Toribash
Original Post
Free Anti-Virus programs
This may have been done before, if so, sorry.

Ok, so Im sure there are many free antivirus programs out there that are pretty up to par. Im currently running Avira Antivir Personal. Downloaded free from CNET. Ive used AVG in the past, but it was a bit recourse heavy. Do you guys know of any others, or perhaps better programs? What might be the best?

Enlighten me =o
Thanks.
I'm a fan of AVG Free. I have never had any problems with it.


Many people ask us for free alternatives to subscription based anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. For anti-virus I use avast [avast.com]. It's free for personal use and I have been running it on more than 10 machines for years now, without issue. The only thing I recommend is that once it's installed, go through and setup the preferences to remove audio alerts and other things like that. Also, make sure to let it scan the entire hard drive when you first install. You'll be surprised how many viruses have appeared on even a relatively new machine in a pretty short amount of time.

For anti-spyware I recommend ad-aware. They have a great free version and you can download it atlavasoft.com.

Another option if you don't want to download something right away is the free anti-virus scan provided by Trend Micro. You can access it at housecall.trendmicro.com.

IMO, AVG (free.avg.com/) works well enough, but it can be a bit buggy. For example it hasn't been updating properly lately so I have to right click the icon in the toolbar and tell it to update manually. Also, it may be that my system is getting older, but it seems like scans last for ever! I have them set to run on Saturday afternoon, so I normally miss them, but they can crank on for over two hours. That said, I haven't had a virus problem as long as I've had it installed so I can't really complain.
Avast!

Best one I have found.

EDIT: Also, no offense Ice, but Superantispyware.exe sounds like a virus in itself :P the sort of thing you watch out for in task manger.
Organisation of Awesome: Member.
Microsoft Security Essenials is actually a great program! You can download it from Microsofts website. It's not a resource heavy at all, quick scans, and good protection.

AVG and many other companies are discontinuing their free services just because of MSE, which is most likely going to take over in a while.
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
i use avast, i think there is a free version of it. the best antivirus i ever used
Swedish Viking
Originally Posted by Chickenpox View Post
I use Avira, works really nice for me, though randomly has a popup once every few days.
http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php

Originally Posted by missuse View Post
avira antivir personal - no probs in 2 years

Yeah, as I said, thats what Im currently using. Hasnt given me any problems, and I get the random pop-up every few days. Its no big deal.
And yeah, that superantispyware or whatever sounds like adware in itself. XP
Thanks.
I really like Bitdefender.
Yes, you can upgrade it, and it bugs you to buy it after a short amount of time (1-2 weeks) but it works great and even if the license ran out, it works perfectly.

In Combination with the "sunbelt personal firewall" you're perfectly save.
You should try both out.