Free AV for company PC's, please help

Until the board will vote for aquisition of new premium AV (and this is taking too long), i must be able somehow to 'protect' company PC's. I've tried bitDefender free edition and Avast. But none of them has a automated check system so one or two system are now infected. There is free solution with automated check, or at least a free trial for at least two months?

 

Re: Free AV, please help

AFAIK none of the free AV's are to be used in a commercial (business) environment. None of them are going to give you 100% protection either. You need to implement SRP's and implement other security measures.

 

Re: Free AV, please help

I believe Comodo is free for business use.
http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/antivirus.php

I saw the other day that Microsoft Forefront has a 120 day trial-
http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/en/us/default.aspx

 

By writing "automatic check system" do you mean automatical real-time protection ? If so , you are wrong because Avast does provide real time protection . So does AVIRA , AVG , COMODO , MSE , Panda Cloud , etc... but not BitDefender free.

As already mentioned , free products are not supposed to be used in business environment . They also don't provide some functionality that business/corporate enviroment may need.

It would be useful to describe us your business enviroment - how many workstations/servers you need to protect ? What are the security measures you have already implemented or you are going to implement soon ? What is the antivirus software you plan to purchase ?

 

comodo , mse , panda cloud, spyware terminator with clam are free for company

 

CIS and MSE can be used in corporate environment. Others are mostly not.

 

Comodo, Avast, Avira, and MSE have scan scheduling.

 

Microsoft Security Essentials License Agreement - in English language
http://www.microsoft.com/security_Essentials/eula.aspx#mainNav



You can see more confirmation here by MVPs and Moderators:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com...t/thread/8c55b1a5-3598-47b4-a9bc-28827e2bf729

 

MSE is not licensed for coporate use at all. From the MSE license itself:

"You may install and use any number of copies of the software on your devices in your household for use by people who reside there or for use in your home-based small business."

None of the other free editions (except CIS) mentioned are licensed for business use, and I also would consider none of them (including CIS) to be suitable anyway.

Honestly, if the company's board have not authorised funds for proper security then they really shouldn't be operating IT at all. I suggest you make it plain to the board that their failure to authorise the necessary funds is directly linked to the infections that have taken place already, that further infections are likely, that their company systems and, consequentially, data are at serious risk. Make them aware that you cannot be held responsible for the losses they incur as a result and that they will be required to pay you the fees necessary for you to clean up the damage that has been, and will continue to be, caused. If that doesn't get their attention and action, tell them to find someone else to support them: you really don't want a client like this.

 

Well , you are absolutely right . But this company is his/her employeer (may be) or this company pays him/her to provide them with service . If anyone ditches the company like that , they will simply find someone else and this will not change anything . Of course , the IT must insist and of course reach the border line but he should never cross this border line . This is valid for any border line - in case of "ER" , reach the border line , be stronger but never cross the line.

Working as a technician , I also sometime must be a marketing guy or a sales guy and persuade a client for making something , to buy given product , to invest money in technology ... The most difficult part is making someone believe something , making them believe that things should be different.

I think we should all wait for the OP post more information and reply so the we understand more about the company's profile , the precise situation , company plans , etc.

 

Well, respectfully, that sounds very much like a technician's view. Irrespective of whether the OP is an employee or a service provider, this is a strategic, not technical, issue. If he lets this go, there's only one person who will suffer: and that's johnny_dacu. He will be made responsible for anything that goes wrong (that process is clearly under way), not the board. Making the situation clear is imperative.

 

Panda cloud is for personal use only.

Look into PC Tools free, if I remember correctly they allowed this but they may have changed policy's recently.

Seems like they still are, this is an old thread but I have not seen reports of any policy changes: http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53227&highlight=Company

 

spyware terminator with clam antivirus and hips is free for commercial
http://www.spywareterminator.com/
maybe forticlient also free....
http://www.forticlient.com/standard.html

 

Comodo Av (CIS) and PC Tools are two that can be used.
Here is a list on another forum for software free for business use. Hope it help.

http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=18955.0

 

Just came across this thread - renegade08 has it summed up.

I'm currently "overseeing" use of PC Tools Free in a number of commercial locations, one who was happy to pay to renew Spyware Doctor w/Antivirus just at the time PCTAV Free 7.0 was released, but decided that the cut-down free version would do the job on their office PCs running XP, limited user accounts, ISA server, etc.

 

you can also try twister very good antivirus with hips 3 months trial and then
lifetime license

 

Nice option. Cheap too...

 

The free CIS can be used without restriction in a commercial environment. One drawback to this is that all workstations will be downloading updates individually which could impact your bandwidth and you would need to manage the configs and policies individually. This can be eased by exporting an "ideal" config from one PC to all the others, but this would still need to be done manually.

Although it's not free, Comodo's Endpoint Security Manager (CESM) alleviates this problem by acting as a central repository for updates and policies. CESM is free for up to 5 workstations, but you need to pay for licenses above this quantity. CESM can distribute updates, policies and configs from a centralised console.

http://www.comodo.com/business-security/network-protection/endpoint-security-manager.php

Worth a look.
CT

 

I just want to say that spm is dead on balls on this issue. It may not be the answer some people would want to hear (egos can be fragile), but it is the correct, albeit blunt one.

It is indeed hard to convince such people on money matters about things they are ignorant to. These "boards" usually consist of people that know only the bottom line on a balance sheet, but not really about the day-to-day operations and what it takes to get things done. I'm sure they are just looking at the amount of money it will cost to deploy this strategy. They should instead be looking at how much it will cost them if they don't adequately address it. This is certainly one of those cases where anything worth doing is worth doing right.

 

I don't think this has been mentioned yet and I am not sure where you are from or if this will help at all. But AVG has a free version for businesses in certain countries. Currently those countries are Germany, Brazil and Japan. Previously a requisite was that the free edition could not be used on a server.

 

Since you're talking about a "board voting"....does this mean you're non-profit?
Don't forget many antivirus brands have discounted rates for non-profits and education.
Also, if you're non-profit...see if you quality for TechSoup.org
Where you get DEEPLY discounted Microsoft products (you pay less than 1/10th MSRP) , as well as other brands of software, and occasional hardware discounts.
I'd say give Microsoft Forefront a shot...120 day trial...that will get you over the two month hurtle til the next board meeting.

 

clamwin i think is free

 

no realtime in clamwin but you can use spyware terminator with clamwin real time protection..... but i prefere comodo internet security the best free for business use.....