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What Free Antivirus Do You Install On Windows?
Techman83 writes "After years of changing between AVG Free + Avast, it's coming time to find a new free alternative for friends/relatives who run Windows. AVG and Avast have been quite good, but are starting to bloat out in size, and also becoming very misleading. Avast recently auto updated from 4.8 to 5 and now requires you to register (even for the free version) and both are making it harder to actually find the free version. Is this the end of reasonable free antivirus, or is there another product I can entrust to keep the 'my computer's doing weird things' calls to a minimum?"
I still use Avast. Oh noes, it took me 2 minutes to fill out the little form. It takes up few resources, it has updates for it nearly every day, it's free as in beer, and I have gotten a virus in ages. What's not to like?
Living With a Nerd
Microsoft security essentials http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
I mean, if anyone knows about viruses, it'd be Microsoft.
I install Microsoft Security Essentials if I have to install AV (and if it's available - only XP onwards).
Doesn't do as well as Kaspersky and some other payware ones, but does better than most of the free ones.
And is certainly less bloated than the McAfee and Symantec crap[1].
[1] Why install AV software that makes your computer behave like it's infected by loads of viruses...
http://www.free-av.com/
Microsoft Security Essentials is free, lightweight, and pretty good. Even Ars Techinca thought so, if you trust them.
I should think "friends/relatives who run Windows" would be exactly the type to appreciate the convenience of a low-impact reliable AV package, which means they may have to pay a few bucks. It's fine to play FOS yourself or with trivial office or audio stuff, and I do it myself. But I still give ESET a few shekels/year for each windows PC in my house. It just makes sense to me.
.nosig
http://www.clamwin.com/
Although it is missing an on access scan, I am not sure if that is a plus of a minus.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Avira Anti-vir. It is good, fully functioned with updates, custom scheduled scans and on access scanning. The only thing you have to deal with is a daily ad that you can dismiss by hitting OK and it won't pop up for another 24 hours. Also it uses up half the resources of AVG, McAfee, Norton.
Obviously you've never actually used Avast. You've always had to register for the free version, and renew the regsitration once a year. They're giving it away for free, I honestly don't see registering as a big deal.
And the new version is actually a lot better, it finally detects rootkits... If you're looking for something that actually does its job and yet doesn't take up any space or processing power, I doubt you'll find anything...
If you're gonna pay for your operating system, and then complain about free antiviruses, you might want to consider changing to linux...
Thank you so much!
I had no idea there were other operating systems!
Techman83 writes "...AVG and Avast have been quite good, but are starting to bloat out in size..."
Um, in case you haven't noticed, more viruses, exploits and malware are coming out all the time.
I'd be very surprised if ANY antivirus software got smaller.
In fact, I'd be highly suspicious.
Beta sux! Join the Slashcott! http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4760465&cid=46173047
Excellent [buy v1agra] product. I haven't have any malware [|\|iger1an 419] detected since I installed it [install Antivirus 2009 today!].
I've been trying this out on my home computers so far and its definitely less resource intensive than previous AV solutions I've used. I haven't gotten infected with anything lately (that I know of) so I don't know how well it handles infections yet.
Actual web page is here and you can read up on it a bit here.
There are quite a few options actually. I'll list them in order of effectiveness.
1. BSD or Linux. You won't get hit by viruses or any crap like that, unless you're enough of a moron to run everything as root and go out of your way to make the system open. Unfortunately neither option will run 100% of your Windows software.
2. Unplug your Windows box. Guaranteed 100% effective. The drawback is that apps won't run. ;)
3. Comodo antivirus; http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html I have been trying it on various workstations and have found it to be reasonably good. Less effective than the above options! ;) Seriously though it's pretty good. It's not antispyware though, and it doesn't slow the system to a crawl like some other programs. That should be a non-issue. If not, then why are you running MSIE after you've been warned for years? ;)
4. Microsoft Security Essentials: Microsoft actually did a very good job with this basic suite. It's not bloated at all, is straight and to the point, and catches some spyware even malwarebytes misses. It's good now, but then again, Microsoft has dropped the ball with every antivirus and antispyware software they have installed to date.
