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Download Best Free Antivirus Softwares
February 27th, 2006My geek friend scared by the recent outbreaks of Kamasutra virus and Leap-A virus gave me a call that his Norton Antivirus subscription has expired and he can no longer update virus definitions via Live Update. And he did not want to pay for expensive antivirus subscriptions yearly.
There are several excellent paid professional antivirus software like Norton Antivirus, McAfee, but they are expensive software and require yearly subscription fees for regular antivirus updates. So I went looking for free antivirus softwares and was surprised to see the range available.
Free antivirus software
After reading several reviews by leading security web sites and forums, there seems to be a consensus that the 2 best free antivirus softwares in the market are AVG Anti-virus Free for Windows (a free anti-virus protection tool developed by Grisoft for home use) and the Avast Home Edition (a full-featured antivirus package designed exclusively for home users and non-commercial use). The limitation with Avast is that it will work for 60 days after installation in demo mode, then you need to re-register every year to obtain a free license key by email that is valid for 1 year.
Other popular security solutions are AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic (for Protection and security against viruses, worms, Trojan horses and dialers) and BitDefender Free Edition (an on-demand virus scanner, useful in a system recovery or forensics role)
Long back, PCWorld has compared these free antivirus protection software. WebHostingTalk shows that AVG Free Edition is the best (though the voter base is small).
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PC World does seem to think differently about free anti-virus programs, but I’ve still used AVG most of my computer life. However, I’m now using the Windows OneCare.
i was one of early users of AVG n just now installed AVG in my new hd n came across this post
AVG is my fav n never found any alerts thru stringer but worth dln
For those who are looking for freeware antivirus, I would Avast Home Edition. It has amazingly small (and almost daily) online updates, has a very good detection engine, and its resident shield is extremely effective against spurious sites and malware.
AVG is another excellent alternative. It has a easier interface than Avast, but I think its detection rate needs a bit of improvement. I would say that it can be useful as a secondary antivirus package on a home system.
McAfee Stinger & Avast Cleaner are useful in case of new virus/worm outbreaks.
I have been using Avast for about 2 years now and I think I have been protected most of the time. But that’s also because I am a very alert user. But I think Avast also uses less of the system resources as compared to a Norton.
I’ve been using Avast for 2 years now, I work in the computer industry and I think its a great product. it uses a far smaller footprint than the bloatware that is Symantec and Mcafee. You hardly even notice its there running all the time, uses very little CPU, some of the big boys should look at how efficient this product has been written. We’re currently considering throwing out Symantec in favour of the Avast Enterprise Edition for servers.
now i’m using the kaspersky anti virus and i found that anti virus is awesome compare to the others
I’v been using Avast anti-virus for 2 years now and think it’s quite effective and takes up very little resources, it is excellent in detecting viruses but bad at repairng them.
i’ve been using avast for nearly 2 years now and have had no problems with it infact i favour avast over kaspersky or any other antivirus that i have used so far and i think that symantec and mcafee have alot to learn from these guys even kaspersky in one sense as well as i have tried these for a year or more each and have only really been impressed with avast over the others
I think that your web site is very important for all people all over the world
I would recommend avast home edition or nod32.they are good and does not slow down the system!
i have been using avast also for 1 year and I think it’s the most easiest and reliable antivirus.
Come on now, lets everyone say it at the same time, “I’ve been using avast for 2 years now and…”
Jeez…sounds like the avast guys promoting their product. I think it is a nice piece of software but stillleaves something to be desired. It’s detection rate is less than 90% compared to 95%+ for Antivir. All of the fancy bells and whistles mean very little if it lags behind in its most basic function of catching all of the viruses. If Alwil could bump up the detection rate to compare to Antivir, then it would be the top pick. Otherwise, if what’s most important to you is that the *ANITVIRUS* software catches the most viruses, then go with Antivir. The only thing that really sucks about Antivir is that it force feeds you ads for the company’s product line when it does an update. You can firewall block the ad sites, but then antivir throws you an error message.
i wait to see this antivirus
please permitted to free download to antivirus in my pc.
thanks
thank you
this subject is very important for us . thank for subject. please write back soon
i want best free antivirus of yearly version
Norton and Kapspesky are very slow.
AVG detects only few viruses – and it cannot heal.
AVG antispyware is really great.
PC tools antivirus and avesth are good for nothing.
C.O.M.O.D.O detected and killed the microsoftpowerpoint.exe virus at the time of its entry into my computer. But it talks too much.
AVIRA kills many of your useful .exe programs without much prick of conscience.
- a user
kaspersky acts as big brother – it will not allow any other antivirus or antispyware. Avoid it.
AVG antispyware detects and kills spies.
C.O.M.D.O looks great – dont know how good it is.
Superantispyware works only once.
annie
hi all,
i used many of the antivirus programmes. But most of the antivirus programmes u will get it as free. but very few functions wont be there.u will get McAfee from from here. http://daol.aol.com/software. u will get norton free from here.http://pack.google.com. when u use a crack key for antivirus programme, the problem is that it wont get updated.
hi
another thing is that u can use windows starter kit from http://www.download.com. I think that includes all the essential security tools. much better one.
I am one of free AVG users. I’ve been using it for about 2 yr, but I got Trojan Horses attack 2 days ago from YouTube (my guess). AVG just shows my notebook already infected. I takes 1 full day to run system scan and wipe them out. Now, I think this tool is not good enough to use. One of my friends suggests “Zonealarm.” Any comment?
your antivirus softwares are very good and i like them. THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUU
If you can let me download your antivirus free, i will be emiently happy
I want to download one of the best free antivirus programe.
quick heal is the best dont try this all makes the system slow.
