Free Anti-Virus for 2013

I'm in need of the best Free Anti-Virus for 2013 or older if need be?
I have read some of the other forums for free Anti-Virus but I have not seen one for 2013 and stuff may have changed sense then.
I have also read the forum "Major Attitude" (if I got the name right) put up about Free Anti-Virus vs Paid Anti-Virus.
But for right now (with the situation) a free Anti-Virus software is still better then nothing.
So if you all don't main steering me in the right direction of what is the best Free 2013 Anti-Virus or older if need be and if it needs other programs to go with it for better performance I'm all ears.

Thank you for your time.

 

All things considered I would say Avast is the best. It works well on all levels of security and the free version is consistently highly rated. It's very good protection.

All of the top anti-virus programs are updated consistently, so version is not an issue with these, Avast included...

 

I have tried several and now like MSE best.

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

 

I was running Microsoft Security Essentials along with Windows Firewall — they seemed to be working OK but I didn't like the fact that there's basically no options for Windows Firewall.

I had downloaded and installed Comodo Firewall and I like the way it works.

Because I like the firewall, I decided to try Comodo Antivirus. It works well too.

But, I had heard of Comodo Internet Security Suite which combines the firewall, antivirus and Comodo Ice Dragon which can be run in virtual mode which sandboxes the browser preventing malware from even being downloaded to your computer.

So, I'm running the full Security Suite.

 

This isn't new to Windows 8, either.

 

Another vote for avast! I'm amazed how feature-rich the free version is. One of the features I like is its WebSheild, which alerts you to malicious websites before you load them and blocks them unless you choose to override the block and proceed to view the site. Another feature which was recently added is a software update reminder which informs you of updates to web-related applications (browsers, JAVA, Flash Player, etc.) if it detects cases where you do not have the latest version of the application installed.

 

Hey WARIO88, I have Comodo on one computer, Panda on one, MSE on one, and Avast on my most used computer, all are free versions. I like them all for different reasons. MSE is light on resources, Comodo has sandboxing, Panda uses the cloud, and Avast has all those shields. All are very good, it's just going to come down to your PC specifications, your needs and your personal preferences. Read up on them and others here at [MGs] and decide on which is best for you.

 

On this machine, I use OpenDNS, Windows (7) firewall, Avast! free, SpyBot's 'immunization', SpywareBlaster and a modified hosts file that's regularly updated; with the browser protection offered by Google's Safe Browsing (built into Chrome- and Mozilla- based browsers), they give me controllable security features.

 

I'm running XP and don't have what you showed.

 

Ok well it is in non - dead OSes.


Vista, 7, and 8.

 

Adrynaline...I get what you mean, but XP isn't dead is it? The support for it with software other than MS software is strong. Avast has some firewall sorts of functions, so I don't use a firewall, but the Comodo firewall has always been highly regarded, so that's an option when it comes to firewalling. And there are plenty of others, free and pay. We're just talking about security software here, but there is just almost too much software for Windows XP to imagine. That said, I don't believe it's going to die, and I cordially dispute the notion that it's dead already...

Just me, but, considering the software that's available for XP, I'm not feeling it for an upgrade even if support from MS is coming to a close (and if I get a new PC, I'd say I'm 50/50 right now on installing XP on it)...

I have been waiting to see how this triangle of defense performs. Thanks for the information Mdonah...

 

It is still twitching, but as soon as no more security updates come out, an OS is deemed dead. So I might be prematurely axing it by a year, but its days are numbered. In 11 months it will no longer receive any updates.

Also, I am not knocking Comodo, I was just showing that the Windows firewall is more robust than many are aware of. I am usually on OS X which is firewalled, behind a router, which has an SPI firewall, and then Windows is virtualized with the default firewall from there. I feel relatively safe :-D

 

Hello wario88

Everyone wants to use "the best", but not everyone agrees on what that is.
Problem is, there are at least half a dozen factors to evaluate and no one product is "best" in all of them.
You need to look at some of the reports and determine which factors are more important to you.
Sometimes, it comes down to which of the top choices works most smoothly on your machine, so the computer sort of makes the
choice for you.

I suggest that you look over some of the individual reports at AV Comparatives.
Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software

Look at the charts and comments on various tests like File Detection, Performance, False Alarms and Malware Removal.
Then go to the Summary Reports
There is detailed information there on each of the products tested.

Take a second look at satrow's protection scheme,
since that is a good example of effective multilayered protection.
My setup is very similar except that I use an installed firewall.

 

I find myself in osx behind its firewall more and more for most browsing i do, that laptop + bed combo is hard to beat sometimes.

 

Where can I find this article, please?

 

http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=34

 

Thank you!

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/lifecycle

End of extended support for XP is April 8, 2014.

Personal favorite is MSE, I've used, eset, avast, norton, mcafee, comodo, and avast!.