5. You could try Norton Internet Security. I understand they've completely rearchitected it and brought over NO legacy code and are not bloated so you might want to try it, but I haven't looked at the Norton suite since the 2003 version that turned their antivirus into a failed abortion.
I was using Moon Secure on various systems for a while: it's free, open source, etc. but it has not been updated in forever and is rapidly becoming less and less effective, plus it has quite a few defects including making the Windows logon process EXTREMELY slow on some configurations.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
At work (a university) the central IT has chosen to license Sophos. It is, well, crap to put it mildly and takes up amazing amounts of resources. So, instead we use Security Essentials on many systems. Works well, it has successfully stopped viruses that users have tried to get. Pretty light on resources over all, not the lightest weight program I've seen but up there.
Best one for free I've seen. Personally ESET NOD32 is my favourite and what I license for home, but if the price requirement is $0, then MSE is what I use.
It's analogous to chain mail armor; it's effective against old weapons like broadswords and crap, but completely useless against guns. Today's malware are the equivalent of heavy artillary and most antivirus software is akin to chain mail or even leather armor.
Or, to put it in a car analogy: many antivirus programs would be like wiping a coat of mineral oil ("baby oil") on your unpainted/freshly sandblasted car, and then driving your car through the winter in New England where they salt the roads very heavily. You're hoping the car will still be nice and shiny come April, but sorry, the body is totally rust-covered and has been perforated in several spots.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Used it for years. God help me if they ditch the old URL I'll have to start googling it.
http://housecall.antivirus.com/
"(I) have this unfortunate condition that causes me not to believe a single thing any politician says when a mic's on.
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/09/first-look-microsoft-security-essentials-impresses.ars
An in-depth look at Microsoft Security Essentials, it made me decide to try it out on my girlfriend's laptop (I run OS X myself) and it's worked great.
The interactive way to Go -- http://www.playgo.to/iwtg/en/
there.
you're gonna get a lot of this here. so let's get this out of the way, shall we ?
now, if you REALLY need to run some kinds of windows apps, since your computer probably came with windows already, no need to put it to waste. move it to a virtual machine with sun's excellent virtual box, plus fork some more cash for crossover office.
here at my job, I got fed up with windows, so after the company replaced our old notebooks by newwer dual core machines, i moved to linux, office (i can't get rid of outlook yet.) runs on crossover, some proprietary tools run on windows xp inside virtual box, that i fire up only when needed.
the good thing about virtual machines is that you can make snapshots. create a snapshot of yours right after installing windows. then use it whenever you need, just be carefull not to open anything funny, avoid using a browser inside it. even if all these precautions you get infected, discard the current state and boot the last clean snapshot.
everything else, run on the linux host. this way you don't need an anti-virus any better than microsoft's own.
i never used any virtualization solution on macs, but if vmware's fusion product is anything like the windows/linux counterpart, it certainly have similar functionality.
What ? Me, worry ?
Linux :)
I don't mean that in the snarky, "everyone should only use Linux" sense. But my Linux computers are certainly the ones that require the least care and feeding. And Linux is free.
I work for Geek Squad and what is fdisk?
avast kept popping up ads to buy their stuff.
switched to avira, no popups. similar number of false positives as avast... i saw no difference between them. but really, who knows if they're working.
is there a way to evaluate antivirus software? i mean, after it's 1.) no popups, 2.) not bloaty 3.) easy on the system 4.) convenient to use... how do you know if it actually works?
I mean I could write a system tray app that's a "virus checker". and always tells you your system's ok... haha
anyway, reading around, seemed like avast, avira, and avg were the best free ones. and after running avg and avast, I liked avira. but really, no idea who's the best.
music - http://www.subatomicglue.com
Why do they make you download it?
