so Shaw finally decided to yank the proverbial cord on F-Secure on me today and I find myself in dire need of a free (or...not ;)) full coverage antivirus suite (firewall, real time scanning, application control and all the fancy bells and whistles pretty much) by the end of today-ish preferably considering what depths of the internet I roam fairly often.
Hence, the topic. Was curious what everyone here uses...I won't use AVG or MSE but I'm open to pretty much anything else, low system use is a MUST though, I have a semi-decent (aging) computer but something without a hard impact is definitely still a priority if possible.
Thanks to all in advance for any suggestions, please mention some details on why you use it and/or what it has that others don't/etc when you recommend yours if possible :3
I work on MSE so I'm a bit biased, but why not MSE?
Also, what version of Windows is this on?
You can check sites like av-comparatives.org and av-test.org for technical reviews.
I use Avast. And it works better then any other antivirus i've had. So i've stuck with it for the past handful of years.
Even the Free Avast works great imo.
Of course though, i always am sure to do regular computer scans using SpyBot Search and Destroy for anything else : )
@RainRat main reason is I'm wary of all Failsoft products as every thing I've used by them sans OS has failed (XBOX, Keyboards and mice, various other devices) so I have little to no faith in the company anymore and tend to avoid it as much as possible, I tried MSE at one point, when it ran it used a good chunk of RAM Versus a scan with F-Secure and actually skimmed over a few 'viruses' that F-Secure (which apparently is indeed one of the best out there according to the sites you linked) caught and told me about immediately.
Right now it's looking like Avira (although the popup garbage I've heard about is a pain and to make it go away in 2013 you have to use a stupid toolbar) or Avast perfomance wise with some good words about MSE but again... unfortunately running two AV's side by side causes problems more often than not (never mind the memory usage when both scan >_>) otherwise I'd consider sticking MSE up as well as I do consider it to be a bit more of a full suite than you typically get with a 'free' AV suite.
I use a mix of AVG 2013 free edition, and Malwarebytes Anti-malware. Seems to have done the trick for me so far.
ty to all that posted, settled on AVAST free, Comodo Firewall and probably will be snagging Malwarebytes for occasional scans as well.
I use to use AVG Free, but I grew annoyed with their lagging behind and as of late the virus definitions have done more harm than good *cough* deleting key gens and thinking some Valve game files are malware... *cough*
That convinced me to switch over to MSE, also a bit on the recommendation of some actual techie friends of mine. I do like to run Malwarebytes every so often as well just to be a little more safe. Never had any issues.
MSE is the best free AV I've used, and not just because Rat works on it.
I have had SEVERE issues with AVG Free in the last few years, issues that locked users out of business systems and required formatting them. Haven't played with Avast, but Norton is also shit and bloated too.
I use Sophos
Oh wait I didn't see the 'free' in this topic title, sorry!
: Zen November 02, 2012, 12:17:29 -06:00
MSE is the best free AV I've used, and not just because Rat works on it.
I have had SEVERE issues with AVG Free in the last few years, issues that locked users out of business systems and required formatting them. Haven't played with Avast, but Norton is also shit and bloated too.
Norton has always been notorious for being a huge bog on systems, When I did tech work we had to remove that stuff from so many peoples computers cause they would come in with like a older P4 with an entire Norton suite on it wondering why their computer had become dead slow... funny thing was they always suspected a virus XD
I also use the free version of Avast. I feel like all the big-name antivirus programs are just bloatware anymore.
: weremagnus November 02, 2012, 12:33:05 -06:00
I use Sophos
Oh wait I didn't see the 'free' in this topic title, sorry!
I do use Sophos, it's free if you are a UBC student.
As for the truly free antivirus suites, I use Lookout Mobile Security for my S3.
I've always used Avast, but MSE is also a good option.
Out of the computers I've had to fix, the majority of them have either had Norton or AVG on them, and I've never had trouble with any of the newer versions of Avast. Of course, a separate scan-only program (malwarebytes, spybot, super antispyware...) doesn't hurt :)
Ordinarily I spurn using Micro$oft tools, for various reasons, but I've been hearing many extremely good things about their Security Essentials tools, so I wouldn't rule out using them.
I use MSE, its a bit straight jackety at times, which is annoying when working with "malware," but it works good enough.
Then again, I probably got more bang out of disabling Java in all my browsers.
MSE is the best antivirus. You'll never even notice it's there.
You could just as easily get a cracked version. I use a cracked russian version of eset with a keygen provided by hackers in china.
Yes, because entrusting your system security to Chinese hackers is a great idea.
Well the program is the official legit russian version. The hackers just supply new user names and passwords when they stop working. I've been using it for years and have never had any problems.