Which Free Anti-Virus?

Which free anti-virus is best for a home computer? Would you choose AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials or something else?
thanks for responses. --- viv

 

Hi and welcome to MG's,
I would back Tim W up on this one... MSE is an excellent AV.... AVG has become very bloated and glitchy lately.
Though if you are looking for an all-in-one AV/Firewall the I would suggest Comodo.....

http://majorgeeks.com/Comodo_Internet_Security_d6234.html

and it's free!!!!! .... i would also suggest using Malwarebytes (free) as a back up scanner......

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free

iain.t:major

 

Personally, I would stay away from the free AVG; it has become bloated and resource hungry and can cause massive PC slow-down. As suggested above, MSE is good, they've stepped it up a bit compared to when it was first released, and it has become a pretty good app, and it 'plays nice' with other AV tools. On my home PC I run MSE, the paid full version of MalwareBytes, the free version of Avira Antivirus, and Spyware Blaster. IMO, it's a great combo and all work well together w/o any slowness or conflicts. Another good free program that I've been messing with lately is SpyShelter. I run it on a PC at work and it runs OK with full MBAM and Avira and seems to add another layer of protection....
:major

 

I would go with AVG. Have been using it for quite some time and it's good enough for me.

 

I use this too.

I learned through MG that it is not just the anti virus that is important. I use......

Windows Fire Wall
AVG
SpyBot S&D
CCleaner
Secure Login 0.9.7(for passwords)

I also have 2 scanners that I run every couple of weeks. None of my programs interfere with each other, which is important when you run lots of stuff.

 

Am too lazy to write down what I use. :-o Here's a pic.

 

Avast is an Excellant free anit-virus

 

Question Oma:
Why is the Secunia PSI labeled (2) ?
Is it a duplicate link or do you maybe have 2 different installations?

 

I use MSE, light-weight and effective enough

 

Actually I forgot why but saw secunia in all prgrams and created a shortcut from there for a link in my maintenance folder and thus created a 2nd shortcut for Secunia . See, I use Secunia as a manual scanning device only, because I hate having additional and unneeded icons in the taskbar.

 

I use Secunia the same way.

It's not just an unneeded icon.
I'm still using 1.5.0.2. When you Exit the program, either by clicking the X or by Alt+F4,
the task is still running. On my system, when it's running "in the tray", Task Manager shows Secunia
is using ~16,800K of memory.

Good idea - having a Maintenance folder! :major
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As for an Anti-Virus, currently I'm using Avast! 6, but I also liked Avira.

I agree with TimW that it is largely user preference AND which application seems to run
well on your system.

 

Oh, I disabled the startup of Secunia in the settings and when manually scanning its icon shows in the tray and click on the *exit* button and afterwards its therefore not showing in task manager any longer.

Actually I have 2 maintenance folders on the taskbar all grouped for weekly maintenance and another one for ones I use for other misc. stuff. This way I don't skip any (security) updates, backups and images. Another one in My Documents for the ones I don't use very often. It works for me.

Yes, I also use Avast 6 and used Avira in the past prior to AVG after this last one became too bloated for my liking. I explained in another thread why I dropped MSE.

 

From the list that you have mentioned I use AVG (as previously said) SpyBot and CCleaner and that's all I really need.

 

I basically asked the same question about a week ago and most suggested Avast. It seems to do fine. I had used AVG and MSE and they seemed OK too. As far as firewalls, I've tried Comodo, Online armor and am now using Outpost which I like very well. Online Armor wore me out with the constant questions and updating. After dropping OL and installing Outpost, my page loading while surfing got a lot faster.

 

I understand AVG has a PC analyzer. How does it do? Does it do everything CCleaner does? If you are not using AVG Analyzer or CCleaner, I strongly recommend using some sort of pc cleaner to clean out left over/non working remnants that are not considered virus/spyware, etc....

I don't get overwhelmed with windows firewall, but then again I haven't tried the others. AVG has some sort of firewall, but I never see it pop up. Windows Firewall pops up for any changes. I am very curious about Comodos Firewall, but I will stick with mine until it fails me. But I do read that Comodos is the best free one out there.

 

Thanx for all the input on this thread. My AVG has become buggy and glitchy as well after almost 10 years of using it I finally am having an issue where it wont update and just locks up while installing latest updates. I have done everything to clean it out and start fresh and it still does the same thing. I am going to try avast as I know quite a few people who use it and swear by it. Thanx again for all the helpful info!!! This forum ROCKS!!!