Author Topic: free antivirus (Read 29,315 times)

kalos · « **on:** April 28, 2012, 01:35 PM »

hello!

I am looking for a free antivirus solution

Microsoft Security Essentials seems the best solution, we have it at work with no problems at all, but at home, I run WinXP 64 and it is not supported

instead, I run Avira freeware, but lately it spams so much with ads, that I want to uninstall it

any alternative? lightweight in performance is my main criterion, and reliable ofcourse

thanks!

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 28, 2012, 01:46 PM »

Curt · « **Reply #2 on:** April 28, 2012, 01:49 PM »

Quote from: kalos on April 28, 2012, 01:35 PM

Microsoft Security Essentials seems the best solution,

If you look at XP's page you will notice that MSE is listed as a free download for XP as well, not just for Vista and 7: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/windows-xp . So I #feel# certain that it will work on XP as well as on Vista and 7:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials/download

Edited:
Hmm... you may be right. 64-XP is not listed, only 32-XP.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #3 on:** April 28, 2012, 02:14 PM »

Unfortunately AVG and Avira advertise heavily in their free offerings, Avast used to be better but that has started advertising too now, though I don't think it is as in your face as AVG and Avira.

Avast does require annual registration for the free version.

mitzevo · « **Reply #4 on:** April 28, 2012, 02:29 PM »

Comodo Antivirus is a free option, not so spammy last time I checked (few months back).

Tuxman · « **Reply #5 on:** April 28, 2012, 02:38 PM »

Why do you want to save money on computer security? I'd bet paying for a good anti-virus solution will save you more money later.

eleman · « **Reply #6 on:** April 28, 2012, 02:54 PM »

Quote from: Tuxman on April 28, 2012, 02:38 PM

Why do you want to save money on computer security? I'd bet paying for a good anti-virus solution will save you more money later.

If only there was a way to know that paid antivirus is better than free antivirus.

Tuxman · « **Reply #7 on:** April 28, 2012, 02:56 PM »

There is.

eleman · « **Reply #8 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:03 PM »

Quote from: Tuxman on April 28, 2012, 02:56 PM

There is.

Can't really see a statistically significant difference between avast, avg, avira (i.e. the adware brethren) and mcafee, panda, kaspersky etc. (i.e. the scareware bunch). Can you?

Tuxman · « **Reply #9 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:07 PM »

Free antivirus applications get less signature updates and (mostly) lack good heuristics. The first point is the worse.

eleman · « **Reply #10 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:17 PM »

Quote from: Tuxman on April 28, 2012, 03:07 PM

Free antivirus applications get less signature updates and (mostly) lack good heuristics. The first point is the worse.

I really hate going down the route of opposing all claims made by someone, and I really hate to be rude. But, in turn, please don't make unsubstantiated claims.

Nothing in the source you referred to claims that paid antivirus is in any way better than free ones, and certainly no reference to less signature updates and worse heuristics.
The report for 2011 seems to choose Kaspersky as the best of the bunch, but free ones also had very good scores, and in 2008, it seems Avira, a free solution, was the recipient of the same award.

I respectfully implore you to write a teeny bit more thought of and substantiated claims than a tea party supporter.

Curt · « **Reply #11 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:18 PM »

Quote

Comodo is the only antivirus provider with the confidence to give you a $500 Virus-Free Guarantee: If your PC gets infected by a virus after Comodo Antivirus software is properly installed and registered, Comodo support technicians will restore it to working condition, or Comodo will cover up to $500 in repair costs.

[attachimg=#]

Quote

Comodo Internet Security Pro 2012
Includes award-winning Firewall, Antivirus and "GeekBuddy Support" for 1 PC, 1 Year: $ 4.99
http://antivirus.comodo.com/comodo-antivirus-advanced.php

cmpm · « **Reply #12 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:40 PM »

This may still work to remove the popups.
An article from 2009 by dottech.
So I'm not sure if this info will still work.

http://dottech.org/tipsntricks/5812/remove-the-popup-in-avira-antivir/

comments on the subject-

http://dottech.org/forums/tech-support/how-do-you-remove-avira-popup/

Personally I got tired of Avira and switched to Eset's Antivirus, which is a paid for solution.
But worth it in my opinion.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #13 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:41 PM »

Quote from: Tuxman on April 28, 2012, 03:07 PM

Free antivirus applications get less signature updates and (mostly) lack good heuristics. The first point is the worse.

In that case I am glad I never purchased Avast as it must have been downloading updates constantly. It was not uncommon for the free version to download 3 or 4 signature updates a day.

IMHO all AV solutions are pretty crap as they are either too aggressive or rely on user common sense - neither of which leads to a good outcome - and I have yet to find any AV solution that stops everything ... that solution just doesn't exist.

I have certainly found more infected computers WITH paid for solutions than the free solutions - especially the big names who really don't seem to do that well, as far as I can see, stopping common webpage based attacks.

The reasons I now use MSE are:

1) It is free.
2) No advertising - quiet in use unless there is something that needs to be reported.
3) At least as good as any of the alternatives (paid or free) - and better at some of the webpage based crap ware that works its way onto systems than most of the others.
4) You can do manual; scans or schedule scans daily or weekly and limit system impact during those scans.

The only piece of software I think is even more snake-oily than AV is third party firewalls. If you are a techy kind of person they can be useful but for most people they are significantly worse than useless - which is why I advise anyone who has to ask the question to stick with Windows Firewall and a NAT router.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #14 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:42 PM »

Quote from: Curt on April 28, 2012, 03:18 PM

Quote
Comodo is the only antivirus provider with the confidence to give you a $500 Virus-Free Guarantee: If your PC gets infected by a virus after Comodo Antivirus software is properly installed and registered, Comodo support technicians will restore it to working condition, or Comodo will cover up to $500 in repair costs.
(see attachment in previous post)
Quote
Comodo Internet Security Pro 2012
Includes award-winning Firewall, Antivirus and "GeekBuddy Support" for 1 PC, 1 Year: $ 4.99
http://antivirus.comodo.com/comodo-antivirus-advanced.php

Sounds a little like Belkin's outlandish claims for surge protection compensation - has anyone ever made a successful claim ?

Tuxman · « **Reply #15 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:48 PM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on April 28, 2012, 03:41 PM

3) At least as good as any of the alternatives (paid or free)

Depends on what you want to do.

The issue that annoys me with MSE is that it gives red alert when a Windows Update is missing.

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 28, 2012, 04:09 PM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on April 28, 2012, 02:14 PM

Unfortunately AVG and Avira advertise heavily in their free offerings, Avast used to be better but that has started advertising too now, though I don't think it is as in your face as AVG and Avira.

Avast does require annual registration for the free version.

I have AVG free, and I don't see a single ad o_0

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #17 on:** April 28, 2012, 04:45 PM »

Have you never opened the AVG window? Usually adverts there.

I also hate AVGs regular scans that seem to grind your system to a complete standstill.

cmpm · « **Reply #18 on:** April 28, 2012, 04:48 PM »

Eset has web access protection, and, if you check the options and advanced options.
I think one may be impressed with this new version 5.

It also allows you to take no action on any threat detected.
Such as OC, opinions about that vary, but it will block it, if you want it to.

And yes, no one security program, will completely protect you. Others can help.
I would suggest Malwarebytes, not malewarebytes, a counterfeit I've seen come up.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

cmpm · « **Reply #19 on:** April 28, 2012, 04:50 PM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on April 28, 2012, 04:45 PM

Have you never opened the AVG window? Usually adverts there.

I also hate AVGs regular scans that seem to grind your system to a complete standstill.

Yes, why scan the same stuff on a schedule.
On demand is better, if you suspect trouble.

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #20 on:** April 28, 2012, 04:55 PM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on April 28, 2012, 04:45 PM

Have you never opened the AVG window? Usually adverts there.

I also hate AVGs regular scans that seem to grind your system to a complete standstill.

No ads in the main window, and all my scans are set to "User Aware" which means it only uses minimal resources so I've never noticed lag

kalos · « **Reply #21 on:** April 28, 2012, 06:24 PM »

I think I will go for a free solution with VIPRE engine/signatures, before moving to paid solution
I read all the time that it's superior
so far, I only found UnThreat that uses it, any others?

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #22 on:** April 28, 2012, 07:49 PM »

Quote from: Stephen66515 on April 28, 2012, 04:55 PM

Quote from: Carol Haynes on April 28, 2012, 04:45 PM
Have you never opened the AVG window? Usually adverts there.

I also hate AVGs regular scans that seem to grind your system to a complete standstill.

No ads in the main window, and all my scans are set to "User Aware" which means it only uses minimal resources so I've never noticed lag

Strange every version of AVG Free I have seen has had ads in it, and popups at the most annoying moments. Are you running some sort of OS level ad blocker (like AdMuncher) ?

Ath · « **Reply #23 on:** April 28, 2012, 08:01 PM »

I'll add a +1 for Avast here. (or +4 for 4 computers

)
Light-weight (though recent AVG versions don't seem to be as bad as older ones), pretty light on ads, updates at least every 4 hours, but yes, an annual 'license renewal cycle', that can be a bit of a pain, but it's still free.

Mark0 · « **Reply #24 on:** April 28, 2012, 10:27 PM »

Still no resident AV here. When I download something, I scan it with ClamAV or just use the VirusTotal Uploader (usually someone other have already checked it, so the results are instantaneous). If I am very suspicious of some executable, first I run it under Sandboxie and try to figure out if it's doing something fishy.
So far so good.