Paid vs. Free Antivirus

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I use the free version of Avast, and it's really really good!

Linux is by far and away the best software you can use to prevent all manner of malware, not only is it free so are nearly all the programs which run on it. I Have WIn8 on a dual boot for those rare occasions that I need to use something for which there is not a linux equivalent of.

I think BitDefender is the best. However I never paid for it I just used trials. I have reinstalled my Windows each time. Nice for performance and cleaning the mess.
But eventually I have moved to Ubuntu Linux wich has much less vulnerabilities then Windows. So I don't use antivirus at all.

Think. An anti-virus is not just a static software package. It has to be continually updated to keep up with the latest viruses. This requires intensive expert labor which is not cheap. How can a "free" anti-virus package be constantly updated with this kind of expense required? Answer: It cannot.

If you get a free package beware that you are getting what you paid for.

ruveyn

Not necessarily true Ruveyn. On some of the tests (at least in the past, back in the day when AV software was important to me) show that the free sofware can perform as well as the paid. The rationale I have heard to explain this being that malware producers concentrate their efforts on breaching the most popular programs I.E the paid versions and this leads to free programs getting an easier ride as the malware is not written specifically to breach their defense's.

I have very little use for windows, most of what I do can be done on Linux and the free packages are often as good if not better than those for windows. For example Dreamweaver does not match up to Bluefish, and I remember a few years back Fuzzy going toe to toe with a guy using Photoshop on this forum. He was able to match what Photoshop did using Gimp. So I genuinely entreat anyone who is sick and tired of malware to set up a dual boot using something like Ubuntu or Mint. Give it a go and I doubt unless you have specific need for Windows you will go back. The only use I have for Windows is games and even there things are changing specifically the porting of Steam to Linux.

Same here. Unfortunately Spybot is not available for the Mac, and while Avast is available for the Mac, it's, surprisingly not as easy to use on that platform (and I think LittleSnitch may be part of the problem.). The only other antivirus I know of for free on the Mac, as well as Linux, is ClamAV, which is a pain in the arse to install and maintain.

Eh... I've stuck to Mcafee Total for years, no problems with it other than a rare infection from stealth Trojans from dodgy software from my end... Which the Anti-Virus eventually sort out. I find that the free Anti-virus wasn't reliable for the type of Internet activity from all devices

Well, Avast and Avira both seem to generally score pretty well in tests of antivirus performance and they're always free, although they may be advertising supported and contain annoying nags.

If you want legitimate commercial antivirus protection for "free," you can always go on NewEgg and they have several products free each week, after mail in rebate. Just pay retail, get the produce, mail in the rebate, and a month or two later, you get a prepaid card for the value of the product. So you end up paying nothing, but there is some up-front cost.

Right now they have McAfee, Kaspersky or Bitdefender, all of which are decent products (Kaspersky and Bitdefender tend to do better in objective tests lately, but McAfee is better known), but they routinely have Norton. I haven't seen ESET on sale for free before, but it may happen.

I agree with BitDefender being a good purchase. I use Bitdefender Total Security myself.

However, IMO there is a top 3 - when buying flagship products - where being number 1, 2 or 3 is probably less important than being separate from the rest. They are (in alphabetical order):

Bitdefender
Kaspersky
Norton

However, if you want free security software, then Comodo has a very good reputation for stopping threats. Of course, Comodo is ethnocentric, racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-semitic, islamophobic, agoraphobic, arachnophobic, claustrophobic, techonophobic, gynophobic, androphobic... and it *hates* mimes. In other words, it achieves high protection by being *extremely* prejudicial towards all applications, so it requires quite a bit of micromanagement.

Webroot has performed well in several tests, so it might be worth checking out as well...

As for McAfee... Sorry, for me it's a moral event horizon...

I've been using AVAST for years now. No problems. It's free service is superb. I've noticed AVG poses as AVAST but there is no comparison. Please only use AVAST and all will be well with your PC.

Where can we get your programs?

btw I use Avast, happy with it. Used Norton 13 years ago, was happy with it also back then.

LINUX is the way to go. Agreed. I have one machine in my house with Linux Ubuntu, so far very stable and a newer build with Debian.

But if I must surf in windows world, AVAST is the only antivirus I use.

http://www.avast.com/en-us/download-software