Best free anti virus and spyware

Hobbitfeet

Not sure if I'm posting in the right forum but what is the best free antivirus and spyware? Just got a new laptop and have 30 day free trial of norton but its too expensive to buy. Do a lot of downloading movies and that so need something that will be ok for that

tombom112

I use avast free meself, i do a bit of download and web surfin, used to use avg, but avast runs alot better, have heard good things about avira and good things about microsoft security essentials, there's few more but i think you cant go wrong either of these 3

obviousTroll

tombom112 wrote: »

I use avast free meself, i do a bit of download and web surfin, used to use avg, but avast runs alot better, have heard good things about avira and good things about microsoft security essentials, there's few more but i think you cant go wrong either of these 3

+1 with Avast here. It seems to be fairly robust, and its boot scan is invaluable at times.

A lot of infected PCs I have come across lately have had MSE installed, so I'm willing to say less nice things about it.

Sofiztikated

I used to be a huge fan of AVG, but it's turned into huge bloatware lately, that slows the whole show up. (on 2 different laptops)

Got rid of it, and installed MSE, and immediately found 2 trojans that AVG was missing.

ObviousTroll, a lot of PC's might have MSE and be infected, but I'm willing to bet that the owners of those PC's wouldn't run a virus scan from one end of the year to the next. Antivirus can only do so much until user stupidity comes into it.

obviousTroll

Sofiztikated wrote: »

ObviousTroll, a lot of PC's might have MSE and be infected, but I'm willing to bet that the owners of those PC's wouldn't run a virus scan from one end of the year to the next. Antivirus can only do so much until user stupidity comes into it.

I 100% percent agree with you on all of the above. It would be nice if it had a better realtime intrusion detection. Scans are vital, but if the AV doesn't detect an intrusion, then the said intrusion has every chance of disabling the AV, rendering your machine vulnerable. Just my two cents on the matter.

"There is no patch for human stupidity"

Hobbitfeet

ok avast or mse??hmm which?

Sofiztikated

Try one, if you don't like it, try the other. Both are free, and easy to use.

Personally, I'd say MSE. I didn't like Avast, but that was a while ago, before I got AVG, and then it got fat.

LostBoy101

I highly recommend Avast as it's very reliable on updates and scans. It will do as much as it can to run your PC the best way possible and safe from viruses.

As Sofiztikated said don't expect any AV to be your "human shield" on the net.

mike65

Avast (free) certainly don't stop those pesky fake Windows fix programmes. I'd get hold of Malwarebytes for extra protection.

manna452121

Would using both Avast and MSE be a good idea or would it slow things down.

obviousTroll

manna452121 wrote: »

Would using both Avast and MSE be a good idea or would it slow things down.

It's a common misconception that having two AVs is a good thing. They often conflict against one another, and yes... makes things slow.

My advice. Avast & Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes doesn't run in the background, only when you open it. It's still wise to use it weekly, or when your comp gets erattically slow. MB also targets specifically malware, that most AVs don't detect.

Groinshot

MB has been missing alot for me recently. I've been using Super AntiSpyware more and more...

gerryk

Of late, I have had problems with Avast slowing network file access pretty badly.
Accessing files over shares or mapped drives is hugely impaired, even with the file & directory in the exclude list, or even with Avast disabled.
It seems that their network monitoring shims get in the way no matter how it's configured.

1.2clicks take the shot

funney enogh my sister got a virus from downloading free anti virsis programe thing and had to pay 40 euro to get it fixed and was without it for 4 days ,,,, lads not worth while invest in a good security virsis system ......no dilly dalling ,, trust me you wont regret it

mike65

I have abandoned Avast, it started playing up crashing the OS on start up. Got a BSOD that was traced back to it, so am now using Avira which in HD scanning mode spotted a some adware that nothing else I've used had.

Friel

1.2clicks take the shot wrote: »

funney enogh my sister got a virus from downloading free anti virsis programe thing and had to pay 40 euro to get it fixed and was without it for 4 days ,,,, lads not worth while invest in a good security virsis system ......no dilly dalling ,, trust me you wont regret it

It obviously wasn't a real anti-virus program then. XP Home Security acts like an anti-spyware program. It's one of the worse I've come across. Not for doing damage, but for sheer annoyance.

tfitzgerald

I use avira as well and I find it very good

Dermot Illogical

1.2clicks take the shot wrote: »

funney enogh my sister got a virus from downloading free anti virsis programe thing and had to pay 40 euro to get it fixed and was without it for 4 days ,,,, lads not worth while invest in a good security virsis system ......no dilly dalling ,, trust me you wont regret it

No, your sister installed malware disguised as anti virus.

obviousTroll

1.2clicks take the shot wrote: »

funney enogh my sister got a virus from downloading free anti virsis programe thing and had to pay 40 euro to get it fixed and was without it for 4 days ,,,, lads not worth while invest in a good security virsis system ......no dilly dalling ,, trust me you wont regret it

Who did she pay the €40 to? A repair guy, or the anti virus software?

If it's the latter, then you got scammed bad bro.