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Definitive Best *Free* Antivirus 2014

Asked by Marshall,

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Poll: Favorite *Free* Antivirus  

222 members have voted

  1. 1. Your Choice?

    • 360 Total Security
      6
    • Ad-Aware
      46
    • Avast! Free
      25
    • AVG AntiVirus Free
      16
    • Avira Free
      12
    • Baidu Antivirus
      1
    • BitDefender (Free Edition)
      8
    • ClamWin/ClamAV
      0
    • Comodo Anti Virus/Internet Security
      73
    • Emsisoft Anti-Malware (free edition)
      5
    • Panda Cloud Antivirus
      13
    • Microsoft Security Essentials
      17
    • Other (please specify below)
      0

Question

Grand Master

Marshall Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

It's a new year, and a new poll for Definitive Free Best Antivirus. The 2013 thread can be found here.

This is a poll for best Free antivirus, there is a separate thread for paid antiviruses here.

If your choice of Best Free Antivirus is not listed, please choose Other and specify in the comments.

  • Riggers and goretsky
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Riggers

Posted
Posted

Couple of issues which i think could be addressed. First make peeps aware that the free versions of Emsisoft and Malwarebytes do not scan in real-time, manual scans only.

Also you have the title as "Definitive Best *Free* AntiVirus 2014 then on the page "Favourite *Free* Antivirus". Then in the paid catagory they are both the same! I also think "Definitive" is maybe to strong a word to use.

 

Anyway at the moment (for free real time protection) i`m liking the free Qihoo 360 Internet Security, it`s from China (like Baidu) but uses the Bitdefender engine + sigs along with its own, plus cloud and has a built in Sandbox . The Chinese version also incorporates Avira i think...

 

For On-Demand scanning i like Hitman Pro, among others...

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Grand Master

goretsky Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

Hello,

 

This is the free anti-virus message thread.  F-Secure is a commercial product, so it's listed in the commercial message thread.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

F-Secure works well for me.

  • 0
Grand Master

PNWDweller

Posted
Posted

Is it wrong that I had to look in my system tray to remember what I was using?  lol

 

I have had good luck with Panda Cloud Antivirus myself but know there are plenty of free ones out there that do just as good of a job. :)

  • 0
Grand Master

Nagisan

Posted
Posted

I shall be watching this in hopes of replacing mine.....running MSE currently but I grow tired of it not updating. I run W8 and have auto update to notify me before installing, and I rarely shut my computer down......as a result I have to either manually update MSE whenever a DB update comes out, or wait until I reboot to auto-install the update. Crappy design IMO.....I installed MSE separately from W8, so it's auto-update function should be separated too.

  • 0
Grand Master

Nagisan

Posted
Posted

Love bitdefender free. No nagging like Avast.

Tried it, uninstalled it within 10 minutes......no nagging is great, but 0 options to configure is horrid design. I like to be able to tell my AV what directories to exclude and be able to control when and how it scans. BitDefender free offers 0 options at all (other than turning the scanner itself on or off).

  • Shiranui and robertwnielsen
  • Like 2
  • 0
Grand Master

+InsaneNutter MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

I use Windows Defender on Windows 8, which is basically Security Essentials.

 

After having a computer for so long you learn where to trust .exe's from and not to run random unknown programs that request admin rights. For anything i'm unsure about and really want to run i have a virtual machine.

 

I feel if you educate someone on how to use a PC safely its not really needed, however Windows Defender / Security Essentials is good for piece of mind as it is included with Windows and updates often.

 

My parents have learned never to open email attachments (that end in .jpg.exe or .exe for example) even from people they trust, and not to install random things a website might ask them to. Their PC has been clean for the last 10+ years too.

  • 0
Veteran

Wakers

Posted
Posted

I'm going to give Qihoo a try seeing as Bitdefender free *still* prevents Windows 8 from logging in, after almost 18 months of the issue being reported on certain configurations.

 

Want a fix? Pay for it.  Logic.  Why would I pay for something when the free version renders Windows inoperable?

  • 0
Grand Master

PGHammer

Posted
Posted

My vote has not changed one whit since Windows 7 - there is a minor addendum, though.  Microsoft Security Essentials (Windows 7 and earlier), Windows Defender (Windows 8 and 8.1), Forefront (enterprises) and System Center Endpoint Protection (servers) all use the same virus definitions and are the same basic program; further, except for Forefront, all are, in fact, free (that includes Endpoint Protection)

  • 0
Grand Master

Rippleman

Posted
Posted

Hello,

 

MalwareBytes Anti Malware should be removed from this list. It isnt a antivirus.

 

I have a challenge for you. What AV do you use? I will make you a test video of whatever you use VS malwarebytes, and then will post the video here showing the results.

  • 0
Veteran

Wakers

Posted
Posted

Not sure what that comment has to do with anything. 

 

He didn't say it's bad, but it's not an anti-virus tool unless you pay for the anti-virus tool.  The free program is just malware removal - you can't call it anti-virus as it does nothing to prevent infection in the first place.

 

It's the best anti-malware tool, but it's not anti-virus in it's free form.

  • 0
Grand Master

riahc3

Posted
Posted

Hello,

I have a challenge for you. What AV do you use? I will make you a test video of whatever you use VS malwarebytes, and then will post the video here showing the results.

You are comparing two software that have nothing to do with each other.

 

 

Not sure what that comment has to do with anything. 

 

He didn't say it's bad, but it's not an anti-virus tool unless you pay for the anti-virus tool.  The free program is just malware removal - you can't call it anti-virus as it does nothing to prevent infection in the first place.

 

It's the best anti-malware tool, but it's not anti-virus in it's free form.

Thank you.
  • 0
Grand Master

Rippleman

Posted
Posted

Not sure what that comment has to do with anything. 

 

True,without the PRO version, it should not  be on the list. But I read his statement incorrectly assuming he was suggesting that it wasn't a antivirus program. My mistake.

 

Hello,

You are comparing two software that have nothing to do with each other.

 

True,without the PRO version, it should not  be on the list. But I read his statement incorrectly assuming he was suggesting that it wasn't a antivirus program. My mistake.

  • 0
Grand Master

The Evil Overlord

Posted
Posted

The Malwarebytes option has been removed as I agree that in it's free form, it is not an Antivirus solution.

Fascist! :p

 

Meanwhile I'll throw in a vote for avast

and recommend using headphones to listen to loud music about the same time it's about to update :p

  • 0
Mentor

Athlonite

Posted
Posted

MSE winning? Worthless poll...

Worthless without EMET 4.0 it now gets the lowest rate for finding viri on the avtest.org site 

Fascist! :p

 

Meanwhile I'll throw in a vote for avast

and recommend using headphones to listen to loud music about the same time it's about to update :p

ROFl you know you can turn off those annoying msgs right 

I chose avast free last year when MSE started to really go down hill ( I used to use and recommend MSE to everyone) but seems the Avira free is now one of the best free AV solutions you can get according to www.avtest.org so may give that another go when my Avast license is up  

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