Any suggestions? Ok no suggestions..lolol

[JEDIYoda]

My McAfee Live safe security that came with my Dell all in One computer is set to expire in 7 days!

Presently my computer boots up very very quickly, there is no lag time at all.

I would like to keep it that way.....any suggestions for free security?

Personally I don`t really like McAfee that is what cam installed on the computer!

Thanks

 

[Entropism]

Free and light? Fortinet has a great free client (www.forticlient.com), Avast is doing well, and if you use Facebook you can get a free 6 month license of Kaspersky Pure or Trend Micro.
Bitdefender has a free CloudAV option but I heard it was a bit buggy. Qihoo has a free AV using Bitdefender's engine, but there are MAJOR privacy concerns with that company.

If you liked McAfee (and I don't know many who actually DO), TD bank is giving away free McAfee licenses, but yeah... No thanks.

If it was up to me, I'd go with Avast, Forticlient or Kaspersky, in that order. Kaspersky has GREAT detections and is light as can be, but I've seen the 2014 release to be buggy as can be, which is usually the case for the first few months of their releases. The other "major" free options have slacked off a bit, with Avira, MSE and AVG doing pretty bad comparatively in the latest testings.

 

[Entropism]

Edit: Forgot Panda Cloud AV, which did FANTASTIC on the latest tests.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Thank You!! I wanted to add kaspersky...but I got tired of dealing with all the add on crap such as a toolbar...etc...so I deleted McAfee and put Avast on my system.
Avast has been good to my wifes windows 7 laptop....she computer illiterate sort of and she has had no issues with security!!

Thanks for your response!!

 

[John Connor]

I tried four anti-virus programs; Avast, Bitdefender, Comodo and Avira.

Avast cut the download speed down, Comodo and Avira wouldn't stop a Trojan in a zip file from downloading. Avira slowed the computer start up time. I found Bitdefender free very good at detection. It even stopped a zip file containing a virus from downloading and it doesn't slow start up time.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I tried four anti-virus programs; Avast, Bitdefender, Comodo and Avira.

Avast cut the download speed down, Comodo and Avira wouldn't stop a Trojan in a zip file from downloading. Avira slowed the computer start up time. I found Bitdefender free very good at detection. It even stopped a zip file containing a virus from downloading and it doesn't slow start up time.

I started having problems with Avast this morning on my windows 8 64 bit computer. In fact the whole computer was very sluggish.

I safe mode -- YES there is a safe mode for windows 8.......and there I deleted it and I also cleaned up any remaining McAfee files.

I downloaded BitDenfender. No ads or tool bar nonsense...just a straight download.

PC is working great!! Running as fast as ever!

The only issue is I would love to get rid of that BitDefender box on the lower right hand side on the computer!!

 

[Entropism]

Avast (and most AVs) are sluggish for the first day or so. They're basically scanning anything & everything, and kind of need time to settle down, for lack of a better term.

 

[John Connor]

The only issue is I would love to get rid of that BitDefender box on the lower right hand side on the computer!!

I use Win 7 and don't see a box. Just an icon in the task bar.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Avast (and most AVs) are sluggish for the first day or so. They're basically scanning anything & everything, and kind of need time to settle down, for lack of a better term.

Actually that's not really true when it comes to windows 8 64 bit.......
I did some research and discovered issues with Avast and windows 8.......
Its not true for everybody but if you go to the Avast forums you will find that to be the case.

I tried Malware bites and Super anti Spy......etc.......no issues at all with windows 8....but I wanted the type of protection that Bit Defender gives....

🙂

 

[JEDIYoda]

My experience has always been that the majority of anti-viruses are not sluggish the first day at all.
Sure they may take some time to adapt if you will to the way you search and use the internet but they are NOt sluggish!

I had avast freeze my whole system up on me....it was NOT usuable.
I tried for an hour to delete Avast but I could not!

So using my wife`s computer I went online and found out how to get into safe mode.

That took quite a while but once I was in safe mode Avast easily deleted and I took the opportunity to delete a few other things.

The above was just an explanation of the hell I went through using avast on a windows 8 64 bit machine.

Yet Avast works well on my wife`s windows 7 64 bit machine.......go figure!!

 

[Entropism]

I used Avast for a bit, and it worked fine, but that daily notification drove me up a wall. This was on Win8 x64. Bitdefender works wells when it wants to... You could literally do a fresh windows install, install Bitdefender, and get horrible performance on a Monday, then reformat and do it again, and have a perfectly running system on a Tuesday. Add to the fact there are rumors of them "gaming" the AV tests and I try to avoid BitDefender as much as possible.

Right now, I'm LOVING F-Secure, but I have a 6 month license, and it's way too expensive for me to renew in February. It's a shame too, because this is possibly the best AV I've ever used.

 

[John Connor]

I never have trouble with Bitdefender free.

 

[Entropism]

The issues going on over at Wilders scared me off their free offering. Options that are supposed to be there that aren't, a log button that works about 25% of the time, detection differences between free & paid, etc etc. There's also a nasty net usage bug with their firewall (granted, not applicable in your case) that's been ongoing since 2009. The company doesn't seem to care, and it's preventing me from supporting them. Add in rumors that they're gaming tests, and well... I doubt I'll ever use them, but I won't knock people for putting it on their machines.