Free Antivirus Comparison Chart

Hello. I have posted this on the Avast! forum, but I made an account here because this forum will have users using a variety of security products.

I'm making a chart right now comparing the features of Avast! Free, AVG Free, Avira Free, Microsoft Security Essentials, and Panda Cloud Antivirus. Mainly it is to convert friends and family to Avast!, but I may find another use for it.

I've finished most of it, but I need people to fill in the blanks, and correct any mistakes.

I couldn't attach the chart, so I attaches screenshots of it.

 

The daily Avira nag screen is gone. You may still get one on ocassion for an special offer.

 

Well done

 

The nagging is gone? Good, that seemed to be one of their weak points, besides bad updates. I also find it weird their detection rate is so good, considering the free version lacks so much.

Oh and am I right about all of them using some sort of fingerprinting? And does AVG Free have anti-rootkit now? I know it didn't for quite a while.

 

Yes, AVG Free now includes full antirootkit protection.

Regarding MSE, it no longer includes script protection. It has been removed from IE, due to users complaining they were experiencing issues. At least, from within IE such protection is not provided. No idea if has been implemented in some other way.

-edit-

I'm not sure if this would be right to assume, but considering MSE scans every downloaded files from the Internet, could we assume P2P downloaded files are scanned as well

 

Nice chart. Regarding behavior analysis, I believe AVG is the only free program that has an affective BA component. For instance Avasts barely monitors anything at this point, and is not really fully functional.

 

And i presume that will change soon when avast 6 is out..which is i guess next month

 

I don't think Avast 6 is coming out next month, they just released 5.1. It is supposed to come out "sooner than you think" though.

It will be interesting though since the free version will have a sandbox from what I've heard.

 

I think of the freebies, Avast is the one to watch in 2011. AVG made a big step by including IDP in the free version, but it sounds like Avast has a lot in store for us.

 

Brandonn2010,

Nice job! It took some time to put that together and is appreciated.

 

+1


Anyone know about script blocking for the others? I'm also confused about it, because I know Avast! free has blocked malicious Javascripts when I was online.

And do they all use some sort of fingerprinting to speed future scans?

 

Oops. I noticed some of the programs scan downloading files, so that may give them IM and P2P protection. What do you think? It's just harder to tell since Avast! has a specific shield for each one.

 

considering avast for x64 has no/very limitedbehavior blocker, MSE is the winner for me.

 

Nice chart. A couple questions though- MSE has email scanning? If so, does it scan incoming and outgoing email? Also, does it affix a message to scanned emails (such as "email scanned by MSE)?

the category of "same engine as paid" with the description of "detection is same as paid version" may need tweaked some, not 100% sure. I've seen reports that Avira's paid and free versions may not have the same detection rates, such as in the RAP test. That may have to do with release times of new signatures. Also, I believe Panda Cloud paid version has some sort of behavior blocker. If so, I would have to think the detection would be different.

Just my 2 cents worth- but a nice chart none the less

 

Nice chart

 

great job man! I'm sure the whole Wilders community appreciate you took the time to organize the data for this chart.

 

@ Brandonn2010

Hi, nice idea & presentation Might be good to provide a link to the Avast! forum too

Not sure about Avira v10 Personal, but my Avira v9 Personal can be selected to do scans on boot.



If Avira v10 Personal does, could you update the chart

 

Unless I'm misreading your post, I think you're confused about the boot scan. When I say boot scan, I mean it can run a scan before Windows has loaded, which allows it to remove malware that it couldn't be removed during a normal scan. Avast! has a boot-time scan that I used to think was unique to it. From your picture, it doesn't seem like Avira has a boot time scan. It tells on a table on Wikipedia what ones have a boot time scan, but Wikipedia isn't always the most accurate.

 

AVG Free can schedule a scan on startup after you log in, but that doesn't fit the definition of a boot-time scan in my opinion.

Panda Cloud doesn't seem to have a boot-time scan either, unless I missed something during my last test.

 

I believe that AVG's Linkscanner's main feature is scripts scanning, not just blocking known infected sites.

 

You are right.
AVIRA AntiVir does NOT have a Boot-Time Scan.
Scan Boot Sectors and Scan Master Boot Sectors
is NOT the same with a Boot-Time Scan.

 

On the other hand, Avira does have a rescue disc which has the same advantages as the boot time scan, the boot time scan is just less hassle to go through.

Panda Cloud AV does seem to have a mail scanner:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1811187&postcount=359

 

Panda does not have a boot time scan.
Panda does not have scheduled scanned scanning but it scans when the pc is not in use.
Panda Scans mail, P2P and IM even though it does not have its own shield for them
Yes Panda uses finger-printing.

 

On aviras site they claim "Enhanced Anti-Spyware and Anti-Adware" when buying premium. How should I understand that? Are there differences in detection rate or not?

 

Thank you Ibrad. All that's left is script-blocking for Avira. I would also like some clarification from AVG Free 2011 users to know if it scans files on websites, downloads, IMs, and P2P downloads, then it's done! Also, what is the extent to AVG Free's paid version nagging? Thank you!