The best free anti-virus?

jmurray01

jmurray01

Member
I use the free version of Avira on all my systems mainly because it is what I used when I first got into computers back in 2005/2006 and have never had any issues with it. Nor have I ever had any systems become virus infected, pretty good for something I've never paid a dime towards.

So, what do you use on your machines and do you think Avira is a good anti-virus or not?
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Avast for me. All it takes is good surfing habits and not visit any bad websites or install any shady software, you'll be fine. However, an antivirus program won't save you when you install bad software that causes all kinds of issues.
 
A

aldan

Active Member
its avast for me as well.i also have malwarebytes paid version and malwarebytes antiexploit free.
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
johnb35 said:
Avast for me. All it takes is good surfing habits and not visit any bad websites or install any shady software, you'll be fine. However, an antivirus program won't save you when you install bad software that causes all kinds of issues.
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This is pretty much the best answer you'll get. The best AV is not being dumb, followed by Avast and MalwareBytes (when needed).
 
jmurray01

jmurray01

Member
johnb35 said:
Avast for me. All it takes is good surfing habits and not visit any bad websites or install any shady software, you'll be fine. However, an antivirus program won't save you when you install bad software that causes all kinds of issues.
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Yep, that's my opinion too. If people weren't so stupid the anti-virus companies wouldn't be so rich. With the exception of some really bad viruses most could be avoided simply by employing COMMON SENSE.

I bet I could run my computers without any anti-virus systems and remain virus free, they are just there as a safeguard in case anything should try to "get in" despite my efforts to remain safe.

To me having anti-virus software is like wearing your seat belt in a car. If you are a good driver chances are you'll never need it, but should anything happen - you are somewhat protected.
 
Agent Smith

Agent Smith

Well-Known Member
I used to use Avast and Avira and they both got blotted. Good luck removing Avira. You need to use their registry tool and do some other crap which I can't remember.

I now use Bitdefender Free. It lightweight, cloudbased and had really good detection rates. I installed it on my uncle's computer who is very computer illiterate. It had quarantined 19 viruses since I last check his computer.

In addition to Bitdefender Free I use NoScript and Sandboxie. No sig baed software will fully protect you in this day and age.

I don't use anything on my gaming computer except Comodo Firewall. Bitdefender Free messes with debugging and I have a lot of gaming apps that won't work with it and I just would not want to have anything mess with my gaming. I will scan downloads at Virustotal and depend on NoScript and Sandboxie.
 
DMGrier

DMGrier

VIP Member
Windows 7 - Microsoft Security Essentials + Malwarebytes Pro
Windows 8.1 & 10 - Defender + Malwarebytes Pro

This will give you your Signature & Heuristic scan and real time protection which is optimal with keeping off and removing infection. Using one or the other is okay but having both types of scans is preferred. Microsoft Security essentials is free and for Windows 8 and later Defender comes built in. Malwarebytes Pro is $24.95 a year for three computer. No one AV can offer real time protection that good when you put that combination together.

Good web surfing habits is key, but some people I have done work for just does not have that common sense, these people I always put on this combination and I have never seen them get another infection again.
 
Punk

Punk

Moderator
Staff member
I'll always recommend Avast free.

No need to have four of five programs, just Avast (which has a Sandbox option) and Malwarebytes. I tried the paid version of Avast, it gives you a few addons that aren't very useful if you are using common sense. Like John said, the best A-V is common sense.

I would never leave a computer connected to internet without an A-V though.
 
DMGrier

DMGrier

VIP Member
I see a lot of people recommending Avast, I like Avast and the product has a great detection rate however I do have one issue with recommending Avast. Unless you buy their top of the line AV I have seen the Avast client show ad's to people for the available additions they offer. Personally that is crap that an AV would "spam" someone. For those who I feel need the active protection I don't have them buy the top of the line of Avast as most of the feature are unnecessary, end users wouldn't use something like a VPN as they are not even sure what that is. For that reason alone I have an issue with recommending Avast and have tried to stay away from the product.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
DMGrier said:
I see a lot of people recommending Avast, I like Avast and the product has a great detection rate however I do have one issue with recommending Avast. Unless you buy their top of the line AV I have seen the Avast client show ad's to people for the available additions they offer. Personally that is crap that an AV would "spam" someone. For those who I feel need the active protection I don't have them buy the top of the line of Avast as most of the feature are unnecessary, end users wouldn't use something like a VPN as they are not even sure what that is. For that reason alone I have an issue with recommending Avast and have tried to stay away from the product.
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Thats why you do a custom install and untick all the boxes under the tools section.
 
C4C

C4C

Well-Known Member
I use BitDefender free and run the Malwarebytes program every week. Seems to be doing well so far.

Avast! hogged my CPU all the time even with settings corrected.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
tom213 said:
it'll do :)
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image.png
 
Punk

Punk

Moderator
Staff member
C4C said:
I use BitDefender free and run the Malwarebytes program every week. Seems to be doing well so far.