- it's to preserve their "partners'" (Symantec & company) market
If MS was really, truly concerned about keeping malware off your PC, there'd be a free AV program installed when you got your PC, with automatic updates. // don't mind me, I run Linux, because I'm fed up with MS. // kids have switched to Apples for the same reason.
But that would kill the market for independent AV software. And MS isn't really concerned about malware, except when it influences their profits. MS is certainly not concerned about the quality of your computing experience unless it involves you not purchasing any more MS products.
- I let windows check for updates, but install them manually.
- I mostly download my software from sourceforge / cygwin's mirrors (yes, I'm risking that those could be compromised).
I haven't noticed anything fishy yet, and my WoW account hasn't been hacked in 5 years :-)
www.ubuntu.com Been using it for years and no viruses yet.
Avira get's my vote. Low resource use, high detection rate, and free for personal use. What more could you ask for? Since it is freeware the default installation has some nag screens, but those are easily disabled. http://www.elitekiller.com/files/disable_antivir_nag.htm
Microsoft Security Essentials. It's really the only choice imo. All the others are trying to sell you something. Now, if you're willing to pay, there are perhaps better choices. The most important thing to remember is to not take it too awful seriously. All AV sucks, badly. It's reactive and it only detects a small percentage of the naughty things. It's the only option, but it sucks. MSSE is good.
Imagine if you weren't allowed to use roads because a bus company complained about your driving 3 times. --skunkpussy
At some point, I got fed up with running anti-virus software on my Windows XP PC. The benefits never appeared to outweigh the hassle. And AV software IS a hassle.
After a year, I can't see any downside to this.
Note that I'm a smart computer user who keeps everything patched and up to do, as well as knows how to configure a hardware router/firewall.
I think your first analogy is more apt.
Anti-virus may not protect against the 'heavy artillery' style attacks, but it does protect against the millions of older ones.
Naturally, just like the Marine Corps can't protect people directly from shelling, it can protect them against some of the small arms fire, random bits of flying debris, and (most importantly) help keep them in contact with their command structure.
Running a computer with no AV exposes you not just to massive malware, it exposes you to everything. It's nice to at least get an alert "Hi, program XYZ is attempting to send emails. Is this ok?" It also provides information back to the vendors (or should) regarding the most commonly found attacks.
Just because you can't be 100% safe with any given product is no reason to abandon it entirely. You should still wear pants even though they don't stop bullets :)
An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
I use AVG's free edition for on-access scanning, just for a little extra protection, because I am generally able to avoid getting infected with anything. (Even if something does slip by me, I can often track it down through a service it installs, entry in startup lists, or running processes.)
If I'm downloading something that has a big potential for being a virus (e.g. a no-CD crack), I'll scan it manually with AVG, and also upload it to a scanning service like virusscan.jotti.org or virustotal.com, which take a file and put it through a number of anti-virus products.
Natually, AVG has also been making it harder to find the free edition. They, of course, want you to buy the full AVG Internet Security package. (To find AVG Free, you have to go to free.avg.com, and look for the less-flashy, more hidden buttons.)
Between my job, some side work and friends and family I manage close to 70 Windows machines. I have been doing IT since 1992.
When I am asked this question my answer is always this. None. I think antivirus is more trouble than it is worth. First any new viruses will be undetected, second the pain of actually running anti virus outweighs any marginal benefit received from it.
Of course this answer immediately creates a follow up question... Well then what do you do?
The best way to protect yourself is to run as NON - ADMIN. That's it. A coworker recently got a virus and I simply logged in as admin and ran a free online virus scan. It found his problem and removed it.
http://p8ste.com - Web based Clipboard
Web accelerator is nothing more than a cacheing proxy. install a proxy to replace it.
emulators, sorry, but bothand more are available under linux.
flash works fine.
Opera 10 - dont know I dont use it.
Realplayer-- WHY? Who cares?
