For free, Avast and Avira are pretty good. Avira is pretty slow but works decently enough.
A few points to add:
-The best free AV solutions are still nowhere near as good as the best commercial ones (Kapersky and Nod32 are amoung the best).
-A good firewall will protect you from far more than an AV software program will. And by good, again I mean commercial, and one with stateful packet inspection and active component control. A good firewall is a catch-22 though... A firewall needs to be managed and understood.. it's not 'install and forget' like AV software. And if you're not going to learn how to use it don't even bother.
-A virus != worm != trojan != rootkit != scareware != malware. While the last 2 are generally just broad classifacations (and technically all are malware), the first 4 are very different pieces of software that function differently. If you don't understand this, please do not give advice on anti-malware programs.
-DO NOT, EVER, use system restore as a means to remove infections. THAT'S NOT WHAT IT WAS DESIGNED FOR AND IT DOES NOT WORK. Period. System restore files are protected by the OS, which generally means AV software cannot properly scan them... so guess where malware likes to hide? There's a reason one of the first recommendations to removing an infection is to disable system restore. It deletes all the restore points.
Anti Virus = Avast/Avira/MSE
Anti Malware = Malwarebytes or Spybot.
Ah, the first person in this thread that knows what they're talking about.
NEVER use one of the "buy only" antivirus programs, and as a previous poster said, DO NOT BUY NORTON.
Avast! is the best free one out there, though AVG is pretty good as well. Both have the option to upgrade for increased protection, but their free versions will do everything you need them to, especially since the other options are available in other free programs anyways.
Anti Virus = Avast/Avira/MSE
Anti Malware = Malwarebytes or Spybot.
Ah, the first person in this thread that knows what they're talking about.
Excuse me? I posted before he did. And I knew what I was talking about.
In fact, I've posted in a couple "Anti-Virus" topic, mentioning how MalwareBytes and Spybot: S&D are NOT virus scanners.
Please don't discredit me just because you didn't read my posts.
Anti Virus = Avast/Avira/MSE
Anti Malware = Malwarebytes or Spybot.
Ah, the first person in this thread that knows what they're talking about.
Excuse me? I posted before he did. And I knew what I was talking about.
In fact, I've posted in a couple "Anti-Virus" topic, mentioning how MalwareBytes and Spybot: S&D are NOT virus scanners.
Please don't discredit me just because you didn't read my posts.
Calm down. You said the same thing he said. It's obvious I just missed your post. :3
Calm down. You said the same thing he said. It's obvious I just missed your post. :3
I wasn't "upset", I'm already calm. :tongue.gif:
I was just pointing out that, like you said, you missed my post.
I just didn't want anyone to discredit my posts, since I know the information is accurate. :smile.gif:
And there have been quite a few people arguing about it! It's very odd... I never knew that many people didn't know the difference between a virus scanner and an anti-malware scanner!
Do not wallow do not stall
Time waits for none at all
Your allowance may crawl,
It may fly or even vanish
But none will seem more lavished
Than time lost to all.
You can get a more than ten antivirus software from the internet. It gives a short time cleaning from the viruses and after that it does not work or it will ask some keyword for proceeding further. So I think buy a good virus cleaner antivirus and install it in your system. It gives a desired result.
Microsoft Security Essentials is amazing, free, and it updates daily with new virus definitions. It's also not CPU intensive, but it's still an excellent virus protection software. USE IT.
Microsoft Security Essentials is amazing, free, and it updates daily with new virus definitions. It's also not CPU intensive, but it's still an excellent virus protection software. USE IT.
Actually MSE is pretty resource intensive, compared to the alternatives. (Besides CPU cycles, it also hogs RAM)
Check out any site with Anti-Virus benchmarks.... MSE is actually on the lower end in respects to resource usage.
The problem is that it won't use many resources for a while, but then resource usages will just spike for some reason... That really kills it's averages, and makes it one of the slower Anti-Viruses.
I have not had a virus of some sort in quite a long time. I've cleaned quite a few people's computers and have generally found myself satisfied with ESET NOD32 (seems to be best for firewall) and Malwarebytes. In the past year or two people seem to be shifting over to raving on AVG/Avast verses Nod32/Kasperky.
