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3517 Views 23 Replies Latest reply: May 15, 2012 7:58 AM by erik.feketefoldi RSS
Newbie 9 posts since
May 25, 2011
Currently Being Moderated

Jun 3, 2011 5:15 AM

What's the best free antivirus?

What's the best  free antivirus?

I use Avira, but i'm not very satisfied...

  • Olga Shiyan Novice 81 posts since
    Jan 25, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Jun 3, 2011 5:40 AM (in response to Altea Brando)
    What's the best free antivirus?

    I like Kaspersky but at the same time always keep at my computer the anti-virus utility based on the Dr.Web scanner. There is no antivirus that protects a PC for 100%. I wouldn't recommend to use free antiviruses at PC every time. It'd be better to buy a good one for one year that is not expensive than to get a new computer again that is quite expensive.

  • iceman270 Newbie 4 posts since
    Jan 21, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Jun 3, 2011 6:38 AM (in response to Altea Brando)
    What's the best free antivirus?

    I like Microsft Security Essentials so far its the best free antivirus program. I've tried AVG, Avast out of those two Microsoft is better

  • bigbyrc Newbie 2 posts since
    Jan 13, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Jun 3, 2011 10:45 AM (in response to Altea Brando)
    What's the best free antivirus?

    Well, I work a lot of support and I would call myself a virus expert and I would say from my experience of approx 12 years that in reality none are the one big answer!

    (I used to be 2nd to 4th tier backing up and supporting Geek Squad , Lavasoft, Trend MIcro, Kaspersky, Panda, Symantec, supportspace, etc, over 13+ security companies by contract!)

     

    What I tell and set my customers up on whom I remove viruses and malware from is to get a few security softwares at the same time , but do not scan them all at the same time or they will conflict with each other. (especially mcafee and norton)

     

    Also, what I give customers is:

     

    1) CCLEANER (Its sole purpose is it Cleans and Organizes your files, registry, etc,so it helps the anti virus softwares run better)

     

    2) Malwarebytes (It is used secondly and does a great all around security job!)

     

    3) AVG (Is used as the third element and is especially excellent for the hidden spyware that regularly sneaks in on your machine and spies on you by the millions of companies! Its sole purpose is to inteligently hide around your system and sneak up on malware, does a great job!)

     

    Some key points to remember is, you have to update and scan regularly depending upon you internet usage and how often you seem to catch malware or else the softwares are no good to you at all!!!!

    At a minimum you need to update & scan at least once or twice a week!!!

    (especially if you have kids or others using the same PC as you are!)

     

    Also, you have to remember that malware is getting very complex and millions of dollars are used to infect you and are acheived from malware regularly!

    Also, you must set your software up properly or it is of no use to you at all!!!

    For example, you can set up AVG to schedule daily runs while you are sleeping and also you can set it up to CHECK YOUR SEARCH PAGES WHEN YOU DO A SEARCH SAY A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR SOMETHING AND IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY SEARCH ALL THOSE PAGES THAT COME UP IN YOUR SEARCH ANSWERS AND GIVE YOU A GREEN CHECK FOR THOSE PAGES THAT HAVE NO MALWARE INJECTION ELEMENTS WITHIN THEM, AND YOU CAN GET A SNAPSHOT OF THE PAGE ITSELF, SO NO WORRIES TO YOU TO GO TO THOSE SEARCH RESULTS NOT KNOWING IF THERE IS A VIRUS WAITING FOR YOU THERE, NOW YOU KNOW!!!

     

    *****  WELL I HOPE I HELPED SOMEBODY TODAY???  

     

    If anyone gets viruses and malware and needs virus removals, slow pc optimzations, etc shoot me an email at bigbyrc@aol.com and give me a few hours to a day to reply and if you have a internet connection I can connect to you remotely and fix you virus problems, windows issues, slow pc issues, etc!!!

    DONT WORRY I will help you out for a cheaper price than any of the big box companies and you do not have to worry about not having an expert, I am an Malware Removal Expert and I know how it is!!!

    * (My usually charge is around $20 per hour to completely remove your malware, no matter how complex and to optimize your computer back to a almost brand new state and I load you up with a full PRO VERSION of Malwarebytes AV, CCleaner, AVG Free and I also do an diagnostic to tell you what you need, like RAM or your CPU is going out, etc!!!) 

    Usually it takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to completely remove all malware manually from your files, hidden files, registry, system files, etc, this can not be done effeciently with just running security software, you have to know what you are doing first and you have to reverse engineer malware manually!!! Then afterwards you run the security software last to grab up the rest of what I have torn up and exposed to clean up the trash leftover!!!

     

    Thanks it has been nice, have a great day classmates!!!

     

    Respectfully,

     

    Robert

    • edwinfernandez Newbie 4 posts since
      Jan 10, 2011
      Currently Being Moderated
      Apr 9, 2012 1:32 PM (in response to bigbyrc)
      Re: What's the best free antivirus?

