best free antivirus for my laptop

longwalks1

im after a good free antivirus software for my dell laptop that ive had for a year, any recommendations?

I use Ad-Aware but am after a antivirus too, and gf laptop has just been infected and we cant get the bloody thing off!

Thanks in advance

gonzo127

the main ones generally recommended are

Avast - pretty good all round
Avira - best detection rate but has a pop up everytime it updates asking you to buy the premium version
Microsoft Security essentials - good, little basic but intergrates very well into windows

in_the_Cotswolds

I don't normally post on here. However I hope this helps. I use AVG free, Spybot search and destroy and Superantispyware on my Windows laptop. I never had any problems. I had to remove an infection on my sister-in-laws laptop by starting in safe mode and running the Superantispyware.

Now on a Mac and have nothing!!

gonzo127

unfortunatly AVG has 'dropped' recently in its detection rates yes it is better than nothing however the 3 i have suggested are better and when it comes to security thats free you may as well go for one of the best as hey its not costing you anything.

also one of the other programs which is very good is malwarebytes anti-malware which is a top class 'on demand' scanner (no real time protection)

longwalks1

thanks people

Gonzo, so should i load all 3 of those you recommended on my laptop, or just one of them? Avira does the pop up only occur when it updates, such as once a week or whenever its scedulded to update?

And malwarebytes anti-malware, you say it is 'on demand', does that mean it only runs if i choose to run it?

Excuse my ignorance but have pretty limited knowledge on computers

Thanks again

swvillafan

britishboy wrote: »

thanks people

Gonzo, so should i load all 3 of those you recommended on my laptop, or just one of them? Avira does the pop up only occur when it updates, such as once a week or whenever its scedulded to update?

And malwarebytes anti-malware, you say it is 'on demand', does that mean it only runs if i choose to run it?

Excuse my ignorance but have pretty limited knowledge on computers

Thanks again

Hi there, you should only have one actual antivirus program on your PC. I believe conflicts can occur if you have multiple programs.

The Avira pop up seems to come up every time it updates, at least it does on mine.

gonzo127

you should only have one of them as if you try and run more then can cause conflicts

yes Avira does only do a pop up when it updates however this is every day (better to have the most up to date protection no point in running 1 week old virus database) - although there are 'walk thoughs' on how to turn this off it does require extra effort

yes a on demand scanner only ever runs when you want it to so you have to start the program update it and then run it, this in itself a added bonus as it allows you to have another scanner on your computer without the conflicts or resource usage of having an extra real time scanner running

any one of those 3 will do a good job, and having Malwarebytes as well for periodical scans on top should mean you will have no problems,

i have personally used all 3 of them and i loved the protection from Avira however the pop up did end up getting on my nerves when i was watching a movie or playing a game so i have swapped back to avast, microsoft security essentials i have installed on my parents laptop due to the way it intergrates into windows so makes it easier to use for them

mr_fishbulb

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aliEnRIK

britishboy wrote: »

im after a good free antivirus software for my dell laptop that ive had for a year, any recommendations?

I use Ad-Aware but am after a antivirus too, and gf laptop has just been infected and we cant get the bloody thing off!

Thanks in advance

Adaware is awful. I wouldnt bother with that at all

As for the infection, id really recommend against installing an av until the infections gone ~

Download MALWAREBYTES (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION')
http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/
Open malwarebytes and goto UPDATE and click 'check for updates'. After its updated goto SCANNER and click PERFORM FULL SCAN then click SCAN
Remove everything thats found (needs to be ticked)
Post the COMPLETE log here AFTER youve deleted everything it finds


reboot

Download HIJACK THIS (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD THIS VERSION')
http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/2894/
Click MAIN MENU then DO A SYSTEM SCAN AND SAVE A LOGFILE(Takes seconds) then post the log so we can see whats running
(do NOT do anything else with Hijack but scan and post the FULL log)