Top 6 Free Antivirus Programs

Posted on 10. Sep, 2008 by Kyle Judkins in Software

AVG Free was mentioned in my list before, and it must be in this list as well. It is probably the most used free antivirus software out there. It provides great antivirus and antispyware protection, and it also uses Safe Search which helps protect you from those bad webpages that can sometimes come up in your search results.

Avast

Avast is often seen as the biggest competitor to AVG Free due to its simplicity and ease of use. In addition to the normal protection, I find the P2P and IM shield to be a great feature of this client. However, there is one negative with this client. You will have to take the time to register it in order to keep using it. This registration is free, but it does take time. Are you lazy like me?

Anti Vir

Anti Vir has been gaining a lot of support from the techies around the Internet. I believe the basis from this comes from great protection with the ability to scan up to 20% faster than other clients.

Bitdefender

Bitdefender provides the same basic virus and spyware scanning, and it adds immediate scanning, a skinable interface and statistical reports. The reports are always a nice touch, because some people want to know everything that is going on with their computer.

Comodo

Comodo provides a very basic antivirus software that is easy to use. It also has an extremely small memory footprint, so you can actually do other things while it is running on your computer.

Clamwin

Clamwin is obviously the most basic antivrius on the list, but that isn’t always a bad thing. Clamwin may not be as robust as some of the others on the list, but if you don’t need lots of bells and whistles this would be a great choice.

Last 5 posts by Kyle Judkins

21 Responses to “Top 6 Free Antivirus Programs”

Doug Woodall

10. Sep, 2008

I agree with you on AVG, Avast and BitDefender.
Many users are happy with AVG and Avast.
I myself am using BitDefender on my new lappie with Vista right now.
Thanks for the great work.

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Talk Binary

10. Sep, 2008

I just noticed I don’t have an anti virus running. I should fix this ASAP.

I personally use AVG since I like how small and compact it is. Best of all free. Also, when you know how to navigate the internet, there is a better chance you won’t get infected (key word: better; not invulnerable).

I also use AdAware.

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Madhur Kapoor

13. Sep, 2008

I have been using Avast for a long time. I like it lot as it uses very less system resources

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Sean

13. Sep, 2008

I’ve been using Avast Free for the longest time and I’ve never had a problem with it. Where I used to work, the computer was using AVG. I never found anything wrong with it, but I rather Avast. Other than those two, I’ve tried Avira AntiVir. It was good, but again I rather Avast.

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Kayren

13. Sep, 2008

I have been using Avast since I have owned my computer, I have tried a couple others, but always return to Avast. I like the simple usability & it does it’s job well.

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liinet jossy

03. Oct, 2008

residential use

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Ellie

05. Oct, 2008

I love Comodo! It is possibly the best antivirus program I’ve used. I was a huge Avast fan until I met Comodo and tried it out. It uses less memory - even on my Vista machine than Avast; and Comodo has a nice, clean interface that makes me think Web 2.0!

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BrainBug

05. Oct, 2008

Unfortunately Comodo ranks 40th on the Virus.gr independent tests in detecting malware. Avast ranks 13th, BitDefender ranks 12th, AVG ranks 11th and Antivir ranks 10th.

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BrainBug

05. Oct, 2008

Also, Clamwin is not a realtime antivirus scanner meaning it won’t monitor your system. It will only scan your system when you ask it to.

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TabZ

05. Oct, 2008

I feel Avast is well worth the bother of taking a few minutes to re register once every 14 months.

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Ryan G

07. Oct, 2008

I’ve tried pretty much all of these, and Avast still comes out tops.

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ross

07. Oct, 2008

ever heard of threafire? http://www.threatfire.com

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Dilbert

21. Nov, 2008

My Anti-Virus is Linux. tee hee.

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Joky

24. Nov, 2008

AntiVir is the best of the best!!!

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Patrick

14. Feb, 2009

Good list.

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Micky Mouse

15. Feb, 2009

Avast Rocks

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donald bebek

02. May, 2009

antivirus the best is avira

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Ken

06. May, 2009

I can’t believe that the reviewer is saying that having to register Avast is a negative. It is, IMO my non-techie opinion, far superior to any of the others, far more comprehensive, works with Win98SE which I continue to use very successfully. The registration is very simple, can’t blame them for wanting to know how many people are using their FREE software, just requires, with a couple of mouse clicks, getting a new registration number every year. If the reviewer can’t do this, then he ought not be able to use this spectacular free software!!!

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asif

12. May, 2009

avaira is the best of all…no other options……

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Catalin

09. Jun, 2009

Very interesting this list with antiviruses. Avira is a good choice for a free antivirus!

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unknown

13. Jun, 2009

1. Avg (best antivirus program ever)
2. Antivir (all in all also very good program)
3. Together (as I use) they are brilliant !!!

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