The "Best" free anti virus

Benet

I know a paid for solution will inevitably be slightly better than a free alternative, but this being MSE I can't justify spending £30 a year for something I can get for free.

Thus, I'm in the market for a free anti virus program. I'm currently using Avast! but I'd like to know if theres a better solution out there.

Ideally, I'd like something thats easy on resources, offers real-time scanning (not just when I tell it to), regular updates, and something that won't pester me to upgrade to a paid version.

Thoughts please!

Browntoa

has a reassuring name...lol...MSE

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

closed

You have the best one that matches your chosen criteria, Avast 6 free

esuhl

I'd go for either AVG or Avira...

MarkBargain

I've tried Avast, AVG and Avira and I think the best of the three is...Avast! It is fast, speaks to you when it updates and seems to highlight threats well.

I'd also download Malwarebytes free version and run that from time to time, just for added reassurance.

23n1th

Benet wrote: »

I know a paid for solution will inevitably be slightly better than a free alternative, but this being MSE I can't justify spending £30 a year for something I can get for free.

Thus, I'm in the market for a free anti virus program. I'm currently using Avast! but I'd like to know if theres a better solution out there.

Ideally, I'd like something thats easy on resources, offers real-time scanning (not just when I tell it to), regular updates, and something that won't pester me to upgrade to a paid version.

Thoughts please!

Looks like you've already got the AV that meets all your needs.

RussJK

You can compare all of the various AV solutions with the independent testing done here http://www.av-comparatives.org/

The features present in any free version will perform just as well as they do in the paid version.

In reality, the main free ones worth considering are Avast, Avira, MSE, and AVG. I've used Avira for more than a decade, and only have have caught a trojan, which Malwarebytes Anti-Malware fixed back when it was a little known tool. I made the switch in recent weeks to Avast just for the additional web/email shields as Avira only has a realtime guard for the filesystem. I've tested AVG out but found it slower than Avira, and let known malware through that other layers had to pick up. AVG doesn't perform so well in independent testing such as on the above site. As for MSE, I have no experience - but it's not yet as good as Avast from what little I've read about it.

There are other free solutions of course, but there's little evidence that you'd be better off with them.

23n1th

theres also this for comparing all sorts of things to do with AVs: http://www.raymond.cc/antivirus/idlemem.html

societys_child

Erica_Deanne wrote: »

AVAST is the best. I had that put on by a PC shop. Although I went out and actually bought norton because its so cheap anyway and better I mean for 1 year you get access to 3 computers and it protects you more than avast with everything..but otherwise i wud definetely say avast

Have they done some major improvements to Norton then?

RussJK

23n1th wrote: »

theres also this for comparing all sorts of things to do with AVs: http://www.raymond.cc/antivirus/idlemem.html

Interesting! Thanks, some unexpected results in there. Will have to look more closely later.

One thing that stood out immediately was the idle memory usage of the old version of MBAM pro - 25000kb in version 1.46. On mine, 1.50 only has an idle memory usage of 2500kb. I know they promised some improvements in system resource usage in the update, but that's quite a difference!

RussJK

societys_child wrote: »

Have they done some major improvements to Norton then?

Actually they have, completely revamped. Performed very well in independent testing (http://www.av-comparatives.org/). Doesn't stop me removing it though