Ipod mp4 video works perfectly fine. did you even try?
Sorry but 80% of all your claims have not been true for 2 or more years now, and some are simply forever false. I've played SNES games under linux for over 10 years now.
I can add to your list that Linux will run IE6 and IE7 AND IE8 fine under wine. as well as REalplayer if you really want that.
I'll try opera 10 tonight, but I suspect it will work perfectly under Ubuntu 9.10.
Oh I can also play WMA and WMV files as well as other non linux file formats.
P.S. I'm really sad for you, having to live with a Dialup ISP must suck. You cant get broadband at all? no WISP service? How about CDMA?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
It's also the whole monopoly thing. They got into big trouble for bundling a free browser into windows. Because, I mean, what OS actually comes with a browser? (Of course things were a little different in 1995.)
Can you construct some sort of rudimentary lathe?
You mean I can download my anti-virus software from an oddly named third party that I've never heard of? Forgive me if I pass.
More likely, they don't want to find themselves with another antitrust suit from the western governments.
Just because you can't be 100% safe with any given product is no reason to abandon it entirely.
I recently reinstalled Windows, and while I've historically used Avast, I opted to go with nothing this time around. I'm tired of resource usage and slower load times for everything thanks to antivirus; I've moved my e-mail to Google Apps, so they scan my e-mails for viruses. My use of Bittorrent is extremely limited (I only have it installed because Star Trek Online's installer is available via torrent), and I never visit the seedier side of the internet. I'm behind a firewall.
Basically I'm not going to get a virus, so I see no reason to run anti-virus software. Rather than "Can't be 100% safe, may as well not use it", my reasoning is "I'm already 99.99999% safe, so why bother".
(Yes, I know it's still technically possible to get a virus. But the chances are extremely slim, given the way I use my computer.)
I don't see how the topic of different OSes relates to the topic of AV on a specific OS.
Even better than fdisk: Microsoft Virtual PC.
Create a VM and stash away clones of the files it creates.
Browse the web in the VM with no protection. If it ever gets hosed by malware, just overwrite the VM files with the clones you made, and start over.
What could be simpler? Of course, it's not for my 73 year old mom...
"No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up." -- Lily Tomlin
HTH.
Deleted
just like the Marine Corps can't protect people directly from shelling, it can protect them against some of the small arms fire, random bits of flying debris
Another effective way not to be shelled, shot, or hit by debris is to stay out of war zones. This is one of the ways in which suburban dwellers can justify not wearing body armor (except those living in Gary Indiana). Similarly, I choose not to use a virus scanner either because I find it cumbersome, and a poor performance to safety ratio.
It's nice to at least get an alert "Hi, program XYZ is attempting to send emails Is that nice? I find that when my computer constantly questions me about what I am trying to do, I can become annoyed. For instance, I much prefer my Debian based systems that don't generate a pop-up every time one of my programs tries to make an incoming tcp port live.
You should still wear pants even though they don't stop bullets
I guess it's your turn to make an unsuitable analogy (perhaps the emoticon indicates you were doing so purposefully, I can't tell). Not all people should wear pants. Those who should wear them do so because it because (a) it's cold, (b) social pressures encourage modesty in some venues, or (c) local laws or dress codes sometimes require them. None of those has to do with safety. Virus checkers, unlike pants, don't really have any upsides beyond the supposed safety factors - don't pretend that any AV software is nearly as versatile as a comfortable pair of jeans.
Microsoft Security Essentials is all you need for non-enterprise A/V.
It's free, it's unobtrusive and it works very well. What's more, commercial AV vendors, like Symantec, realise what a threat it is to their business model and have published a lot of FUD about you get what you pay for - however all the benchmarks I've seen have it ranking up there with the best of them.
The only reason to go for a commercial AV package is if you need a management and reporting console to manage a large number of computers.
Specialist Mac support for creative pros, Melbourne
Avast has always required a registration key, and is now easier than ever to do-- you just click the button from within the program and it does it.
