Recently I reviewed the best antivirus programs but one question I keep being asked by customers in my computer repair business is which is the best free antivirus? Specifically, people want to know how the top four compare to each other. I will therefore review the level of protection first and then look at the other features of each program. The latest versions of each program and links to my initial reviews are:.
Tip: although not as popular, the latest ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus False positives are detections of legitimate software as malware during a system scan. It is difficult to give an absolute opinion on protection levels — results inevitably differ depending on how the testing is performed and which settings are chosen within each antivirus program. My own conclusion from the tests above and many others I have reviewed is that Avast takes first place with Avira second — both offer solid virus and malware protection.
AVG takes third due to its high number of false positives and MSE is some way behind, providing dire levels of Protection compared to the others. In some ways that is a good thing but, considering its reduced level of Protection above, perhaps it is also a sign that its lightweight look and feel comes at the expense of security. Avast and Avira are average sizes and both provide a single download. All 4 programs offer real-time always on and on-demand scan protection against viruses, spyware, adware and rootkits.
The free WOT Web Of Trust is my recommended safe surfing add-on see review but free antivirus programs increasingly include their own versions:. MSE does not include a safe surf add-on. A silent mode offers the ability to stop all notifications and messages from the antivirus program — typically used when you are gaming or in full screen mode to prevent interruptions from updates and pop-up messages.
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Started by mark , Jan 21 AM. Please log in to reply. Posted 21 January - AM I have been using Avira Free with a Windows 7 laptop for several years and it's been ok, but there are quite a few annoying pop ups and I suspect it's dragging the performance boot times a bit. This could be days or weeks.
If it came automatically- there is no need for user intervention. I could just see now my clients remembering to click on the yellow shield everyday and do the update. When going on their computers especially Vista I find that WD is not being updated properly now- imagine if this was their antivirus program? I would be pulling my hair hout.
I think this needs to be addressed robin. Guys, MSE does indeed updates automatically. There is no need to do anything manually. It does it once a day. User Interface : Avira has a much nicer look Regards I have noticed that virus updates come fully automatic through Windows update - without any intervention of the user - this is great. I have filed my findings about the UI in a bug report. Regards Picsoe. TotalAV is much easier to use than Windows Defender and comes with good malware protection and great PC optimization tools to enhance device performance.
Download TotalAV Now. Users looking for a VPN with unlimited browsing data, advanced system optimization, and mobile protections should check out Avira Prime — it offers coverage for up to 5 users across all operating systems.
Avira Prime comes with a day money-back guarantee. Download Avira Now. McAfee also has an excellent Wi-Fi scanner that actively scans your network to let you know which devices are currently logged into your Wi-Fi network.
The Wi-Fi scanner even offers notifications if new users try to gain access to your network. Download McAfee Now. BullGuard has a very good game booster that both suspends scans and notifications while gaming and reallocates system processes across multi-core processors — so that your CPU can put as much power as possible into running your games.
In my testing , this game booster significantly increased my frame rate and load times across a wide variety of games. But BullGuard is reasonably priced, offering the game booster with all 3 of its antivirus packages.
BullGuard provides advanced anti-malware protection and a unique game booster for PC gamers. BullGuard also offers some helpful internet security tools, but the VPN is only available as a separate purchase. All BullGuard premium plans are backed by a day money-back guarantee. Download BullGuard Now. Kaspersky offers a good malware scanner and web protections which are more advanced than the ones offered by Defender.
Kaspersky also offers good financial protections with its Safe Money browser. Kaspersky Anti-Virus and Kaspersky Internet Security are pretty decent plans which cover up to 5 users, but families looking for good parental controls will want to upgrade to Kaspersky Total Security, which offers parental controls as well as a password manager for up to 10 devices.
The parental controls, secure financial protections, and password manager are all surprisingly good. However, I did experience a little bit of slowdown with Kaspersky installed. Download Kaspersky Now. Panda Dome is a good anti-malware program with high detection rates, decent extra features, and a variety of plans and payment options. In my testing, Panda detected malware about as accurately as Windows Defender, catching the majority of the malware files on my test PC, but it missed some newer adware and ransomware files that competitors like Norton caught.
Panda offers 5 different packages , including a free plan for users on a budget.
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