Would agree with earlier comments the AVG interface is very easy to use. Thanks for posting
AVG version 8 has my cpu running at 100% most of the time and I’m not the only one. It’s good but a real resource hog that slows me down big time
does anyone use pc tools anti virus? I just downloaded it to my laptop because AVG no longer updates it’s $59.99 or something in that range.
Your article while valid for when it was written, in my opinion is no longer true. AVG 8 is now a resource hogging pig like Norton AV, both on your system and internet. Since they no longer support the free 7.X versions there is no choice but to upgrade to ver. 8.X. I have since tried Avast and Nod32 Trial, both of which pick up other antivirus/firewall .exe’s as viruses. Nod32 didn’t like Zone Alarm at all and Avast didn’t like AVG. You could argue that they were infected by viruses, but nothing else was infected on my system, which does seem a little strange.
You try this page here
http://www.freebyte.com/antivirus/#scanners
Jack
avg is excellent software………..
hi we need fast virus scanner
AVG 7.5 detected 3 trojans that Norton missed.
AVG 8 seemed preety effective along with
THREAT FIRE antispyware and COMODO firewall (COMODO
can drive you mad sometimes with all its pop-up
warnings)but all three could not prevent or detect after lots of scans a malware
that caused continuous system crashes.Only AVIRA FREE detected it and isolated it with its high sensitivity ANTIVIR.But AVIRA FREE has a big disadvantage:doesnt offer e-mail scanner.
It’s all going mad.
AVG 8.x follows norton & mcafee by swallowing resorces !
Please suggest a fast @ effective Antivirus software !!!
Thank U !
I have been testing few antivirus..
Avast is good followed by avg & kaspersky..
i will not suggect macfee n nortan as the utilized huge amount of system resources
this the best antivirus software
hi this is my first time i download free antivirus.so i hope it will good.thank you
hy guys,avast seems to do be its dificult to gets the updates,so i think nortion is better
N/A
Avast is better than AVG in detecting viruses…
hi this is my first time i download free antivirus.so i hope it will active and strong
thank you for clean my computer from viruse
please help me out fom viruses
Good Day,
please i want to have a latest avg anti virus ,in other to say away from virus.
Thanks for making me happy
it is very best antivirus
Armenian users (working on fully infected PC’s) prefer
1.Kaspersky
2.Avast
3.AVG
I recommend Avast (if updated), it is very nice. :)
Also, i recommend Kaspersky (if it is the original, not cracked or pirate version)
AVG is good, but it veeeeery slow and has problem with update (invalid update control files) :(
it’s works strongly then others antivirus then i love it
i have been using avast for years…
No problem so far… it’s very good
avg was excellent and reliable free antivirus software……….for all computer using people
for free avg 8 is best and for paid version kaspersky and avir premium both r best.
My AVG still can’t detect viruses than other antivirus program even after i’ve completely up dated every day.
I’ve try to check through with panda scan online, and still there were alot of files infected found.
Why my updated AVG still couldn’t find those viruses??
AVG is not quite good antivir but still i’m using it because it’s free and i’ve let my computer with a viruses unhealed.
Which Anti-Virus(Free)is the best for my Laptop.
Comodo Internet Suite works great on my pc.
I used to use only the Comodo Firewall. I find its OS Firewall very useful for detecting virus activations and other suspicious activities in my computer.
A drawback: sometimes Comodo just doesnt go resident and active anymore. I just uninstall and reinstall the whole thing and it’s good again.
Not bad for a freebie…
How can i get free enterprise edition antivirus software?
I have used all of he above anti-virus. For the begining I suppose AVG,COMODO, AVIRA are all good solutions. But for little advanced usage like constant internet, small resource usage and etc. I would recomend Avast along with PC Tools ThreatFire. Avast uses good detection rates with regular interval updates, acts as a transparent firewallinfront of your browser which blocks many malwaresand virus in first step, rest can be removed during scan and small resource usage while Threatfire almost the same but lages in detection rates, it is only better because it uses behaviour-based detection which is a good step n free security.
So Avast along with PC Tools Threatfire is the best for Home usage but don’t ask it to do all for you and behave like complete professionals, there are others like NOD32, Kaspersky and also ZoneAlarm for that cause.
Hi…………..
from last 1yr i have been using Quick Heal but now im facing problem with QH, thts why now i want to install the best of best package on my PC
Pl suggest the best one.
please sent latest avg anti virus to me. Thanks.
I need to kick out all the Viruses, Worms, and that is sure to be done by AVG
IT is a waste of time.I doesnt get downloaded for hours.
I’ve used many antivirus already. Norton, Mc affe, avg, avira, avast, bitdefender. norton made my pc run slower, others just doesn’t leave your computer 100% protected like avast and avg, but i suggest you people to use the free avast first because i believe that it can better protect your computer than the other free antivirus. but if you still got infected, install and scan your computer with avg as it can sometimes heal or fix the virus that the other antivirus are neglecting. {^^,}
avast antivirus home edition is the best best best in the world
Please i need a good antivirus on my system.
I have been very pleased with PC Tools. The antivirus spyware doctor, and Registry Mechanic. It’s easy to use, and you’ll get a trial period to try it out, and then a yearly renewal at $29.95 for each program. I like it much better than McAfee or Norton.
i want to ofload avg anti virus free 9.00