Definitive Best *Free* Antivirus 2015

[nabz0r Veteran]

It's a new year, and a new poll for Definitive Free Best Antivirus. The 2014 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.

[acido00]

Mac OS X

[Knife Party]

Mac OS X

360 total security is out for osx too

[123456789A]

Slackware Linux

[DeusProto]

I go by what the scientific results like AV-Comparatives say, and it gives 360 high marks.

 

ATM I'm torn between 360 Internet and 360 Total Security 6 beta though.

 

Also 360 detected 0day custom malware compiled with the Zeus engine: https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/6d3826b687033269b68c15e2f875bc3863203358c16f6b0018cb52097cd48c32/analysis/1395914178/

 

Note how Kaspersky and Eset didnt detect it...

[binaryzero]

I personally don't have an "Proper AV" installed on my PC

 

Every once in a while I'll do the follow:

 

SuperAntiSpyware (Complete Scan)

CCleaner (look things over)

MalwareBytes (Also Complete Scan

ADW Clearner... (About every 90days or so)

 

Once scans are complete I take them off (don't like a lot of stuff on my pc...

 

You're crazy. 

 

Once you've worked in enterprise IT, you'll realise that it's probably a good idea to have AV installed. 

[Knife Party]

I go by what the scientific results like AV-Comparatives say, and it gives 360 high marks.

 

ATM I'm torn between 360 Internet and 360 Total Security 6 beta though.

 

Also 360 detected 0day custom malware compiled with the Zeus engine: https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/6d3826b687033269b68c15e2f875bc3863203358c16f6b0018cb52097cd48c32/analysis/1395914178/

 

Note how Kaspersky and Eset didnt detect it...

try 360 total security beta its, not bad

[ajua]

I've swtiched many relatives from MSE to 360 Total Security. It works really good and the detection rate with BitDefender and/or Avira engines are great. For someone looking to add a free Firewall to his setup, GlassWire is awesome and also free.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Mac OS X

 

Security through Obscurity

[+Warwagon MVC]

[guitmz]

ESET is the one. I am a virus writter and they released a definition for my last creation within days of its release. And it was not a binary release so they had to compile it and test it etc, they were really fast. Oh, its a Linux virus to make it better. More info about it: www.virusradar.com/en/Linux_Zariche/detail

[+Warwagon MVC]

ESET is the one. I am a virus writter and they released a definition for my last creation within days of its release. And it was not a binary release so they had to compile it and test it etc, they were really fast. Oh, its a Linux virus to make it better. More info about it: www.virusradar.com/en/Linux_Zariche/detail

 

Virus writer huh?  ...What do you do with them?

[wahoospa]

I voted for Panda, but only as a second av choice.

It must be # 2 because all the others say they are number 1.

MSE/Windows Defender is my # 1 choice.

[guitmz]

Virus writer huh?  ...What do you do with them?

 

Nothing, I release the source code at VX Heavens. I dont release the virus in binary form, it's just a hobby that I have, I find them fascinating (the way they look like real biological cels, polymorphism, etc)

[francescob]

I voted for Panda, but only as a second av choice.

It must be # 2 because all the others say they are number 1.

MSE/Windows Defender is my # 1 choice.

 

 

Is there any website that measures the RAM usage and slowdowns of each antivirus? I'm tired of having to set up VMs to test that stuff myself every damn time (last time Avast was the fastest with decent detection and had the lowest RAM usage but I hate its UI and that dumb free subscription).

[gohpep]

I use Microsoft Security Essentials because of its performance and low memory footprint.

If I'm not sure about a file, I use Malware Bytes

[torrentthief]

I find it bizare that people aren't voting for Avira considering it always wins in antivirus tests as the best free antivirus. Why bother installing a mediocre antivirus like MSE/360 total security when you can get a much better one that is also free, crazy!

[gohpep]

I find it bizare that people aren't voting for Avira considering it always wins in antivirus tests as the best free antivirus. Why bother installing a mediocre antivirus like MSE/360 total security when you can get a much better one that is also free, crazy!

Well it wins in protection, but not in performance, and 360 security can use the avira engine and bitdefender engine.

[oldtimefighter]

MSE and Malwarebytes, all I need. Don't need any extra BS slowing down my system. 

MSE is rated useless so not sure why anyone would use it... This is the FREE AV poll so there would be no extra BS slowing your system down or are you using like a Pentium 4 system?

[oldtimefighter]

I use Avast Free Antivirus and was thinking of checking out 360 Total Security since it was getting a lot of votes but then see it's a Chinese company. WTF people?

[oldtimefighter]

360 internet security is a nice program but keep in mind it is made in China and its a communist country so yea you are running government Chinese software on your computer

 

No Norton Anti Virus on the vote chart?  I remember when that program was the top dog at the time.

Their non-free program is good but their stripped down free Norton Security Scan is almost malware.

[francescob]

I wonder if Avast! is cheating somehow on the RAM usage, I've tried it again and it's unbelievably low (about 80MB with the default install).

[Ve7878]

I was using Avast! on my machines until I found BitDefender. I use that now. I can't believe people still use MSE.

[NeHoMaR]

I am using 360TS, for months, it's light, the problem is almost every single exe is a false positive, basically all exes that are not popular. In my opinion this is not an antivirus, but an exe white list filter.

[tompkin]

My favorite ant-virus is Bitdefender though I don't use it. ( I need a free version.)

 

I had a curious thing happen when I did the 30-day trial of Bitdefender. 

 

I had a directory that had a number of '.exe' files (along with source (programming) example files that I had downloaded from Pluralsight.

 

When I did the initial complete scan, every one of the exe files in this particular directory was flagged as having a trojan. I had a second copy of these same exe's in a separate directory, on a separate drive that were not flagged. I ended up deleting all the files in that directory.

 

I'm not asking for assistance in this thread, just saying what happened. 

 

The thing I liked about Bitdefender was that it has a good rating for detecting malware and also it didn't seem to affect system speed to a noticeable degree. 

[Lamp0]

What do folks think of Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit?

 

I am running it along side BitDefender Free. Is Anti-Exploit over kill for the average user?