Definitive Best *Free* Antivirus 2012

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

In the preceding Definitive Best Antivirus 2011 message thread, there were requests to seperate the commercial and free antivirus products. For 2012, I have created two separate polls. This is the poll for the free antivirus programs. For commecial (paid-for) antivirus, please see the Definitive Best *Paid* Antivirus 2012 message thread.

Questions or comments? Post them here in the message thread.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[Coi]

Yet month after month after month MSE ranks as the worst protection in every AV test and fails to detect some of the most pervasive and common threats. Placebo can be a horrible thing.

Really? Simple Google and Bing searches don't say so:

http://news.softpedi...ec-McAfee-3.jpg

http://dottech.org/w...n_3_Chart_8.png

http://dottech.org/w...2-03_015153.png

http://www.pcworld.c..._very_good.html

http://4.bp.blogspot...tDefender-3.jpg

As for the "best" free, I've recommended AVG and Avast to the people that I know that still use Windows.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

MSE is by far the best out there.

[raid0]

MSE

[ThePitt]

AVG AntiVirus Free

[Tha Bloo Monkee]

I was using Avira Anti-Vir but recently switched all my PCs to Avast. Very impressed with it. Uses very little ram.

I tried out Comodo recently too. I wasn't very impressed with that one.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Avast here, as it agrees with my PC and has decent detection rates. They occasionally release "bad" updates though which can be annoying (one update marked the whole Internet as a virus and another prevented network connections from working altogether).

I tried Microsoft Security Essentials once and it really didn't agree with my computer. Made the computer unusable for a good minute or two after boot-up. No idea what the point was so I'll take the occasional bad update over that.

just curious, are you on XP, Vista, or 7?

i just ask because I've never had a problem like that with MSE (I'm on 7) but I also know that MSE is known to have some issues when running on XP

[jesseinsf]

Yet month after month after month MSE ranks as the worst protection in every AV test and fails to detect some of the most pervasive and common threats. Placebo can be a horrible thing.

As for the "best" free, I've recommended AVG and Avast to the people that I know that still use Windows.

FAIL

http://news.softpedi...ec-McAfee-3.jpg

http://dottech.org/w...n_3_Chart_8.png

http://dottech.org/w...2-03_015153.png

http://www.pcworld.c..._very_good.html

http://4.bp.blogspot...tDefender-3.jpg

Oh, and are you a "Mac" user just putting your turds all over this forum? If so you are using AVG Livescanner for Mac?

[Churma]

MSE all the way for Free AV. Hell it frinds rootkits which Norton Power Eraser, Kaspersky, Panda, Webroot, and PC Tools cannot find. The MSE beta is rocking too, hopefully a public RTM soon on it as well.

[Miuku.]

FAIL

Not really;

http://www.av-test.o...ts/sepoct-2011/

http://www.av-test.o...ts/julaug-2011/

http://www.av-test.o.../quarter-22011/

MSE ranking as one of the worst in protection, the only saving grace is the user interface and usability.

I'll just ignore the rest of your trolling. Also fix your signature, it's over the size limit.

[Astrum]

Avast

[+Heartripper Subscriber¹]

I've been using Avast for a long time, never had a problem. :)

[jesseinsf]

Not really;

http://www.av-test.o...ts/sepoct-2011/

http://www.av-test.o...ts/julaug-2011/

http://www.av-test.o.../quarter-22011/

MSE ranking as one of the worst in protection, the only saving grace is the user interface and usability.

I'll just ignore the rest of your trolling. Also fix your signature, it's over the size limit.

haha, do we all claim troll when we can't handle a bit of constructive criticism? Your negative comments sticks out like a sore thumb. I just said that you fail (you didn't have proof) and then I commented more which was referring to you false claims. Also you can't trust the security firm that you are referring to. 2 of the test used windows XP which is an outdated OS and 1 was windows 7....possibly 32 bit. I use 64 bit. The links I give you are not all from the same site which I view as more reliable. I leave it at that.

[jesseinsf]

double post

[jdegree]

Not really;

http://www.av-test.o...ts/sepoct-2011/

http://www.av-test.o...ts/julaug-2011/

http://www.av-test.o.../quarter-22011/

MSE ranking as one of the worst in protection, the only saving grace is the user interface and usability.

I'll just ignore the rest of your trolling. Also fix your signature, it's over the size limit.

LOL. Lost out on MSE. Now stooping to complaining about signatures. Guess we know who is the TROLL now.

MSE for me. :D

[JaLooNz]

Was a Avira AntiVir user until last year, where they made WebGuard as a mandatory part of the AV. In addition, they also bundled toolbars with the AV and that made me switch to MSE.

[Menge]

On my computer I never had antivirus and never had issues. But on my mom's computer and regular people computers I put MSE. It's free, it protects them and has no annoying toolbars or anything.

[Fourjays Veteran]

just curious, are you on XP, Vista, or 7?

i just ask because I've never had a problem like that with MSE (I'm on 7) but I also know that MSE is known to have some issues when running on XP

Windows 7. I first tried it when I moved from Vista to 7 as I had heard great things about MSE. So it was on a fresh install as well.

[xendrome]

Lighten this up a bit.

This one of course...

[EDF]

Lighten this up a bit.

This one of course...

LOL.

I hate that one.

On the real I hate cleaning it.

[cropcircles]

Does MSE protect against bots, phishing, and email protection.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

+1 more for MSE. :)

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Microsoft Security Essentials.

Never had a problem

[neo1911]

MSE here. Infact my friend offered me free Kaspersky license but I refused. Then I learnt that he too dumped Kaspersky for MSE :D

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello

Information about Microsoft Security Essentials' features can be found here.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Does MSE protect against bots, phishing, and email protection.

[GraveDigger27]

I use Avast! Free on my systems, but recommend Microsoft Security Essentials to my less "computer knowledgeable" family members. Having a program that is easily updated, can scan a system without any user initiation, and does a credible job of protecting the system are major considerations. I've seen too many computers with outdated virus programs (either the person has let the subscription run out, failed to update the virus definitions, or failed to realize that it no longer is protecting their system). Although a lot of people complain about MSE it seems to a very good job at providing basic protection and is constantly being approved.

That said, Avast! offers even more features and really protects my computer from the majority of potential treats out there. I've used it for years and have been really happy with it - I've tried Avira, AVG and MSE on my desktop but keep coming back to Avast! as it keeps improving.

My only issue with the "free" anti-virus programs is I have to remind my siblings NOT to click on pop-ups they get telling them that "they've been infected" - twice last year I had to clean up systems where they received such a notice, clicked on the message and installed a phony anti-virus program that disabled their existing protection and hijacked their browser's homepage or search settings. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware cleaned up those attacks and I was able to repair their systems without having to do a complete restoration.