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Any decent free antiviruses out there?

dkm777

dkm777

Senior member
Hi guys,

I've been using MSE for quite some time, but found out that it is not very good so I switched back to Avira that I used before. But the free version of Avira just throws over a dozen popups every day urging me to buy the paid version. I'm sick and tired of them and before I pull the trigger on a Kaspersky license, I wanted to ask you guys whether there are any other free alternatives?
 
I will suggest Avast Free ... I use it and so do many others. It is light on system resources and seems to do the job just fine.
 
I use Avast since I got tired of Avira's popups which I disabled but then they pulled something else (I dont remember what it was) so I switched.
 
I'm somewhat partial to Avast since a while back they devoted the time and resources to revamp the scanning engine to work better with multi-core systems, as opposed to the likes of Norton and McAfee which have probably been using the same basic scanning engine from the Windows 3.x days.

I like it when a company recognizes that what they have is inadequate based on shifts in the direction of technology that couldn't have reasonably been predicted several years previous, and will go through the pain that is scrapping all, or large chunks, of your program and rebuilding it.
 
Also guys there is BitDefender AV free version available here http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html ,no pop ups or ads,works even with Win8 and is light on resources too.


Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has been designed from ground up towards enabling you to do whatever you enjoy doing most with your computer, while staying 100% safe from e-threats.

We call it “artificial intelligence” because it will always find the best solution for your system without requiring configuration and, more importantly, without having any impact on your system.
Click to expand...
 
John Conner said:
You should read this as to what is the best out there. http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews
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Problem with that is it varies month to month,throw in some AVs that are lighter then others on resources(important to gamers and low spec PCs) plus how often they get updated ie those that use Cloud base technology don't need to download any AV DAT files to their PC since its all on the Cloud server so is always up-to-date,then go to other AV review sites and you get another bunch of different reviews/feedback etc..


Personally use what you are happy with,I've used them all from Avast/Bitdefender/Kaspersky etc (except Norton's which I avoid) and just remember its just another layer of added protection and not 100% fail safe,no AV is.
 
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OK guys, the method to kill Avira popups didn't work as I expected: now Windows throws an error message that they are being blocked every time. Since so many of you recommended Avast I'm trying it on my secondary PC. So far so good - I didn't notice it running any slower than using Avira and will see how often it is updated in the following weeks. If I'm satisfied with it I'll be installing Avast on my main rig as well. Of course I'll also be using Common Sense 2012.
 
I tried avast last night and it slowed my pings (speedtest) from 12-13 (MSE) to 18-19. Without any scanner, pings were 10-11. Tried bitdefender and the entire system felt sluggish. Didn't bench bitdefender (yet).
 
Engineer said:
I tried avast last night and it slowed my pings (speedtest) from 12-13 (MSE) to 18-19. Without any scanner, pings were 10-11. Tried bitdefender and the entire system felt sluggish. Didn't bench bitdefender (yet).
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Many A/Vs have active prescan type stuff. Kaspersky's used to be especially problematic. I'd go through the options, and turn that kind of stuff off.
 
Avast has some features, like Web Rep, (part of Browser Protection tab) which are plug ins for browsers. They may be the slow down. You can disable them if you do not want them. I left them disabled in my computer. Avast updates the virus defs at least 1 time per day and sometimes in the late afternoon as well.
 
I have windows 8 and use whatever it came with. I think mse. Avast is the one I'll put on friends' computers most often.
 
Ryland said:
MSE is the only one I have gotten virus' with in the last few years.
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I don't understand..so many people can get viruses but I've never had one. What are people doing on the computer that I'm not? I don't even know if you can uninstall mse from windows 8. Even if I did I would also be stumped on what to use.
 
sze5003 said:
I don't understand..so many people can get viruses but I've never had one. What are people doing on the computer that I'm not? I don't even know if you can uninstall mse from windows 8. Even if I did I would also be stumped on what to use.
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In Win8 you can disable Defender via Action Centre,same goes for firewall,so gives users the option to use built-in one in Win8 or third party AV from companies like Bitdefender,Panda,Kaspersky etc..


I'm trying out trial of Panda Pro 2013 at moment ,very light on usage,nice gaming mode option in taskbar icon and also an auto setting option that goes into gaming mode ie if you go full screen,has firewall too(option to use or disable that).
 
Mem said:
Also guys there is BitDefender AV free version available here http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html ,no pop ups or ads,works even with Win8 and is light on resources too.
Click to expand...


i tried it but its kind of sucky. you cant move the box, its permanently locked in the lower right corner. the options are very lacking. also apparently you have to register an account with them and keep yourself logged in, or it stop working. there was some message about 'you must be logged in and register within 29 days' etc etc.
 
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