There's four i know.
AVG
Avast
Avira
Clamwin
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Definitely NOT AVG. AVG used to be good, but is now bloated, slow and apparently not good at detecting viruses either (according to http://www.av-comparatives.org/).
ClamWin is good, but does not have an on-access scanner.
Avira and Avast both seem to be liked by the general population. It might be a good idea to try out both and see which one suits you. I prefer Avira myself.
I still like AVG! I use it in combination with a-squared and spybot s&d.
I honestly like Avast! Home edition. It works great, offers more features than the others, and doesn't nag you, unless you don't register after 60 days (which is free anyway, unlike AVG and Avira).
Hey! Where'd it go?
On the four free AV, Avira has the highest detection rate. About 94%.
AVG 8 was bloated. Maybe I will choose between Avast and Avira.
Avira has pop-ups but i think it can be removed.
Clamwin has no on-access scanner. It's out.
I had problems with Avast but couldn't tell you now. It's been too long, but I didn't like it.
Never used Avira, but if it's got popups and/or it's nagware, I don't want it.
I'm a longtime AVG user, and the only complaint I have recently is that it doesn't auto update. Auto update breaks and they suggest a manual update (download and install the latest version) on their forum, every time. Oh, and their LinkScanner is complete trash and needs to be disabled upon installation. Slows down the net way too much for what it does (and Google does all that anyway).
AVG is not bloated. Norton is bloated. Microsoft Office is bloated. Nero Burning ROM is bloated. AVG's size is fine by me. And it's not slow for being 2-3 times the size it perhaps could be. Speaking of bloatware, isn't every Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and modern PC game bloated? In the 80s and 90s Nintendo and Sega made great games around 1MB or less. Now you get these games and they're several gigabytes. Yeah, the graphics are better, but they're just let themselves go. With NES cartridges they had to be real creative; now having no restrictions means they get sloppy.
Definitely Avira
I've used AVG for several years and i have had some minor problems but the main thing is it is a little more hungry on the resources then the other mentioned avs, it has lower detections rate and it detects a lot of false positives.
Clamwin doesn't have an on-access scanning, so that's a no-no
Never used Avast
As for Avira, it has higher detections rate, takes up little resources, it's easy to use even right of the box and yes, the popup that comes after an update can be easily removed.
I never had any problems with avg at all, infact what other says about it not detecting anything properly is hogwash in my books. as for resources it's runs just fine on my system
but then again I'm running 2gigs of ram so I don't notice any lag of any kind.
your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau
Comodo has the best free firewall and it can come with a Antivirus. the thing i dont like about it is that sometimes the AV database gets corrupted and seems to be unrepairable. i now use AVG and CLAMwin to make sure nothing goes wrong.
i second that, i use AVG daily, but to get rid of a threat COMODO internet security is the best free thing there is, better than a lot of payware, but the firewall can be annoying and it CAN be, but isn't always, a resource hog
Lead, Follow, or get out of the way.
so is any commercial firewall. i got annoyed at Norton and McAfee with their constant nagging and then using up all my resources. Comodo nags but at least i know when something is happening. for example....
I brought my computer to a film shooting and let somebody use it to what i was thing would be just surfing the web. this person thought he would play a online game. this game triggered my firewall, turns out it wasnt a web browser game but a full EXE with tons of little "turds" left everywhere including in Firfox and IE8 and in the registry. It pissed the hell out of me that he did this but if it wasnt for my firewall i would not have caught this and it possibly could of ended up being quite malicious. Lets just say this person is now not on my good list >:(
Whoa. even though i disabled Comodo Antivirus when it updated this week it reactivated my AV and now i have 4 AV programs -_-; This is annoying as all .
I personally use and recommend Avira antivirus.
I was using Avast at the time when I installed Avast on my neighbor's computers, and for whatever reason, all three of his computers (two laptops and one desktop) failed to renew the free license after about three months. Mine was still running fine without intervention. All the docs and other users deny that was possible. However it happened, three different users with three different habits all failed to recognize that their antivirus was kaput---three strikes. One of them should have seen something that would have alerted them to a problem.
I installed Avira back in November (latest December) and they haven't had any problems since.
Limits are for people with no imagination.
If you don't register (free) within two months, Avast! Home Edition expires. Maybe you forgot to get new registration codes for the computers.
Hey! Where'd it go?
I am not a "set it and forget it" program user. I tinker with everything in a program. Avast ran fine on mine from August till their incident. I never got new registration codes for mine, and I was using the legit free version.
Why should I get new **free** registrations codes that the **program** needs from **online**? Sounds an awful lot like something that could be done when I run a database update update. //shrug//
Limits are for people with no imagination.
My vote for Avast!
I've used both AVG and Avast! and prefer Avast! only note i would make is that I prefer the alternative built in skin as opposed to the default media player look.
Also, I must admit that most of what I've read gives Avira a better rating in detection rating but I haven't used it before as I choose not to use(and consequently support) the app with it's current nagware inclusion.
PortableApps.com Advocate
By this, if you mean whether to select quarantine or ignore, Avira has updated the action selection to show at the end of the scan. (Has to be selected in the options)
You can let it scan now and it will scan to conclusion and you can make your selection at the end of the scan. (It STILL pops up occasionally on mailboxes or archives, whatever they call it) but it's not as annoying now as it was in the past.
I think he means a popup that says "YOU AREN'T USING A PAID VERSION!!! BUY AVIRA ANTIVIR NOW!!!"
Those get quite annoying.
Hey! Where'd it go?
Correct = )
PortableApps.com Advocate
i have used avg free and i admit is very slow,but i disable it and just run a antivirus every month but you can never fully disable it which still slows my pc down and what is worse is my pc is slow as it is,and im running windows 7.i tries bitdefender free-http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en--BitDefender-Free-Edition.html
it doesent work with windows 7 but is fine with vista an xp
in the past i have used ca antivirus which is fast and exelent and never misses a virus
i have 2008 and a few keys which i had installed on all my pcs and if you need a key i am more than happy to give you 1,by the way 1st come 1st served,and if you need the key ill send you the setup for it as it only works with that setup file
clamwin. free and portable
the portable one isnt an active AV scanner. you need to manualy update it and manual make it scan.
free av or malware removers i will take no stand on any of the following programs
avast home edition - http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
avira free edition - http://www.free-av.com/
bitdefender free edition - http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en--BitDefender-Free-Edition.html
avg free edition - http://free.avg.com/
a squared free edition - www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/
rising free anti-virus - www.freerav.com/
comodo internet security - personalfirewall.comodo.com/
Malwarebytes free edition - http://malwarebytes.org/
super anti spyware free - www.superantispyware.com/
Dr.Web Curit free - www.freedrweb.com/download+cureit/
60\/\/ 2 /\/\3 4 1 4/\/\ 12007
bow to me for i am root