Introduction
Antivirus software provides an essential layer of protection against a multitude of threats of viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, adware, dialers, keyloggers and rootkits. Traditionally antivirus programs just detected viruses and spyware cleaners just detected spyware but nowadays the boundary between antivirus and spyware cleaners are diffuse. Most current antivirus detection rates are at least reasonably good with all forms of malware.
Malware (short for malicious software, or malware) includes viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, dialers, keyloggers, rootkits and other hostile software to perform malicious activities on a computer. With the huge increase in malware, antivirus software can not keep fully abreast in detecting all. Therefore it is very important to use a multilayer security settings. However, the use of more than one resident antivirus can cause conflicts and even reduce protection, and employs many more system resources, so I recommend you choose only one antivirus for real-time protection. Instead, you can increase your protection using other security software.
I have reviewed several free antivirus programs which are vital in protecting your computer against viruses and other malware.
Discussion
Avira AntiVir Personal Edition is my best choice for a free antivirus software you're the best protection against viruses, spyware and rootkits. AntiVir is very light on resources and wattage kind that yields the detection rate of malware is outstanding, even better than other antivirus according to tests. However, there are some reservations.
First, AntiVir does not include email scanning, it is only available in the paid version. The lack of an email scanner is not really a disadvantage, it just means that AntiVir will not warn you of infected emails before you open them. However, in the case of you to open one infected, AntiVir will into action, so that does not mean you are not protected against infection based on e-mail. Second, AntiVir has advertisements that appear with each update, but you can disable these ads. Moreover, although in the past had problems Antivir signature database update, it appears that these disadvantages have been solved.
Microsoft Security Essentials is my personal favorite, with good detection rates, particularly for rootkits. Even more impressive is that Security Essentials has very few false positives, is light on resource consumption and good to remove existing malware.
Microsoft Security Essentials is the best choice for average users because it requires very little user interaction. It automatically updates and removes threats. No registration required, just need to validate your copy of Windows, and not find annoying screens or advertisements.
Its main disadvantages are the slow scan and the large amount of time needed to put the malware in quarantine. Also, MSE is not available in some countries, so that users of these areas will have to look elsewhere. Note that Microsoft Security Essentials requires a genuine copy of Windows to install.
Avast! Free Antivirus is also an excellent free antivirus, which is also very popular. Its virus detection rates are on par with AntiVir and Microsoft Security Essentials. Avast has the most features, with full capacity in resident protection, including shields for web browsing, email, IM, P2P and network protection, scheduled scanning at startup and blocking of suspicious behavior. Furthermore, Avast is fairly light in terms of consumption of resources.
These free antivirus programs are excellent, they are a real alternative to most commercial antivirus.
Running protection can increase demand scans with another antivirus. Demand scans can be run periodically to check that your main antivirus doctor has not missed a virus, trojan, worm, spyware, adware, keylogger, rootkit or other malware. However, if you set in advance a good preventive security strategy, the extra protection offered by demand scans is minimal.
A great choice for on demand scans is a-squared Free, which began as a program to remove trojans but recently included the Ikarus antivirus engine. The detection rate is incredibly high, at the height of AntiVir, making it a great option for on-demand scans. Unfortunately, it has many false positives and the size of the updates is so great that it becomes inappropriate for users with dial-up connections.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition deserves special mention because it is so popular. Although this veteran antivirus has been of the most recommended, I think in recent times, without being bad, and not comparable to the free antivirus above. Its size and resource consumption have increased considerably, the scanning speed is slow and includes ads (although you can disable).
I'll also mention several free antivirus that are popular and I've tried, but I have included in this article for its low detection rates
Antivirus software provides an essential layer of protection against a multitude of threats of viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, adware, dialers, keyloggers and rootkits. Traditionally antivirus programs just detected viruses and spyware cleaners just detected spyware but nowadays the boundary between antivirus and spyware cleaners are diffuse. Most current antivirus detection rates are at least reasonably good with all forms of malware.
Malware (short for malicious software, or malware) includes viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, dialers, keyloggers, rootkits and other hostile software to perform malicious activities on a computer. With the huge increase in malware, antivirus software can not keep fully abreast in detecting all. Therefore it is very important to use a multilayer security settings. However, the use of more than one resident antivirus can cause conflicts and even reduce protection, and employs many more system resources, so I recommend you choose only one antivirus for real-time protection. Instead, you can increase your protection using other security software.
I have reviewed several free antivirus programs which are vital in protecting your computer against viruses and other malware.
Discussion
Avira AntiVir Personal Edition is my best choice for a free antivirus software you're the best protection against viruses, spyware and rootkits. AntiVir is very light on resources and wattage kind that yields the detection rate of malware is outstanding, even better than other antivirus according to tests. However, there are some reservations.
First, AntiVir does not include email scanning, it is only available in the paid version. The lack of an email scanner is not really a disadvantage, it just means that AntiVir will not warn you of infected emails before you open them. However, in the case of you to open one infected, AntiVir will into action, so that does not mean you are not protected against infection based on e-mail. Second, AntiVir has advertisements that appear with each update, but you can disable these ads. Moreover, although in the past had problems Antivir signature database update, it appears that these disadvantages have been solved.
Microsoft Security Essentials is my personal favorite, with good detection rates, particularly for rootkits. Even more impressive is that Security Essentials has very few false positives, is light on resource consumption and good to remove existing malware.
Microsoft Security Essentials is the best choice for average users because it requires very little user interaction. It automatically updates and removes threats. No registration required, just need to validate your copy of Windows, and not find annoying screens or advertisements.
Its main disadvantages are the slow scan and the large amount of time needed to put the malware in quarantine. Also, MSE is not available in some countries, so that users of these areas will have to look elsewhere. Note that Microsoft Security Essentials requires a genuine copy of Windows to install.
Avast! Free Antivirus is also an excellent free antivirus, which is also very popular. Its virus detection rates are on par with AntiVir and Microsoft Security Essentials. Avast has the most features, with full capacity in resident protection, including shields for web browsing, email, IM, P2P and network protection, scheduled scanning at startup and blocking of suspicious behavior. Furthermore, Avast is fairly light in terms of consumption of resources.
These free antivirus programs are excellent, they are a real alternative to most commercial antivirus.
Running protection can increase demand scans with another antivirus. Demand scans can be run periodically to check that your main antivirus doctor has not missed a virus, trojan, worm, spyware, adware, keylogger, rootkit or other malware. However, if you set in advance a good preventive security strategy, the extra protection offered by demand scans is minimal.
A great choice for on demand scans is a-squared Free, which began as a program to remove trojans but recently included the Ikarus antivirus engine. The detection rate is incredibly high, at the height of AntiVir, making it a great option for on-demand scans. Unfortunately, it has many false positives and the size of the updates is so great that it becomes inappropriate for users with dial-up connections.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition deserves special mention because it is so popular. Although this veteran antivirus has been of the most recommended, I think in recent times, without being bad, and not comparable to the free antivirus above. Its size and resource consumption have increased considerably, the scanning speed is slow and includes ads (although you can disable).
I'll also mention several free antivirus that are popular and I've tried, but I have included in this article for its low detection rates