I mostly wanted to contribute here to say if you're using Mozilla Firefox, I would highly HIGHLY recommend downloading add-ons like NoScript, AdBlockPlus, FlashBlock (kinda taken care of by NoScript), and WOT (Web of Trust). I believe I can attribute the absence of viruses, malware, spyware, adware, and all that other crap to these add-ons. The Web of Trust is highly useful in Google searches, indicating with a circle what sites can or cannot be trusted. NoScript can be a bit of a nag when surfing new sites, but I believe it to be a knight in shining armor when browsing the internet.
I totally used it and the AVG PC Tuneup. =3 Works wonders.
A few points to add:
-The best free AV solutions are still nowhere near as good as the best commercial ones (Kapersky and Nod32 are amoung the best).
-A good firewall will protect you from far more than an AV software program will. And by good, again I mean commercial, and one with stateful packet inspection and active component control. A good firewall is a catch-22 though... A firewall needs to be managed and understood.. it's not 'install and forget' like AV software. And if you're not going to learn how to use it don't even bother.
-A virus != worm != trojan != rootkit != scareware != malware. While the last 2 are generally just broad classifacations (and technically all are malware), the first 4 are very different pieces of software that function differently. If you don't understand this, please do not give advice on anti-malware programs.
-DO NOT, EVER, use system restore as a means to remove infections. THAT'S NOT WHAT IT WAS DESIGNED FOR AND IT DOES NOT WORK. Period. System restore files are protected by the OS, which generally means AV software cannot properly scan them... so guess where malware likes to hide? There's a reason one of the first recommendations to removing an infection is to disable system restore. It deletes all the restore points.
Ah, the first person in this thread that knows what they're talking about.
NEVER use one of the "buy only" antivirus programs, and as a previous poster said, DO NOT BUY NORTON.
Avast! is the best free one out there, though AVG is pretty good as well. Both have the option to upgrade for increased protection, but their free versions will do everything you need them to, especially since the other options are available in other free programs anyways.
source: years of IT experience
Excuse me? I posted before he did. And I knew what I was talking about.
In fact, I've posted in a couple "Anti-Virus" topic, mentioning how MalwareBytes and Spybot: S&D are NOT virus scanners.
Please don't discredit me just because you didn't read my posts.
WSE let 15 viruses into my computer. I'll never trust it again.
WSE let zero into mine.
Calm down. You said the same thing he said. It's obvious I just missed your post. :3
I wasn't "upset", I'm already calm. :tongue.gif:
I was just pointing out that, like you said, you missed my post.
I just didn't want anyone to discredit my posts, since I know the information is accurate. :smile.gif:
And there have been quite a few people arguing about it! It's very odd... I never knew that many people didn't know the difference between a virus scanner and an anti-malware scanner!
Do not wallow do not stall
Time waits for none at all
Your allowance may crawl,
It may fly or even vanish
But none will seem more lavished
Than time lost to all.
Scans and removes. There is also a list of utilities that are made for specific viruses:
http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/virus-removal-tools
Out of date anti virus = crappy anti virus
If you don't update it, it will quickly become complete junk.
No single AV software catches everything, and they don't all catch the same stuff either.
Having said that, 15 infections means you, as a user, were doing something wrong. I'd seriously look at my browsing habbits if I were you.
You can get it here.
Actually MSE is pretty resource intensive, compared to the alternatives. (Besides CPU cycles, it also hogs RAM)
Check out any site with Anti-Virus benchmarks.... MSE is actually on the lower end in respects to resource usage.
The problem is that it won't use many resources for a while, but then resource usages will just spike for some reason... That really kills it's averages, and makes it one of the slower Anti-Viruses.
I mostly wanted to contribute here to say if you're using Mozilla Firefox, I would highly HIGHLY recommend downloading add-ons like NoScript, AdBlockPlus, FlashBlock (kinda taken care of by NoScript), and WOT (Web of Trust). I believe I can attribute the absence of viruses, malware, spyware, adware, and all that other crap to these add-ons. The Web of Trust is highly useful in Google searches, indicating with a circle what sites can or cannot be trusted. NoScript can be a bit of a nag when surfing new sites, but I believe it to be a knight in shining armor when browsing the internet.