      Good answer! I give you an A+ for your answer.I too use all these programs and always keep in mind that it's always good to turn off restore feature in windows because again the word is " malware" malware are malicious programs that was installed in a computer in a certain previous time and date".  Disabling restore and booting up in safemode , stops the virus or malware from coming back if you decide to restore it on a later date. If you forget to disable the restore feature then you just performed a scan for nothing!  Perform  all malware scanning with "all startup" windows disabled. No anti virus is perfect and I hate Mcafee or Norton's for they use to many resources and bogs down a  PC if you're multitasking while scanning under windows. QUESTIONS?  The best PC TECHNICIAN TOOLS  "ULTIMATE BOOT DISC" ....this disc is awsome! linux based program that you could use to diagnose for free ...download an iso from it's website. you could test all hardware, ram, recover data and if you need cloning a harddrive, then you should download this baby, for it is free!!!!   Another good diagnostic program is called " Hiran's BOOT DISC" ... if your having difficult trying to figure out windows password, then this program is the bomb! you could remove windows password, recover windows OEM number ifyou couldn't find the windows installation OEM... These tools are arsenals of the the IT trade and hope to help you guys ...just google the progs.....got questions ?????

  • mickeysolar@gmail.com Newbie 16 posts since
    Dec 22, 2010
    Currently Being Moderated
    Jun 3, 2011 10:59 AM (in response to Altea Brando)
    What's the best free antivirus?

    Personally on my PC (my work horse) I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials, a free product from Microsoft.

    Works great! Microsoft updates the definitions daily.

    Always download the MRT (malicious software removal tool) patch, the current one is for May 2011. If you have stubborn virus, MRT, in combination with the Malwarebytes is the great solution for virus removal. Run MRT from Win7 search bar, or Run on XP.

    On my Mac I’m using ClamXav.

    At work, a Linux shop (red hat), Nothing.

    Cheers

     

    Mickey

  • mickeysolar@gmail.com Newbie 16 posts since
    Dec 22, 2010
  • sharrison37 Newbie 17 posts since
    Jun 2, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Jun 17, 2011 9:30 AM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    I remember looking up statistics on free antivirus scanners and I wish I had the article I found for confirmation.

     

    Avira has the best heuristic (code signature scanning) detection rate of the free antivirus league.  Granted, some times alerts you of false detections, it reminds you of winter - wearing your snuggy next to the fireplace while roasting marsh mellows.  I mean... safe and happy.  It was followed by Avast, which is full of great features and UI.  AVG was not too far behind them and I remember ClamAV (ClamWin) being towards the bottom of the list.

     

    I use Avast with a combination of Windows Defender and Spyware Blaster.  For cleanups I use (in order): ProcessExplorer, RKILL, CCleaner,  HijackThis, Malwarebytes, Dial-a-fix, then manually inspect the AppData and Local App* folders.  If I get to the point where I feel its a lost cause, I'll run the eScan toolkit.

     

    If you ever need to run a Server OS for educational purposes (courses, certs, etc) and don't have the money for an enterprise AV, try throwing ClamWin + ClamSentinel on it.

  • Andrea  Montilla Newbie 3 posts since
    Jun 2, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Jun 18, 2011 7:49 PM (in response to Altea Brando)
    What's the best free antivirus?

         Well if u have comcast they give u a free subscription to Norton and this is the BEST antivirus.

  • savvy280 Newbie 4 posts since
    Apr 4, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Jun 19, 2011 1:36 AM (in response to Altea Brando)
    What's the best free antivirus?

    I have been using AVG free on my computer for years. It caught some attempts and so far have never had any problems. It always updates.

  • compusoul Newbie 5 posts since
    Feb 1, 2012
    Currently Being Moderated
    Apr 7, 2012 5:38 PM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    Go to www.spybot.com best antivirus software out there, and it's 100% free. I install it on all my clients systems.

  • dburris Novice 80 posts since
    Jul 15, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Apr 7, 2012 6:58 PM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    AVG Anti-Virus by Grisoft...I've used it for years and it's been great!  I also use Glary Utilities to do periodic clean-ups on my computer.

  • roxijohn12 Newbie 1 posts since
    Jan 16, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Apr 9, 2012 9:28 AM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    Microsoft security essencials is great

  • sswan5808 Newbie 2 posts since
    Apr 2, 2012
    Currently Being Moderated
    Apr 9, 2012 12:50 PM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    I use Microsoft Security Essentials and with Comodo's free firewall I never have a problem. I also use CCleaner,Defragler,Malware Bytes and Hi-Jack This

  • ♥nene♥ Master 3,547 posts since
    Jan 27, 2012
    Currently Being Moderated
    Apr 11, 2012 11:27 PM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    Thanks for sharing all

  • bs17carr Apprentice 340 posts since
    Mar 14, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    May 2, 2012 12:01 AM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    I use Microsft Security . Prior to now I had AVG and Avast , at some point my PC still got a virus.

  • Newbie 2 posts since
    May 6, 2012
    Currently Being Moderated
    May 9, 2012 10:35 PM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    Kaspersky is not that bad. You can find an online giveaway that offer kaspersky full version sometimes.  

  • vbnetdude Newbie 6 posts since
    May 11, 2012
    Currently Being Moderated
    May 11, 2012 1:21 PM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    Years ago, I was running COMODO Antivirus: which in my experience has been the best.  It monitors the registry for unauthorized changes and allows much customization.  Again, this was years ago, but after trying multiple free and shareware versions of many different programs, this came out ahead.

  • ashworthstudent Newbie 2 posts since
    Jan 19, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    May 11, 2012 1:40 PM (in response to Altea Brando)
    Re: What's the best free antivirus?

    The best AV is a free AV

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