 

My favorite is Avast! Free (custom) installed. I like seeing the icon in the taskbar twirling, see it's working and it updates at least twice daily and in addition the streaming updates. Yes, it's a bit bloated but I don't install all their features such as Chrome, software Updates etc and several other shields.

Tried several others such as MSE where updates would be once a day if that much. AVG I did try in the past but imho can't hold a candle compared to Avast! Dumped Spybot years ago, immunization was good..

Safe surfing is not to be forgotten as that is one of the most important steps one can take to stay from the nasties.

 

In my opinion, removing or at least disabling Java is critical.
I just finished cleaning trojans off a computer used by a couple in their 80's! They mainly do email and their surfing habits are downright boring. They don't click on anything they don't understand.
The trojans probably disabled MS Security Essentials from running at startup and they never noticed they had no antivirus running. It was set in services to run automatically, it just never did or the icon would not appear until the program was opened.

Since 93% of the malware came through Java last year, I suspect that's how they got infected in some sort of driveby. They had two versions of Java (6 and 7) which were not the latest versions. They had Adobe Reader X. Windows was up to date with patches except some Office 2010 patches needed to be installed.

I removed Java 6, updated Java 7 and showed them I was disabling it. They wrote down instructions on how to enable it, if anything complains about not having Java. I replaced Adobe Reader with Sumatra and told them Adobe flash popups will occur on the 2nd Tuesday of each month and maybe at other times so keep it up to date.

 

Sadly, java is here to stay. I can say that where I work, JAVA is essential to where I work. Also, can't upgrade to the latest version, since it breaks some items.

Yes, we combat java related issues, a lot. Yes, easy to fix.

 

Yeah, I would say typically only basic consumers can get away without java.

 

Easy one, Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

Thank you all for your time and information I have read & reread each post I'm pretty sure I got all the information I need.

PS. Sorry I didn't reply to your question Jud149....I was giving the post some time before I came back to check on it.

 

I would have recommended avast! Free Antivirus. However, I updated recently from version 7 to version 8. I updated it on both my computers. It caused major problems on both. Some research on the Net and I discovered that I'm not alone with being very happy with avast until the latest update. The new version 8 isn't giving everybody problems so I'm sure others will say version 8 is OK. I don't use the same operating system on my PCs - one has Windows Vista and the other has Windows 7. My research has shown its causing problems on all versions of Windows from XP to the latest version. I use Agnitum's Outpost Security Suite Free. I find it's very good. It provides anti-malware, firewall and other functions.

 

I have version 8 installed on my Windows 7 desktop PC and my Windows 8 laptop and have experienced no problems. Can you cite references on the issue you have?

 

Like I said in my post I know not everyone is having problems. I am very pleased for you that you are not having any problems. That does not alter the fact that I have and so have others. Please feel free to read my thread and examine the minidumps I posted. If you do not want to believe me that is not an issue for me. I also have an email from Avast confirming that there are known issues with avast 8. I am not going to share a private email in a public forum. I am not going back to do the internet searches again; I have wasted more than enough time on my problems with avast these last six days. It is just my view of this programme. I was happy with it until now. I would like to have kept it; however, I do not want nothing but BSODs.

 

Hey mark it's all good. You should be able to change software if you are unhappy with it. The point being made is that others here including myself have not had any issues as of yet. Let us know if switching antivirus products solves your problem so we can better understand the issues. Good luck buddy.

 

I wish I still had avast. It was a product I was very happy with. But it has taken up a lot of my time this week. I'm also trying to apply for a job. That's not easy when both your computers are on the critical list!

I have an alternative already. I already had Agnitum's Outpost Security Suite, so rather than go hunting for a new anti-virus programme I've simply switch on Outpost's anti-malware functions.

 

Some antivirus programs that you can trust for sure are Norton, Kaspersky, Immunet Plus, Avast, Bitdefender, Avira etc. Currently, I am having Immunet in my system and it is working well. You can download Immunet Free Antivirus here.

 

I've used Norton in the past. I would never go back to them. I don't know if they do a freeware anti-virus programme but I used to be foolish and buy Norton software. It is very heavy on using the computer's resources - almost like it was another operating system. I recall reading benchmarking reports saying it performed poorly. And, removing it from your computer is next to impossible.

Maybe it's improved; I don't know. Perhaps there's a freeware version that's less resource-grabbing and which performs well.

 

I bought a new laptop in Feb of this year. It came with Norton Internet Security and I used it for about two months until the trial period ended. At that point, I decided to remove Norton and install avast! Free Antivirus since I've been using it on my Windows 7 desktop system and have been pleased with it. But, I can say that Norton was not at all heavy on consuming CPU resources. I believe Symantec has clearly resolved that issue, which, indeed, was a problem going back a few years to their older versions of Norton.