avira or avast

i do alot of downloading from p2p and i was wondering what would be my best bet in a free antivirus avira or avast

thanks to anyone that gives info

 

Well, i guess it depends on what you prefer. Avira has the better detection rates where as avast has more features such as an email scanner and a web and p2p scanner.

 

Both are very good, Avast free gives more though in terms of the modules like P2P, IM etc. and mail scanner.

 

avira has a sluggish update right?and no webscanner?

 

Yes, Avira's free version update servers are sluggish but I never had a problem with them. However, I did not have the free version during a major update (twice a year). I just set Avira to update during the hours that Europe sleeps. Avira Premium has no webscanner either. That is available only in the Suite.

You can get a six month trial of Avira Premium now which would avoid any possible problems with the update servers.
http://www1.avira.com/en/evaluate/pcworld_poland.php

 

6 months free thats awesome and it scans spyware also right?

would you happen to know a good free firewall

 

Yes, the Personal Premium version scans for spyware. You may have to adjust the settings to get full malware protection. As of the last big update, Avira Premium now comes under Extended threat Categories with Application and Security Privacy Risk unchecked. You can check those but Avira may find stuff on your computer that you don't consider to be a risky application or a privacy risk. Of course, you can exclude those items from future scanning but Avira's exclusion procedure is not quick and easy like with some AV.

 

A lot of folks like Comodo's firewall. I'm not a good one to ask about firewalls. I used ZA for a number of years, then I got a router and I got ProcessGuard, which controls what calls out, so I haven't felt the need for a software firewall in a long while. I do keep Windows XP firewall turned on in case I have to connect directly, or have my cable connection down and I switch to dialup. I don't want to have to remember to enable the Windows firewall so I just keep it enabled for those situations.

I'm sure you will get a lot of suggestions on firewalls.

 

Hello,

this is not the firewall section so we might get told off but anyway.

I'd say give kerio 2.15 and jetico 1 a go.Both free and good and light