List of Free Antivirus (Realtime Scan + Threat Removal + English Interface)

Re: Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

Raymond said:
"Avira Free Antivirus used to rank number 1 but has dropped to 4 probably due to them embedding a toolbar and changing the web browser’s default search provider to ASK.com."

So are ordered from best to worst (or almost unknown)

 

Re: Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

I've heard about Roboscan before, briefly. But never really bothered to try it. Thanks to this thread i got curious. And i'm happy that i did.

Roboscan is quite alright. It's AV+FW. FW seems basic and doesn't have any whitelist so it asks you everything (old school firewall). AV is BitDefender based on detection names. Any idea what version it is? Very latest or older?

 

Re: Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

Yes it uses BitDefender's engine. (alongside its own engine), and as far as I know it is the latest version.

 

Re: Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

I think you mean the 2nd page, and there are two which look the same. Raymond has this to say about them:

 

Re: Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

I'm not sure how that is a bad business tactic. Lots of businesses have the same product (not only meaning security products) with a different name just to attract a particular consumer taste.

 

A Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

They just added Reymond's List to the Probably the Best Free Security List in the World ...

 

Re: Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

Yes Robo uses the same database version included in BD
I use it and I'm very happy
Here the 3d talking about RoboIS https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=311803

 

Re: Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

so far i find avast and zone alarm best as for free

i dont see what problem with zone alarm

 

Re: Comprehensive List of FREE Anti-Virus

Does ZoneAlarm still use Kaspersky's (latest) engine? I remember hearing somewhere about its change of antivirus engine in 2007 but not quite sure.

 

I hate ZoneAlarm because it's a fat bloat. Antivirus part is great, ok interface and KAV engine. But vsmon using over 200MB when not doing anything and over 500MB when running P2P is just plain idiotic.

 

vsmon is quite cpu-heavy for a firewall too. P2P makes vsmon go insane. It's like "Oh my God, oh my God! 30 connections at once, this can't be happening! Bring me more RAM, bring me more CPU, i m dying here!".

 

Is the free standalone ZA firewall very light?
Im running online armor alongside avast at the moment.

 

I think now it's v10? I had only tried a v9 version and it was ok if you just browse, on the heavy side if you do something with multiple connections like p2p and high speeds. I mean, it was heavier than any other firewall i can think of, both in CPU and RAM. I don't know how it compares to OA, since last time i had used OA, it was still under Mike Nash's ownership. But at that time, OA was lighter too.

Where ZA Free could be probably lighter is general feeling with working in your PC, since OA has also classical hips component, and HIPS that hook all around the kernel do have a slight lag, which you feel if you restore an image and run your system "clean" without them.

It's been ages since the time that i remember ZAF being "very light". For my taste, that was surely before Checkpoint took over.

But i m picky about CPU use, others may find it light... But even the RC of Outpost is lighter than the ZAF i had used in the previous version and since then i doubt it has become leaner. My bet is even Outpost uses less CPU and RAM. Comodo does for sure. Things like Tinywall are lighter hands down, eyes closed and tied.

 

Good to see discussion of ZA Free. Just started using this yesterday. Slowed down boot about 30 secs. Otherwise felt light.

 

Once upon a time, ZA was one of the lightest and probably the most newbie-friendly firewall out there. It was my very first firewall and i almost have a tear in my eye thinking of how i took my first steps in the internet, without router, just with ZAF protecting me and help me learn the ropes. It was a great firewall back then and i loved the simplicity of the GUI and of the pop ups. That's why i keep trying a version now and then, hoping that it will find its "lost youth" again. Instead, it's an evergrowing installer, vsmon has often stability problems or breaks with Windows updates-service packs and it's clearly heavier than it was once upon a time.

I remember i had once bought a paper book about security and hackers that was coming with a CD from the author. And he was including ZAF in the CD. That was the golden age of ZAF, around versions 2.x and 3.x.

I remember i was reccommending it to all newbies. Now i only reccommend it to my enemies. Apart joking, it's not bad, but there are better free options out there.

The PAID ZA makes more sense for many people, but not for me. I am not fan of how vsmon eats resources.

 

In my Home Desktop I could never use ZA products since 2008 because somehow it slowed boot very much. I had tried that many times but with the same result. In my laptop it had worked well but I didn't use it for long since I normally use a security suite. Anyways, I have installed ZA Free AV + Firewall for the first time in my desktop yesterday.
I have liked the GUI, The nature of pop-ups and many other things but like all ZA products it still have slowed down boot but not must as it did before. Also the AV updates only once a day.

 

With such a large list of Free Antivirus in hand, I want to ask you a question.
What features do you consider before choosing a Free AV? Please vote here.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=337920

 

I recommend you try Unthreat Antivirus, it's a free antivirus, and from my personal experience it's much better than Norton. It doesn't slow down my computer while scanning and I haven't had a virus since I downloaded it.

 

What engine is it used in the Unthreat, if you have any info?

 

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=312853

 

Is it really poping up the interface on system start? Because that would be annoying as hell. I like the way how Roboscan is serving ads. It shows them with update popups. So if you have to display ads, this is a pretty good way. It's not intrusive, it goes away after few seconds but user can still see them quite often. avast! is using a similar way for certain things.

 

I have to thank the Mods
who integrated the two Threads.

 

I had tried ZA free + AV because it gave me KAV built-in for free, and even though the vsmon did have huge ram usage, my system actually felt lighter than with my current Avast free. What I didn't like were the weird download indicators on FF and IE, which were slower than normal when DL files, but I got them back to normal through settings, although I can't remember how. I beleive I left that setup because a lot of people were knocking it, but I may just reimage and try again.

Is anyone actually feeling the effects of vsmon being high, or are the numbers just scary? Because, honestly, most users aren't looking at memory usage, they just have heard about ZA for many years, and now can get a good free AV with it as well. (By most users, I mean people who don't go on sites like Wilders, etc.)

 

I don't have it installed now but, like you, a couple weeks ago I got attracted by the fact that ZA uses the Kaspersky engine. Honestly, I never noticed a decrease in system performance nor was aware of such vsmon thing. The only thing I didn't like was I had to perform manual update several times a day because program does its own job every 24 hour. By the way, it was the first time that I tried a ZA product ever