What antivirus program do you use on Windows 7?

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I'm currently using Microsoft Security Essentials. I'd like to try a better one. I've tried Comodo's Antivirus but it seemed to always get in the way. Any others you would recommend that are free?

I'm also using a free firewall program called Private Firewall, which is pretty nice.

Avast is the best imo. Followed by AVG.

Thnak you, Wags. I'll try those out.

I'm using Avast, as well as Spybot Search and Destroy on the Windows 7 partition on my Mac. The only thing I wish the Windows world had that the Mac has is Little Snitch.

BTW, I'm also using the Mac version of Avast on my OS X partition, in addition to Little Snitch.

AVG missed a devastating trojan which proceeded to f**k my computer royally. Before that I used it for years without incident.

Avast(current) is okay but is a major resource hog during full scan.

Consider NoScript which is NOT a general AV but has some upside.

Https everywhere(program) ~~~spread the word

Oh and give Ghostery a look it addresses some tracking issues

Sophos is a pretty good engine - I've used almost all of their products in various places and haven't had any major complaints. Recently discovered that they have an OS X engine too

Last edited by sliqua-jcooter on 05 Jan 2014, 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials as well. I used Avast! for Windows XP a few years back.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials now. I used AVG for many years but disliked how much had bloated recently plus it started giving false positives every time I ran my C++ compiler and destroyed my exe's. I tried Avast but it was one false positive after another - it was bloody useless because much of the software on my computer I wrote myself and Avast treats unknown software as problematic. I've also had problems with Avast giving false positives for software on my website... but at least they did fix the fault with their detection after I contacted them. McAfee is shite, total and utter shite.

I also use Malwarebytes anti-malware and give my computer a check once in a while. It never finds anything though, which implies my computer is clean.

As someone else mentioned it is also advisable to use NoScript and Adblocker as it helps to keep away some of the worse sources of infection... i.e. drive by downloads from dodgy sites / third party content or dodgy ads.

I thought I'd add a list from Wikipedia and Cnet of AV programs, as it may help you or others to know the many offerings that exist. NB: some are free others require payment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_a ... s_software

also cnet has huge list of these programs found here

http://download.cnet.com/windows/antivirus-software/

Hope that is helpful.

I use Zone Alarm.

www.zonealarm.com

Get the Extreme Security version, it comes with a firewall program. It hasn't let me down yet.

Bitdefender.

Given the price of my computer, I am quite security-conscious.

Anyway, based on reviews it is quite obvious that there is a "Big 3" among computer security software: Bitdefender, Kaspersky and Norton.

They all perform very well in tests, but Bitdefender is the cheapest of the 3 and it frequently gets the top spot in reviews. Which is why I chose it.

Comodo is probably the most secure free software, but it (at least when I had it) is *extremely* aggressive, so one will have to manually approve a lot of applications after installing it.

Anyway, avoid McAfee like the plague... Actually, avoid the plague like McAfee...

Be wary of downloading anything from CNET nowadays - they bundle malware / adware / crapware along with the desired download and don't make it clear during the installation. You can easily/accidentally install something you bitterly regret later. Kind of ironic if you intended to install an antivirus and it comes bundled with ... a virus!

Thank you kindly.
Cnet can FOAD and is dead to me from now on.
Be well.

Have used Avast for years, I have no idea how it can be free. I once read an article which listed it as the second most protective anti-virus program out there. Can't remember what the first was

Using avira, and Avast, depending on machine... Mostly avira as i got a very cheap 3 years licence for 3 machines at a total of around € 28... No regret!

Tallyman,

Have you tried CLAMAV, which I recommended to you on another thread?