[Daniel Jones]

I will recommend you to use licensed version of Norton if you wish to keep your system clean, but if you want a free one give a try to avg 2013 free.

 

[Mem]

I will recommend you to use licensed version of Norton if you wish to keep your system clean, but if you want a free one give a try to avg 2013 free.

I would avoid Norton,if you want the best paid ones then IMHO its Kaspersky and Bitdefender.

Btw so far I've been quite impressed with AVG 2103 IS,no false positives so far.

 

[ralfy]

I looked at tests results from AV-Comparatives, AV-Test, and other sites. For example,

http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-7/mayjun-2013/

and chose the free version of the program that did best in terms of various categories.

From there, I started using the free version of AVG and Windows Firewall Control. However, after reading changes made to the free version of Bitdefender, I decided to currently test that.

 

[Ketchup]

If I didn't switch to MSE, I would still be using Antivir. The pop-ups were annoying, but one click and their gone, and it was pretty light (at least it used to be).

As mentioned earlier in the thread, if you are seeing viruses/ spyware that often, you are probably doing something wrong. Safe browsing habits are the best way to keep your computer clean.

 

[AMDZen]

I switched to Panda and like the free one a lot.

Easy to add exceptions on false positives that F-Secure wouldn't let me do

Much better than Avira, AVG and Avast! as I've tried them all

 

[blankslate]

Safe browsing habits are the best way to keep your computer clean.

Considering this then wouldn't using a good sandboxing program to ensure that your are running your browsers sandboxed be a good safe browsing practice?

 

[John Connor]

What is this "sandbox" I keep hearing of? I have a built in Sandbox that I can run programs in, in Comodo, but this must be a virtual machine?

 

[bononos]

What is this "sandbox" I keep hearing of? I have a built in Sandbox that I can run programs in, in Comodo, but this must be a virtual machine?

It basically the same thing. Sandboxie is a popular freeware but v3.6 lets some malware through though.

 

[xeledon20005]

I use either Avast in combo with malwarebytes and spybot search and destroy

or will use AVG with malwarebytes and spybot search and destroy.

Have never really had an issue with either of those programs.

 

[Blazer7]

I use AVG+MSE, and spybot only for immunization.

It really does not matter what AV you use. The best protection is good surfing habits.

Avoid warez/pr0n and the like and you'll be fine even with basic protection.

I really can't remember the last time I had virus problems.

 

[Randum]

my 2 cents, been using avast for years with good results and no problems. Run on all my home machines!

 

[pcslookout]

The truth is a virus scanner will not save you and is not necessary.