General Discussion

Hi all,

it's been a while since i needed to look for an av program and didn't know what was the recommended av program now a days. 

used to run avg but the last time i dl'd it, i couldn't find the free version anymore. 

i was wondering the opinion here of best free antivirus program or am i better off biting the bullett and paying for a program like kaspersky or nod32.

thanks in advance, you guys are great.

ken

Hi airken.

Here are the two which come to mind right off. AVG will still be free but it comes with an absurdly difficult to remove toolbar, so most security forums no longer recommend it.

Antivirus:

• Avira AntiVir
  
• avast!

[Avira]

It's a "Catch 22" world out there, and way too much -gray- area to define "Who's best?".

I agree with TeMerc, but would add a few "caveats":

- Avira: 'always near the top on all the "best" lists*, -but- (there's always a "but") if you follow this for awhile ( http://www.avira.com/en/threats/section/vdfhistory/index.html ), you will see they "go to sleep" on the weekends alot, or else - nobody works the weekends alot, dunno. And, they occasionally "remind" you (with pop-ups) that their "free" version does -not- scan your e-mail, although there are workarounds for that in their forum ( http://forum.avira.com/thread.php?threadid=31838&hilight=configuration ). Free version download site is here: http://www.free-av.de/en/download/1/download_avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

- avast!: You have to "register"... Doesn't EVERYBODY have all my info by now, anyway? Free version download site is here: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

- AVG: The new AVG8.0 has a slew of complaints at the "Free forum" ( http://freeforum.avg.com/ ) and support for the v7.5 version appears to be ending July 25, 2008. AVG Free download site is here:
http://free.avg.com/ww.download?prd=afe

[All these types of "best" lists rank/test the vendors... er, differently. This is just one.]
* http://mtc.sri.com/live_data/av_rankings/
(Updated daily)

- http://windowssecrets.com/comp/080703#known0
2008-07-03 - "...The organizations that offer free software walk a thin line between encouraging people to upgrade to the paid versions of their programs and being so intrusive that people choose a less-annoying alternative..."

So, there you have it. "In a perfect world...", things would be, er, different.

thank you for the replies. 

very much appreciate the updated info

ken

[here]

FYI...

Virus Bulletin: VB100 > RAP averages Oct 2012 - Apr 2013
> http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml
___

AV-Comparatives latest graphic: http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php
___

AV-TEST...
- http://www.av-test.org/en/statistics/malware/
"... over 200,000 new malicious programs every day..."
05-07-2013 (... over 120 million total)

- http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/
___

Market share for endpoint security products
- http://www.opswat.com/media/reports
___

Trojans account for 80% of malware infections
- https://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2481
May 3, 2013
Graphic: https://www.net-security.org/images/articles/pandalabs-052013.jpg

 
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