Avast! hogged my CPU all the time even with settings corrected.
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That's odd, I never had that problem, on all computers I installed Avast on :/
 
spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
DMGrier said:
I see a lot of people recommending Avast, I like Avast and the product has a great detection rate however I do have one issue with recommending Avast. Unless you buy their top of the line AV I have seen the Avast client show ad's to people for the available additions they offer. Personally that is crap that an AV would "spam" someone. For those who I feel need the active protection I don't have them buy the top of the line of Avast as most of the feature are unnecessary, end users wouldn't use something like a VPN as they are not even sure what that is. For that reason alone I have an issue with recommending Avast and have tried to stay away from the product.
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Must admit that this is also my gripe with Avast. I haven't actually used it for a while but I notice that John said if you did a custom install you wouldn't get the ads. Surely even if you didn't install any of the other bits of software that it may come with there would still be ads trying to get you to upgrade to the higher-end versions of Avast anyway? Mind you, I guess most free AVs have advertising like this.

beers said:
image.png
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Another meme? :rolleyes:
 
K

killershark1978

Member
Avast failed me, after installing avast on my windows 10 setup yesterday I was forced to roll back remove and go back to using Windows Defender, however I dont think it was the Anti-Virus product, I think the problem was caused by that Optimization / Clean up wizard tool they throw at you for £14.99 when you get there free anti-virus package, I know you don't have to buy into that extra add-on but hey it seemed like a good at the time.

Anyway after installing the latest version of Avast 2015 the other day and opting to dish out £14.99 for there optimization clean up tool, the installation was successful, I ran the Anti-Virus not issues where detected, been using Defender since Windows 10 Release so according to Avast that never fail me, then was given the "we can fix 30+ or whatever performance / registry issues we have found if you buy our clean up optimization wizard at the discounted price of £14.99" so I figured ok why not I have used Free Avast before on numerous systems with just about everything since Windows XP at least, 7, 8.1, never had any issues with them before so fine I trust this software they have been providing me with a free service for years, never had then on a Windows 10 set-up before so what the hell I figured I would give there clean up wizard a go, I let it clean my Reg the lot.

Afterwards PC would simply not start, every time I got as far as loading the first sign of the Desktop in Windows "Critical Error Message, stating something along the lines of Cortana and Start Menu are not working we need to restart your system and try and fix the problem next time you log in". but no joy on fixing the problem turned out to be a continuous loop every time I tried logged in only to be kicked straight back out.

The fix was no real big problem I guess, just had to run a system restore back to just before I installed Avast, so went ahead restored and uninstalled Avast Anti-Virus, Clean Up tool the lot, turned Defender back on and everything once again is fine, and least Avast told me one thing when it found no issues on the Virus Scan, that Defender was doing all right.

I would have always recommended Avast as my personal No.1 Free AV choice for as far back as I can remember, but after having experience with it only yesterday I simply can't this time round, least not on a Windows 10 system, my advise stick to using Defender, and if you do choose to try Avast beware of the Clean up tool that they want to sell you with it, and at least if you do want to give it a try, insure you have a good System Restore point set up just before hand.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
killershark1978 said:
Avast failed me, after installing avast on my windows 10 setup yesterday I was forced to roll back remove and go back to using Windows Defender, however I dont think it was the Anti-Virus product, I think the problem was caused by that Optimization / Clean up wizard tool they throw at you for £14.99 when you get there free anti-virus package, I know you don't have to buy into that extra add-on but hey it seemed like a good at the time.

Anyway after installing the latest version of Avast 2015 the other day and opting to dish out £14.99 for there optimization clean up tool, the installation was successful, I ran the Anti-Virus not issues where detected, been using Defender since Windows 10 Release so according to Avast that never fail me, then was given the "we can fix 30+ or whatever performance / registry issues we have found if you buy our clean up optimization wizard at the discounted price of £14.99" so I figured ok why not I have used Free Avast before on numerous systems with just about everything since Windows XP at least, 7, 8.1, never had any issues with them before so fine I trust this software they have been providing me with a free service for years, never had then on a Windows 10 set-up before so what the hell I figured I would give there clean up wizard a go, I let it clean my Reg the lot.

Afterwards PC would simply not start, every time I got as far as loading the first sign of the Desktop in Windows "Critical Error Message, stating something along the lines of Cortana and Start Menu are not working we need to restart your system and try and fix the problem next time you log in". but no joy on fixing the problem turned out to be a continuous loop every time I tried logged in only to be kicked straight back out.

The fix was no real big problem I guess, just had to run a system restore back to just before I installed Avast, so went ahead restored and uninstalled Avast Anti-Virus, Clean Up tool the lot, turned Defender back on and everything once again is fine, and least Avast told me one thing when it found no issues on the Virus Scan, that Defender was doing all right.

I would have always recommended Avast as my personal No.1 Free AV choice for as far back as I can remember, but after having experience with it only yesterday I simply can't this time round, least not on a Windows 10 system, my advise stick to using Defender, and if you do choose to try Avast beware of the Clean up tool that they want to sell you with it, and at least if you do want to give it a try, insure you have a good System Restore point set up just before hand.
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Why would you buy something when you can get free programs to do the same thing? When you install avast, do a custom install and unchecked everything under the tools menu. Its your own darn fault for running the cleanup program.
 
gamblingman

gamblingman

VIP Member
johnb35 said:
an antivirus program won't save you when you install bad software...
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Oh the number of times I've tried to explain this to people...

And then there's the programs that "clean the registry". Snake oil for the ignorant, and boy do people go for it.
 
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