Definitive Best *Free* Antivirus 2014

[Marshall Veteran]

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]

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...

[Copernic Reporter]

Please add:

Qihoo 360 Internet Security

Baidu Antivirus (Baidu Cloud Security Engine + Avira Antivirus)

[msr714]

F-Secure works well for me.

[goretsky Supervisor]

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.

[PNWDweller]

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. :)

[Nagisan]

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.

[Neowinuser1991]

Love bitdefender free. No nagging like Avast.

[Raa]

Happy enough with MSE, but I always advise my customers they get what they pay for (and continue to recommend a paid license of NOD32)

[dead.cell]

Does MalwareBytes really fit on that list? It's not an anti-virus so much as it is a scanner to tell you if you do have a virus or not. There's no active protection unless you have the PRO version, as far as I can tell.

[Nagisan]

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).

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

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.

[He's Dead Jim]

I recently tried Avast Free, and found it to be great for blocking tracking cookies. It gives 28 days and then asks the user to register for continued use. Fortunately I havent had to deal with any virii during this tral.

[Wakers]

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?

[PGHammer]

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)

[riahc3]

Hello,

 

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

[Rippleman]

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.

[Wakers]

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.

[_neutrino Veteran]

After Microsoft's warning about Defender / MSE I went back to Avast Free edition.

[riahc3]

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.

[Rippleman]

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.

[riahc3]

Hello,

 

Thank you to whoever removed MalwareBytes Anti Malware

[Ulpian]

MSE winning? Worthless poll...

[Marshall Veteran]

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

[The Evil Overlord]

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

[Athlonite]

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