Which is the best freebie?

IF you had to pick just one free AV, which would it be and why? I ask because I was asked by a friend, and can't answer him since I don't use any free AV's

 

AntiVir PE
+ configurable, updates almost day, heuristics, low resources
- doesn't have email scanner, size of updates

AVG Free
+ low resources, email scanner
- not update regularly, not much configurable, size of updates

Avast! Home
+ email scanner with heuristics, updates every day and sometimes more that once, configurable, size of updates
- resources

 

If it has to be a totally free AV and not a promo I would have to say Avast. If a promo is allowed I would go with CA server edition 7 promo.

 

F-Prot DOS. Or perhaps NOD32 DOS, which, last I checked, is free. Both have on-demand scanning only, though.

AntiVir PE is not great, but it is pretty good, and getting better. I have never had a false positive from it, but I've heard of a lot false alarms from other people. Hopefully, it will soon be good enough to compete with AVG, though I am sure it will never become as good as, say, Norton or Kaspersky.

Avast ain't bad, but has uninstallation problems, hogs resources, hogs HD space, requires HD-hogging skins for the interface to be readable, and has no heuristics for on-access or on-demand scanning. Daily updates are nice, but you can get them with AntiVir. I must say, though, that Alwil really does stay on top of things with their updates. But the resource hogging is too much for me.

 

i was just going to make a similar post!!!! as i am using AVG,

i was also wondering if paying for panda platinum/titanium is worth the bread compared to free AVG..

phats

 

Panda is a more comprhensive AV and definatly gets better results in AV test's. But there is quite a price difference,it all comes down to how good you want your security to be.

 

indeed the price difference....... i pay in canadian bucks too eh!!! LOL

 

If you really want panda platinum go to the link and you can pick up platinum 7 for $15.99

 

sweet!!!!!

 

You may want to check her first?http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1332.html

 

I would go with 2 (or more) free anti-viruses, because with two you have a better chance of detecting a virus. Just make sure all functions are shut down in your secondary anti-virus, and use it as an on-demand scanner only. Some good choices are AVG, Antivir, & Avast.

 

dear phatkid, Panda Platinum is way better than AVG. it also has Sygate Firewall with it.

 

I would choose AntiVir PE + F-prot 4 DOS + Bitdefender Free Edition v7

 

just to really add to the smorgasboard I would throw in the free one year Vet license that EZ is offering http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/index.cfm
and once in a while maybe a free scan http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

 

And where is mail protection I'd say avast! all the way. AntiVir is very nice (detection),but it lacks mail protection and AVG6 is outdated in these days.

 

"Pigman
F-Prot DOS. Or perhaps NOD32 DOS, which, last I checked, is free. Both have on-demand scanning only, though."

I checked the nod32.com site to see if NOD32 DOS is free, but nothing seems to indicate it. Are you sure ?
If so, Version 1.08 - Seems to be a old version, is it as good ?
Can we upgrade all regular definitions ?
Do we need to register ?
Am I in the good place for these questions ?
So many questions !

Thanks

 

I don't care email protection. Why should I need it? Antivirus would block a virus if I would start it. Simple.

 

frig gagabyte i just read your post..........too late

ah well i will be optimistic!!!!!
in the meantime i uninstalled my 30 trial and fired up the 1 yr trial thanks to another thread!!!
i can afford to wait i bit

phats

 

Sorry,
1.08 was the size of the file !
Anyway, i'd still like to know if NOD32 for DOS is free.
Thanks again

 

I think it is not. You may try and you will see.

 

RejZoR:

Se ti ne zdi Avast! preveč kičast? Tako nepregleden. Saj verjetno je detekcija kar dobra, samo deluje pa zelo primitivno.

LP

 

He's a kloshar,he can't help himself

No,it doesn't look primitive. For me,AVG and AntiVir look primitive. I mean 16 colors for interface in year 2004!? Please
And as i assume you don't like the skining option. Buy a Pro version or use one of several cool skins by S.Z.Craftec (Lite-On skin mimics those "pro" looking AVs,Flat'n'simple mimics standard windows design...) or Martin's skins(original Alwil) and i don't know whats wrong with Blue Panel skin? Its nice in simple. Consider skins as something good and not something bad. What will you do if for example AVGs interface is ugly to you,but detection engine is fine? Hm tough dilema isn't it?
But with avast! you can change to one you like. And if you don't like any of them,drop an idea to S.Z.Craftec at avast! forums and he will try to make skin as you wish (LiteON was made for me,G5 MacOS X skin was made for MacLover2000 and so on...). And On-Access scanner panel is very good organised and nice enough (thank god they use more then 16 colors) so it doesn't look like some prehistoric Win3.1 program.

 

Interesting... Your problem with AntiVir is my problem with Avast. I would much prefer to have decent heuristics than sexy skins. I would not care if the interface was greyscale, so long as the AV was good. (Note that I wouldn't go so far with Avast's skinless interface, which is impossible to read.)

And yeah, I'm pretty sure NOD for DOS is free. (Why did I call it NOD32 before? I should have called it NOD16! ) I'm not sure where you can get the updates for it, though, so it doesn't seem too useful.

 

Sorry, poul

My question was:

Don't you, RejZoR, think that Avast! is too trashy? So badly arranged? The detection is probably good but I think it is primitive.

Not very contented with it. I'll stay at F-secure.