As for good free AV, theres Avira, Avast, and MSSE, all of which are decent. More to the point, antivirus is the LEAST important thing you can do for friends and family-- FIRST, install firefox, update IE, uninstall Adobe Reader, and install foxit. This will prevent 100x more viruses than any AV will.
It's also the whole monopoly thing. They got into big trouble for bundling a free browser into windows. Because, I mean, what OS actually comes with a browser? (Of course things were a little different in 1995.)
In 1995, the two main alternatives to Windows - OS/2 and MacOS - both came with browsers.
You're talking as if you only get virus while actively looking for them.
Oblivion Awaits
I used to think this way as well. Although, I had a virus scanner installed for scanning downloads, I did not have it actively scanning. Turns out my thinking was as flawed as yours. The problem is that with one vulnerability in your web browser or a browser plugin, malicious code can be executed and that code may run a bunch of detectable viruses. This exact problem happened to me when I was surfing the internet checking out some information on a game I was interested in. Randomly out of nowhere my computer started crawling and upon loading task manager I saw tons of processes spawning. (I shut down promptly and fixed using another computer.) After all was said and done it turned out whatever the exploit was had installed a bunch of different viruses. It was a very interesting attack that I had never expected, just as you have not.
This of course assumes that you browse the internet, which I assume you do.
I do work with network security (that is, I monitor clients traffic on a network, looking for suspicious traffic) and I can tell you that Bittorrent is not the way people get virus/malware today. Neither is it via the network (a worm), and seldom via e-mail.
It is by visiting a website, which contains malware via Flash, Iframes and/or Ads. A so-called drive-by. This usually happens either by someone linking to a "dangerous" website in Facebook, Twitter or a public forum and saying it's a funny video of some kind. Or a popular website has gotten an Ad from a 3rd party where the Ad contains some dangerous Flash-code.
As long as you do not run the latest version of Firefox/IE/Adobe Flash/Adobe Acrobat Reader and you are at the wrong site at the wrong time, you get infected! And sometimes the latest version of that software is exploitable too.
I've recently had to reinstall Windows at home as well. This time I'm trying out Windows 7's XP Mode. Since it hides the Desktop and integrates the app (in this case Firefox with NoScript) to Windows 7 other then a few seconds extra to start the app it seems to work decent enough. Reminds me a lot of Parallel's on my Mac.
Inside the VM I have the AV, Anti Spyware, and Firewall running. But when I shut down the browser the system isn't bogged down with such crap. Takes up more resources while the browser is up, but less when it's not.
Will see how it goes but I think it might be a nice way of getting the best of both worlds. Just a thought.
I installed the Ubuntu anti-virus and now everything looks different and my games and a bunch of Apps I use don't work!
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
That is why I would recommend to TFA that he install Comodo as so far the detection rate has been excellent. It's free, doesn't suck up resources (currently using a whole 10Mb) has a MUCH better firewall than the one built into Windows, is easy for noobs to use, in short it "just works".
So if he wants something simple, easy, and free, with a really good detection rate and no bloat, I'd go with Comodo. I've even given it to my most clueless family members and so far nobody has had a bit of trouble understanding or using it. Comodo tries to make the alerts in plain English, doesn't pop up alerts unless there is something reasonable, very easy to manage. But you are right running without AV in this day and age is just stupid, especially when there are good AV programs like Comodo that doesn't cost a penny.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
No, it's not like that at all. It's like sleeping with the same woman every night while taking the chance that someone has come by and stuck her with a needle she wasn't aware of.
The chances of that happening are extremely slim.
So... the sites I use often. When was the last time Ars Technica or Slashdot was compromised with something spreading a virus? How about Penny-Arcade or xkcd?
I haven't said it isn't possible, I've only said I'm willing to risk the extremely small chance that I'll get a virus.
Between my job, some side work and friends and family I manage close to 70 Windows machines. I have been doing IT since 1992.
Congrats, welcome to being a Junior Systems Administator.
When I am asked this question my answer is always this. None. I think antivirus is more trouble than it is worth. First any new viruses will be undetected, second the pain of actually running anti virus outweighs any marginal benefit received from it.
The crimeware industry is collectively thanking you for spreading your fantastic and totally bogus advice. Running a Windows box sans AV might be fine for you because you're so smart and have never found a rootkit on your machine, but I suspect your motivation for telling your less aware friends to use no AV whatsoever on a Windows machine is so you can generate some more side work. News Flash: Running a non-admin account will not even slow down some of the major botnet penetration rates - Depending upon what other apps you have loaded on your machine, Zeus can pwn non-admin run machines too, smart guy - Google "privilege escalation". At least with some freebie AV, you might be able to catch the variant that came out yesterday, but probably not the one that came out an hour ago...better then nothing at all which is what your advice amounts to...but telling them to run something that's even free, or simply educating them about defensive internet use is too much trouble for you, in your mind. A screen door and a clue is better then no damned door and at all.
Your security insights to the those who don't know any better then to listen to you is dangerous, and your suspect motivation is even worse. You'd be better off with the standard "Install Linux and you don't need AV" or "Get a Mac" spiel or better yet, take your advice back to 1993-1994 (and you were in IT then, so you say) when it was last actually correct.....that's about the last time Windows was safe from *requiring* some sort of AV. You've probably never seen what happens to someone who's great at what they do in the outside world (IE rather intelligent), and has a semi-clue with computers, have to put their lives back together after their identity was sold for a pittance (the going rate for a stolen identity is around $15.00 USD) after opening a well engineered landmine of a mail. All that horseshit you see about LifeLock and whatnot....Doesn't do jack squat after you've had your life pwnd. It's pretty sad that one little click on an email with a zipped EXE masked as a PDF attachment that was on a up to date XP machine with Automatic Updates on with an exipred licensed AV client and an older version of Acrobat Reader installed run with non-admin rights can have such ugly consequences....an up to date freebie AV client would probably have caught this little piece of trash....or have you told friends that Acrobat 7.0 Reader isn't really all that safe? I was told about it afterwards "when I clicked on the PDF it didn't do anything or launch Acrobat so I didn't think anything of it", she not knowing it had done its silent install and began mining away on her machine and was happy to report back her banking details to the C&C server. Her understanding of a virus was it would immediately alert her that she caught something like spring porn pop-ups all over the place (this isn't 2004 anymore) or change her background and tell her she was infected (she must have caught SpyFalcon or one of those fake AV types of rogue scareware once before) - do you educate your friends and users that these new viruses do whatever they can to not announce their presence, or is that also too much trouble for you? You were the hero with your free online tool and caught the one that did, congrats...here's your cookie. Did you get all of it.......?
We live in a crime filled world, where some smart folks want to do as little as possible to make the fat bank and don't give a shit who's lives they ruin. Your identity sells for next-to-nothing on the underground n
One virus
Two viru's
Take off every 'sig' !!
You know what? That's entirely fair. I guess I've been away from the Windows world for too long.
Actually, the idea of a centralized software repository in general is a fantastic idea, and I've been using apt and ports for years. I'm just set to default deny when it comes to the idea of installing anything from an unfamiliar on Windows. But if it's built such a strong base of trust among people more in the know than myself, it must be worth a second look.
That is, if I ever find myself in the position of setting up a Windows system again.
The ads pay for the sites. If you block the ads, you're stealing content. Didn't you get the memo? Have you no respect for intellectual property? This may even be a DMCA violation - are you giving legal advice?
Help stamp out iliturcy.
The best thing is to drop all this and let your system's natural immunity develop. Overprescription of AV software just encourages the growth of AV resistant viruses. Basic hygiene is still important, so wash your computer and all peripherals daily with warm soapy water. That will eliminate 99.9% of all viruses. Also data.