Hello. This is my first Blog post! I hope to continue to write once in a while. 
NOTE: This is just Anti-Virus software. If you are looking for Anti-Spyware and Anti-Malware, two free solutions I recommend are SUPERAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes. Check them out!
Today I will be looking at ways to help protect your computer without spending money for all different types of software. Currently, there are many free alternative software choices that do almost as good (in some cases as good) as ones that are subscription based. I’d like to provide a run down of anti-virus choices that are known to be worthy.
Before I do so, I’d just like to mention that I will have some information about paid solutions as well. Though I will not include these products in my blog as a whole, it is definitely worth looking at some of the paid programs if you don’t mind spending the money.
To start off, here is a chart provided by AV-Comparatives that gives you a run down on the pros and cons of the leading Anti-Virus software.
Currently, AV-Comparatives has Symantec, Kaspersky, and ESET NOD32 ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively. I suggest checking these out if you are not just looking at free solutions.
avast!
avast! has just recently updated to v5. This new update has provided many new upgrades from their previous version. Here are some of the major improvements:
- Better detection rates
- Lower number of false alarms
- Faster scanning speeds
- New GUI interface for easier use
avast! has high malware detection rates, fast scanning speeds, and best of all, avast! is free for Home use.
For more information, please visit www.avast.com
AVG
AVG has just recently been updated to v9.0. This update has brought some improved features, but unfortunately has not kept up with comparable solutions. AV-Comparatives says, “AVG did not score as well as we expected this year, although it was still good.” Like avast!, AVG is free for Home use. AVG is very easy to manage. Some of AVG’s main features:
- Easy to use and navigate
- LinkScanner – prevents you from visiting risky websites
- Many more features through an upgrade
For more information, please visit free.avg.com
AVIRA
Avira earned AV-Comaparatives’ Product of the Year award in 2008. Avira’s main features:
- High detection rates
- WebShield
- Low system performance impact
- New version due sometime in 2010
Unfortunately, Avira does have a high rate of false-positives (found something that is actually safe), but with the award it has received, do not leave Avira out of the question!
For more information, please visit www.free-av.com
Microsoft Security Essentials
MSE is the newest solution from Microsoft. In the past, Microsoft has released Defender and OneCare. Both of these have been replaced by a free alternative known as Microsoft Security Essentials. Unlike Defender, MSE does both Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware. Some of MSE’s features include:
- Extremely easy to use
- Easy install
- Uploads programs you download to improve definitions
MSE is a large improvement over it’s predecessors and is a worthwhile choice.
For more information, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/
Summary
These are the four leading anti-virus solutions that you can obtain for free. They provide the basic needs to keep your computer secure. Purchasing a paid solution will provide even more security if you feel that you need it. The best way to fight off infection is to keep yourself knowledgeable and understanding. The most beneficial security is yourself. I hope this will help you when trying to answer the question, “Which Anti-Virus software is the best?”
For more Anti-Virus software choices, please visit the Five Best Anti-Virus Applications.
I highly recommend that you read the AV-Comparatives website for further information on anti-virus software testing.
-cralor
Images: av-comparatives.org, tricks-collections.com, softpedia.com
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I personally think the best free antivirus is a Linux PC, but that of course depends on the user…
What do you think of ClamWin AV? Have you ever used it? I mean, I don’t see it on the chart, but maybe that’s for a reason…
Oh, for sure! If you have the knowledge for a Linux Distro, that is a piece of security in itself. You won’t be fully immune, but it’s definitely a help.
Hmm… ClamWin. I’ve heard of it, but never heard anyone actually use it
I mainly used AV-Comparatives for backup information, as well as my own thoughts (almost hand-in-hand).
As long as you have only one “On-Access Scanner” (scanning real-time), having more is just going to give you more peace of mind. You can do manually scans for each one to make yourself happy
But my personal recommendation is going to be MSE (has On-Access scanner) and Malware Bytes. Also, get SUPERAntiSpyware. That should be enough.
Hope this helps!
See, here’s the thing: my dad and I are pretty paranoid, so none of our personal computers are connected to the internet. Before the dedicated “Internet computer” ran Ubuntu, we had XP SP2 with ClamWin “running” in the background. It was passive though, so I guess I just answered my own question: we really only used it to scan torrents for viruses, since it’s open-source and probably doesn’t blacklist something that really isn’t a virus. Worked for us until our whole house got infected with a NASTY worm that actually spread via flash drives, and was undetectable in Windows. THAT’s when we switched over to Linux.
But yeah, really nice for a first post, thanks for sharing your info!
I personally do not use torrents, but if I did, I would run it through a Virtual PC. It’s like a OS in an OS. This will “quarantine” (so to speak) or rather just make it more secure than your PC already is. Have the program in a shell.
Never rely on just one security program. Have several so that you can have different scanners to work with.
You’ve certainly got the right formula, as far as ensuring you have an actual antivirus solution with realtime protection and add a standalone malware scanner for on-demand scanning with a different set of definitions.
do not rely on Virtual Machines to protect you, as the most recent rogues and plenty of other malware is fully VM-Aware, whether you’re using VMWare, VirtualBox, Windows Virtual PC, etc.
I handle viruses in the wile, and they will absolutely try to break out of the VM to infect the host PC.
I’ll have to get bloggin again to try and pass this kind of info along more effectively.
Didn’t sign in before :\ I wanted to make sure I mentioned: Good job for your first blog. Pretty well thought out, and good formatting and presentation of information
Keep it up!