Personally, I’ve never much cared for the antivirus/antimalware market. To me, it’s always seemed like something of a protection racket- “Lovely system you’ve got there, it’d be a shame if something were to happen to it.”
Thankfully, there are actually several rather excellent antivirus programs available on the ‘net that don’t actually require a subscription fee of any kind.
Avast! Free Antivirus
Here’s one that I myself have installed. Developed by Avast software, a number of review sites (CNet included) list Avast as one of the best antivirus solutions available – free or otherwise. Me, I’m inclined to agree. The interface looks sleek and sexy, it has a negligible memory footprint, and it ships with a number of active shields to protect its users from a wide and varied array of attacks on their system. The ability to disable these shields or switch to something known as “silent/gaming mode” is a nice touch, as well.
Avast! is definitely one of my personal recommendations for an antivirus program – and it blows a lot of the ‘paid’ antivirus services (McAfee and Norton, for example) straight out of the water. One of the only problems with Avast free is that it’s not usable in commercial environments. But I doubt the majority of you are Enterprise users, anyway.
Now, you do have to register every now and then to keep using the program, but registration is free, and rather painless. And most definitely preferable to recurring subscription fees.
Malwarebytes AntiMalware
Here’s another one that I’d give my personal recommendation to. Malwarebytes Antimalware is an in-depth, completely free security tool. I generally tend to use this in conjunction with Avast! since Malwarebytes doesn’t actually provide real time protection (it’s a tool for isolating and removing malicious software and nothing more). The paid version adds a scheduler for updates and scans as well as real-time protection. But honestly, I don’t find it entirely necessary.
Malwarebytes supports multiple drive scanning, the ability to scan individual files and the ability to remove locked files via the simple, pleasing interface. Updates are quick and painless, and I’ve noted several occasions where Malwarebytes detected some piece of malicious code or infected file that several other programs seemed to miss.
It doesn’t just detect viruses, either. It also dectects things like tracking cookies or browser hijackers.
AVG Free
While I myself don’t actually use AVG free, I can vouch for for its quality. It features a great interface, thorough, intuitive scanning, and a great deal of user support. Plus, 4.5/5 stars on Cnet is a pretty good recommendation, wouldn’t you say?
The reason I myself don’t tend to use AVG is actually a result of its memory footprint. On newer systems, it’s something you’ll be very unlikely to notice, but on older rigs with 2 GB of RAM or less, AVG has a rather irksome tendency to bog down the system a bit.
Panda Cloud Antivirus
Considered by many to be among the best free antivirus software around, Panda Cloud features fast scan times, a simple, aesthetically pleasing interface, and a markedly low impact on system performance. While it doesn’t have as many features as some other antivirus programs out there, it’s still a rather excellent tool, and one that’s definitely worth taking for a test drive.
Microsoft Safety Scanner
Here’s something that a lot of people don’t know about: Microsoft actually has a rather thorough, powerful security and diagnostics tool directly embedded into their support website. While it might not offer as much security as some of the other options on the list, scans with the MS Safety Scanner also search for registry errors and other glitches in the Windows programming, attempting to root them out. If you generally practice safe browsing and don’t want an antivirus program weighing your system down, this could most definitely be a solution for you.
If you’re determined to pay for your antivirus software, I’ve only one piece of advice- Kaspersky. That’s all.
Via CNet, Image Credits: Tech Bliss Online, Softsalad, Techmixer, The Tech Herald, Software-Latest
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No mention of MSE?
I think the MS Security Scanner will ‘suggest’ it to you when you run it, but don’t quote me on that.
I prefer Microsoft Security Essentials. Not only is it free, but it has excellent real-time protection, low memory usage, and daily updates. If it does happen to detect viruses/malware, it can clean it. I’ll always do a Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware Portable scan to make sure the computer is completely clean if MSE detects something.
Also, Hitman Pro is a great product for detecting rootkits if you happen to run into a google redirect type of virus. Although the paid version will help you fix it, the free version lets you narrow down what file is actually infected.
Avast! is probably the best AV around these days. To scan for malware and cookies I like Windows Defender.
I am with Avast now but I have also used Avira free antivirus in the past and it is a good alternative to Avast if anyone doesn’t like it.
too often I have to fix machines that had a pop up trojan tell the client “we have scanned”..or “you need to scan now”… and then of course they become infected because they either didn’t have protection or the protection didn’t stop the trojan. I have had Avast for years and LOVE it! I put it on all my clients machines. And then I show them how it works. I always have to remind them that they will over ride Avast protection if they give permission to something that asks them to scan. I just tell them to close whatever it is and scan with Avast. If you have real time protection, it is scanning all the time. But I have had trojans get past Avast on client’s machines. Scareware gets good! That’s when I turn to MalwareBytes. Only the best removal tool I have used in years!!
Agree. I like Kaspersky too and I use it in my computer. so far I know several antivirus software companies license Kaspersky’s technology.
In case you want to buy Kaspersky antivirus software, you can get some discount from http://www.dailydeals4you.com/kaspersky-coupon.