How good is free Anti virus

[big55small]

How good is free Anti virus protection from the internet is it wise to install it on my computer?

[caintry_boy]

I removed the SPAM link from your post as those are not allowed. In regards to free Antivirus, there are several that are good, Avast, AntiVir, are a couple. I prefer Avast.

 

 

 

 

[humpd]

Do any free antivirus programs have the complete protection offered by pay-for software like Norton Internet Security?

[caintry_boy]

No, nor are they resource hogs like Norton.

 

 

 

 

[nigsy]

No, nor are they resource hogs like Norton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norton isn't as bad as it used to be. Best free one out there at the moment is Windows Security Essentials

[SoulFly]

Pay AV gives you more areas of security. For instance, they may come with a special toolbar that helps prevent you from going to malicious websites, safe searches and safe shopping. They often come with their own firewall. To be short, they give you a more robust security package. As of 2011, most all major AV software has no noticable impact on performance for modern hardware. Benchmark wise, Eset and Norton are both rated least impact for video games for example, but those test comparisons are negligible to most, if not all users.

 

Free AV, you basically just get a scanner and real time monitoring. All of modern scanners detect most all known malware up to 98% which is extremely good. Some may include heuristics which can sometimes give false detections depending...None of them can detect all unkown malware. There are tons of unkown malware out there. Some AV's may alert to suspicion of various unkown's, depending on the malware behavior and infection....thats why its called a cat and mouse game. Your never 100% secured and the #1 security flaw is the operator, cause your only human.

[Bruce]

Norton isn't as bad as it used to be.

 

That's like saying getting hit by a large freight truck traveling at 60mph isn't as bad as getting hit by a freight train.

[Y kawika]

That's like saying getting hit by a large freight truck traveling at 60mph isn't as bad as getting hit by a freight train.

 

 

Free or paid AV, the "Song Remains The Same", do not surf the internet as an Administrator, period.

 

System files cannot be infected if the malware or virus does not have Administrative access.

 

Y

[nigsy]

That's like saying getting hit by a large freight truck traveling at 60mph isn't as bad as getting hit by a freight train.

 

Ok...I asked for that...what I meant was it's not a resource hog like it used to be..

[dog_soldier]

when i used windows i used avast.

the main thing is no matter which one you go with , keeping it updated is a must.

[Joe C]

I think that most freebie antivirus programs will auto-update, the difference between many freebies and the one's you pay for is that the freebies often will not auto-scan, no set it and forget it options. There are a couple free a/v's that are an exception to that

[flyfishingrules2]

I'm a big MS Essentials fan, but it does not scan email.