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

[Ently]

Watching it in action on youtube tells a different story.

Do you have a specific video you could link me please?

[+Warwagon MVC]

Do you have a specific video you could link me please?

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Microsoft Security Essentials.

[Ently]

That is interesting but I really remain convinced that MSE is the best freeware antivirus. I used to use Avast a lot as well and that is fairly good.

I just did the eicar test and MSE picked up all virus's straight away

http://www.rexswain.com/eicar.html

[+vlsi0n Subscriber¹]

I prefer Microsoft Security Essentials

[Awsta]

Still using MSE and MBAM.

[Nylonee]

It's interesting how NOD32 used to be top of the top a few years back and now it doesn't even make it into a category on the list.

[Lee G. Veteran]

It's interesting how NOD32 used to be top of the top a few years back and now it doesn't even make it into a category on the list.

That's because this is the free antivirus poll. ;) The paid antivirus poll is here.

[EDF]

Been using Avast since the 4.x days. A lot of feedback might send me to MSE.

[stopbitching]

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 Also you can't trust the security firm that you are referring to. 2 of the test used windows XP which is an outdated OS and 1 was windows 7....possibly 32 bit.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.

ehm, all your links were from 2009 and 2010...

[stopbitching]

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/best-free-antivirus-9-reviewed-and-rated-1057786/page:1#articleContent

[jesseinsf]

ehm, all your links were from 2009 and 2010...

And my post is going on 6 months old.

[MAkhdar]

Definitely MSE. I have used Norton 360 ever since it came out as well as Micro Trend Titaninum and I think it is even better than them.

[theyarecomingforyou]

It's interesting how NOD32 used to be top of the top a few years back and now it doesn't even make it into a category on the list.

Even so when I viewed recent comparisons the newer version - 4.2/5.0 - compared poorly to the competition, which was news to me. My renewal for it came up recently and I noticed that they'd considerably increased the price on it. I decided to find something new. I tried AVG free for a while but found it incredibly intrusive and it kept trying to trick me into upgrading (e.g. you haven't done this test, followed by... oh wait, we've detected errors but you have to upgrade to fix them) - the scans also seemed incredibly hard on the hard-drives, as I rarely ever hear my drives. I've just installed MSE and will give that a go for a bit.

The anti-virus landscape has certainly changed since I last had a proper look. Kaspersky - a paid product - got some great reviews but the price is simply ridiculous, even when looking at multi-year licences (the type I usually go for). My biggest concern with MSE is that it will be the most targeted for exploits, especially as it will be installed by default with Windows 8.

[stopbitching]

And my post is going on 6 months old.

6 months equals 2-3 years old links? well sorry for the bump but thread was still active.

[Copernic Reporter]

That is interesting but I really remain convinced that MSE is the best freeware antivirus. I used to use Avast a lot as well and that is fairly good.

I just did the eicar test and MSE picked up all virus's straight away

http://www.rexswain.com/eicar.html

EICAR test doesn't mean anything. It's like saying that I'm a great fisherman because when I go fishing in an aquarium I catch everything. Let's face it, Microsoft Security Essentials sucks big time at zero-day threats detection.

[Choto Cheeta]

Have been using MSE for last couple of years now.. Infact since it was launched as Beta and since then I never felt the need of any paid product for my personal use off course..

[pinprick]

Back in the day I used avira personal edition without ads http://www.wikihow.c...-Avira-Antivir. Now I use unix so I don't think I need one if I browse safely, sandbox apps and use the built-in firewall.

[salim8]

I Use Avira AntiVir from more then two years Protect My Pc from many threaths and delete alot of viruses before even I point on it by mouse

..

[TTGSteve]

Honestly, I think I'm going to make the switch to MSE. I've been using AVG for awhile, but I'm seeing a lot of people think that MSE is better.

[farmeunit]

I like Avira the best. I've seen several infections with MSE using Java or HTML exploit that Avira has picked up. I put MSE on other people's computers just because it doesn't have the prompts for purchasing that others do, but for my own I use Avira or Kaspersky (which of course is not free).

[StrikedOut]

We have Kaspersky Endpoint for work but I use MSE with Malwarebytes on my personal PC which I also install on peoples PC's that come to me along with a liink to Microsoft's online Security Scanner in the favourites.

[macstorm]

Where the hell is the free Avira AntiVir on the list???

Uh oh, the so called "unbiased" polls :rolleyes:

[DeadEndAccount]

I've been using MSE since it first came out and quite frankly it's going to have to be a pretty hard sell by anti-virus vendors to ever get me to purchase their software.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

A mistake when creating the poll. You can, of course, select "Other" when choosing your preferred solution and mention your choice in a message.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Where the hell is the free Avira AntiVir on the list???

Uh oh, the so called "unbiased" polls :rolleyes: